hi friend! just one thought to share in response to this:
"...even if it’s not yet visible in the way it needs to be." my two cents: i think we are learning from the first trump round. round 1, i would suggest that we reacted, big, without proper strategy or wide-enough alignment, and then splintered and burned out, faster than anyone wanted. my senses and sources are pointing to a different way of moving this time: slower, more intentional, more methodical and strategic. and part of the strategy is not being loud... yet.
that feels right, Lawrence... I think there is a merit to that slowness and certainly to the intentionality. And: I still feel a need to balance that polarity by giving folks outside of movement something to hold on to and begin to orient towards/around. it feels to me like there's a particular moment we are in, and I fear that window will close.
Such “grass roots” or “groundswell” movements are often driven by the shared passion of those involved. Such movements often appear either leaderless or include multiple “leaders”, coordinators or sentinels who proclaim times and places. Lack of political leaders is a common aspect of such people movements…simple, driven humans push the movement along. Tech facilitated communication is like a jungle drum message reaching far and wide as each person bangs their own drum moving the message along.
The “targets” of such movements have no where to hide as they and their evil are exposed. One essential element of such movements is to compassionately engage those who have chosen complicity with evil, helping them to see and trusting they eventually will.
We are gatekeepers helping others find the latch. We are guides with lanterns lighting the way. While the movement may have gathering events to announce the goodness that is coming, it is individuals living lives of love and compassion that energized the movement. Some of us are highly visible—the sentinels, others less so—the gatekeepers and lantern holders.
There's a lot of timely and profound wisdom in this piece. A couple of things I would add: it's true that the Democratic party as a whole is flailing and has been completely caught off guard when it seems that they really should not have been (although I don't know anyone who predicted the precise madness of the Trump-Musk coup). That said, individual Democratic leaders are speaking up, and I think it's important, for the sake of nuance and deeper understanding of the moment, to recognize those efforts, even if they aren't enough to defend us from this onslaught. The other point, which relates to the first, is that maybe we (broadly speaking here and for lack of a more specific term) have been conceiving of democracy as an end state or a set of institutions. I think we are learning in a painful way that it is a process and there is no end destination. We have to work it if we want it to work. That might help us think differently about our tactics and strategies to recognize as AOC says, that authoritarians have *perceived* power, but the real power always rests with the people. And that goes back to the point of this post.
great (and fair!) point Mary thanks for adding that important nuance. I do think Chris Murphy and Pramila Jayapal have been important voices, and you're right that it matters to highlight those who are standing up. I clearly still have some unprocessed anger at how badly the Democratic Party botched this 😬.
and also echo/appreciate democracy-as- process... something we live into everyday.
hi friend! just one thought to share in response to this:
"...even if it’s not yet visible in the way it needs to be." my two cents: i think we are learning from the first trump round. round 1, i would suggest that we reacted, big, without proper strategy or wide-enough alignment, and then splintered and burned out, faster than anyone wanted. my senses and sources are pointing to a different way of moving this time: slower, more intentional, more methodical and strategic. and part of the strategy is not being loud... yet.
that feels right, Lawrence... I think there is a merit to that slowness and certainly to the intentionality. And: I still feel a need to balance that polarity by giving folks outside of movement something to hold on to and begin to orient towards/around. it feels to me like there's a particular moment we are in, and I fear that window will close.
Such “grass roots” or “groundswell” movements are often driven by the shared passion of those involved. Such movements often appear either leaderless or include multiple “leaders”, coordinators or sentinels who proclaim times and places. Lack of political leaders is a common aspect of such people movements…simple, driven humans push the movement along. Tech facilitated communication is like a jungle drum message reaching far and wide as each person bangs their own drum moving the message along.
The “targets” of such movements have no where to hide as they and their evil are exposed. One essential element of such movements is to compassionately engage those who have chosen complicity with evil, helping them to see and trusting they eventually will.
We are gatekeepers helping others find the latch. We are guides with lanterns lighting the way. While the movement may have gathering events to announce the goodness that is coming, it is individuals living lives of love and compassion that energized the movement. Some of us are highly visible—the sentinels, others less so—the gatekeepers and lantern holders.
Go! “Be” love and fuel the movement.
}:- a.m.
There's a lot of timely and profound wisdom in this piece. A couple of things I would add: it's true that the Democratic party as a whole is flailing and has been completely caught off guard when it seems that they really should not have been (although I don't know anyone who predicted the precise madness of the Trump-Musk coup). That said, individual Democratic leaders are speaking up, and I think it's important, for the sake of nuance and deeper understanding of the moment, to recognize those efforts, even if they aren't enough to defend us from this onslaught. The other point, which relates to the first, is that maybe we (broadly speaking here and for lack of a more specific term) have been conceiving of democracy as an end state or a set of institutions. I think we are learning in a painful way that it is a process and there is no end destination. We have to work it if we want it to work. That might help us think differently about our tactics and strategies to recognize as AOC says, that authoritarians have *perceived* power, but the real power always rests with the people. And that goes back to the point of this post.
great (and fair!) point Mary thanks for adding that important nuance. I do think Chris Murphy and Pramila Jayapal have been important voices, and you're right that it matters to highlight those who are standing up. I clearly still have some unprocessed anger at how badly the Democratic Party botched this 😬.
and also echo/appreciate democracy-as- process... something we live into everyday.
Refuse, Repair... Reach?