”As soon as it became clear that a true Blue Wave had hit, some GNR readers asked us if we planned to continue with the Good News Roundups.
At first this surprised me. I understand that taking the House is enormous and the inroads we made in state houses and elected judges will have impacts that reverberate far into the future. But Trump is still president. And, if he gets impeached or steps down, then Pence will be president. We still have McConnell running the Senate. We still have a tilted supreme court. How could people think we no longer need good news?
But the more I thought about it, the more I understood. The purpose of the GNR over the last two years has not really been to report the news in dark times. It has been to show that there is hope that we can win. It has been to show that, if we work hard, we can turn things around. It has been to remind readers (and writers) that we are the majority.
And the midterm was confirmation of every single bit of that.
Then I guess it is a real question: If we all know that blue work can bring a blue wave, then what is the underlying goal of the GNR? Sure, we can bring good news, but do people really need that any more?
I think there is still a place, even if, for me, the underlying goal has changed. Two years ago, people were unsure of whether we could win at all. We tried here, in our little way, to show how we can and were winning.
Now, people need to be reminded that not only can we win, but GOODNESS can win.
Decency, honesty, justice, democracy, love, and just plain goodness can and will win. They do every day.
It would be easy to decide that the only way to beat Trump is by playing his game. It would be tempting to fight fire with fire and get into the gutter to beat them. It would be easy to decide to get the Republicans back for their dishonesty by steamrolling over their rights when we take over. But there are two important reasons not to do that.
First, we can’t win that way. Hatred and lies and anger and fear are their tools. They will always use them better than we will. We will look weak and small if we try. And we will lose.
Second, if we do those things and win, what have we won? If we become them, what will America be?
Democrats have to be better because America needs us to be. You and I -- all of us -- have to choose love. We have to take the high road. That doesn’t mean not fighting back when attacked. In fact it MEANS fighting back against awful lies because we stand for something better. We don’t ignore swift-boat-type lies, because those are the enemy we seek to destroy. We just make sure not to match them with lies of our own.” [Lightly edited. -2] For the sake of goodness, read her whole Roundup.