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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 13:03:30 JST Paul Cantrell

   If you think only those 8 Democrats in the Senate who actually cast votes to cave supported the Schumer plan, you’re hopelessly naive.

   And if you think •all• the Democrats in the Senate (or everywhere) secretly supported it, wow are you ever naive.

   And if you think elected officials of any stripe are the ones who are going to save us…hoo boy.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 13:04:20 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     But if you think that the Democratic party is a fractured and messy coalition that’s going through a genuine internal crisis over whether to be an opposition party, and the party needs to figure that out while •we• take the lead on forming an opposition…well, then, we can talk.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 13:07:47 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Even the most radical-minded regularly fall into the trap of thinking that politicians are leaders. (It’s an easy trap; we call them “leaders” all the time.) I’ve been seeing a lot of that thinking in the complaints in my TL the last couple of days.

     Politicians are always lagging indicators of change. They can be a tool of change, they can help systematize change, but they rarely •cause• it.

     Politicians follow. People lead.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 13:12:04 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I’ve seen posts about how Democratic politicians have to be “punished” and then they’ll shape up — even one horrifying post basically arguing that we need a couple more years of fully materialized fascism to reform our political system.

     My dude…this “people will wake up when it’s bad enough” trope doesn’t work. It’s never worked. It’s been failing spectacularly my whole life — and if one Trump term didn’t do it…what will? And how many people’s lives will be destroyed along the way?

     That thinking will kill us all.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 13:17:05 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Please complain about Schumer and his cohort. Please light a fire under all the politicians.

     But…please also look for work you can do that doesn’t center around elections. Start local. Help people. Throw sand in the gears. Whatever it is, do work that counts.

     Create a context in which there •has• to be an anti-fascist opposition party, because that’s the work so many people are already doing.

     /end

   • Embed this notice
     Jeff Miller (orange hatband) (jmeowmeow@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 13-Nov-2025 14:35:46 JST Jeff Miller (orange hatband)

     in reply to

     @inthehands Be more present and insistent in what you ask than the lobbyists who are daily present in the representatives' attention.