I am sure like many members of this site, I am heartsick this week. We are faced with an openly fascist Republican party that has shamelessly closed ranks around a convicted felon, that is backed by an utterly corrupt Supreme Court signaling they will permit any atrocity without limit or accountability. And our Presidential candidate, a good and decent man with an astonishing record of accomplishment in office, stumbled badly in the recent debate. And our craven corporate media are eagerly piling on with the preferred Republican narrative.
I ask everyone to take a deep breath. All of us are feeling raw and desperate, given the existential stakes here. So think long and hard before posting another “I told you so” diary because your preferred candidate isn’t the one. Before posting another diary insisting Joe has to drop out right away and hand the keys to (insert your favorite name). Stop posting diaries stating it’s all Joe’s fault because of Gaza, or not fighting hard enough to reform the Court earlier (with a razor thin margin in Congress? Not gonna happen), or whatever your pet issue is.
Many of us can’t sleep, can’t eat, imagining where we might be in a year under “Project 2025”.
So, just maybe, hold your fire unless you have something uplifting and constructive to say. There are still four months left to go in this thing. Joe Biden remains the most consequent and effective progressive President in my lifetime, with no qualifications on that statement. He can still pull it together and come out swinging, no apologies. I’m praying for that. It’s still the best option by far. There is no time to waste. And if not, a rapid pivot to all-hands-on-deck for every Democratic leader to join hand against the looming menace of fascism here in America. For America’s women to join hands and stop the ruthless assault on their reproductive freedom and their lives. For every American who is not white, christian, hetero-norm, hated by today’s Republicans, to say no more. Now is the time for a Democratic movement of hope, progress, and inclusion.
It’s not the time to spread a message of anger and despair. We all have enough of that in our lives already.