Is It Time To Push Back Against Resist We Much Progressives?
Swamping Congress with phone calls and engaging at town halls works
While I’m enjoying the progressive meltdown as much as the next person, it may be time to think about countering the “resistance.” We would do well to think about the impact the pressure from the raging “resistance” is likely to have not on their own party but on Republicans in Congress and, perhaps to a lesser extent, on the Trump administration.
From the “women’s march” to airport protests to flooding into GOP town halls, the progressive left is making itself heard among the very Republicans President Trump will need to keep his agenda moving forward. These are the McCains, the Grahams, the Collins’, the Murkowskis, and others whose votes do matter (even if we close our eyes and wish really really hard that they don’t).
Republicans who loved the Gang of Eight amnesty plan, who are foreign policy hawks, and who want to keep ObamaCare and Common Core—i.e. those who believed that the only way to win elections was to become more like Democrats—are looking at all this, and what they see is not what we see.
We see violent, seemingly mindless radicals swarming around setting fires, breaking windows, chanting like zombie robots, shrieking about their bloody sheets, and generally behaving so outrageously, so atrociously that we are embarrassed for them. We cringe in distaste and recoil in disgust, confident that their inanity, incivility, and barbarism will be rejected by real Americans. And we’re not wrong. We know this to be true; we know that the more violent and repellent they are, the better it is for our side in terms of shoring up support among the American people.
Taking a page (or two) out of the Tea Party playbook, the “resistance” is essentially doing what they saw and understood to be effective. In just the past few days, the progressive “resistance” has swamped Congress with phone calls (sound familiar?), descended upon GOP town halls (sound familiar?), and pursued typically leftist attention-getting gimmicks.
CNN reports on the massive wave of phone calls flooding Congress.
President Donald Trump has promised to shake up Washington, but so far he’s produced gridlock — at least with the phone lines on Capitol Hill.
Whether constituents are calling to request congressional flags, get help with a local issue — or, more likely, to register their support or displeasure with the latest move by President Donald Trump — these days they are more likely to get a busy signal or voice mail than a live human, at least if they’re calling their senator.
It’s especially true for Republican senators responsible for ensuring confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet, including divisive picks like billionaire Betsy DeVos to lead the Education Department.
Dropped calls mean angry voters, so lawmakers across the Capitol, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to the most junior senator working out of a temporary basement office, are scrambling to handle the surge.
When a local radio host asked McConnell about Trump’s controversial edict on refugees on Wednesday, the Senate’s top Republican first made sure his constituents knew he was taking care of business.
“I appreciate many Kentuckians sharing their comments and for their patience with the jammed phone lines,” McConnell told WHAS AM radio host Terry Meiners. “I might suggest to people who’ve had that experience, the best way to contact me is online.”
Senate officials won’t confirm just how many calls are flooding congressional offices, but it’s a lot, as people take to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to urge a tsunami of calls. A spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York, citing Senate officials, says calls have averaged 1.5 million a day this week.
Politico reports on two GOP town halls swarmed by angry ObamaCare supporters.
Two Republican lawmakers representing reliably conservative districts on opposite ends of the country on Saturday faced down heated questions from Obamacare supporters who flooded town hall events demanding that Congress not dismantle a health care law that has provided insurance for millions of people.
Fervent backers of the health care law shouted down Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), blasting his views on the Obamacare repeal and President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. Hundreds of demonstrators showed up — some as early as 6:30 a.m. — to a theater in downtown Roseville, just northeast of Sacramento.
. . . . Hundreds of protesters, some holding signs favoring the Affordable Care Act and demanding a town meeting, gathered outside a GOP gathering Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill) attended in his district early Saturday, the Chicago NBC affiliate reported.
The Hill reports on a “moon” Trump Tower gimmick in Chicago.
Hundreds have responded to a Facebook “Chicago moons Trump Tower” event, during which protesters plan to drop their trousers in front of Trump Tower Chicago.
According to the Facebook page for the event titled “Operation “Kiss Our Asses, Release Your Taxes,” the goal of the protest is to get President Trump to release his tax returns.
“In 2006, a Maryland state circuit court determined that mooning is a form of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment as a form of speech,” the event page says. “Donald Trump doesn’t think the American people want to see his tax returns, so let’s show him that we do in the classiest way possible!”
Protestors will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12 at Trump Tower Chicago, and plan to moon the building for 10 seconds starting at 4 p.m. in what event organizers call “a powerful message to Washington elites.”
More than 1,000 people on the event page say they’re interested in going. Just about 400 have RSVP’d saying they would attend the protest.
The event is organized by a comedy group titled “S#!TSHOW.”
Charming. This is the kind of thing I hope they do often because it’s so crude and disgusting that it does them more harm than good in terms of alienating normal Americans.
That said, though, this “moon” event is not really for Congress or the president or the American public; it has Alinsky written all over it and is about keeping the troops interested, engaged, excited about the “resistance,” and nothing interests and engages the radical left more than showing their . . . bottoms.
While the “progressive tea party” in its current resist we much formulation is destined to crumble for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being the cognitive dissonance that defines much of their (lack of a clear) message, it’s also true that in the short term at least, all Congress hears is the radical progressives and their wild accusations and demands. We are being relatively silent, waiting to see what happens, and not getting involved.
I’m not worried about the riots, fires, flag burning, violent protests of free speech, or “moon” events, but the phone calls, the town halls . . . these things work, as we well know.
The “resistance” is being fed and fueled by the very media and Hollywood types who attacked and eventually succeeded in minimizing and demonizing the Tea Party movement. Who is pushing back against the progressive left and its apparently well-organized and well-funded nationwide “resistance” movement?
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The Tea Party elected Trump
The latest angle is to include a zip code when posting onto a reps/senator facebook or twitter page. Coordinated talking points….a tell tail sign of an astroturf operation.
You got it!
Fake Protests.
Rent a Protest-atutes.
If you are expecting the GOP to fight back…
Exactly, and that is why I continue not to contribute to the Republican party, despite lots of post-election requests.
I showed them the money, for Trump.
Now, they need to show me some action.
Squeaker Rino Ryan and that rino rat McConnell are as much obstacles to progress as Crazy Pelosi is.
(By the way, Crazy Pelosi still thinks Bush is in office:)
“Pelosi says ‘Seen nothing I can work with President Bush…”
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/confusion-nancy-pelosi-says-seen-nothing-can-work-president-bush/
🙂
#Resist We Much Progressives!
On a serious side I agree it’s time for everyone who voted for Trump to start making some noise. Counter the idiot’s who are protesting everyday.
The left will do anything and say anything to destroy Trump.
They will use flat out lies to accomplish their nasty goal.
Remember the 4th estate (media) in enemy # 1. They are in complete agreement with the anti-trump forces. Big business is showing their true colors fighting Trump on the immigration order. It’s time for us to RESIST the idiot left!
How ’bout all of us who want the end of ObamaDoggle, the elevation of Gorsuch to the Supremes, the end of the “I-ran deal”, real tax reform, the end (or at least the beginning of the end) of the administrative state, etc., making some noise.
Nobody has to be a T-rump voter. In fact, if you really want some of those things, you were not a T-rump voter.
Actually, if you wanted those things you WERE a Trump voter. Your plan to vote ‘PRESENT’ and let Hillary win would have given us NONE of those things.
Back stabbers on the right are at least as much a problem as those on the left.
LOL. The frustration mounts for those who cannot stand Trump, including continuing childish labels. But now he has become their champion, even though they shall not mention his name.
VaG and casual, Rags is on board. Let’s not attack him . . . for agreeing.
It’s really okay if not everyone loves and supports Trump as long as they love and support our country and our Constitution. Rags does both and said as much in his comment.
“Rags is on board”
No, he is not Fuzzy. He would rather see the left win than admit the truth: for the first time in half a century we have a person at the head of government willing to fight the left. He is no less a “perfect” conservative than the many R candidates Rags supported before Trump came along. Trump is not clean enough for Rags. He would prefer to lose than win with such a dirty man.
Normal people can look at who trump has surrounded himself with and understand his intent.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/07/david-horowitz-stephen-miller-a-second-thoughts-warrior/
Someone that actually is willing to get his hands dirty and fight the progs.
Barry, I’m not even sure what to say. Do you read what you write? Think about it at all? Clearly Rags was saying that we need to speak up and be heard; is there some part of that you don’t understand?
Rags would never ever rather see the left win. But you know who would? YOU. You said as much in your comment in this thread in which you said that the GOPe were the enemy and etc. The “battle,” you assert, is on the right side, and you embody this in your bizarre attacks on Rags. What is your real role here? Are you sowing discord just to sow it? How long has it been since you offered one of those insightful and thought-provoking comments I used to love? Now it’s just “Barry want war on right.” “Barry want war on right now.” Based on what? Seriously? Have you become unhinged? Why are you so intent on sowing division and stoking ill-feelings? I don’t get it, Barry.
I hope everyone will note that my comment was positive and inclusive.
Yours was just another vicious trolling attack, like when you called those of us who did not genuflect to your cult-leader “traitors”.
You’re also typically full of shit. Far from ending the administrative state, First Daughter and Dear Daddy plan on a whole new entitlement. I could go on respecting “real tax reform”, doing anything to even mention the national debt, etc.
Your post appeared inclusive until you threw in the gratuitous:
“Nobody has to be a T-rump voter. In fact, if you really want some of those things, you were not a T-rump voter.”
As has been explained frequently, it’s actually quite easy to want all of those things and vote for Trump. You just have to accept the reality that with Hillary you get NONE of those things. After that, a vote for Trump is logical – half a glass is better. So, factually you were in error. Beyond that, your obsession with all things Trump and despicable treatment of Trump supporters is well known. Witness this recent post by you in a thread on the Gorsuch appointment (who is only possible because of Trump):
“OK, you admit you don’t have any links, AND you are a T-rump sucking cultist who slups up the shit from NOT-Conservative Tree Sloughs.
I’ve known this for some time, troll. Just a blood and soil(ed) boi and clock-sucker.”
So much for your claims of inclusiveness. So much for your claiming injured party status. So much for decency.
How are we going to present a united front against the progressives with people in our group who will attack us from the rear if the group doesn’t agree with everything they want? Who can’t speak in a civil manner to our own members who they disagree with? Where do you fit in? Can you set aside your hatred of Trump and help, or will you continue to attack him and those who support him? Conservativism is a political philosophy, not a moral/religious one. That’s a distinction you often seem to fail to make. Insteaad of debate your opponent, you want to crucify him. That won’t work if we are going to put together a coalition to defend the toehold we have now.
I’ve never called anyone here a “traitor”.
I’ve never called anyone here a “back-stabber”.
BTW, if I stab anyone, it will be in the eye.
You’re just a vicious ThoughtPolicing goon. A troll of the lowest order, unable to stand any opinion that varies from your cult. It’s just who you are and choose to be.
VaG, let. it. go. He feels as he does. You feel as you do. Stalemate.
Rags really wasn’t attacking, he was saying that people who don’t support Trump per se also have a role to play in pushing back because Trump is doing or plans to do the very things we all (ALL) want. You’re right, we shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves and should present a more united front, but we can’t do that if you bristle at everything Rags says even when he’s agreeing with you.
And, for the record, conservatism is indeed a moral / religious, as well as political, philosophy. Morals, principles, values are at the very heart of conservatism (at least as I understand it), so it’s best to let this new right-wing antipathy for conservatives lie, as well. We’re on the same team. All of us: you, me, Rags, all of us. Let’s defeat the resist we much progressives. Once that is done, we can go back to bickering amongst ourselves. 😛
Fuzzy,
if you merge politics and morals , you wind up with ISIS. Your moral code may bring you to the conservative side (mine did), but politics itself is not a moral code. Your code and mine are different. If we (you / me) merge politics and morals, who gives up his/her principles in a dispute? If I think you are wrong on the issue, do I reduce my standards to go along or do I leave the party or force you to change? My point is, when you merge politics and morals, you create the collective we all despise. Where everyone has to march in step. To the left, politics is their moral code and they will force it on you and me because they see it as the morally right thing to do. Someone once said that ‘politics is the art of the practical’. No party will ever have 100% unanimity on its politics. Someone will always have to swallow something they don’t like. If you combine politics and morals, one of them has to take precedence. If morals take precedence, your politics become ridgid, inflexible and self serving (ISIS). If politics take precedence, your morals become flexible, relativistic and self serving (progs). The problem was recognized 2,500 years ago in the first democracy in Athens. Humans have been trying to solve it since then. The only way that works is to treat them 2 as separate items, the ideal and the real. You strive for the ideal while you live the real. You make the temporary compromises you have to to keep moving in the right direction. People with different views can come together to solve problems while respecting each other’s beliefs, or having to compromise their own.
Ah, yes, because my American Christian values are just like those of ISIS. Moral equivalency in this instance is not only objectionable and repugnant but lazy and ill-considered. If you honestly believe that all religious beliefs are the same, then I have no idea what you are doing here at LI. There is no intellectual argument that can convincingly convey that setting people who are locked in a cage on fire or beheading them on camera is just the same as my belief that every American has the right to due process or the press to free speech.
I believe that government should be limited, that the intrusion of government has reached a fever pitch and is repugnant. I will not, however, blow anyone up, cut off anyone’s head, or shoot up a bunch of pro-government people at some party. But, hey, I’m just like a jihadi, right? I have my religious beliefs, so that must be just the same as imposing them on others by violent, barbaric, sinful force? Uh-huh. Just. Like.
What you say is a refutation of everything that makes sense in this country. You advocate no moral compass, no guiding principles, no nothing. What you get when led by a dark, empty abyss is more dark, empty abyss. So you don’t bow to morals or principles. What is it that guides you? Honestly, the more I listen to you avid Trump fans the more I worry. You’re not concerned with anything that is moral and good and ethical (gee, that’s SOOOO ISIS). You just want . . . what? Something that has no moral or principled foundation, something that is immoral? Amoral? What is that, exactly? Please, enlighten us.
“…politics itself is not a moral code…”
Which is why your politics are amoral, and simply a “rightist” manifestation of the Collective.
Conservatives are not…NOT…about politics, or even ideology. Conservatives are people who think in a specific way, and their principles would not permit them to impose on others their “morals” except as pertains to areas where conduct impinges on liberty.
Your bullshit is “the conservatives are like the Taliban” that we hear from the Collective (not at all surprising).
“Rightist” progressiveism is NOT conservative. You are not a conservative, but manifestly a Collectivist who supports a strong man, against the principles of the Constitution, because he makes noises like a rightist.
Yes, I’m seeing this all more clearly by the day, Rags. It’s scary as hell.
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/09/this-is-the-essential-mark-levin-monologue-every-conservative-needs-to-hear
Levin said it very well, I think. Anyone who considers themselves a conservative should listen to that, and see if it applies to them.
Otherwise, you’re just a rightist Collectivist, or a National/Populist, but not a conservative. WAY different things, although we can agree to some common cause.
Fuzzy,
Good to see you are still creating straw men that you can destroy. Let’s remember that the post you seem to find objectionable responded to your claim:
“And, for the record, conservatism is indeed a moral / religious, as well as political, philosophy.”
I used ISIS as an example of where such theocracies lead. Northern Ireland is another example. I went on the further explain that mixing politics and religion corrupts both. This is a not a new concept. It was known very well by the founders who were the product of emigrants from the persecution of England’s theocratic gov’t (Puritans, quakers,and Catholics to name a few). For this reason they were adamant that the gov’t they were forming should not in any way establish a state religion. It should not use the force of law to impose religious beliefs. You claim that your self proclaimed ‘moral / religious, as well as political, philosophy’ conservativism is a reflection of your ‘American Christian values’. I doubt there is a book of Adam Smith in your bible. Ditto, John Locke. Conservativism is the work of man. Works of men are always fallible and mutable. True believers try to elevate these fallible works to infallibility by aligning them with the divine. It never works. Eventually a conflict arises between them and you either have to separate them or martyr yourself. Political martyrs rarely get elected.
When you take off the ideological blinders and accept that, in a pluralistic society, you won’t get everything you want or believe you should have, you find that it is the road to small gov’t. Jefferson’s dictum of ‘governing least’ is the perfect model for pluralistic societies. People of different faiths agree (probably 99.99%) that murder is wrong. As you move away from that level of agreement, you enter the realm of things where gov’t should not involve itself. You move from consensus to imposition. Madison said the constitution could only work in a moral society. Franklin said he didn’t care what religion the people had, so long as they had one. (He also advocated teaching in the primary schools, in a non denominational manner, a basic morality based on 5(?) fundamental principles that all religions agreed on.) On the important things, the moral codes of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc all agree. And those are areas where gov’t is properly large. When they disagree, gov’ts role should be ‘least’. The public morality comes from the people’s moral codes, not from political entities. Where the people diverge, freedom requires that the differences be respected. No one has to give up their beliefs. You are free to raise your family and worship as you choose. The gov’t stays out and you live your life without imposing it on your neighbors.
Beyond that, merging the religious and political is impractical in a pluralistic society. You base conservativism on your ‘American Christian values’. Are Jews excluded? Buddhists? Hindus? The bigotry of your position is clear when you say to me:
‘If you honestly believe that all religious beliefs are the same, then I have no idea what you are doing here at LI.’
Under the constitution, they are all the same in the public forum. Which religions do you feel are unacceptable on LI (or in YOUR conservative party)? Is ‘American Christian’ the only allowed one? Have you discussed this litmus test I’m supposed to pass with prof? Why don’t you respect my right to have a different belief than you? Why do I have to leave LI just because you don’t like what I say? Should I leave the country too? Why don’t you leave? If you don’t respect my right to think, why should I respect yours? That’s how wars begin – do you see where you’re leading us? You accused me of being amoral. I proved you are immoral. My morality teaches me to respect the right of others to have different beliefs, no matter how much I disagree with them. Apparently the tolerance of different ideas is not one of your ‘American Christian’ values (Which, from your post, seem to contain little from either source). And then you extend this bigotry to all Trump supporters by proclaiming that they are all followers of the Dark Side. Ideologues like you are the reason many who want to vote conservative, won’t. You profess that you will respect their beliefs and protect their rights, but they don’t believe you. And we see now, with good reason.
Double down, triple down, quadruple down…, etc, on your own stupidity and ignorance. What a tool. Go vote for Jeb. LOL!!!
Sounds like a good plan. After all, encouraging our elected officials to do what we think is right is fundamentally American. I do this even though my senator is as likely to do the right thing as was Obama (usually people have two senators but the second senator from WA state is a non-entity in DC and Washington state).
The left acts out like this BECAUSE there are no consequences for their behaviour.
A few button kicking here and a few criminal proceedings there and the left will suddenly understand what it means to live in the Real World ™.
Mailman
The left is living in the ‘Real World’, there is no opposition to their criminality. Your point, though, is well taken; the ‘Real World’, if it exists at all among our elected officials, needs to step up its game.
I’d recommend, though, that we not hold our breath while we wait the awakening.
I’m guessing you’ll only see this behavior under Blue Governors. I think Republican Governors will probably shut them down in kind.
Hard to imagine that in 2017 a true local constituent can be frustrated by not being able to get through on a land line. So many other ways to communicate. Maybe they should set up temporary call centers that dial out to constituents who request a call. That way location can be somewhat verified.
The problem is that for many on the right, politics simply isn’t the most important thing in their lives – or even important at all.
A couple years ago, when bakers and florists and photographers were being sued and fined for not participating in homosexual weddings, those in my small group at church were upset and angry and decided that we needed to DO SOMETHING. Naturally, we decided that we needed to have a website to keep us informed and suggest actions we could take. Everyone was fired up. I volunteered to build a website, as long as others would provide info, write blog posts, etc.
Suffice it to say that I built a website, but everyone else lost interest in a hurry. No one from my group has contributed a blog post, or even responded to my requests for feedback on the website. Over 97% of the website visits are from out of state and hence not even from my church.
I keep plugging away at the site, but what I am really lacking is specific actions we can take. Even online petitions are better than nothing. If anyone is interested, check out the site ( http://www.unshackledaction.com/ ), and send me any suggestions you may have. We have a “contact us” page in the menu.
This is indeed a serious problem, and it’s one that the Tea Party faced and never quite overcame. We tend to have jobs and families and lives that don’t revolve around the political, socio-cultural world the progressive left inhabits. We believe in the election process, as we should, but we sometimes forget that we need to be more vigilant than just turning out to vote every couple of years and then thinking “they” know what we want.
I keep going back to Andrew Breitbart because he said all of this long before most of us even understood our own role in the radical left taking over our culture, our education system, our legal system, our government. They never rest, and while we can’t possibly be that engaged, we do need to do something.
What? Petitions are good, but they only go so far. Conservatives dominated Twitter for the past eight years (any one of us is smarter, snarkier, and more effective then any ten of them), so being present there is a good start. Letters, calls, attendance at town halls . . . these things matter to elected officials who are, let’s face it, always looking at and campaigning for the next election cycle.
What else? There were some really effective Tea Party efforts by amazing people like those at Misfit Politics (their Attack Watch video is still one of my all-time favorites), but we regular people can do stuff, too. Your website is a great example. Buycotts are also important and do change things in a positive way; likewise, less positive things will also have an impact, like refusing to spend our money on “entertainment” generated by those who hate us, and they do, literally, hate us. Why finance that just to see a movie or tv show or to hear a song? I know a lot of people don’t want to punish entertainers for their irrational hatred of more than half of all Americans, but some of us do. I’ve been putting my money where my mouth is for years now, but it’s not a thing that everyone wants to do. That’s okay. Everyone can do something to push back, though, even if it’s just a tweet or a phone call or a letter/email to their congress critter.
The media, etc. will ignore us, so we have to break through that. We just have to be creative and persevere because what we have to say, what we want matters to those in elected office. They just need to be reminded that we’re still here, so we don’t get swept away by the resist we much gang.
Those of us who have real lives see little to no advantage to surrendering our real lives to play the game of politics. Politicians, Democrat and Republican alike, play off one side against the other to their own benefit. Elections, for the most part, offer no return for the efforts expended. ObamaCare repeal, replace, repair and now nothing has become the expected and delivered response.
Every now and then, we’ll have an opportunity to elect a non-politician, like Trump, who will tilt mightily against the windbags of Washington only to be rewarded for our efforts with masked criminals, supported with taxpayer funds breaking our windows, breaking our heads and blocking our streets while the windbags plea for calm as they surrender our civilization without so much as a by your leave.
One of the most frustrating experiences in combat is an artillery barrage; one has to just sit through it with no opportunity to respond. If one of those rounds or rockets happens to land on you, you’re simply dead; it’s all over and there was nothing; repeat nothing to be done about it.
Welcome to the artillery barrage; sure, we can run around like chickens with our heads cutoff, but it has the same effect as attacking a sandbag with a bayonet. Save your life and your ammunition for when the boots on the ground come after you. It is then and only then that you will have an opportunity to affect the outcome.
I get that, MSO. I wonder, though, if we are in a good position to sit back and wait for the progressive left to win. We may be, maybe we should just sit back and do nothing while they suck up all the oxygen, the media makes it seem that the entire nation feels the way they do, and the entertainment industry reinforces that message until the GOP does what it is too-prone to do and caves. They see the progressive left as far more dangerous than we are; we, they have been shown over and over, will shuffle off to vote, maybe, and then just sit down and shut up while they do whatever damage they like. Then election time comes around, they say the right things, make the right promises, get reelected, and it all begins again.
Rather than treating wars of words and ideas as those fought with literal weaponry to which one might logically respond by hunkering down and riding it out, we might respond with pointed, targeted attacks on those we see are being moved by our opponents. Our inaction may well be suicide. But it’s just a thought. Maybe we should just sit back and let the progressive left seem like the only ones who care what happens in our country. Heck, we can show what we think in the 2018 election. Until then, who cares what happens or who does what?
Thanks for the response. I’m thinking that I need to be more proactive in encouraging those who got me to build the website to actually DO SOMETHING rather than just grumbling and saying we NEED to do something.
What is interesting is that our pastor is teaching a graduate course in leadership this semester and also our just begun sermon series is on leadership, paralleling the course. Though the definition of leadership in its simplest form is “influencing others,” it starts with taking the initiative and setting an example (hopefully a good one). This looks like the perfect springboard for getting people more involved. I’ll see if I can go somewhere with this.
Well, I wouldn’t push too hard, topcat, people do have lives and real, immediate worries. 🙂 It’s frustrating, though, I’m sure to have built such a great site (I visited and sent you a message) and have little response. We ended up the “forgotten man” because we are so engaged in our real and spiritual lives and don’t think of politics as a big part of that. That’s okay, though, I think. 🙂 Some people, like us, may want to make our voices heard, and that’s okay, too.
I don’t plan to beat people over the head. And vague suggestions like “write your Congressman” are unlikely to achieve much. But I’m hopeful that I can occasionally offer some actions that are very specific and not very time consuming.
Yet sometimes it is easier to recruit people to do something much more time-consuming, such as attending a rally or Planned Parenthood protest, than it is to do something trivial, like sign the Boycott Target petition. Maybe if it is too easy, they don’t think it can be useful.
I know what you mean, but writing our Congress critters is good because it does hit home. That said, though, one thing that we used to do was start things that people across the nation could pick up and run with, the most obvious is the Empty Chair Day or the Chick-Fil-A push back, but there were other fun things that people did. For example, there was a post-it note gas pump thing when gas was still $4+ a gallon. People would leave a “thank Obama” note on the pump! It was a thing that generated a lot of fun photos and blog posts and got social media ticking. That’s the key, something that gets picked up by the right on social media. It has to be funny, fun, respectful (the post-its weren’t glued on or vandalism), and pointed.
Something like a #MAGA day would work if it caught on. Neighborhoods getting together with their #MAGA gear and posting photos to social media, anything like that can catch on and make a splash. That’s probably too tame to be a thing, but maybe your church would be excited to think of something that will take off and become an internet meme? Bypassing the traditional media is still key because they love their BLM, Occupy, Resist We Much stuff.
I can’t seem to reply directly to your response below. Those are some good ideas. I’m thinking that I need to get more creative – I’m pretty creative on evangelism stuff, so surely I can do the same in other areas. I wonder if I can get a bunch of my friends to get “Deplorables” shirts. I have a couple. Hmmm. Creative juices start to flow ….
Fuzzy,
Much to agree with in your post.
A question. You say ‘Republicans who loved the Gang of Eight … see things differently’, but never describe how they see it. Could you expand on that? It seems to me that any plan of action has to take them into account and also the members of the coalition Trump put together to win. They are at least 1/2 way on our side and it would seem crazy to ignore them or dismiss them.
Thanks
Hi VaG, I am absolutely not dismissing them; that’s the exact opposite point I was trying to make (this is my failing, not yours; I should have been more clear). Anyway, to your question, those Republicans (the ones we refer to as GOPe or . . . well, other things 😉 ) see concerned constituents whose basic objections to the Trump presidency and agenda mirror their own. Because they agree with much of what the resist we much crew are saying, they are going to be quick to go that way.
They already are. Collins and Murkowski submitted that “gee, if your state just loves ObamaCare, you can keep it” lunacy, and they have also vowed to vote against DeVos. Likewise, we keep hearing the ObamaCare repeal and replace may mean “fix” ObamaCare or that it’s being pushed back another year, and etc. This isn’t coming from Democrats, it’s within the GOP. They are bowing to pressure from the resist we much progressives. Yes, in part because they believe the same thing, but also because they aren’t hearing from their voters who do want ObamaCare repealed and gone asap or who do want serious, deep-rooted change at the Department of Education (I’d like to see it gone completely, but that’s not going to happen any time soon, so I’m happy to work with what we have).
It’s the old “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” thing that the radical left has always excelled at. They are dangerous in power, but in some ways, they are even more so out of power. They’re just better at organizing, pushing their agenda, and being heard than we are. We’re too polite for our own good, and when we win and hand power to those of our choosing, we tend to sit back and let things unfold. It’s not, in my opinion, a good plan. A bit of reminding the GOP Congress critters that we’re still here, why they are there and have the power they do, and that we still want what we’ve said we want can’t hurt.
We tend to see elections as they are, the impetus for change in our constitutional republic, but what we haven’t yet learned completely is that elections only do so much if we don’t both hold their feet to the fire AND give some attaboys when earned. Slipping silently back while the left blares from every available loud speaker (the media, Hollywood, the music industry, in the streets, airports, literally everywhere) is not going to serve us or President Trump well. The Tea Party had none of the advantages the resist we much progressives have, and we accomplished a great deal. Imagine what they can do with the wide-reaching support they have! Besides, I want Trump to succeed, and let’s face it, the man needs to know that he’s appreciated and that he’s doing what we want. Congress doesn’t need the approval for the same reasons, but they do need to be reined in and reminded that this is the first time in what? over a hundred years? the GOP has had these dominating numbers across the board. And that it can be gone just as quickly as it was handed to them.
“Collins and Murkowski submitted that “gee, if your state just loves ObamaCare, you can keep it” lunacy…”
No, you can’t pin that one on Murky (odd that nobody bitches about my word-play except in connection with T-rump).
That was on Collins and some guy from Louisiana, I do believe. (Names curse…)
Oh! My bad, Rags. I just lumped her in because she and Collins are twinning on so much else. Thanks for the correction, though, I shouldn’t be so lazy. 🙂
Fuzzy,
thanks. All good points. We have been in a process here in VA of getting rid of the weak sisters and replacing them with conservatives (Kantor / Brat, etc). However, as VA has turned purple, I can tell you that the real battle is in the local populace. Focusing on elections and politicians, while very important in the short term, is a loser if you lose the political minds of the population. The constant left indoctrination through media, schools, etc is subtle and incessant. The biggest failure of the republican party is the failure to fight those battles. In my area of VA, the republicans don’t even field candidates anymore. They kept looking for the perfect candidate and never have figured out that the problem is the schools and the failure to defend our ideas in the media. If we can harness Trump’s willingness to spit in the media’s eye, there is real potential.
Agreed, VaG. It’s how to push back on the cultural level, particularly, that is difficult. The Tea Party did work to replace local, state, and federal pols, and it worked far better than we were ever given credit (we keep hearing about Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell and not about the many we did get elected to both the House and the Senate). But yes, the “hearts and minds” at the local and community level are very important.
Part of the problem is that people who vote Democrat have zero idea what has happened to the Democrat party. They still believe it’s the party they joined, the JFK Democrats. Back then, Democrats believed in the Constitution, fought communism, and fought for lower taxes. I kept running into this in Massachusetts when I was canvassing for Scott Brown; the (R) was a turn off because the propaganda that we only care about the rich, etc. and etc. was so ingrained. That’s hard to get past, but we can. Trump did.
The media angle is huge because we’re slowly breaking through on that; the media used to, quite literally, tell us how to think about the the events that unfolded. They dictated to us, and we believed it because journalists were touted as objective, etc. No more. It’s a real chink in the left’s armor, and they are freaking out that they have lost so much public trust.
Talking to people is pushing back, so keep at it. 🙂
Of course it takes them into account. It also takes the high risk Senate Dems as well. John McCain for example faced a fairly well funded primary opponent. His constituents won’t tolerate him undermining the Trump agenda
Right, reaching out to the Manchins on the other side certainly wouldn’t hurt; ditto at risk Dems in red or purple states/districts.
I think it is. We have got to get our agenda through. Wall, Obamacare repeal, tax reform etc we need. We need Betsy to be approved. While it’s all well and good to let the Dems self destruct, we still have clear positive moves to make starting today.
I don’t want to hear the bull that it takes time to craft this legislation. We’ve had 6 years to dream it up. As far as tax and wall these are things we’ve been trying to do repeatedly for decades. Do it now.
As one tiny means of “pushing back”, someone might make T-shirts and Facebook posts with the caption “Not My Puppetma$ter” under a photo of George Soros.
LOL, Love it! I’d buy one of those! 🙂
We submit to these shrieking, deluded minority of the electorate at great peril.
Push back like your liberty is at stake.
It’s also time to remind these GOP politicians that NOT ONE of these shrieking leftist zombies will be voting for them – ever. We might – if they behave.
Excellent point, Fine, the GOP can get a bit deluded and try to pander to the left in some vain hope that they can beat progressives by out-progressiving them. They can’t. Progressives will vote (D) until doomsday (or until the Democrats change their name to better match their actual ideology). Best to remind the GOP of that simple fact.
I realize that some people feel a tremendous need to DO SOMETHING. But, sometime the best thing that you can do is simply sit back an watch people destroy themselves.
The radical left is melting down. As long as they just spew crazy talk, people pretty much ignore them. But, when they set the town on fire, then the vast majority of the citizenry bands together and stops them. Wait for it.
Ordinary people, not members of any organization or identifiable movement banded together in 2016 and elected a barn burning outsider because they were fed up with the Establishment hacks in political office. And, that is where you are going to have to influence peolpe, at the ballot box.
The bulk of the federal elected officials are too deep in the pocket of the Establishment to be affected by public opinion. They have to protect their masters, and that is not the electorate. So, they will stonewall and lie until they are voted out of office. And, it makes NO difference which Party they are a part of. The election of Donald Trump was the first victory in a long bloodless, legal revolution to reclaim this country for the ordinary moderate and conservative citizen. The skirmishes will continue for two years, until the next round of elections. Then we have a chance to win another major battle.
So, simply sit back and let the loons run wild. Every minute of footage of public violence drives more moderates and conservatives into the revolutionary movement. Every minute of footage where local politicians and LE do nothing while the village burns, lessens the chances of those politicians being reelected. But, ordinary people crave stability. They do not want to have to negotiate street battles on their way to drop off the kids at school or pick up a loaf of bread at the market. They view loony demonstrators in a negative light no matter which side they support. I know it is hard for some people to do, but sit back and allow the left to decimate its support. Patience is a virtue.
You will not defeat the progs until you first defeat the GOPe types and those unwilling to dirty their hands.
The battle is on the right side. Win that, and the progs can be defeated.
I see, so we just go to war amongst ourselves and weaken our support, decrease our numbers in Congress, spit into the wind, and then we win?
Let’s see, what kind of candidate do you envision winning these GOPe types’ seats? The seats that were won by those very GOPe types in their own districts and states? There was some overreach with the Tea Party that we would do well to learn from at this stage, but at least the Tea Party knew that we needed numbers, numbers that can be persuaded to stay the course. We have that now. You are advocating tossing historic gains for some kind of purity test that is simply not achievable right now.
That’s some plan, Barry.
But we are at war ‘with ourselves’ – the GOPe is gunning for us. They’re just keeping their powder dry until they feel the time is right for stab Trump (and us) in the back.
McConnell’s big GOP voter ‘achievement’ to date has been to shut down media-whore Screaming Fauxcahontas on the Senate floor. That’ll probably be it for his career.
As for Paul Boehner? Even worse.
The bottom line on this: we need to replace these two clowns. They have NO national support – GOP voters hate them. Only their padded little districts support them.
Replacing Ryan and McConnell in the leadership positions is Trump’s – and our – ticket.
Poor stupid, duped Berri…
You won’t “defeat” anyone when you have Mr. Establishment endorsing them en mass.
Which he certainly DID, for those who deal in reality and have memories longer than a goose.
Barry,
I agree. We have a lot of issues in our own house to correct, and we spend a lot of time shooting ourselves in the foot. But then, I’m not as inclusive as the replies you already got from some who are marching to that inclusiveness one insult at a time.
Poor stupid, duped VaPigman…
You won’t “defeat” anyone when you have Mr. Establishment endorsing them en mass.
Which he certainly DID, for those who deal in reality and have memories longer than a goose.
Now, refute the facts I related, or STFU.
Very true, VaG, we all have your number now (late to the party, but Rags has been right all along).
we own a small business here in Lost Angels…
you smash in the windows and start looting, i’ll start shooting.
we’ll see how brave the thugs are then.
FTS.
“engaging at town halls” The leftist warmongers have already figured this one out. Tom Cotton was just recently escorted from one of his town halls by security because the leftist warmongers were rioting in the streets and attempting to do violence upon him. If memory serves me correctly, there were no arrests. Expect more of the same!