The Direction We're Going In Won't Change Until We Fire Up The US Majority
Gun Deaths In Schools & Society Will Continue To Increase
This morning’s news coverage is more outrage about children getting shot. Again. And more school staff. Just more shootings. There are so many that there’s technically a mass shooting pretty much every day in the US.
One family who was just in a mass shooting in Michigan found themselves in Tennessee this week when another mass shooting happened:
Even though the majority of Americans don’t want this level of gun availability, the government can’t change it because we’re deadlocked.
We’re deadlocked in large part because we’re not operating like a full democracy — the minority party has absolutely incredible power.
We — the majority of voters — could overwhelm that minority power by turning out an unprecedented, enormous voter turnout in the next big election.
To do that, we would need to do unprecedented things to grab the attention of people and to make sure they vote.
We’d need to get them inspired enough to not stay home, and to go out of their way to get involved even just by voting in this struggling democracy.
Voters aren’t not thusly inspired now. And we’re not trying yet to get spectacular numbers of voters out. We haven’t tried all the things. We’ve been continuing politics as normal, even though everything has changed.
I maintain that we could get enough voters to overwhelm two huge minority party protections: the Electoral College in the presidential election, and the filibuster mechanism that currently requires 60 votes instead of 50 to pass legislation in the US Senate. The majority coalition of Americans could get more than 62 Senators elected if we really went all out… especially in rural states. (Sixty-two because at least two Democrats don’t want to overturn the filibuster).
We haven’t tried that.
In most rural areas, the Democratic party and any allies haven’t been super hyper active in recent years. Active, yes. Not over the top.
In many states, any significant opposition to the growing extremism of the MAGA crowd has just given up. One reader of this Substack regularly tells me that “it’s impossible” for Democrats to win in rural states.
Well, yeah, if we give it up and walk away… it is impossible.
If we don’t even try… it is impossible.
Or… we could decide to go all out, raise holy heck, form bigger alliances, build incredible and unprecedented solidarity, drive media coverage, pressure and partner with businesses, work all of our social networks, and try to truly deeply motivate the American majority to choose a different path.
We could change our moral bearing. We could reinvigorate our American vision. Our American dream.
We could inspire Americans to believe in things they haven’t seen much hope for — or that they haven’t seen people fighting for, together. We could do that.
We could break the gridlock hold of the minority party power.
The mostly pale MAGA crowd that the Republican party has evolved into is pushing against majority wins with everything it’s got. They’re going to continue to, because if the true majority of Americans turns out to vote… their time in the sun is done. Minority protections like the Senate filibuster could be removed.
The majority of Americans want education, history, public health, healthcare, science, equity, functional government, economic resilience, decent wages, climate action, investment in actual Americans and American communities, diversity, inclusion, taking care of humans, and so on. The majority of Americans don’t want a culture war and a culture of hate, bigotry, and intolerance.
We can collectively convince Americans that we can get to the amazing, beautiful things that a thriving, flourishing society needs. We have to fight through cynicism. We have to explain the stakes. We have to fight with emotions. We have to tell all the stories. We have to drive the narratives. We have to be proactive and aggressive… not reactive and defensive.
We can be.
We can help each other get there.
You can help. Sign up for one of our events where we’re fixing to ramp this kind of thing up. We’re shooting for some big ruckus, noise, kerfuffle, buzz, and fuss this summer to get started.
We’re not powerless. We can help each other use our power and our voices for big change.
Giving up and giving in is what the persistent onslaught of godawful, bigoted laws does. Giving up is what the MAGA-driven culture war pushes.
We. Can. Shift. This. Country.
Let’s get to it.
Preach
It's in our power...if we have the will. There's a part for each of us to play. We have to build momentum. It's time to show up and pitch in. Thanks, Vanessa!