How do we get it to stop?

voting matters... every time, everyone who can vote needs to vote. donate or send texts, keep up what is happening.. raise kids who vote.

Pramila Jayapal, my representative, who has a trans child, has introduced federal legislation to protect trans rights. I believe she has introduced it before, however, so I don't know that "vote" and "call your reps" is enough.

It seems to me we need a mechanism for response, a way to say, "That's not true" when republicans float their nonsense. It seems like MTG and Boebert say something unfounded and it fritters across the airways, unobstructed. A certain slice of society is going to believe whatever is coughed up in front of them, especially if there is no one saying, "That's not true" or "Provide proof" or "Where is the citation for this information?" I get that time spent challenging false statements of energy that should be used for making positive policy changes, but damn, unchallenged statements become the "accepted truth" pretty darn fast.

It could be someone's entire job, responding to republican falsehoods and pointing out inconsistencies. Better yet, let's make it two people's jobs: one from each side of the aisle.

She is also my rep as you know. I had no idea that she had a trans child. We need more of her in Congress.

To the OP, I too feel like we're just spiraling downward, at an increasing speed. Every time I think it just cannot get worse, it does. It is heartbreakingly frustrating.

I was so proud of KING5 for turning off trumps speech on Tuesday night (he came on during our 5pm newscast) after about 2 minutes. It was clear he was just going to spout out and out lies, and they had had enough. His BS should not be promoted on mainstream media. I hope other local news stations (throughout the country) did the same.

Elections matter at every level including local town elections, school boards etc. What is happening in Tennessee and Kansas is really discouraging. There is a little hope that Wisconsin elected a Democratic judge who might help overturn the extreme Republican gerrymandered districts. The students protesting in Tennesseee is encouraging, too. And the Biden Administration is considering a rule change under title 9 forbidding outright bans on transgender athletes. It's not perfect and does not protect students at every level, but it's certainly an improvement over the bans passed in 20 plus states.

www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/us/transgender-athletes-title-ix-biden-adminstration.html

The Biden administration proposed a rule change on Thursday that would forbid schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes from teams that are consistent with their gender identities, but offered flexibility for “fairness” and other exceptions that are likely to apply at the highest levels of competition.

Weighing in on the highly charged debate about transgender athletes and school sports, the Biden administration’s proposal would make “categorically” banning all transgender students from teams that are consistent with their gender identities a violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding.

But it would also allow K-12 schools and universities to limit the participation of transgender students when including them could undermine “fairness in competition” or potentially lead to sports-related injuries.

And those moderate Democrats or persons who all of a sudden become a Democrat and then once voted in, switch back to Republican.

I've been wondering this as well. What I notice particularly at the local level is that Democrats are always on the defense. The Republican groups come up with their next complaint/area to focus on and then people have to try to refute what they are saying. It is often so illogical or ridiculous that many people blow it off because how could people actually think that? Kind of like when the talk about CRT first started. Democrats responded with the logical response that CRT isn't taught in K-12 schools, end of story. But in reality the Republicans have changed the definition of CRT to suit their agenda. They are very good at getting their people to fall in line with the rhetoric and they don't second guess what they are told.  Republicans are very good at stoking fear in people and sticking to their message.  It is harder to do that when you are the party that is trying to counter that and have to wait to see what they do next.  

I feel like state legislatures are also getting more brazen lately. Not only with the laws that they are proposing or putting into place, but their actions meant to stifle Democrats. Last night I was on Tik Tok and saw several posts from people regarding actions being taken in their states. I think it was North Carolina that put into place a rule that Democrats had to have 15 signatures on a green piece of paper in order to bring a bill forward. The rep said that he had several times where someone said they would be the 15th if they got the other signatures needed first. What kind of crap is that?  I think it was in Arizona where someone who just won their election as a Democrat has now stated that they are going to switch to Republican.  Again...what kind of crap is that?  (I could also be wrong on the states because it was late when I watched those videos). 

We do need to continue to vote for Democrats, and urge others to do the same. But we also need to figure out how to get people to see what the Republican party is actually doing and what is happening to our democracy. I hope that in the next election enough people will wake up and let these people know that their time is up. But I fear for what damage they will continue to do until then.

I think it is going to take a movement of people who are generally nonvoters or people who don't often vote to step up and say enough. I saw on some show today that a huge influx of college voters made a difference this last Tuesday.

A very few states have started to do this.  In most states, I think it would require a ballot measure to change redistricting.  Not surprisingly, Republicans are trying to make it harder to have ballot measures.  


heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

Meanwhile, Republican-dominated states are so determined to ignore the majority they are also trying to make it harder for voters to challenge state laws through ballot initiatives. Alice MIranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly of Politico recently wrote about how, after voters in a number of states overrode abortion bans through ballot initiatives, legislatures in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma are now debating ways to make it harder for voters to get measures on the ballot, sometimes even specifying that abortion-related measures are not eligible for ballot challenges.

And yet, in the face of the open attempt of a minority to seize control, replacing our democracy with Christian nationalism, the majority is reasserting its power. In Michigan, after an independent redistricting commission redrew maps to end the same sort of gerrymandering that is currently in place in Wisconsin and Tennessee, Democrats in 2022 won a slim majority to control the state government. And today, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a bill revoking a 1931 law that criminalized abortion without exception for rape or incest.

This. An alarming number of Americans don’t bother to vote. I don’t understand it.

Here’s an example of GOP reactions to an election loss. For those who don’t know, Dems just won a bitterly fought state SC seat in Wisconsin this week. Here is former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker analyzing that loss, and his reaction to it.








He is President of this foundation. I googled it, and the foundation is a cofounder of CPAC. 👀👀

So Scott thinks that young people can be turned around. Read the thread; it’s pretty funny.


Lol. The charisma is over the top.

AMEN!!!!!

I fear it will take violence. It seems to be headed in that direction.