Have you ever been picked on by a bully or bullies? Have you ever had friends that were all picked on by the same bullies? If you have, you might see some behavior at this site that fits what happens when you all are picked on by the same bullies.
It goes something like this. When you are really far away from the bullies, you all talk a mean game about how you would defeat them in battle. There's probably a fantasy element in it, whether or not you played any type of game. It's easy to be tough when there is no one around.
On the other hand, when the bullies are close, do you stand together? No. Instead, you turn on each other. Some of you have shied away before you even got near to school. With your heads down, you attempt to disappear, hoping they won't notice you. Which obviously doesn't work. The other members, thinking they are brave, spends all their time yelling at the first group about how they would do it differently. But they don't. Their excuse is that they can't do it alone. But that's not bravery they think they have.
What is going on at DK right now is the same thing. There is one group we should be working together to deal with: The Republicans. Instead, we're fighting with each other. I will admit, I don't like the fighting. When I have to here in Texas, when I just cannot take the lies anymore, my heart races to about 130bpm just standing there reciting facts. I'm not sure what I would do if someone physically approached me.
But yelling at me, or anyone on this site, does not make you brave. It's easy to argue with people you mostly agree with, because supposedly we have so much in common that just one more argument will turn the other person. But to what? To agreeing with you 99.9% rather than 99.8%? We already have a lot in common.
We have to fight the Republicans. And this site, unlike almost any other site, has to become a place where we learn how to fight the Republicans. I should be able to come here and find facts about what the Republicans are doing, and what they have done over the past 40 years to destroy our country. I should be hearing stories about how someone successfully defeated a Republican lie. I should be hearing about people trying to get elected to school boards, mayors, state legislatures, Congress, and the President that plan on advancing Democratic and Liberal goals. And I should hear about how we were defeated, if we could have won it, and if so, what went wrong. I want to know about the kinds of people that I should donate my meager money to.
The last 30 years have been rough on liberalism. We have lost elections to people that get voted into government by proclaiming they hate government. They are elected by people who hate unions and rail against them during their paid sick days while their 14 year old is at school rather than in a mine. They drive across a bridge complaining about how government is spending their money on infrastructure rather than allowing the people to keep it. People rail against government in their medicare, and eat steak at a restaurant while complaining about all of the rules set by the FDA. It doesn't make sense, and I need help telling these people what they don't seem to understand. We all need to be talking about this and figuring out how to talk about this.
I believe most people here love this country for what it could be. At our highest we have the best dreams, the best ideals, and the best people. We are far more tolerant than any other people. We allow people to succeed. We are responsible for each other. And we understand that just because something is hard to do is no reason to not try. The selfish money grabbers on the right have spent 30 years weakening that and weakening us. We have to work together to make it better.