If you’re discouraged about the election results
Don’t be. You’re hearing media do what it does: harp on one person’s lack of enthusiasm and make it seem that that one opinion is held by thousands.
This race went precisely as I thought it would. Precisely.
And it was absolutely a massive success.
So let me tell you why, so that you feel better and can easily put down the annoying crowing that republicans are going to do, because they managed to cling to a few things.
If the votes fall as I believe they will, the democrats will have retaken the house by some 30 seats. This is impressive and somewhat unique in our country’s history. The GOP, upon taking the house originally, jerrimandered these districts in impressively screwball ways. Wherever that rigging has been overturned, the districts have gone blue. Which is, of course, why they did it. Democrats have the house now, 30ish flips in republican rugged districts. 15 of those being female candidates.
That is absolutely impressive.
A few key candidates to whom many people were paying close attention did not perform as people desired. Abrams, O’Rourke, Gillum. Well…I’m not surprised. Abrams faces absolute state wide fraud. Her opponent being the person also in charge of voter registration, withholding some 50k votes of which 70% were black. Voter intimidation. This is blatant corruption. And yet still…her race was very close. So too with Beto. Ted Crews was a presidential candidate! When he took Texas, he did so with a wide margin. Last night in Texas he was fighting tooth and nail. Gillum’s goobenatorial race for Florida was a figurative dead heat. 99% of the vote in—49% Gillum, 49.7% DeSantis. These are CLASSICALLY and FULLY republican regions in which Trump took the presidency by huge margins. That these races, with all those challenges, were as close as they were PROVES that something unprecedented happened.
3-400% voter turnout increases for a midterm election. Mostly with the youth.
But let’s talk about what it means to have the house.
Now I know you’re probably concerned about the federal judgeships that are about to pop up for consideration, and it’s true that the Senate was needed to stop approvals of those candidates, but…
Control of the house means that Democrats now take hold of some critical committees. These committees are the very ones that will be overseeing corruption allegations. Ways and Means, energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Intelligence, appropriations, foreign affairs, armed services, judiciary, transportation and infrastructure, and…government reform.
How do you feel now?
The worst political fallout of a GOP controlled government, the worst sound bites that weren’t Trump’s, the worst slaps across the face? All came from footage of those very same committees. Those committees now belong to Democrats.
Massive policy shifts also occurred in many classically conservative states—legalizing marijuana votes, Florida giving the vote back to former criminals who’ve served their time thus giving the vote back to a HUGE portion of the African-American Community that has been held in check by a racist and classicist policing method, then there were upsets in many small ways too.
I promise you…this is all excellent and it will have truly important and forceful impact. In 2020, if we can keep that same enthusiasm and rage, the entire government will shift. But that can only happen if we keep moving forward, if the candidates who won keep their noses to the grindstone and push back hard, if you and I and everyone on the ground continues to talk about this and force out bigots and greed.
Do not be discouraged. I promise you…this was an amazing election. Don’t focus on a few bright stars and think that all is lost because they fell. There is a great deal happening here, and one thing I know from being at sea—when a wave is building, there is first a terrifying shift, as the water level begins to build. The ship will begin to dip and then of a sudden, the swell will begin. The ship raises and passengers suddenly realize that the were much higher than before, with an incredible view. Then the wave crests and destroys what’s in its path.
We didn’t see a wave crest tonight. So what. That means it’s a much larger wave than we realized. It will crest in the future. But only if that fluid pressure is maintained.
This is good. It is. So long as everyone keeps working. This is good.
Calm down. Have a glass of champagne. A cup of tea. When they Trumpet all their noise…say nothing. Nothing needs to be said. You’re higher than you were with an excellent view of the ending. So relax. Don’t fret.
Listen to Simon, y’all. Simon is wise.
I was gonna write all of this, but it’s easier to reblog it. And in addition all that Simon said, the house is necessary for legislation. The ACA is safe, along with many other things. Plus the house and senate are both needed for budget approval. Also importantly, it is the HOUSE that initiates impeachment proceedings. Now, personally, I would prefer if Trump was voted out, but that’s secondary to two more years of damage. So it’s likely that his tax records will be subpoenaed and the results of the Mueller investigation can actually be acted on now. I’m not saying that this is like an immediate thing that’ll happen, I’m just saying it’s possible now whereas before it wasn’t. Conviction is another story, but you don’t need the senate to impeach.
PLUS! Voter turnout was the highest it’s ever been. People are piiiiissed, and the presidential election and time since then has obviously been a wake up for previously unengaged voters.
Yes. All that is true.
Absolutely true. The house has tremendous power. What you’re seeing as actually the best possible result short of every Dem winning. This means that power can now be consolidated and things done properly. It means that we have the ability to lay siege. Even better, they cannot stop it. They’re stuck with it.
So Trump will do his peacock dance and lie and lie and lie.
Good.
The more he lies the angrier people get.
Let your enemy do what they do best…be an intolerable asshole who will recruit your companions for you.
The worst men are only ever be undone by themselves. They build defenses, they gather resources, they become complacent and proud. Then they alienate and offend. And then they lie. That’s when the enemies they’ve made find tiny weak spots and begin to chip away. That’s when massive holes open. That’s how sieges are won.
Keep pushing.
Plus, Beto O’Rourke may not be a Senator but he’s still a Congressman. A Democratic Congressman in a Democratic-controlled House. He did brilliantly in the Senate race and he’s not out of the equation by a longshot.
Hold firm. Keep pushing. Stay angry. Get more voters. Change is coming if we make it happen. And we can.
Also, give money to the ACLU Foundation because we need to sue Kemp for corruption.
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