REWIRING THE REPUBLIC · THE FOREWORD | Why I am writing this series, and why now: the repairs are not optional, and it has been done before—in worse weather than this.
Lawrence, this was so well written. I'm old enough to have lived through the 1970's. I actually graduated college in 1971. You described the era perfectly. It was a time of great upheaval. I don't recall however the despair with Nixon as we do with Trump. Even though Nixon hurt the norms, he didn't destroy them. Trump is like a toddler smashing his toys because he's throwing a tantrum. Trump has earned a time out so we can start to repair the mess he's made. Then we have to figure out how to child proof the house. It's a huge task and I hope we are up to it. It looks like a second revolution (hopefully bloodless) is going to take place. One of building guardrails to fit the 21st century made of sturdier stuff than a gentleman's agreement. I think we are up to the task. You have laid it out well here and also injected hope.
Donna, thank you so much for that comment. I really appreciate it. I think we're up to the task too, and I'm excited for the upcoming essays where I start to lay out changes from things that are relatively easy and that we could do right away to much bigger, heavier lifts that are going to require generational organizing for change. Stick with me. I think it's going to be worth it, and it should be a fun ride along the way.
We can make the necessary moves to combat this Trump Radicalized Party. We have to have people in power who will keep their spines steel and make the difficult moves. We have to fight fire with fire, extinguishers, axes … all of it. There are more of us then there are of them.
So I just read this. Incredible. I’ve started reading a book on the civil war, and it’s crazy how those times parallel these. I’m worried about a second civil war. Your article gave me hope. Not Pollyanna wishful thinking. Concrete hope. Thank you.
Thanks, Johnny. I'm so glad to hear that. I think there are a lot of things that we could do quickly that would give us some immediate benefit and impact on the situation we're in. As these essays go on, I'm going to get into the more challenging ones that are going to require an entire political movement behind it.
Thank you so much, Courtney. I appreciate you more than I can say, and I'm glad that you have some hope and optimism. I do too. It's the only thing that keeps me going, and writing this series is helping me re-believe that we have the power in this country to make things better.
lwinner, love this comparison to electrical wiring. I read it and thought of a HS friend who loves the current situation and wonder if this being presented in his language would break through at all. Slim chance of that I reckon, but really enjoyed the read and look forward to seeing more.
As your series gets into proposals/actions that I'm guessing would go to our representatives, how do the ideas get up to that level IYO? I live in a democrat represented area and I'm not seeing any action by senators and representative. Senators are long tenured and have been noticeably quiet thru all the latest offensives. Frustrating.
Lawrence, this was so well written. I'm old enough to have lived through the 1970's. I actually graduated college in 1971. You described the era perfectly. It was a time of great upheaval. I don't recall however the despair with Nixon as we do with Trump. Even though Nixon hurt the norms, he didn't destroy them. Trump is like a toddler smashing his toys because he's throwing a tantrum. Trump has earned a time out so we can start to repair the mess he's made. Then we have to figure out how to child proof the house. It's a huge task and I hope we are up to it. It looks like a second revolution (hopefully bloodless) is going to take place. One of building guardrails to fit the 21st century made of sturdier stuff than a gentleman's agreement. I think we are up to the task. You have laid it out well here and also injected hope.
Donna, thank you so much for that comment. I really appreciate it. I think we're up to the task too, and I'm excited for the upcoming essays where I start to lay out changes from things that are relatively easy and that we could do right away to much bigger, heavier lifts that are going to require generational organizing for change. Stick with me. I think it's going to be worth it, and it should be a fun ride along the way.
We can make the necessary moves to combat this Trump Radicalized Party. We have to have people in power who will keep their spines steel and make the difficult moves. We have to fight fire with fire, extinguishers, axes … all of it. There are more of us then there are of them.
So I just read this. Incredible. I’ve started reading a book on the civil war, and it’s crazy how those times parallel these. I’m worried about a second civil war. Your article gave me hope. Not Pollyanna wishful thinking. Concrete hope. Thank you.
Thanks, Johnny. I'm so glad to hear that. I think there are a lot of things that we could do quickly that would give us some immediate benefit and impact on the situation we're in. As these essays go on, I'm going to get into the more challenging ones that are going to require an entire political movement behind it.
Your pragmatic optimism gives me hope. To say I look forward to following this series would be an understatement.
Thank you so much, Courtney. I appreciate you more than I can say, and I'm glad that you have some hope and optimism. I do too. It's the only thing that keeps me going, and writing this series is helping me re-believe that we have the power in this country to make things better.
lwinner, love this comparison to electrical wiring. I read it and thought of a HS friend who loves the current situation and wonder if this being presented in his language would break through at all. Slim chance of that I reckon, but really enjoyed the read and look forward to seeing more.
As your series gets into proposals/actions that I'm guessing would go to our representatives, how do the ideas get up to that level IYO? I live in a democrat represented area and I'm not seeing any action by senators and representative. Senators are long tenured and have been noticeably quiet thru all the latest offensives. Frustrating.