I saw a piece of advice the other day that I thought was really good, given the kind of "creep" that can come in around this kind of political shift. Write down your normal, what you believe to be normal, write down the things you absolutely believe to be moral truths on various issues. Identify the places where your values live, write it down, and tuck it away. Then pull it back out again and compare where you are to where you were from time to time, just to be sure you're not getting resigned and accepting something that's against your moral truth.
I have no idea who recommended this, if it was on Substack, if it was you or someone else, but I thought dang that's fantastic advice. Because we're all so tired and that's when that creep comes in. And I don't want to get so resigned and tired that I begin to accept something as "normal" when it's really not.
Also getting active around in person community of any kind, be it Jewish community, in our neighborhoods, with those families and people we know are of like minds, those will be our lifelines as we hold on.
There is not a day go by I wonder and worry for our childrens’ future, but I sit to read from you and I am encouraged to never give up on matters so vital to all of us.
I'll never forgive a single person who voted for him. Let's face it- a lot of it was ignorance and being manipulated by Belly-Shirt, who had been planning the Social Media takeover far in advance. It is in many ways Deja Vu of 2016- You'd think people would be smarter after all the misinformation in that election- but it seems that the opposite had happened, people got dumber, more distracted, less informed. I'll never forgive anyone who didn't vote. They, too, were stupidly misled about what would happen next. This time around my anger is so much more powerful than my sadness.
Loved this. One thing I'd like to add. I watched all the pundits and read far too much afterwards. And not one of them, not one, talked about Kamala's central message - which was joy and love. Did they all experience amnesia at the same time? Trump's message was hate and fear. Yes, his won, because I guess sometimes hate is stronger, more powerful? And a female promoting love maybe seemed "soft?" Who knows why. But let's not forget she said she would always have your back. And she meant it. And he will always have a knife to your back. And he meant it...
I agree with you…so much! I am disgusted with everyone saying we need to review what the Democrats did that caused them to lose. I personally think we lost because the people who voted for trump had terrible values. And apparently there are more of them than us. There truly are baskets of deplorables. I don’t think there’s much to learn from them…other than how NOT to be like them.
"Basket of deplorables" is such a goofy phrase and I don't know how Hillary landed on it. I agree that it probably doesn't serve us. But I don't disagree with the point about regrettable values and a very limited amount to learn from their choices.
I respectfully disagree. Since I respect Elissa’s values I don’t want these comments to devolve into political bickering but it is simply not true that all trump voters are baskets of deplorables. Even Hillary Clinton said that half of them were ok! People value different aspects of the candidates and the parties. They choose to ignore some opinions and value others.
Understanding why Democrats lost nationally would help the Democratic Party recapture liberal centrism which it has lost. (Again my respectful opinion)
Agreed - understanding the areas where the Democratic Party could have done better, where they missed the messaging or didn't understand what was needed can't hurt. Harris ran a good campaign, she ran a tight campaign from day one, but clearly there were gaps. Analyzing where the Democratic Party can shift their messaging is critical.
And it is also true that in so many ways it's not just about what the Democrats didn't do or what they did wrong but what the Republicans DID do. And if we can't take a cold hard look at that then we're really screwed.
I saw a piece of advice the other day that I thought was really good, given the kind of "creep" that can come in around this kind of political shift. Write down your normal, what you believe to be normal, write down the things you absolutely believe to be moral truths on various issues. Identify the places where your values live, write it down, and tuck it away. Then pull it back out again and compare where you are to where you were from time to time, just to be sure you're not getting resigned and accepting something that's against your moral truth.
I have no idea who recommended this, if it was on Substack, if it was you or someone else, but I thought dang that's fantastic advice. Because we're all so tired and that's when that creep comes in. And I don't want to get so resigned and tired that I begin to accept something as "normal" when it's really not.
Also getting active around in person community of any kind, be it Jewish community, in our neighborhoods, with those families and people we know are of like minds, those will be our lifelines as we hold on.
Your writing is always a balm for my soul. ❤️
There is not a day go by I wonder and worry for our childrens’ future, but I sit to read from you and I am encouraged to never give up on matters so vital to all of us.
I'll never forgive a single person who voted for him. Let's face it- a lot of it was ignorance and being manipulated by Belly-Shirt, who had been planning the Social Media takeover far in advance. It is in many ways Deja Vu of 2016- You'd think people would be smarter after all the misinformation in that election- but it seems that the opposite had happened, people got dumber, more distracted, less informed. I'll never forgive anyone who didn't vote. They, too, were stupidly misled about what would happen next. This time around my anger is so much more powerful than my sadness.
Loved this. One thing I'd like to add. I watched all the pundits and read far too much afterwards. And not one of them, not one, talked about Kamala's central message - which was joy and love. Did they all experience amnesia at the same time? Trump's message was hate and fear. Yes, his won, because I guess sometimes hate is stronger, more powerful? And a female promoting love maybe seemed "soft?" Who knows why. But let's not forget she said she would always have your back. And she meant it. And he will always have a knife to your back. And he meant it...
I agree with you…so much! I am disgusted with everyone saying we need to review what the Democrats did that caused them to lose. I personally think we lost because the people who voted for trump had terrible values. And apparently there are more of them than us. There truly are baskets of deplorables. I don’t think there’s much to learn from them…other than how NOT to be like them.
"Basket of deplorables" is such a goofy phrase and I don't know how Hillary landed on it. I agree that it probably doesn't serve us. But I don't disagree with the point about regrettable values and a very limited amount to learn from their choices.
I respectfully disagree. Since I respect Elissa’s values I don’t want these comments to devolve into political bickering but it is simply not true that all trump voters are baskets of deplorables. Even Hillary Clinton said that half of them were ok! People value different aspects of the candidates and the parties. They choose to ignore some opinions and value others.
Understanding why Democrats lost nationally would help the Democratic Party recapture liberal centrism which it has lost. (Again my respectful opinion)
Agreed - understanding the areas where the Democratic Party could have done better, where they missed the messaging or didn't understand what was needed can't hurt. Harris ran a good campaign, she ran a tight campaign from day one, but clearly there were gaps. Analyzing where the Democratic Party can shift their messaging is critical.
And it is also true that in so many ways it's not just about what the Democrats didn't do or what they did wrong but what the Republicans DID do. And if we can't take a cold hard look at that then we're really screwed.