Hey. Look at me. Please leave yourself a note somewhere you’ll see it later that says “it is going to take years if not decades to get the United States government to the level of functionality it had in November of 2024.” If we elect a democrat in 2028, we are not going to be up and running by 2032.
Please make sure you have a reminder in your phone reminding you to not look at 2028/32/36 Democratic candidates and say “why are they not promising/delivering Cool Shit?” because you are going to understand that to get Cool Shit we must have competent people running a decently funded government, and we are not going to have that.
We are not getting UBI. We are not getting single payer healthcare. We are not getting free college or free preschool. We are not redistributing wealth on a large scale. We are not getting free internet. We are not getting ranked choice voting.
If we are lucky, we are going to get an IRS that can collect taxes, qualified schoolteachers, research grants, Social Security, and a government that thinks maybe it should be a priority for people around the worlds to not have AIDS, malaria or TB.
To be clear, I don’t mean we should forget or take our eyes off the ultimate long-term goals of getting Cool Shit, but to get there, we’re gonna have to support things like “half-measures” and “small steps” and “not tearing down people who won’t get us all the way there” and “understanding that they are starting from the basement basically because every government institution is being decimated”
I’m afraid that the average, “non-political” person doesn’t really understand this (and that’s the point of your post!) The average “not-political” person doesn’t even have a basic understanding of majorities or what a party can do or not do, or what checks and balances are supposed to do. It’s just “we elected Democrats to make things better and they’re not doing it! Both parties are the same!™” So then they either don’t vote the next election, or vote for Republicans.
And because they’re “not political,” they haven’t been paying enough attention to have observed over the past 50 years or so that the last thing that Republicans want to do is make anything “better” for anyone but the Billionaire Class, and that allowing Republicans to have any kind of majority will prevent Democrats from actually being able to do anything to “make anything better,” or even slow their roll very much. But not being “political” is seen as a badge of honor by a lot of people in this fucking country for some reason.
Sorry, this response is coming from exasperation of like 25 years of watching this vicious cycle keep happening. And I know it’s been ongoing for longer than that.