Is reality settling in yet?

[lees1975]

We do realize that the longer Trump continues in office, the more damage he will do, and the more time he will have to secure his position inside the White House, preventing his eventual exit, under any circumstances, don't we?

We realize that the lack of panic the GOP seems to be showing over the slowly approaching mid-term elections is due to the fact that they, and Trump, have put a plan in place long ago to prevent Democrats from taking Congress back, even if they overwhelmingly blow the GOP out of the water, though that doesn't look likely. There will be stolen votes, fraudulent vote counts, failure to certify accurate ballot returns and if none of that works, along with the gerrymandering, they will use force and violence to keep the elected majority from office?

We realize that the longer Trump is in the White House, the greater the risk that this country will be infiltrated by Russia or China, or both, and that when they get their hands on our nuclear codes, it's over?

We do understand that some mythical percentage of 3% of the population becoming engaged in protests bringing about real political change will be as completely ignored by these Republicans and Trump as he is ignoring the marches and protests now, right?

Welcome to my mood today.

[Christian255]

1. Reality Sucks

I think you're correct with your points. I don't see the protest % working for us here. The research shows that when just 3.5% of a population sustains active resistance, authoritarian regimes usually fall. However, that research comes from tiny countries, and America is anything but tiny.

Where the 3.5% Rule Actually Worked
- Lebanon's Cedar Revolution: 4 million people packed into 4,000 square miles
- Georgia's Rose Revolution: 3.7 million people in 26,000 square miles
- Philippines' People Power: Resistance concentrated in Manila's metro area

All these successful movements happened in countries smaller than most U.S. states, where protesters could physically converge in one capital city and literally surround government buildings. These protests ran 24/7 for days or weeks.

America's Scale Problem
- 330 million people spread across 3.8 million square miles
- Even 3.5% participation = 12 million Americans
- Those 12 million would scatter across 50 states in hundreds of cities
- 200,000 protesters in D.C. becomes a rounding error the feds can ignore. Not sure how we can get 12 million to DC...for days or weeks.

Small countries have one capital where all power concentrates. America has federal power distributed across 3.8 million square miles - no single protest location can shut down the system.

We need more talk about what's really happening to our country so we can come up with solutions that might actually work.

[bigtree]

2. the only thing worse than a small amount of political activism

...is no political activism.

Those efforts intend to rally others to join in and do the same; basically the essential essence of ANY political effort is individual action as part of a coalition.

It's a binary political system, made all the more stark by one party determined to end democracy and every advance we've made in the 20th century as they lock up and quell all dissent with our military forces we pay for while they rob our treasury, govt. contracts, and trade on their positions...

...and the other party, which people may have some quibble with in a majority, but nonetheless will actually get attention and response from Dems, and wouldn't find themselves at the point of an administration colluding with their justice dept. to punish their political enemies and people who prosecute them while their masked thugs snatch people off of the street.

It's not about the quibbles___ it's about the fascism; the evisceration of government, itself, and the ability of us to even argue about these issues and advance our concerns in a democratic system of legislative government.

It's a fucking no-brainer in this binary political system

Elect Democrats, period. Simple.