Right off the bat, I am a Liberal. I am not a progressive. I'm also a 72 year old gay, white male who was first teargassed at 16 years of age during the student strike at San Francisco State College - which led to the formation of the countries' first Black Studies Department. (I was not a student there, I was there for support.)
I am also a Navy Viet Nam Veteran who was able to visit countries throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific at 20 years of age and learned right away the military lingo for the local inhabitants. Every one was dehumanizing for a reason - it's easier to kill a slur than it is to kill a person. Just as it's easier to beat up a 'faggot' than it is a human.
Words and terminology matter a lot. They contain code, they contain dog whistles, they contain concepts and ideas - or horrors. "Weapons of Mass Destruction" had to be one of the most brilliant slogans ever. It conveyed absolute terror without actually saying anything. It was used repeatedly to justify our invasion of Iraq.
"Defund The Police" may have been the stupidest slogan - ever - in the annals of stupid slogans. Like WOMD, it allowed the listener to conjure their own concept of what it meant, instead of conveying an actual message. Black Lives Matter conveys a clear point. Yes, it is used as racist because "All Lives Matter", but, if all lives did matter, so would Black - which, quite obviously in this country. do not.
And on a totally personal note, when our transgender nephew came out to us, my first question to him was "name and pronouns." It was vitally important to recognize that he was not a she and he deserved that respect. People clamoring about pronouns don't even know what they are.
As a white male who happens to be gay, I still have more privilege than a person of color who is straight. My skin color trumps theirs, regardless of my homosexuality. But a gay man of color? It's difficult to get more marginalized. Stonewall is a perfect example of marginalized people finally fighting back. Sometimes, you just have to break decorum. And, yes, sometimes that means working outside of the lines - especially when the lines have been drawn to make it more difficult for you in the first place.
29 members of the Hose have been censured since 1832. Twenty-nine. Al Green speaking out may have been one of the most ludicrous, minor infractions against "decorum" in the history of the word. He did not deserve it. It should never have happened. It was wrong to bring censure, it was wrong to vote for it. Two white women did a helleva lot worse - shouting, heckling and being disruptive... nothing was said. A Black man is censured for speaking the truth? Personally, I see more than a double standard.
We have lost decorum in Congress since its inception. There have been brawls, there have been canings, there have been threats, there has been utter chaos... Yet, somehow, the institution has survived - although this latest assault by the Executive Branch and capitulation by the majority party could spell its demise.
The United States Government is not Corporate America. Yes, there are rules, but just as you can't run the government on the same type of budget you use for a business or your own home, the same sort of rules won't always apply, either.
We need to stand up to power. We need to hold our ground on our principles and what is right. While I do agree with compromise, I'm not willing to go back to a 3/5ths compromise. And, as a gay man, I am not willing to compromise my being to make someone feel more comfortable about who I am.
I hear you, Tim. And just one point - Al Green never actually got censured. To be censured, the formal censure needs to be read - and because of all the Democrats making noise in the well, Mike gaveled end of the session, never read the document, and thus, the censure never "went through".
I agree with the vast majority of what you said -- especially "although this latest assault by the Executive Branch and capitulation by the majority party could spell its demise"
As for all the terminology...I believe in respecting what people are. I have no problem with that. Agreed that "Black Lives Matter" makes sense and "Defund the Police" was ruinous.
I agree that we have to stand up - but I also think we need to know which side people are on.
Thank you for your post. I am one who agrees with you on the use of terminology. I got a lot of flak back when I said the term Defund the Police was going to hurt the party and turns out I was correct. I understand that police reform is important, equality and equity are important, inclusion is important, but these terms have been non stop throw into the face of the public. And I believe people had heard enough and wanted to hear more about how politicians were going to help them personally. I listened to Harris and she said things that would help. I listened to Trump and he said things that would help. But I knew trump was a liar and he his goal was to stay out of jail. He has no interest in helping regular people. Why people listened to him, I don’t know. What I do know is the Democratic Party needs to figure out how to address all people in the party and independents any republicans, who might be swayed. If people, who voted for trump, thinks they got a man for the people they were sorely mistaken for. I don’t know the answers to how to come back from this disaster of an election. The blame game is not the answer. Politicians getting out there to listen, not talk at, to all groups might be a good start
Thank you! When "Defund the Police" was presented to me, someone called me to tell me about it (I hadn't heard of it) to ask if I would help communicate the idea and get people behind it. My response was that it was one of the worst ideas I'd ever heard and would have no part of it. (It's actually in the offensive post I didn't publish.) Your analysis is 100% correct.
The only way to come back from the wilderness is to have HONEST conversations WITHIN the party relating to how we lost the working class, youth, and immigrants (who are now citizens). My idea is that we start with going back to being "liberals" and give up "progressive" terminology. That way, we could focus on values that are important to ALL people. But it would be a hard thing to do.
Obviously our society can not agree to disagree anymore without leveling hateful accusations at us. I've gotten those rediculous remarks as well. None are true. As I said the other day I'm not a 100%er. Being in a party is like a marriage where you don't love everything but you manage to stay in it and muddle through - together. I have my doubts that Dems can do that.
I read your post, and have A TON to say. Starting with "thank you" -- I am only on a short break from my job now, and I will write you a response tonight after work
Per our last exchange, Chrissy is also my rep. I am giving her the grace I would want in this situation. On reflection though, what bothers me the most is the spectacle of a disabled black man expressing a righteous rage in front of the worst and first traitorous President in American history, then being scolded by his colleagues in the middle of a coup. I have no answers, but it sticks in my craw. I want Democrats to FIGHT, not hold up little signs.
Have you seen this? When I look at the pain and the barriers African Americans are facing just to exercise their right to vote, it seems we need to work outside the lines because that’s what we’re up against. If the Democratic Party doesn’t start fighting, we are going to be hard pressed to win another general election. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_XdtAQXnGE
I don't watch videos, but I am VERY well aware about barriers to suffrage. My grandmother went to jail twice in the 19-teens as a suffragette, and I was raised to believe in the criticality of suffrage for EVERYONE.
I have run voter registration drives for decades. I used to keep a "voter registration outpost" in my trunk, back when registration was all paper. I would pull out my card table, and set up. And I did this in places you wouldn't expect to find me because I believe in registering EVERYONE.
If you are interested, every state has at least one organization that registers voters - massive drives, targeted drives. The groups are different by state, because registration laws differ by state. If you want to get involved, let me know which state you live in, and I'll be glad to connect you to resources.
Thank you, I’m in PA, volunteering with local Indivisible while working full time and going to school full time. I’m happy to help when/where I can. This goes back to Kemp and the southern states that are issuing challenges to voters who have voted and lived in the same precinct for decades. Many times without a chance for them to cure their ballots because by the time they receive the mailed notification that their ballot has been challenged, the date to refute the challenge has already passed.
The film centers on a terrible new threat to the right to vote: “Vigilante” challenges by self-appointed vote-fraud hunters, not government officials, who are targeting well over one million to challenge and block the counting of their ballots. Most suspiciously, the vast majority of vigilante targets are young voters and voter of color.
As shown in our trailer (watch below), our film features African-American career officer Maj. Gamaliel Turner whose vote was challenged and blocked by a GOP official who actually dresses up like vigilante Doc Holliday, including loaded six-guns. The Major was challenged because he’d been temporarily assigned by the military to a California based.
Here’s the statistic that should scare all defenders of democracy. Our early “ACLU” version of the film exposed the 88 vigilantes, challenging voters only in Georgia. Now, the Trump-sponsored group True the Vote has gone from 88 vigilantes to over 40,000 “volunteers” in 43 states!
Wish I could do more. Thank you for all you’ve done and continue to do. I appreciate that Chrissy introduced a resolution to censure Boebert. I don’t have much hope that the republicans will apply the same rules to themselves that they do to Dems, but I hope I’m proven wrong. My 2 cents is they always seem to excuse their violation of rules/bad behavior as patriotism & most recently a mandate. They are very hypocritical.
Anything you does MATTERS. Don't underestimate your contributions. And in the dictionary, a group shot of the House GOP is the graphic next to the word "hypocrite". <grin, wink>
You just keep on doing what you have been doing. No matter how noble or justified the cause, destroying due process, including decorum, in any legislative body only leads to destruction of the body's ability to legislate. Hopefully that is not the aim of your critics. Meeting fire with fire produces a conflagration. If that is the purpose, we are undone as a functioning representative government.
And if these are "big words" for some, I apologize, but there is always a dictionary for reference.
My response to a dear friend who is trying, with her best intentions, to move the party to a more palatable position so we lefties can win more elections:
As I have made clear elsewhere, I do find you first wrong.
2nd entitled
3rd missing the point.
America has a majority racist hateful entitled white majority, some of that majority is conservative, others are liberal but both groups are racist, hateful, and entitled.
I would have avoided saying this in a public forum, as you are my friend, but you asked in a public space.
I hate to say it but I see in you the very things I fought against as a county volunteer coordinator in south Florida. Entrenched white folk saying they were interested in having black and young progressives be one active in supporting the party. The thing is, the largest, most reliable voting bloc in the Democratic Party both as percentage of that group (by a huge majority) and in raw numbers compared to any group besides the 30% of white Americans who vote democrat. Maybe it’s time we cede the leadership to black folk and especially black women and instead trying to get them to join our cause, lend our party to join and support their causes.
Most black women I know have suffered nothing but betrayal at the hands of white liberal women.
I hope you will take this with the love it is intended. In my view, a bit like Dr Kings take on white moderates (and yes the landscape has shifted so much that white moderates of the 1960s are the white liberals of the 2020s), but the biggest problem this country has is not toothless rebel rednecks raising rebel flags and red hats. It’s the liberal white folks who stab black and brown people in the back and expect those same people to vote left, and when they don’t, they blame the folks with gapping knife wounds in their backs.
Just wow! You are doing it here. I guess we are back again at that departure point. I know you THINK you mean well, but the harm you do is too great. Goodbye again. I can no more associate with you than my MAGA uncle!!!!
"Most black women I know have suffered nothing but betrayal at the hands of white liberal women."
Based on your comment, it sounds like you're saying she's going to stab Black women in the back because she's a "white liberal woman." (Also, you said "most," not "all.")
The comment above seems counterproductive. How is insulting white people going to help Democrats win elections and make progress for people of color? Yes, Black people have been betrayed, but it is important to have white allies who can help. Civil rights integration would've taken a whole lot longer without Lyndon B. Johnson.
He's been saying the same thing to me for close to 20 years. He condemns white women, but he's a white man, and he never says anything about what white men have done to black men or women. In all these years, he has NEVER been able to cite ONE thing that I have done.
I am a writer and editor who appreciates, and has the patience for, long-form explanatory content. How I miss the deep investigative reporting that high-quality newspapers once provided. Personally, Jessica, I love the way you present information.
But I also understand that, like it or not, the average adult on social media -- where many get their "politics" -- communicate at about a 6th-grade level. I'm not saying they all have the intellects of 6th-graders, just that that seems to be the preferred communication style -- quick hits. So yeah, I do believe we need to communicate with people in the style they need. It concerned me that Kamala had such kind and enlightened policies but persisted in presenting them a notch or two higher than most citizens want to absorb.
You know who does it well? Katie Porter. She's a plain speaker (but not rude like Dump), and she often synthesizes her thoughts down to easy-to-digest graphics. And she'll probably win the Cali gubernatorial because of it.
Not saying that YOUR style needs to change, Jessica, just that Dems also need to offer more of the plain-speak that Dump uses.
Thank you, Jan, for your kind words of appreciation. And I, too, mourn the loss the great newspapers of the past, and especially their Pulitzer Prize winning series and articles.
When I first started this blog, I polled the readers because I'd gotten a little pushback from a few people that anything over what you and I know to be the 500-word threshold was too long to bother with. However, the majority of people wanted the depth.
I don't consider Substack to be social media - it was created FOR long form journalism.
But OH BOY OH BOY OH CHEF-BOY-AR-DI do I agree with the 6th grade level (and I think you're being generous) along with the quick hits. I'm a campaign manager for a local county, running on slate. We are committed to Instagram and TikTok for our outreach to certain types of people (especially young people) because not only won't they read a document, but they also don't read email, they don't read snail mail - so we have to be where they are. Our messaging will be simple, clear and concise. While I can't do anything about the party, we are on it for what our team can do locally. Hope that will filter up.
Katie Porter. AH! Katie Porter. I do love her, especially when she runs the numbers on a white board. It's a crowded field, and we still don't know if Kamala Harris will run. Katie has a lot going for her, the one problem is that "the establishment" is not thrilled that she challenged Adam Schiff. Hopefully, they will have forgotten as the campaigns ramp up, she is certainly the best of those who have announced so far. If Schiff endorses her, she'll have it in the bag.
Ooo, I didn't mean to imply that your Substack is social media. In fact, I'm drawn to Substack because it IS a long-form content option!
But I think Dems in general need to do a better job communicating in a pithy way on their social platforms. Also, I'm here in Chester County, so completely appreciative of all the efforts on the local social sites!
Right off the bat, I am a Liberal. I am not a progressive. I'm also a 72 year old gay, white male who was first teargassed at 16 years of age during the student strike at San Francisco State College - which led to the formation of the countries' first Black Studies Department. (I was not a student there, I was there for support.)
I am also a Navy Viet Nam Veteran who was able to visit countries throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific at 20 years of age and learned right away the military lingo for the local inhabitants. Every one was dehumanizing for a reason - it's easier to kill a slur than it is to kill a person. Just as it's easier to beat up a 'faggot' than it is a human.
Words and terminology matter a lot. They contain code, they contain dog whistles, they contain concepts and ideas - or horrors. "Weapons of Mass Destruction" had to be one of the most brilliant slogans ever. It conveyed absolute terror without actually saying anything. It was used repeatedly to justify our invasion of Iraq.
"Defund The Police" may have been the stupidest slogan - ever - in the annals of stupid slogans. Like WOMD, it allowed the listener to conjure their own concept of what it meant, instead of conveying an actual message. Black Lives Matter conveys a clear point. Yes, it is used as racist because "All Lives Matter", but, if all lives did matter, so would Black - which, quite obviously in this country. do not.
And on a totally personal note, when our transgender nephew came out to us, my first question to him was "name and pronouns." It was vitally important to recognize that he was not a she and he deserved that respect. People clamoring about pronouns don't even know what they are.
As a white male who happens to be gay, I still have more privilege than a person of color who is straight. My skin color trumps theirs, regardless of my homosexuality. But a gay man of color? It's difficult to get more marginalized. Stonewall is a perfect example of marginalized people finally fighting back. Sometimes, you just have to break decorum. And, yes, sometimes that means working outside of the lines - especially when the lines have been drawn to make it more difficult for you in the first place.
29 members of the Hose have been censured since 1832. Twenty-nine. Al Green speaking out may have been one of the most ludicrous, minor infractions against "decorum" in the history of the word. He did not deserve it. It should never have happened. It was wrong to bring censure, it was wrong to vote for it. Two white women did a helleva lot worse - shouting, heckling and being disruptive... nothing was said. A Black man is censured for speaking the truth? Personally, I see more than a double standard.
We have lost decorum in Congress since its inception. There have been brawls, there have been canings, there have been threats, there has been utter chaos... Yet, somehow, the institution has survived - although this latest assault by the Executive Branch and capitulation by the majority party could spell its demise.
The United States Government is not Corporate America. Yes, there are rules, but just as you can't run the government on the same type of budget you use for a business or your own home, the same sort of rules won't always apply, either.
We need to stand up to power. We need to hold our ground on our principles and what is right. While I do agree with compromise, I'm not willing to go back to a 3/5ths compromise. And, as a gay man, I am not willing to compromise my being to make someone feel more comfortable about who I am.
I hear you, Tim. And just one point - Al Green never actually got censured. To be censured, the formal censure needs to be read - and because of all the Democrats making noise in the well, Mike gaveled end of the session, never read the document, and thus, the censure never "went through".
I agree with the vast majority of what you said -- especially "although this latest assault by the Executive Branch and capitulation by the majority party could spell its demise"
As for all the terminology...I believe in respecting what people are. I have no problem with that. Agreed that "Black Lives Matter" makes sense and "Defund the Police" was ruinous.
I agree that we have to stand up - but I also think we need to know which side people are on.
Reading of the censure is not a binding requirement for it to go through. He was censured by the vote. Period.
Thank you for your post. I am one who agrees with you on the use of terminology. I got a lot of flak back when I said the term Defund the Police was going to hurt the party and turns out I was correct. I understand that police reform is important, equality and equity are important, inclusion is important, but these terms have been non stop throw into the face of the public. And I believe people had heard enough and wanted to hear more about how politicians were going to help them personally. I listened to Harris and she said things that would help. I listened to Trump and he said things that would help. But I knew trump was a liar and he his goal was to stay out of jail. He has no interest in helping regular people. Why people listened to him, I don’t know. What I do know is the Democratic Party needs to figure out how to address all people in the party and independents any republicans, who might be swayed. If people, who voted for trump, thinks they got a man for the people they were sorely mistaken for. I don’t know the answers to how to come back from this disaster of an election. The blame game is not the answer. Politicians getting out there to listen, not talk at, to all groups might be a good start
Thank you! When "Defund the Police" was presented to me, someone called me to tell me about it (I hadn't heard of it) to ask if I would help communicate the idea and get people behind it. My response was that it was one of the worst ideas I'd ever heard and would have no part of it. (It's actually in the offensive post I didn't publish.) Your analysis is 100% correct.
The only way to come back from the wilderness is to have HONEST conversations WITHIN the party relating to how we lost the working class, youth, and immigrants (who are now citizens). My idea is that we start with going back to being "liberals" and give up "progressive" terminology. That way, we could focus on values that are important to ALL people. But it would be a hard thing to do.
Obviously our society can not agree to disagree anymore without leveling hateful accusations at us. I've gotten those rediculous remarks as well. None are true. As I said the other day I'm not a 100%er. Being in a party is like a marriage where you don't love everything but you manage to stay in it and muddle through - together. I have my doubts that Dems can do that.
I hope we can muddle through TOGETHER - and I agree it's a hard lift. As is marriage.
My comments turned into a blog post. https://kasselpjc.substack.com/p/response-to-not-the-offensive-post
I read your post, and have A TON to say. Starting with "thank you" -- I am only on a short break from my job now, and I will write you a response tonight after work
No worries! Just wanted to make you aware that your post provoked my own opinions. :)
Conversation is the start to action.
Per our last exchange, Chrissy is also my rep. I am giving her the grace I would want in this situation. On reflection though, what bothers me the most is the spectacle of a disabled black man expressing a righteous rage in front of the worst and first traitorous President in American history, then being scolded by his colleagues in the middle of a coup. I have no answers, but it sticks in my craw. I want Democrats to FIGHT, not hold up little signs.
I think you'll like Chrissy's next move.
Just saw that. I do!!
Have you seen this? When I look at the pain and the barriers African Americans are facing just to exercise their right to vote, it seems we need to work outside the lines because that’s what we’re up against. If the Democratic Party doesn’t start fighting, we are going to be hard pressed to win another general election. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_XdtAQXnGE
I don't watch videos, but I am VERY well aware about barriers to suffrage. My grandmother went to jail twice in the 19-teens as a suffragette, and I was raised to believe in the criticality of suffrage for EVERYONE.
I have run voter registration drives for decades. I used to keep a "voter registration outpost" in my trunk, back when registration was all paper. I would pull out my card table, and set up. And I did this in places you wouldn't expect to find me because I believe in registering EVERYONE.
If you are interested, every state has at least one organization that registers voters - massive drives, targeted drives. The groups are different by state, because registration laws differ by state. If you want to get involved, let me know which state you live in, and I'll be glad to connect you to resources.
Thank you, I’m in PA, volunteering with local Indivisible while working full time and going to school full time. I’m happy to help when/where I can. This goes back to Kemp and the southern states that are issuing challenges to voters who have voted and lived in the same precinct for decades. Many times without a chance for them to cure their ballots because by the time they receive the mailed notification that their ballot has been challenged, the date to refute the challenge has already passed.
The film centers on a terrible new threat to the right to vote: “Vigilante” challenges by self-appointed vote-fraud hunters, not government officials, who are targeting well over one million to challenge and block the counting of their ballots. Most suspiciously, the vast majority of vigilante targets are young voters and voter of color.
As shown in our trailer (watch below), our film features African-American career officer Maj. Gamaliel Turner whose vote was challenged and blocked by a GOP official who actually dresses up like vigilante Doc Holliday, including loaded six-guns. The Major was challenged because he’d been temporarily assigned by the military to a California based.
Here’s the statistic that should scare all defenders of democracy. Our early “ACLU” version of the film exposed the 88 vigilantes, challenging voters only in Georgia. Now, the Trump-sponsored group True the Vote has gone from 88 vigilantes to over 40,000 “volunteers” in 43 states!
THANK YOU for all you are doing. It matters, it really does.
Wish I could do more. Thank you for all you’ve done and continue to do. I appreciate that Chrissy introduced a resolution to censure Boebert. I don’t have much hope that the republicans will apply the same rules to themselves that they do to Dems, but I hope I’m proven wrong. My 2 cents is they always seem to excuse their violation of rules/bad behavior as patriotism & most recently a mandate. They are very hypocritical.
Anything you does MATTERS. Don't underestimate your contributions. And in the dictionary, a group shot of the House GOP is the graphic next to the word "hypocrite". <grin, wink>
You just keep on doing what you have been doing. No matter how noble or justified the cause, destroying due process, including decorum, in any legislative body only leads to destruction of the body's ability to legislate. Hopefully that is not the aim of your critics. Meeting fire with fire produces a conflagration. If that is the purpose, we are undone as a functioning representative government.
And if these are "big words" for some, I apologize, but there is always a dictionary for reference.
Thanks, Unc. Really, thanks!
My response to a dear friend who is trying, with her best intentions, to move the party to a more palatable position so we lefties can win more elections:
As I have made clear elsewhere, I do find you first wrong.
2nd entitled
3rd missing the point.
America has a majority racist hateful entitled white majority, some of that majority is conservative, others are liberal but both groups are racist, hateful, and entitled.
I would have avoided saying this in a public forum, as you are my friend, but you asked in a public space.
I hate to say it but I see in you the very things I fought against as a county volunteer coordinator in south Florida. Entrenched white folk saying they were interested in having black and young progressives be one active in supporting the party. The thing is, the largest, most reliable voting bloc in the Democratic Party both as percentage of that group (by a huge majority) and in raw numbers compared to any group besides the 30% of white Americans who vote democrat. Maybe it’s time we cede the leadership to black folk and especially black women and instead trying to get them to join our cause, lend our party to join and support their causes.
Most black women I know have suffered nothing but betrayal at the hands of white liberal women.
I hope you will take this with the love it is intended. In my view, a bit like Dr Kings take on white moderates (and yes the landscape has shifted so much that white moderates of the 1960s are the white liberals of the 2020s), but the biggest problem this country has is not toothless rebel rednecks raising rebel flags and red hats. It’s the liberal white folks who stab black and brown people in the back and expect those same people to vote left, and when they don’t, they blame the folks with gapping knife wounds in their backs.
You have not given ONE example of ANYTHING I have EVER done to betray black women. NOT ONE. You condemn me only because I am white.
Just wow! You are doing it here. I guess we are back again at that departure point. I know you THINK you mean well, but the harm you do is too great. Goodbye again. I can no more associate with you than my MAGA uncle!!!!
"Most black women I know have suffered nothing but betrayal at the hands of white liberal women."
Based on your comment, it sounds like you're saying she's going to stab Black women in the back because she's a "white liberal woman." (Also, you said "most," not "all.")
The comment above seems counterproductive. How is insulting white people going to help Democrats win elections and make progress for people of color? Yes, Black people have been betrayed, but it is important to have white allies who can help. Civil rights integration would've taken a whole lot longer without Lyndon B. Johnson.
He's been saying the same thing to me for close to 20 years. He condemns white women, but he's a white man, and he never says anything about what white men have done to black men or women. In all these years, he has NEVER been able to cite ONE thing that I have done.
WAIT. WUT.
He's a white man?
WOW. Just...WOW.
I am a writer and editor who appreciates, and has the patience for, long-form explanatory content. How I miss the deep investigative reporting that high-quality newspapers once provided. Personally, Jessica, I love the way you present information.
But I also understand that, like it or not, the average adult on social media -- where many get their "politics" -- communicate at about a 6th-grade level. I'm not saying they all have the intellects of 6th-graders, just that that seems to be the preferred communication style -- quick hits. So yeah, I do believe we need to communicate with people in the style they need. It concerned me that Kamala had such kind and enlightened policies but persisted in presenting them a notch or two higher than most citizens want to absorb.
You know who does it well? Katie Porter. She's a plain speaker (but not rude like Dump), and she often synthesizes her thoughts down to easy-to-digest graphics. And she'll probably win the Cali gubernatorial because of it.
Not saying that YOUR style needs to change, Jessica, just that Dems also need to offer more of the plain-speak that Dump uses.
Thank you, Jan, for your kind words of appreciation. And I, too, mourn the loss the great newspapers of the past, and especially their Pulitzer Prize winning series and articles.
When I first started this blog, I polled the readers because I'd gotten a little pushback from a few people that anything over what you and I know to be the 500-word threshold was too long to bother with. However, the majority of people wanted the depth.
I don't consider Substack to be social media - it was created FOR long form journalism.
But OH BOY OH BOY OH CHEF-BOY-AR-DI do I agree with the 6th grade level (and I think you're being generous) along with the quick hits. I'm a campaign manager for a local county, running on slate. We are committed to Instagram and TikTok for our outreach to certain types of people (especially young people) because not only won't they read a document, but they also don't read email, they don't read snail mail - so we have to be where they are. Our messaging will be simple, clear and concise. While I can't do anything about the party, we are on it for what our team can do locally. Hope that will filter up.
Katie Porter. AH! Katie Porter. I do love her, especially when she runs the numbers on a white board. It's a crowded field, and we still don't know if Kamala Harris will run. Katie has a lot going for her, the one problem is that "the establishment" is not thrilled that she challenged Adam Schiff. Hopefully, they will have forgotten as the campaigns ramp up, she is certainly the best of those who have announced so far. If Schiff endorses her, she'll have it in the bag.
Ooo, I didn't mean to imply that your Substack is social media. In fact, I'm drawn to Substack because it IS a long-form content option!
But I think Dems in general need to do a better job communicating in a pithy way on their social platforms. Also, I'm here in Chester County, so completely appreciative of all the efforts on the local social sites!