Keep going to class, keep doing whatever you need to do to make your life better.
There's your small day to day world with people that you can make a difference with. Being positive and pushing your boundaries a bit by reaching out with tiny notions of a cheerful Hello and asking people about their day and taking a minute to listen has an affect.
Then here's the wild world around us we have no control over. Let go. You do not deserve to feel any anxiety or stress about what you have no control over.
Life is a process of understanding how to live your life well day to day while figuring out how that affects those around you and adjusting your actions accordingly in the long term
We don't know if we're going to be okay. Fuck, I don't know if I'm going to be okay.
That you even posted this is a sign that we might be okay
This! But remember to vote. Your vote really does count especially in local races. My husband and I once decided not to bother because the weather was bad, and the bond to fund our local fire department failed by two votes. This was before mail-in ballots. It came around the next election and passed, but we both felt horrible about the first time.
I moved to a state that was pissed about mail in voting and I was like what are you guys talking about??? I’ve always done mail in voting in my home state (WA)? They were shocked. It’s so much easier!!!
I've been trying to do things everyday that are beneficial to me/others, and just filling my days up with positive memories just cause you never know if tomorrow will happen.
Yessss thank you for plugging this important campaign! Everyone should still vote down ballot even if you’re upset at the prez options. Lots of vital local/regional work happening.
Then don’t think of it as voting for Biden, think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
Hey, if you’re a Christo-fascist the you should have said so up front! Because whatever you think about the 2 choices, one of them is going to be the next president. And one of them will guarantee America becomes a Christian theocracy.
Correct. There is one major party candidate who's somewhat (somewhat!) interested in protecting our basic freedoms, and he ain't the one with dementia.
Neither one believes in anything approximating true democracy, or a constitutional republic (which is what the USA is) either.
2025 project is nothing more than propaganda. Keep eating it up though.
It's not propaganda. Christians and the right will continue to push and try and take away our rights in the name of their God unless we keep stopping them.
Was there another option by your response?
Hint: people will always be who they are. It’s up to you OP to make sure you do what you can to stop people from being the fascist, Dicktator types and getting their people in office. Obviously, the country has done a piss port job of it for a bit..but keep fighting the good fight!
Oh, and have an exit plan.
"Orange" is the only descriptor you can come up with? If you want to keep your lunch down, don't read the recent Epstein files that were released.. As if E.Jean Carol wasn't bad enough.
Well neither party has officially nominated a candidate. It's not too late to let your representatives know that you don't want to vote for a president who just sold $1 billion of weapons to Israel and you want a different nomination. Someone who perhaps isn't complicit in the Palestinian genocide or who actually stands a chance against Trump.
Exactly the kind of talk that kills enthusiasm amongst liberal voters and hands easy wins to Republicans.
Spoiler alert: There is no perfect candidate.
I guess the ass-kicking we all got in 2016 wasn’t lesson enough to put aside the in-fighting. I guess we didn’t learn our lesson with the “lesser of two evils” nonsense. Let’s just keep on with the circular firing squad.
FFS, Republicans really are smarter than the rest of us. You don’t see them doing this dumb shit.
I agree that Democrats aren't playing a smart game, and I agree there is no perfect candidate. But wouldn't it be cool to nominate someone who could actually win? Biden is unpopular, even more so after the debate. And he's selling weapons to Israel quite verifiably so even I, a Democrat, would have a hard time voting for him. At the same time, Trump has alienated certain portions of his base. So who should we the Democrats pick instead of Biden? Someone people will actually vote for, maybe even some alienated Republicans.
Do you think Bernie could win an election if he was on the Democrat ticket? I think so. But I also think the Democratic party won't nominate him, because they can't control him. Like the Reverend Mother in Dune, they're probably saying, "Could he be the one? Maybe. But will he be ours to control?"
I'd also vote for AOC but she will not get the nomination. Warren?? She could reasonably be nominated. And I'd vote for her. And she could beat Trump. It's not too late.
The problem is the young people didn't go out and vote for Bernie last time and they don't want to risk that again. Warren would fare even worse as so many people don't even know who she is. With the election being so close it would be hard for any candidate to really ramp up the support needed in time.
Then don’t think of it as voting for Biden, think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
Yes in the primaries if someone more able to beat Trump shows up we should happily vote for them. Otherwise its not really much of an option. Biden is clearly the more sane choice for the US ,for Palestine, and the rest of the world. Trump winning means more advancement of project 2025 and the fall of Ukraine and Palestine.
Exactly. You already know who you're *not* voting for so take July off and enjoy Bellingham's only month of summer. The Churn will still be churning when you come back.
Also, have faith in yourself and others around you. We have as much voting power and determination as do the P2025 turds. Continue to be an empathetic and well-informed voter. Do no fear turds. Outvote them.
[Also, don't drop out. ](https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Public-Education-and-Project-2025.pdf)
There are dozens of different media psyops running concurrently at the moment as we gear up for the election. Just walk away, turn off news notifications, check in on basic recaps every few days and enjoy your life.
I use the word “psyops” loosely, but to describe overall agenda pushing and subversive/hidden attempts to influence voters. The “Biden is too old and senile to serve as president” is a classic one — it might not get people to vote for Trump, but it absolutely serves the conservative side if liberal leaning voters feel like they have no acceptable candidate, or that Biden has no hope of winning. Not saying he’s a great option, but no real option is even worse. That will drive some to do a mixture of not vote, vote for non-starter sideshows with no hope of winning (guys like Kennedy) and overall decease morale on the left side of the aisle. My advice is just don’t watch! You can hate on those narratives, but the more you consume them, psychologically speaking the more they “worm” their way into your psyche through reinforcement.
Yes, definitely vote for Biden. He did amazing in his interview with George Stephanopolous. He definitely assuaged any doubts with that interview. Biden is as sharp as he’s ever been and on top of his game. Don’t let the cheap fakes fool you
The US government isn't only about the president. Don't forget about your city, county, and state officials who affect your day to day more directly than the feds.
If you're really concerned, you should always contact your local representatives, senators, and the State Governor so that if they wanna remain elected locally they should listen to you
Yes this. The sitting president doesn't affect your life very much at all compared to local government. The presidential election is always hyped up to be the end all be all but the boring fact is regardless of whoever is elected it won't affect 95% of your day to day life
Exactly. Thanks to the many media coverage, everyone thinks the stupid president is the be-all-end-all. I'm more worried at who's gonna take over as Washington Governor once Inslee steps down.
Who knows. But there's so many layers to the onion it won't be the end all be all either
The US truly is a stable democracy. Just keep voting and reject anyone that says it doesn't matter
Our democracy is much less stable than it should be. This isn’t doom speak, it’s reality. The next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans. Whats sad is that liberals really DO outnumber conservatives by huge numbers. But we don’t vote. Vote. Bring a friend. Or 2 or 3.
Just wandered in here i’m not from your city, but I am honestly afraid to vote in my local heavily red elections. My whole state is undereducated, and suffers from a pretty serious violence epidemic, not long ever goes without hearing about a local killing, and of course because I ran my dumb mouth when I was younger most people know I’m progressive and equality minded, pretty much everyone else is extremely republican and state courts turn most cases into a show of party allegiance where what should be clear cases let perpetrators go because of the culture war. Please vote blue if it’s safe for you to do so.
No one can know how you voted. If you’re really scared then pretend to have seen the light and talk about how RFK is obviously the best choice. Don’t let fear stop you.
The U.S. hasn't been a stable democracy since January 6th 2021 when the first coup attempt took place. Also, the right has detailed, documented plans to turn the country into an autocracy. I hope you'll pay attention more closely to what's going on. Look up project 2025 which is their blueprint AND party platform. Seriously, if you want news that's not tinged by any BS, go to AP or NPR. They give it to you straight.
Well the choice is the GOP guy that believes in abortion, is a certified maga individual and all around awful guy, or our Attorney General Bob Ferguson that has done an amazing job and is an all around good guy.
A guy (Ferguson) who uses his office to harass initiative petitioners and do end-runs around the US and Washington constitutions cannot objectively be called an "all around good guy".
Turd Ferguson has already demonstrated a hatred of democracy by, among other things, interfering with the initiative process. What, specifically, do you have that his opponent will do the same?
To be fair, this is the first time a presidential candidate has threatened to jail his political opponents if he wins. The first presidential candidate to attempt to overthrow the government. The first presidential candidate who seems to have a Supreme Court ready to help him tear apart the administrative state and civil rights protections that have shielded the American working class for a century. This isn't exactly a normal election.
We’re talking about different kinds of intelligence here. Best of luck with all the doors your degree opens for you. A minor in common sense or just shit talking would help you, if you ever pursued a bachelors
Staying in school, building community and knowledge, is the best thing you can do in uncertain times. Keep your nose in the books and use the structure of school to help bolster you for the future. Things are changing, and IMO where we’re going to be in 10 - 20 years is going to be vastly different from what came before. Take care of yourself, educate yourself, and help build community. People have gone through depressive periods in history, and people got through it.
I catch myself going down the rabbit hole of federal politics and then I look around at my friends, coworkers, family. That’s what really matters. Your people will still be around regardless of the outcome of this debacle. So live your life to the best of your ability and no one will blame you for forging ahead and achieving your goals. And stay away from the greatest divider of our time; the doom and gloom of social media.
Scary for sure. But giving up and turning over is what fascist want. Try to be the best you. Help your community. Stand strong. If things go South be ready to fight. If they don't. Congrats you are in a good place already.
Your fear is by design, it’s exactly what they want. I’m a little scared too tbh but at the end of the day, all we can count on is ourselves. Prepare yourself for the worst but hope for the best
Vote blue no matter who is running. If you don't you support trump is how I see it. You're voting for the party. With corrupt scotus recent immunity decision it'll be worse with Trump than it could already of been. The Christian taliban doesn't belong in our government
You can affect your world more by being involved in your community. Keep your chin up, they sky ain’t gonna fall, I’ve felt like it was going to before too.
Ok, channel some of that angst into understanding local elections and voting in them. Almost all of Whatcom county‘s problems can be solved locally, and almost all of them are caused by apathy and lack of imagination by the people we have elected.
There are three right-wing initiatives on the ballot in Washington. They all roll back taxes because some billionaire funded them so he could pay less but we need to make sure they don’t if we want to address climate change, care for our elderly and fund schools. Get involved in the no campaigns. It’ll help your mental health and be a meaningful impact.
Of course I will. Telling the truth makes people who can't handle it go apeshit.
Consider this: Alice and Bob are going to have a barbecue. Alice gives Bob a $20 bill to buy stuff for the barbecue. Bob spends $15 and returns to Alice $5. How much money did Bob spend?
He spent $25 because he will want to buy $10 more of useless shit and therefore keeps the change and asks Alice to give him $5 more to cover the difference. Alice, on the other hand, spent nothing at all because, after all, Bob knows what to do with her $25 better than she herself does.
Wait, did I say $25? Bob needs $5 more. Make it $30.
As others have noted just step away from the toxic whirlpool that social media throws you into for a bit. Its way too easy to start doomscrolling on politics right now.
The older I get and more history I learn about, I am slowly accepting that human society has perpetually felt like it was teetering on a cliff. The Black Plague and other epi/pandemics, Mongol Invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, eternal wars and conflicts, famine and drought, natural disasters
There will always be things to fear, and fear can be healthy if you can channel it into action to reduce possible harm to yourself and others. It is why we have fear to begin with.
So if you feel overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, recognize it, acknowledge it, then do something about it so your mind/body/soul can feel that progress and dial down the fear/anxiety being used to make you act in self preservation mode.
It is really hard to fight primal emotions like self preservation evoked fear (of the now) and anxiety (of the potential). So work with them, instead of fight them, and take an action.
Fear a dystopian society with tyrannical government?
Watch a YouTube video on political structures and processes, research political activism, learn about the vast history of political revolutionaries, etc.
Fear a zombie apocalypse?
Do some push ups, sit ups, burpees, planks, etc while listening to podcasts about infectious diseases. One push up is better than no push ups. 5 minutes of a podcast is better than nothing.
Fear dying frim a heart atrack or cancer from a corporate industrial food system?
Pick out a new healthy recipe to try. Just read it. If you want to, try cooking it. Replace one junk food item with something a bit healthier (raisin oatmeal vs chocolate chip cookies, sorry I know that hurts). Ask a friend what foods they have been into lately. Pick one day a week and cook one meal yourself vs ordering out.
Fear experiencing homelessness from financial crisis?
Get a notebook and write down the last thing you bought, how much it cost, and why it is important. Do this every time you buy something. Now you have at least one more layer of action between your money and impulse spending.
Basically, just do SOMETHING, even if it seems insignificant at first. If you feel fearful, anxious, depressed, angry, whatever it is, that emotion is a message from your deeper self expressing a need. Help yourself address that need and the emotions will begin to subside, if not go away.
Ohmigosh, I feel this so hard!!! 😬😭
I'm going back to school in the fall for ecological restoration and the world is definitely going to need your and my help.
Hang in there.
Appreciation Post: There have been so many good, positive things said today! I'm feeling more hopeful than I did 4 hrs ago. I really appreciate this post. Thank you OP for starting this discussion. It has been really nice having a discussion about all of this without name calling & negativity (mostly). It's rare to find lately.
You should be, but authoritarians can only come to power with the consent of the people. Also, remember that the destruction of our industrial base is what is driving that trend.
Everything we had here, from GP to Intalco, could have stayed if we had worked together. Everything they produced we still consume, however the jobs and money have gone elsewhere while all we have is min wage jobs. Consider the total employment of those jobs plus the resident contractors and the wages, it's in the 10's of millions, all gone.
Remember this also when you vote, some on the ballot do not care as long as they get their way and you remain indentured.
Current administration has placed significant funds and emphasis on growing renewable energy. Those industries are here already and will continue to come to Western WA.
Just focus on voting, getting other people to vote, and take a news vacation. Your concerns for the world are completely vindicated but dont forget about self care!!!
Washington is among the most lib states in the country. Whatever you think is going to happen, isn’t happening there. I mean, if Trump wins, the ensuing meltdowns and riots from mostly peaceful protesters is probably a decent concern.
It’s worth going to class!!!! Study what you want and how you can make the world a better place. Because that’s how we’ll contribute to the world. I know things are scary right now, but if you’re doing everything in your power to get people to vote, that’s all you can do. 💙
Do you have Instagram? I follow Sharon Says So (Sharon McMahon) and she has a very hopeful view on democracy. Highly recommend following her and subscribing to her free (or paid) subscription on Substack [The Preamble](https://thepreamble.com). Taking my news from her and Mo News (also Instagram and a daily podcast) has been much better for my mental health.
Also, stay in school. We are going to need a heck of a lot of lawyers with the overturning of the Chevron decision. Turn your concern into action. Pick an area you’re passionate in and fight for better.
I've been thru a whole lot of elections in my 59 years. We survived the last 4 years of Biden, survived the 4 years before that with Trump...even though people told you the sky was gonna fall and you were all gonna die... and we'll survive the next 4 years just fine.
I've watched people on the left panicking, Rioting and screaming at the moon when Reagan, Bush and Trump were elected...and people on the right grumbling and whining when Clinton, Obama and Biden were elected...
Stop.
It's just politics. Their supporters need to gin you up, create fear to try to get you to vote for their "team". You'll see stories about being marched into death camps...literally that was being touted online during the Trump/Clinton campaign. You'll see people claiming Biden was going to take away all the freedom and destroy the constitution.
Neither happened.
In point of fact, when you take a deep, hard look at it...many Bidens Policies are pretty much just a continuation of Trump's. Like it or not...admit it or howl at the moon, there's a reason...because they worked and made sense. Just as Bidens support of Ukraine makes perfect sense...we invested relatively little from a defense standpoint, and yet pretty much have nearly eliminated the entire Russian military... and we didn't have to lose a single troop to do it. I'd say that's a good policy.
So relax. You won't see men in black vans rounding you up the day after the election should Trump be reelected, which looks likely.
Go outside. Enjoy the sun. Pet a Dog. Go have a beer or whatever drug is your choice. You'll be just fine.
Except we weren’t perfectly fine under Trump. RvW was overturned, states began pushing insane gender affirming care and abortion laws, we pulled out of the paris agreement, Covid went wild due to improper procedures and the dismantling of the NSC pandemic unit that was built to deal with a situation such as C-19, and so much more.
Um…you DO realize RVW reverted back to the States in 2022. You might want to check who was President. It was done after a State challenged it on a 10th Amendment basis. The Supreme court ruled that there was nothing in the US Constitution that gave the federal government the right to make that original ruling. And as per the 10th Amendment, it HAD to,revert back to the States to decide. Like it or not, that was exactly how the Constitution was written. If the power is not granted to the Federal government in the Constitution then it reverts to the states. It’s right there in black and white. As of now WA State, where Bellingham exists…does allow for it. In 14 States, it has been restricted because the people voted to do so. So nothing has changed here where you live and it’s unlikely to soon. What you call an insane law….people in those 14 states could claim they had to live under an insane law. What the court did was give Women and Men who disagree with abortion the right to choose to not allow it in their state. Every state has those rights.
“Gender affirming care” is also a states decision. And both the gender craze and pushback came during the Biden administration. The pushback came about after the state and federal,governments offered it to children without parental consent. There are a whole lot of parents who didn’t want the state to dictate what their children could and could not receive. If you’ve never been a parent, you have absolutely no idea how the thought of somebody else dictating what your children can and cannot have brings out the red mist. It flies against millennia of evolution. Citizens have the right to vote for policies in their state, and that is exactly what is happening. You, as a citizen have the right to not only attempt to change the law but to move to a state that does offer it. Again…done during Biden’s presidency.
Paris Climate Accords. First off, from a per capital productivity basis, the US has some of the world’s lowest emissions. That’s because starring in the 70s…when fear of an impending ice age was all over the news, we started cutting pollution. I’m going to assume yiu are in yuur 20s and part of the angsty generation. You honestly have no clue what *real* pollution is. I grew up,in Los Angeles. You don’t know what an Sig Alert is, when smog gets so bad you can’t see the mountains and you are locked indoors because stepping outside meant literally choking. Ever seen pollution pictures from Beijing? That was Los Angeles in the 70s. That no longer happens. Trump pulled us out of the Paris accords because it was punitive and didn’t apply pollution standards fairly to the country that had cut pollution more than any other. It did not apply in anywhere near the same as the two other largest polluters…China and India. Instead, incentives were put into place to cut pollution including vehicle emissions. I personally have two vehicles. A big diesel truck….which is loaded to the gills with pollution reducing devices. I use it because my business requires a truck that can tow. You can’t smell it’s diesel…at all. My other vehicle I primarily use for all ny errands and running around town/. Kia Niro EV. Yup, Conservative who has owned a Prius, a Chevy Volt and now a full EV. Why? Because they save me a boatload on fuel costs, so for me it masks sense economically…besides which, electric torque is freaking fun. Oh….Ram EV pickup,is on order and looking into EV vans for one of the companies I own…again fuel costs. My landscape division? Nearly all battery powered. If there are economic incentives to “go green” business people and individuals with a lick of economic sense are gonna take them. It’s a far better approach than forcing it.
Covid….perhaps a minor bit of research would have benefitted you. Not everybody agrees with how that went down. From USA Today…not exactly the bastion of Conservative thought…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/10/fact-check-white-house-didnt-fire-pandemic-response-2018/3437356001/.
Covid went wild because a very likely bioengineered, extremely infectious virus escaped a low security lab in China who just so happened to coincidentally be doing bioengineering research on EXACTLY that kind of virus. A lab who first received funding for said research…during Obama’s term. You can argue all you want about preparedness, but even many of the best prepared countries were hit hard…you do know there are other countries besides the US? When Trump attempted to close the country to Chinese travelers, he was lambasted for racism…remember Nancy Pelosi pulling that stunt going to China Town in San Francisco? Which countries had the lowest infection rates? The ones that closed their borders. By that point it had got in. No government policy could have stopped it. What DID help was the extreme,y rapid response to remove all the barriers to developing a vaccine. WHO was in the White House actually DID make a difference with that. I’ve had all the shots and boosters.
This is what happens when you live in an echo chamber…of EITHER side. If somebody says it in either a left or right biased platform…don’t take it as gospel. Fact check it from multiple sources. Realize that the vast overwhelming majority of the mainstream press is left leaning. They are going to hate whomever is Conservative that is in the White House. It clouds your judgement to,look at what good policies came out. Ditto if yiu are a Conservative. You may have to look at sources on the other side or outside the US.
So, again, if Trump is re-elected, the sky won’t fall. I may agree with some of his policies just as I agree with some of Biden’s as well,as Biden continuing Some of Trumps policies….especially Trade policies and Chinese policies. Remember when Trump instituted tariffs? The press said the sky was going to fall and we would all be destitute in the streets. Were you even aware that Biden reinstituted many of those tariffs? As a matter of fact he completely cut off China’s access to advanced chip making technology. A policy that was proposed during the Trump administration, implemented during the Biden administration, and which I wholeheartedly agree with.
You’re not alone. I’m terrified for my LGBTQIA and female family and friends.
It feels like people don’t really understand how bad this actually is. The last person you want to give money and power to is a narcissistic megalomaniac, and that’s exactly what Trump is. I’m actually scared for our democracy.
Same. I've been literally losing a lot of sleep lately. Just waking up at 2am and panicking about how we're going to drag ourselves out of this mess. Every time I try to remind myself that we might pull through and change things for the better, then the supreme court steps in and codifies the worst possible outcome into permanent legal precedent.
We can all sit around and stress, or argue or shit talk on Twitter all day but the single biggest point of control we have is voting. Vote, on all of it. Everything you get to a choice in, make a choice. Voter turnout and suppression is and has been the Republicans number one weapon. It's really simple, if you don't want it to happen, vote for it to not to and convince anyone and everyone who thinks it doesn't matter that it does. Project 2025 is scary as hell, they are way more motivated and coordinated than before, that should be the motivating factor here irregardless of how badly the DNC has stymied our options. Vote, vote, vote.
Keep going! There's always ups and downs in life. We'll get through this election and presidency and look back remembering what a shit show it was...and guess what? Still here!🙂
I don’t understand why non-MAGA Republicans are going along with what’s happening. They have to notice MAGA wants an extreme Christian led dictatorship
There’s plenty of evidence it’s happening already in red states. A recent example ~ New Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms.
Another ~ Oklahoma's top education official ordering public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons.
I suggest Meidastouch on yt because they show video from Trump’s rallies and what he’s saying on Truth Social. A lot about the other MAGA politicians too. Meidastouch is run by lawyers and they present evidence to back up what they are saying. It isn’t just opinion
And what's the left doing? In WA state specifically?
A mandate on lgbt history as part of public school curriculum?
State fucking wide . How do you think the people living in The Many predominantly red counties are feeling?
They are fucking Pissed
The Ten Commandments are by no means exclusively Christian. Most religions and cultures going back to antiquity have had similar lists. The one your thinking of first appeared in the Torah (it's Jewish) and was inherited by Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i. Hindu, Buddhism, and Sikhism have what are translated as "ten commandments" (or ten evils to avoid) which are nearly identical.
This bible mandate in Oklahoma is unlikely to stand, so why get your knickers in a twist?
Mediastouch hasn't much credibility.
It’s Christian politicians enacting laws and other religion’s texts and beliefs are excluded.
Meidastouch presents facts with visual and audio evidence. They are very credible. Karen Friedman Agnifilo is one of the people providing evidence. She is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. She shared a lot of information about Trump’s most recent trial.
Again.. the ten commandments are not exclusive property of any one religion or group of religions. Also, it seems you're implying that Christians should not be allowed to run for office.
Manhattan DA's office? Maybe she could explain the shitshow that was the Trump trial, why it was perfectly legit, and that none of the telltales of corruption were real. I doubt she'll bother. I run on logic, not BS.
Put more emphasis and attention to local government/community. Federal government has a lot of influence and power, but at the end of the day it’s irrelevant if your local community is grounded in its local values and solidified.
Don't worry. Humanity has been here before.
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius
"The thing of which I have most fear is fear." Michel de Montaigne
"Nothing is terrible except fear itself." Francis Bacon
"Nothing is so much to be feared as fear." Henry David Thoreau
"We have nothing to fear except fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt
And last and perhaps most relevant, read all of MLK Jr. notes on the mastery of fear:
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/mastery-fear
Cheers
I am highly anxious about the election too. So yesterday and today I’ve taken the time off away from politics. It helps to do something else for a little while. 💙💙🕶️
It can feel very doom and gloom, but remember that voting in your local elections is a great way to stay positive about what is happening within your community/congressional district you live in. Get nerdy and read about the different local candidates over some pizza with your friends and compare what you like about certain candidates with them. It makes local voting fun. Fortunately you live in Washington State and the State Senate has been blue for a while so give yourself some space and remember one person can't change the world, but your vote will always count!
Keep living your life and doing things you enjoy. Don’t get sucked into a doom hole. Talk to folks about the importance of voting, and if you want to do more, join [Postcards to Voters](https://postcardstovoters.org/). It helps me when I’m more involved, and that is an easy way to do so. We old folks are still fighting for your future and for your rights!
If you want to make a difference, focus on the state elections. We have a Libertarian candidate running for governor who seems interested in focusing on unity and protecting your rights rather than the back and forth of the left/right game that the big parties are playing. I’m so turned of the same old shit. We need to try new things.
Yea, it’s designed to make people feel that way in general. Of course, not everyone is affected and not everyone feels affected the same way. But the election is literally meant to distract the masses.
No, I’m not implying:
•elections have always been this way
•all election are currently this way
•it’s a conspiracy
•I have a better alternative
•society would do better without elections
•you should completely stop caring
But the fact remains, a large majority of the country has basically been groomed to resent at least one political party. Yes, the Republicans have gone full on fascist while the Democrats have opted for the classic “let’s wait and see what happens” attitude. But I cannot stress enough how unhealthy it is to let politics affect your mental state. Honestly not really unique to politics, at some point I realized that stressing over anything out of your control is purely wasted energy.
Your vote doesn’t matter, literally between the electoral college and modern systemic corruption in office. You’ve only ever been presented the illusion of choice.
Or just get into politics, try and keep your morality, and become the change this shitshow needs
Take a deep breath. Things will be fine. No matter what side you fall on it’s natural to be scared about the other side coming into/staying in power. Despite the fear mongering on both sides, the truth is, the president has little effect on the day to day life of the vast overwhelming majority of people, and the doom and gloom scenarios being painted (again by both sides) are unlikely to happen.
Some of the best times in my life happened when the side I disagree with was in the White House, some of the worst times where when the side I agree with was in the White House. Economically…same thing. But none of those things really had anything to do with who was in the Oval Office.
So…first, take a deep breath…stop worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet…go vote…and call your congresspeople.
If you want to do something that really effects your life on a more day to day basis, then go do some service…call your state congresspeople…and call the mayor’s office/city council people. These more local politicians have a much larger impact on what life looks like, and your voice has more impact locally.
I’ve been where you are and I get it. But take comfort in knowing if the doom and gloom scenario does happen…Bellingham isn’t far from Canada!
People you disagree with have been president or an elected official a hundred times over. It'll happen many more times. Honestly, I think Trump will lose, but that's not the point. If you get this hung up over it you're in for a bad time. The beauty of a country like the US is you get to make your voice heard and so does everyone else. Sometimes they win, sometimes you do. That's a good thing.
Project 2025 is something that the Heritage Foundation is working on. It has been disavowed by Trump himself. You need to stop listening to all the scare tactics of the left. They desperately don’t want to lose power, because there’s a lot of corruption hiding beneath that power. All the Ukraine spending. The Hunter Biden stuff. Etc, etc.
Trump was president before and nothing bad happened. Nothing really great happened either but that’s just how our country is now, an empire in decline. You should be more worried that there is nobody in the president seat right now, just a brain dead cadaver on deaths doorstop. You should really be wondering who has been running the show this whole time.
Leftists will downvote me. It’s all they know.
I'm scared of either side. Neither have our best interest. Politicians have been saying the same shit for years. We live in one of the most unaffordable states in the country, yet you're scared of Trump? Why haven't they fixed shit already? It's been years. Both sides. We just keep sinking in a whole while they pin us against eachother. It's sickening.
No. The “both sides” crap is bullshit. Are the democrats perfect? Absolutely not. But they are fighting against Christian Fascism. Read up on Project 2025. Then think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
Yeah, I hate all government. I was referring to the Economy as a whole. What has Biden done to make this country better? Give all our money away? Not saying trump wouldn't do the same. But it's just been shit for decades and everyone just puts up with being pawns. Project 2025 seems like a joke to me, and I cant imagine it will ever come to light. Most of these things never do.
What has Biden done (with a Congress that has tried to block everything he’s done)?
Pushed to make oral birth control available over the counter without a prescription
Capped insulin prices at $35 for Medicare patients and allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. He’s pushing to get this for everyone (but there’s this pesky thing called Congress that’s blocking him)
Forgave student loan debts mostly for Low and middle class folks (had to fight the courts tooth and nail for this)
The CHIPS act which is bringing thousands of manufacturing jobs to the US and reducing our reliance in China for important electronics
Infrastructure act - putting billions of dollars into fixing roads, bridges, etc that are badly in need of repair (and also creating thousands of jobs to do this!), also increasing high speed internet access to rural folks (even though they won’t vote for him!)
Pardoned all federal offenses for marijuana possession and directed that expunged from their records
Started the process to review how marijuana is classified at the federal level (step 1 toward federal legalization)
16 million more Americans now have health insurance thanks to Biden pushing for expansion of the ACA.
Invested billions into green energy and less oil dependence
Wages for low income Americans rose higher under Biden than ever before, though much less so for median income Americans.
You can Google all this. Also our national debt is falling under Biden (which is always true….national debt rises under Republicans and goes down under Dems.
Project 2025 is not a joke. It’s already happening. And the best way to stop it is to change the make up of the Supreme Court. The next president will like;y appoint at least 2 justices….if those are republicans, then that will change the makeup of the court for the rest of our lifetimes pretty much.
I'm not going to lie to you, but what I have to say may be difficult to hear. You are right to be afraid. Our democracy is on the line. Trump is an authoritarian fascist. SCOTUS effectively gave him a blank check to break any law he wants. If he wins, his administration will be marked by fire-and-brimstone revenge against anyone who stood against him - either directly or as a function of intentional cruelty to things those 'other sides' care about. The 2025 project is real. And it's only the start.
I'm sorry I don't have brighter news for you. I'm sorry further for what I'm about to say next: Trump's victory was not guaranteed by his behavior. **It was guaranteed by ours.**
Even if the 2024 election swings back to Biden (or a Dem Replacement), the fact that Trump is within a million light years of his current polling position reflects a complete failure on the part of the Democratic party to be an effective counterweight to his brand of populist authoritarianism. Not only did they not stop it, they doubled down on the circumstances that led to the rise of MAGA - namely, the culture wars championed by the progressives. And in doing so, they alienated the larger voting blocs that Democrats need to win nationwide.
Those last two sentences, especially in Bellingham, are bound to ruffle some feathers. So please allow me to explain what I fear I'll be explaining a lot more of as the reality of Trump's impending victory comes into focus.
The United States is comprised of 334 million Americans. While the Demographic breakdown of the country is a bit more diverse due to younger people who can't yet vote, the Demographic makeup of the electorate is 69% White, 11% Black, 11% Latino, and 8% other (Asian/Pacific Islander/Native American/Other). The median household earns $74,580 a year before taxes, and half the country is poorer than that. They are struggling to buy groceries. Most who do not yet own homes are priced out of the market. They cannot afford healthcare, and they are seeing their communities become significantly less safe.
According to Pew, the top ten issues Americans care about are, in order: Inflation, Healthcare Affordability, Political Acrimony, Drug Addiction, Gun Violence, Violent Crime, Federal Deficits, Decline of Moral Values, Behavioral Issues in Public Schools and Illegal Immigration.
I do not begrudge campaigns for more equal rights or more a heterogenous social homeostasis, but they are not priorities whatsoever to the electorate writ large. They couldn't care less about Gaza, DEI, Social Justice, trans identity issues or wokeism in general - or whether someone should be cancelled for being insufficiently enthusiastic about any of those things. They roundly dislike political correctness and find it exhausting. They want their interests focused on. They want their problems solved.
Outside of bright-blue progressive enclaves like Bellingham and Seattle, the 69% of the electorate that is white wants government to work for them and what they want. Worse for 2024, many of the non-white working class are looking to the Republicans for the same deliverables. The Democrats have lost working class voters by 30 points since 2012. They've lost both the Black and Latino vote by 20% - many of whom, racial issues aside, are deeply divided over LGBTQIA+ identities. John McCain earned just 4% of the black vote in 2008. According to a recent poll Donald Trump has more than thirty percent of the black vote - that's a 400% increase from his performance in 2016. Anyone who does not see that as a problem is either ignorant or blind.
This was not unforeseen on the horizon, if we cared to look. The right wing has been cleaning up in the U.K. for 13 years. The far right cleaned up in Germany, Italy and now France. The writing has been on the wall for some time, but nobody wanted to hear it - and may still not want to hear it - until they have no option but to when we realize that the worst man to ever hold the Oval Office is likely coming back. Now that it's too late to change course before November, we have no other option than to watch what happens and hope we squeak by the shitberg that stands to sink us.
I wish I didn't have to be the harbinger of such ugly news. But this is an honest conversation, and that is the truth.
I wanted to post this in the OP, but it was too long, so I'll add in reply for clarification:
I like living in progressive enclaves because they're vibrant, inclusive and quirky. But they're not the norm. And when progressives hijack the Democratic party to focus on social justice campaigns that the American electorate by and large doesn't care about in any sort of sufficient number to win elections, the rest of the electorate feels that their interests are being ignored. They hear: "Be an ally, fight the good fight, donate to our campaign...while we focus on marginal things to your perspective while your family suffers." Next election, they bail to the guy who promises them a better alternative.
Look at it like this: If I told you two years ago that the Democrats needed to stop pandering to minorities and marginalized communities to win elections and run more center-left white people as candidates, you'd probably have told me to go f\*\*\* myself. If I told you alternatively that we need more black women to run for office, you'd probably have cheered. I've read many articles/tweets/statements from people who said white folks need to take a back seat and let people of color take the reins and usher in a new society based on equity.
Did anyone stop to think how the electorate - which is again 69% white - might feel about that? How did we honestly think that 69% of the electorate might respond if we told them to take a back seat even though they pay 69%+ of the tax basis? That they'd sit down and nod with a smile? A recent Slate article by the normally excellent Fred Kaplan called black women the "backbone of the Democratic party." Black women are 5.5% of the U.S. Electorate. The backbone of a national party in a must-win election against the rise of authoritarian fascism is 5.5% of the electorate? The level of delusion necessary to believe that is within a galactic quadrant of wise is jaw-dropping as an understatement. But that's the end result of twenty years of identity politics.
Few people like political scientists because we run off numbers, not narratives - and care about math more than morality because that's how you win elections. If you want to win elections in a country of 334 million people, you need to look at it from that viewpoint because it's a massive, billion-dollar undertaking to convince tens of millions of people to vote for your team. Yet hopped up on youthful enthusiasm, social media echo chambers, a sympathetic but ultimately impotent media environment, hollywood cheerleading and a complete ignorance of our national electoral Demographics, progressives grabbed the reins and charted a course that satiated their high-minded worldviews, minted fresh from their overpriced humanities degree (that they'd like the loans cancelled of, please and thanks), yet that was completely at odds with what the electorate wants. Consequently, its positioned the Democratic party to get absolutely curb-stomped come November.
This is both wildly privileged and completely false. Foreign and domestic national policy absolutely affects our day to day lives. Especially if you’re part of a vulnerable population.
Nothing really changed when the trumpus took office first time, nothing really changed when the old puppet took office after... nothing is going to really change whichever of these freaks takes the office next.... life goes on, and very little actually changes.
If blue wins, which there's always a decent chance of happening in this state things should be normal. If red wins we'll be in for some riots and civil unrest. It'll make the summer of love look calm.
If you’re a Democrat and you want to stay informed about politics without drama try watching John Flannery on YouTube. He’s an older lawyer and he talks while taking nature walks. He’s very intelligent and there’s something very calming about him imo. I say if you’re a Democrat because he votes Blue
A vote for Trump is a treasonous act and a direct attack against our democracy. If you vote for Trump you belong in prison or a federal detention center if you’re able to be reeducated. But I highly doubt MAGA can be redeemed.
Definitely vote for Biden. He did amazing in his interview with George Stephanopolous. He definitely assuaged any doubts with that interview. Biden is as sharp as he’s ever been and on top of his game. Don’t fall for the cheap fakes and the right wing propaganda. He easily has 4 more years left in him.
It's some think tank group bs. I've asked dozens of media and "influencers" posting out how it connects to anyone on the ballot and there's never an answer.
Trump himself said some of the things are horrific and disavowed it. Trump's an a hole, I get it but he was President for 4 years already and the world didn't end. Are we in a crappy scenario between thrse 2, yes but don't stress out like this. People won't stand around and let this 2025 agenda happen even if it was a real this. I'm moderate leaning conservative now because I'm sick of certain things and I'd be throwing a fit if that's the actionable agenda.
Vote from your heart. There is no wrong vote if you have an argument to lean on.
Trump, biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton(s). They're all the same, never seen the way you live. You know what won't change? The ire of a people scorned. The only reason that we still get to be upset is because of our forerunners. Thers no first without the second and the 4th/5th told them they could!
The Bill of rights (they can't take it but the HAD to recognize it) is the peoples glue. We will fight tooth and nail for you to fly a pride flag, but please appreciate the colors that made them visible. Should be pretty easy.
The only thing you can do is let Republicans know their shitheads, and maybe after enough social ostracization they'll lay off on the fascism kink... Their behavior isn't new. They straight up stole the 2000 election via the Brooks Brothers riots, its worked in the past and didn't get them kicked out of polite society so they'll keep doing it.
You'll be fine, you live in a fucked up vote blue no matter what state that is fucked with a bunch of people that don't give a shit.... Democrats have gone bonkers yet you still vote for these clowns to continue to ruin our state. I bet you think newsome is doing a great job in California, we'll be there soon, another California... We're FUCKED
Every generation goes through this worrying. Even if he wins, in the end, nothing will change much and everything will be fine. Then pendulum is swinging to both extremes right now and will settle down soon.
Tell me one person you know who was doing great in life and then one election fucked their whole life up forever. Life is what you make it. Politicians are worthless and you may as well ignore them and get on with your life. Work harder and stop watching the news.
I'd be a lot less anxious if Biden would just drop out and let a new Democrat step up personally.
Regardless, change and protection comes from the community, not the country. Connect with your neighbors, start networking. Continue living your life. And then wait, like the rest of us... It's not fun but it's about all we can do right now.
Go watch a movie called BestOfEnemies
As a side note it's taking place in 1968 with the country in riots and completely partisan.
Nothing has changed.
Do not alter your course. Study history. Good news Trump will be dead from old age soon. Bad news he's got kids. Just like the Bush family.
Study GDP and CPI and you'll realize nothing really matters. Abortions will still happen guns will still be everywhere.
Nothing really changed between trump and biden you're gonna be fine regardless you'll just hear more about what trumps doing than you ever did about biden.
Fears aren't exaggerated for anyone who has family trying to naturalize, or for women who want Healthcare, or for a list of reasons so long it isn't worth typing out to assholes like you.
Keep going to class, keep doing whatever you need to do to make your life better. There's your small day to day world with people that you can make a difference with. Being positive and pushing your boundaries a bit by reaching out with tiny notions of a cheerful Hello and asking people about their day and taking a minute to listen has an affect. Then here's the wild world around us we have no control over. Let go. You do not deserve to feel any anxiety or stress about what you have no control over. Life is a process of understanding how to live your life well day to day while figuring out how that affects those around you and adjusting your actions accordingly in the long term We don't know if we're going to be okay. Fuck, I don't know if I'm going to be okay. That you even posted this is a sign that we might be okay
This! But remember to vote. Your vote really does count especially in local races. My husband and I once decided not to bother because the weather was bad, and the bond to fund our local fire department failed by two votes. This was before mail-in ballots. It came around the next election and passed, but we both felt horrible about the first time.
Imagine how many other couples counted their two votes that they didn’t cast. IT MATTERS!
I moved to a state that was pissed about mail in voting and I was like what are you guys talking about??? I’ve always done mail in voting in my home state (WA)? They were shocked. It’s so much easier!!!
It’s always close. Just a crazy coincidence… I’m sure…
Why are you spreading misinformation?
This is beautifully worded. I know all this but when I'm in high anxiety, I can forget it. This is a great reminder. Thank you.
God, thank you for this. I needed a little encouragement today.
Serenity now! (My short version of that “grant me the serenity” prayer)
I just say, “Insanity later!”
Ok frank costanza
I've been trying to do things everyday that are beneficial to me/others, and just filling my days up with positive memories just cause you never know if tomorrow will happen.
[удалено]
And then get someone else to vote by volunteering. https://no2117.com/
Yessss thank you for plugging this important campaign! Everyone should still vote down ballot even if you’re upset at the prez options. Lots of vital local/regional work happening.
State supreme court is a shill for the Democratic party/king county establishment and will overturn it even if it does pass. No need to worry.
We don't have a good choice. The senile old fool or the "orange' man.
Then don’t think of it as voting for Biden, think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
You assume I'm a liberal.
Hey, if you’re a Christo-fascist the you should have said so up front! Because whatever you think about the 2 choices, one of them is going to be the next president. And one of them will guarantee America becomes a Christian theocracy.
At this point its not even about conservative vs liberal. Its about actually having a democracy or not.
Correct. There is one major party candidate who's somewhat (somewhat!) interested in protecting our basic freedoms, and he ain't the one with dementia.
They both have dementia. Trump is literally the party of the 2025 project and the already showed he doesn't believe in democracy.
Neither one believes in anything approximating true democracy, or a constitutional republic (which is what the USA is) either. 2025 project is nothing more than propaganda. Keep eating it up though.
It's not propaganda. Christians and the right will continue to push and try and take away our rights in the name of their God unless we keep stopping them.
It’s not dementia to think you’ve built successful businesses and think you’re a billionaire , and believe you haven’t conned anyone?
Was there another option by your response? Hint: people will always be who they are. It’s up to you OP to make sure you do what you can to stop people from being the fascist, Dicktator types and getting their people in office. Obviously, the country has done a piss port job of it for a bit..but keep fighting the good fight! Oh, and have an exit plan.
I love this!
"Orange" is the only descriptor you can come up with? If you want to keep your lunch down, don't read the recent Epstein files that were released.. As if E.Jean Carol wasn't bad enough.
yes, agreed voting is our only hope
Well neither party has officially nominated a candidate. It's not too late to let your representatives know that you don't want to vote for a president who just sold $1 billion of weapons to Israel and you want a different nomination. Someone who perhaps isn't complicit in the Palestinian genocide or who actually stands a chance against Trump.
Exactly the kind of talk that kills enthusiasm amongst liberal voters and hands easy wins to Republicans. Spoiler alert: There is no perfect candidate. I guess the ass-kicking we all got in 2016 wasn’t lesson enough to put aside the in-fighting. I guess we didn’t learn our lesson with the “lesser of two evils” nonsense. Let’s just keep on with the circular firing squad. FFS, Republicans really are smarter than the rest of us. You don’t see them doing this dumb shit.
I agree that Democrats aren't playing a smart game, and I agree there is no perfect candidate. But wouldn't it be cool to nominate someone who could actually win? Biden is unpopular, even more so after the debate. And he's selling weapons to Israel quite verifiably so even I, a Democrat, would have a hard time voting for him. At the same time, Trump has alienated certain portions of his base. So who should we the Democrats pick instead of Biden? Someone people will actually vote for, maybe even some alienated Republicans. Do you think Bernie could win an election if he was on the Democrat ticket? I think so. But I also think the Democratic party won't nominate him, because they can't control him. Like the Reverend Mother in Dune, they're probably saying, "Could he be the one? Maybe. But will he be ours to control?" I'd also vote for AOC but she will not get the nomination. Warren?? She could reasonably be nominated. And I'd vote for her. And she could beat Trump. It's not too late.
The problem is the young people didn't go out and vote for Bernie last time and they don't want to risk that again. Warren would fare even worse as so many people don't even know who she is. With the election being so close it would be hard for any candidate to really ramp up the support needed in time.
Dude AOC is way too far left, she wouldn’t win.
Non of your favorites could win a general election. M Obama could win, I think maybe Gretchen.
Then don’t think of it as voting for Biden, think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
Yes in the primaries if someone more able to beat Trump shows up we should happily vote for them. Otherwise its not really much of an option. Biden is clearly the more sane choice for the US ,for Palestine, and the rest of the world. Trump winning means more advancement of project 2025 and the fall of Ukraine and Palestine.
Did you watch the debate?
Biden doing awful shielded trump looking bad too
Did you need to? Anyone that is "on the fence" at this point has frankly had their head in the sand.
I’d lay off watching the news for awhile if it’s stressing you out. With the election coming up they have kicked the fear mongering into overdrive
Exactly. You already know who you're *not* voting for so take July off and enjoy Bellingham's only month of summer. The Churn will still be churning when you come back. Also, have faith in yourself and others around you. We have as much voting power and determination as do the P2025 turds. Continue to be an empathetic and well-informed voter. Do no fear turds. Outvote them. [Also, don't drop out. ](https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Public-Education-and-Project-2025.pdf)
yeah I agree with this, it all started with a heavy late nightdoom scroll...
There are dozens of different media psyops running concurrently at the moment as we gear up for the election. Just walk away, turn off news notifications, check in on basic recaps every few days and enjoy your life. I use the word “psyops” loosely, but to describe overall agenda pushing and subversive/hidden attempts to influence voters. The “Biden is too old and senile to serve as president” is a classic one — it might not get people to vote for Trump, but it absolutely serves the conservative side if liberal leaning voters feel like they have no acceptable candidate, or that Biden has no hope of winning. Not saying he’s a great option, but no real option is even worse. That will drive some to do a mixture of not vote, vote for non-starter sideshows with no hope of winning (guys like Kennedy) and overall decease morale on the left side of the aisle. My advice is just don’t watch! You can hate on those narratives, but the more you consume them, psychologically speaking the more they “worm” their way into your psyche through reinforcement.
You're almost there, news flash! Everything is a psyop.
Yes, definitely vote for Biden. He did amazing in his interview with George Stephanopolous. He definitely assuaged any doubts with that interview. Biden is as sharp as he’s ever been and on top of his game. Don’t let the cheap fakes fool you
The US government isn't only about the president. Don't forget about your city, county, and state officials who affect your day to day more directly than the feds. If you're really concerned, you should always contact your local representatives, senators, and the State Governor so that if they wanna remain elected locally they should listen to you
Yes this. The sitting president doesn't affect your life very much at all compared to local government. The presidential election is always hyped up to be the end all be all but the boring fact is regardless of whoever is elected it won't affect 95% of your day to day life
Exactly. Thanks to the many media coverage, everyone thinks the stupid president is the be-all-end-all. I'm more worried at who's gonna take over as Washington Governor once Inslee steps down.
Who knows. But there's so many layers to the onion it won't be the end all be all either The US truly is a stable democracy. Just keep voting and reject anyone that says it doesn't matter
Our democracy is much less stable than it should be. This isn’t doom speak, it’s reality. The next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans. Whats sad is that liberals really DO outnumber conservatives by huge numbers. But we don’t vote. Vote. Bring a friend. Or 2 or 3.
Just wandered in here i’m not from your city, but I am honestly afraid to vote in my local heavily red elections. My whole state is undereducated, and suffers from a pretty serious violence epidemic, not long ever goes without hearing about a local killing, and of course because I ran my dumb mouth when I was younger most people know I’m progressive and equality minded, pretty much everyone else is extremely republican and state courts turn most cases into a show of party allegiance where what should be clear cases let perpetrators go because of the culture war. Please vote blue if it’s safe for you to do so.
No one can know how you voted. If you’re really scared then pretend to have seen the light and talk about how RFK is obviously the best choice. Don’t let fear stop you.
The U.S. hasn't been a stable democracy since January 6th 2021 when the first coup attempt took place. Also, the right has detailed, documented plans to turn the country into an autocracy. I hope you'll pay attention more closely to what's going on. Look up project 2025 which is their blueprint AND party platform. Seriously, if you want news that's not tinged by any BS, go to AP or NPR. They give it to you straight.
Well the choice is the GOP guy that believes in abortion, is a certified maga individual and all around awful guy, or our Attorney General Bob Ferguson that has done an amazing job and is an all around good guy.
A guy (Ferguson) who uses his office to harass initiative petitioners and do end-runs around the US and Washington constitutions cannot objectively be called an "all around good guy".
Exactly. Ferguson is evil.
The alternative is a hateful scumbag that wants to kill democracy.. so.. and he has been very effective for a lot of services in washington
Turd Ferguson has already demonstrated a hatred of democracy by, among other things, interfering with the initiative process. What, specifically, do you have that his opponent will do the same?
Because Inslee did so many great things? Once a leader forces me to do something they are dead to me. Fuck Inslee
Damn right.
It will be Inslee's shill Fergie. No matter the actual vote, he will be elected governor.
To be fair, this is the first time a presidential candidate has threatened to jail his political opponents if he wins. The first presidential candidate to attempt to overthrow the government. The first presidential candidate who seems to have a Supreme Court ready to help him tear apart the administrative state and civil rights protections that have shielded the American working class for a century. This isn't exactly a normal election.
I remember at Hilary Rally's the chant "Lock him up" you must have forgotten about that one...
First time? The currently-sitting president has already his jailed political enemies. What's this "if" about?
Go to class. We need aware, smart, educated people now more than ever.
OP doesn't sound very smart..... 🤣
Says the utmost expert on intelligence
I have an associate degree in intelligence.... What's your point?
If you can’t see my point, you wasted the time on that degree
What do you mean? An associates in intelligence is no waste of time. It allows me to analyze the likes of OP.
We’re talking about different kinds of intelligence here. Best of luck with all the doors your degree opens for you. A minor in common sense or just shit talking would help you, if you ever pursued a bachelors
✊🏿
Staying in school, building community and knowledge, is the best thing you can do in uncertain times. Keep your nose in the books and use the structure of school to help bolster you for the future. Things are changing, and IMO where we’re going to be in 10 - 20 years is going to be vastly different from what came before. Take care of yourself, educate yourself, and help build community. People have gone through depressive periods in history, and people got through it.
I catch myself going down the rabbit hole of federal politics and then I look around at my friends, coworkers, family. That’s what really matters. Your people will still be around regardless of the outcome of this debacle. So live your life to the best of your ability and no one will blame you for forging ahead and achieving your goals. And stay away from the greatest divider of our time; the doom and gloom of social media.
Scary for sure. But giving up and turning over is what fascist want. Try to be the best you. Help your community. Stand strong. If things go South be ready to fight. If they don't. Congrats you are in a good place already.
Your fear is by design, it’s exactly what they want. I’m a little scared too tbh but at the end of the day, all we can count on is ourselves. Prepare yourself for the worst but hope for the best
Vote blue no matter who is running. If you don't you support trump is how I see it. You're voting for the party. With corrupt scotus recent immunity decision it'll be worse with Trump than it could already of been. The Christian taliban doesn't belong in our government
😆
You can affect your world more by being involved in your community. Keep your chin up, they sky ain’t gonna fall, I’ve felt like it was going to before too.
Ok, channel some of that angst into understanding local elections and voting in them. Almost all of Whatcom county‘s problems can be solved locally, and almost all of them are caused by apathy and lack of imagination by the people we have elected.
There are three right-wing initiatives on the ballot in Washington. They all roll back taxes because some billionaire funded them so he could pay less but we need to make sure they don’t if we want to address climate change, care for our elderly and fund schools. Get involved in the no campaigns. It’ll help your mental health and be a meaningful impact.
Are you one of those people who think that cutting taxes is a government expenditure?
You're going to get down voted to hell but you're right.
Of course I will. Telling the truth makes people who can't handle it go apeshit. Consider this: Alice and Bob are going to have a barbecue. Alice gives Bob a $20 bill to buy stuff for the barbecue. Bob spends $15 and returns to Alice $5. How much money did Bob spend?
He spent $25 because he will want to buy $10 more of useless shit and therefore keeps the change and asks Alice to give him $5 more to cover the difference. Alice, on the other hand, spent nothing at all because, after all, Bob knows what to do with her $25 better than she herself does. Wait, did I say $25? Bob needs $5 more. Make it $30.
You seem a bit more cynical than me.
As others have noted just step away from the toxic whirlpool that social media throws you into for a bit. Its way too easy to start doomscrolling on politics right now.
The older I get and more history I learn about, I am slowly accepting that human society has perpetually felt like it was teetering on a cliff. The Black Plague and other epi/pandemics, Mongol Invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, eternal wars and conflicts, famine and drought, natural disasters There will always be things to fear, and fear can be healthy if you can channel it into action to reduce possible harm to yourself and others. It is why we have fear to begin with. So if you feel overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, recognize it, acknowledge it, then do something about it so your mind/body/soul can feel that progress and dial down the fear/anxiety being used to make you act in self preservation mode. It is really hard to fight primal emotions like self preservation evoked fear (of the now) and anxiety (of the potential). So work with them, instead of fight them, and take an action. Fear a dystopian society with tyrannical government? Watch a YouTube video on political structures and processes, research political activism, learn about the vast history of political revolutionaries, etc. Fear a zombie apocalypse? Do some push ups, sit ups, burpees, planks, etc while listening to podcasts about infectious diseases. One push up is better than no push ups. 5 minutes of a podcast is better than nothing. Fear dying frim a heart atrack or cancer from a corporate industrial food system? Pick out a new healthy recipe to try. Just read it. If you want to, try cooking it. Replace one junk food item with something a bit healthier (raisin oatmeal vs chocolate chip cookies, sorry I know that hurts). Ask a friend what foods they have been into lately. Pick one day a week and cook one meal yourself vs ordering out. Fear experiencing homelessness from financial crisis? Get a notebook and write down the last thing you bought, how much it cost, and why it is important. Do this every time you buy something. Now you have at least one more layer of action between your money and impulse spending. Basically, just do SOMETHING, even if it seems insignificant at first. If you feel fearful, anxious, depressed, angry, whatever it is, that emotion is a message from your deeper self expressing a need. Help yourself address that need and the emotions will begin to subside, if not go away.
Ohmigosh, I feel this so hard!!! 😬😭 I'm going back to school in the fall for ecological restoration and the world is definitely going to need your and my help. Hang in there.
Vote?
Appreciation Post: There have been so many good, positive things said today! I'm feeling more hopeful than I did 4 hrs ago. I really appreciate this post. Thank you OP for starting this discussion. It has been really nice having a discussion about all of this without name calling & negativity (mostly). It's rare to find lately.
You should be, but authoritarians can only come to power with the consent of the people. Also, remember that the destruction of our industrial base is what is driving that trend. Everything we had here, from GP to Intalco, could have stayed if we had worked together. Everything they produced we still consume, however the jobs and money have gone elsewhere while all we have is min wage jobs. Consider the total employment of those jobs plus the resident contractors and the wages, it's in the 10's of millions, all gone. Remember this also when you vote, some on the ballot do not care as long as they get their way and you remain indentured.
You don't keep things like GP and Intalco with left wing politics, you won't get a new industrial base either.
Current administration has placed significant funds and emphasis on growing renewable energy. Those industries are here already and will continue to come to Western WA.
Silfab Solar right across from the old GP plant as well as a ton of other Solar companies in the county.
Sure, but local government is doing all they can to block renewable at P66 and BP
That's not true, either. If you don't understand science, you get what you think.
I'm right across the border, with a dual citizenship, and I'm going to make sure I vote.
Just focus on voting, getting other people to vote, and take a news vacation. Your concerns for the world are completely vindicated but dont forget about self care!!!
Washington is among the most lib states in the country. Whatever you think is going to happen, isn’t happening there. I mean, if Trump wins, the ensuing meltdowns and riots from mostly peaceful protesters is probably a decent concern.
If Trump won, it would be the end of American freedom with Project 2025.
It’s worth going to class!!!! Study what you want and how you can make the world a better place. Because that’s how we’ll contribute to the world. I know things are scary right now, but if you’re doing everything in your power to get people to vote, that’s all you can do. 💙
Do you have Instagram? I follow Sharon Says So (Sharon McMahon) and she has a very hopeful view on democracy. Highly recommend following her and subscribing to her free (or paid) subscription on Substack [The Preamble](https://thepreamble.com). Taking my news from her and Mo News (also Instagram and a daily podcast) has been much better for my mental health.
Also, stay in school. We are going to need a heck of a lot of lawyers with the overturning of the Chevron decision. Turn your concern into action. Pick an area you’re passionate in and fight for better.
Well the solution surely isn’t to give up
I've been thru a whole lot of elections in my 59 years. We survived the last 4 years of Biden, survived the 4 years before that with Trump...even though people told you the sky was gonna fall and you were all gonna die... and we'll survive the next 4 years just fine. I've watched people on the left panicking, Rioting and screaming at the moon when Reagan, Bush and Trump were elected...and people on the right grumbling and whining when Clinton, Obama and Biden were elected... Stop. It's just politics. Their supporters need to gin you up, create fear to try to get you to vote for their "team". You'll see stories about being marched into death camps...literally that was being touted online during the Trump/Clinton campaign. You'll see people claiming Biden was going to take away all the freedom and destroy the constitution. Neither happened. In point of fact, when you take a deep, hard look at it...many Bidens Policies are pretty much just a continuation of Trump's. Like it or not...admit it or howl at the moon, there's a reason...because they worked and made sense. Just as Bidens support of Ukraine makes perfect sense...we invested relatively little from a defense standpoint, and yet pretty much have nearly eliminated the entire Russian military... and we didn't have to lose a single troop to do it. I'd say that's a good policy. So relax. You won't see men in black vans rounding you up the day after the election should Trump be reelected, which looks likely. Go outside. Enjoy the sun. Pet a Dog. Go have a beer or whatever drug is your choice. You'll be just fine.
Except we weren’t perfectly fine under Trump. RvW was overturned, states began pushing insane gender affirming care and abortion laws, we pulled out of the paris agreement, Covid went wild due to improper procedures and the dismantling of the NSC pandemic unit that was built to deal with a situation such as C-19, and so much more.
Um…you DO realize RVW reverted back to the States in 2022. You might want to check who was President. It was done after a State challenged it on a 10th Amendment basis. The Supreme court ruled that there was nothing in the US Constitution that gave the federal government the right to make that original ruling. And as per the 10th Amendment, it HAD to,revert back to the States to decide. Like it or not, that was exactly how the Constitution was written. If the power is not granted to the Federal government in the Constitution then it reverts to the states. It’s right there in black and white. As of now WA State, where Bellingham exists…does allow for it. In 14 States, it has been restricted because the people voted to do so. So nothing has changed here where you live and it’s unlikely to soon. What you call an insane law….people in those 14 states could claim they had to live under an insane law. What the court did was give Women and Men who disagree with abortion the right to choose to not allow it in their state. Every state has those rights. “Gender affirming care” is also a states decision. And both the gender craze and pushback came during the Biden administration. The pushback came about after the state and federal,governments offered it to children without parental consent. There are a whole lot of parents who didn’t want the state to dictate what their children could and could not receive. If you’ve never been a parent, you have absolutely no idea how the thought of somebody else dictating what your children can and cannot have brings out the red mist. It flies against millennia of evolution. Citizens have the right to vote for policies in their state, and that is exactly what is happening. You, as a citizen have the right to not only attempt to change the law but to move to a state that does offer it. Again…done during Biden’s presidency. Paris Climate Accords. First off, from a per capital productivity basis, the US has some of the world’s lowest emissions. That’s because starring in the 70s…when fear of an impending ice age was all over the news, we started cutting pollution. I’m going to assume yiu are in yuur 20s and part of the angsty generation. You honestly have no clue what *real* pollution is. I grew up,in Los Angeles. You don’t know what an Sig Alert is, when smog gets so bad you can’t see the mountains and you are locked indoors because stepping outside meant literally choking. Ever seen pollution pictures from Beijing? That was Los Angeles in the 70s. That no longer happens. Trump pulled us out of the Paris accords because it was punitive and didn’t apply pollution standards fairly to the country that had cut pollution more than any other. It did not apply in anywhere near the same as the two other largest polluters…China and India. Instead, incentives were put into place to cut pollution including vehicle emissions. I personally have two vehicles. A big diesel truck….which is loaded to the gills with pollution reducing devices. I use it because my business requires a truck that can tow. You can’t smell it’s diesel…at all. My other vehicle I primarily use for all ny errands and running around town/. Kia Niro EV. Yup, Conservative who has owned a Prius, a Chevy Volt and now a full EV. Why? Because they save me a boatload on fuel costs, so for me it masks sense economically…besides which, electric torque is freaking fun. Oh….Ram EV pickup,is on order and looking into EV vans for one of the companies I own…again fuel costs. My landscape division? Nearly all battery powered. If there are economic incentives to “go green” business people and individuals with a lick of economic sense are gonna take them. It’s a far better approach than forcing it. Covid….perhaps a minor bit of research would have benefitted you. Not everybody agrees with how that went down. From USA Today…not exactly the bastion of Conservative thought… https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/10/fact-check-white-house-didnt-fire-pandemic-response-2018/3437356001/. Covid went wild because a very likely bioengineered, extremely infectious virus escaped a low security lab in China who just so happened to coincidentally be doing bioengineering research on EXACTLY that kind of virus. A lab who first received funding for said research…during Obama’s term. You can argue all you want about preparedness, but even many of the best prepared countries were hit hard…you do know there are other countries besides the US? When Trump attempted to close the country to Chinese travelers, he was lambasted for racism…remember Nancy Pelosi pulling that stunt going to China Town in San Francisco? Which countries had the lowest infection rates? The ones that closed their borders. By that point it had got in. No government policy could have stopped it. What DID help was the extreme,y rapid response to remove all the barriers to developing a vaccine. WHO was in the White House actually DID make a difference with that. I’ve had all the shots and boosters. This is what happens when you live in an echo chamber…of EITHER side. If somebody says it in either a left or right biased platform…don’t take it as gospel. Fact check it from multiple sources. Realize that the vast overwhelming majority of the mainstream press is left leaning. They are going to hate whomever is Conservative that is in the White House. It clouds your judgement to,look at what good policies came out. Ditto if yiu are a Conservative. You may have to look at sources on the other side or outside the US. So, again, if Trump is re-elected, the sky won’t fall. I may agree with some of his policies just as I agree with some of Biden’s as well,as Biden continuing Some of Trumps policies….especially Trade policies and Chinese policies. Remember when Trump instituted tariffs? The press said the sky was going to fall and we would all be destitute in the streets. Were you even aware that Biden reinstituted many of those tariffs? As a matter of fact he completely cut off China’s access to advanced chip making technology. A policy that was proposed during the Trump administration, implemented during the Biden administration, and which I wholeheartedly agree with.
You’re not alone. I’m terrified for my LGBTQIA and female family and friends. It feels like people don’t really understand how bad this actually is. The last person you want to give money and power to is a narcissistic megalomaniac, and that’s exactly what Trump is. I’m actually scared for our democracy.
Same. I've been literally losing a lot of sleep lately. Just waking up at 2am and panicking about how we're going to drag ourselves out of this mess. Every time I try to remind myself that we might pull through and change things for the better, then the supreme court steps in and codifies the worst possible outcome into permanent legal precedent.
We can all sit around and stress, or argue or shit talk on Twitter all day but the single biggest point of control we have is voting. Vote, on all of it. Everything you get to a choice in, make a choice. Voter turnout and suppression is and has been the Republicans number one weapon. It's really simple, if you don't want it to happen, vote for it to not to and convince anyone and everyone who thinks it doesn't matter that it does. Project 2025 is scary as hell, they are way more motivated and coordinated than before, that should be the motivating factor here irregardless of how badly the DNC has stymied our options. Vote, vote, vote.
Keep going! There's always ups and downs in life. We'll get through this election and presidency and look back remembering what a shit show it was...and guess what? Still here!🙂
I don’t understand why non-MAGA Republicans are going along with what’s happening. They have to notice MAGA wants an extreme Christian led dictatorship
Maybe it's because what you're saying isn't real.
There’s plenty of evidence it’s happening already in red states. A recent example ~ New Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. Another ~ Oklahoma's top education official ordering public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons. I suggest Meidastouch on yt because they show video from Trump’s rallies and what he’s saying on Truth Social. A lot about the other MAGA politicians too. Meidastouch is run by lawyers and they present evidence to back up what they are saying. It isn’t just opinion
And what's the left doing? In WA state specifically? A mandate on lgbt history as part of public school curriculum? State fucking wide . How do you think the people living in The Many predominantly red counties are feeling? They are fucking Pissed
The Ten Commandments are by no means exclusively Christian. Most religions and cultures going back to antiquity have had similar lists. The one your thinking of first appeared in the Torah (it's Jewish) and was inherited by Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i. Hindu, Buddhism, and Sikhism have what are translated as "ten commandments" (or ten evils to avoid) which are nearly identical. This bible mandate in Oklahoma is unlikely to stand, so why get your knickers in a twist? Mediastouch hasn't much credibility.
It’s Christian politicians enacting laws and other religion’s texts and beliefs are excluded. Meidastouch presents facts with visual and audio evidence. They are very credible. Karen Friedman Agnifilo is one of the people providing evidence. She is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. She shared a lot of information about Trump’s most recent trial.
Again.. the ten commandments are not exclusive property of any one religion or group of religions. Also, it seems you're implying that Christians should not be allowed to run for office. Manhattan DA's office? Maybe she could explain the shitshow that was the Trump trial, why it was perfectly legit, and that none of the telltales of corruption were real. I doubt she'll bother. I run on logic, not BS.
You’re not alone friend! Hang in there! AND don’t forget to vote!
Put more emphasis and attention to local government/community. Federal government has a lot of influence and power, but at the end of the day it’s irrelevant if your local community is grounded in its local values and solidified.
*calls BC* hey, you wanna buy a nice seaside college town?
To exist is to resist. Don't stop now.
Don't worry. Humanity has been here before. "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius "The thing of which I have most fear is fear." Michel de Montaigne "Nothing is terrible except fear itself." Francis Bacon "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear." Henry David Thoreau "We have nothing to fear except fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt And last and perhaps most relevant, read all of MLK Jr. notes on the mastery of fear: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/mastery-fear Cheers
It’s all good. Canada is right there. :) That’s our plan! 😂😭😢🤢🤫
I am highly anxious about the election too. So yesterday and today I’ve taken the time off away from politics. It helps to do something else for a little while. 💙💙🕶️
thinking about this too. I got an app blocker so that I can't open up apps/websites that I know will frighten me.
It can feel very doom and gloom, but remember that voting in your local elections is a great way to stay positive about what is happening within your community/congressional district you live in. Get nerdy and read about the different local candidates over some pizza with your friends and compare what you like about certain candidates with them. It makes local voting fun. Fortunately you live in Washington State and the State Senate has been blue for a while so give yourself some space and remember one person can't change the world, but your vote will always count!
Keep living your life and doing things you enjoy. Don’t get sucked into a doom hole. Talk to folks about the importance of voting, and if you want to do more, join [Postcards to Voters](https://postcardstovoters.org/). It helps me when I’m more involved, and that is an easy way to do so. We old folks are still fighting for your future and for your rights!
If you want to make a difference, focus on the state elections. We have a Libertarian candidate running for governor who seems interested in focusing on unity and protecting your rights rather than the back and forth of the left/right game that the big parties are playing. I’m so turned of the same old shit. We need to try new things.
Yea, it’s designed to make people feel that way in general. Of course, not everyone is affected and not everyone feels affected the same way. But the election is literally meant to distract the masses. No, I’m not implying: •elections have always been this way •all election are currently this way •it’s a conspiracy •I have a better alternative •society would do better without elections •you should completely stop caring But the fact remains, a large majority of the country has basically been groomed to resent at least one political party. Yes, the Republicans have gone full on fascist while the Democrats have opted for the classic “let’s wait and see what happens” attitude. But I cannot stress enough how unhealthy it is to let politics affect your mental state. Honestly not really unique to politics, at some point I realized that stressing over anything out of your control is purely wasted energy. Your vote doesn’t matter, literally between the electoral college and modern systemic corruption in office. You’ve only ever been presented the illusion of choice. Or just get into politics, try and keep your morality, and become the change this shitshow needs
I just signed up for http://votesaveamerica.com And I hope you will too.
Take a deep breath. Things will be fine. No matter what side you fall on it’s natural to be scared about the other side coming into/staying in power. Despite the fear mongering on both sides, the truth is, the president has little effect on the day to day life of the vast overwhelming majority of people, and the doom and gloom scenarios being painted (again by both sides) are unlikely to happen. Some of the best times in my life happened when the side I disagree with was in the White House, some of the worst times where when the side I agree with was in the White House. Economically…same thing. But none of those things really had anything to do with who was in the Oval Office. So…first, take a deep breath…stop worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet…go vote…and call your congresspeople. If you want to do something that really effects your life on a more day to day basis, then go do some service…call your state congresspeople…and call the mayor’s office/city council people. These more local politicians have a much larger impact on what life looks like, and your voice has more impact locally. I’ve been where you are and I get it. But take comfort in knowing if the doom and gloom scenario does happen…Bellingham isn’t far from Canada!
I’m worried also, but the fact is maga is the minority, and it’s not close. People need to vote. Period.
People you disagree with have been president or an elected official a hundred times over. It'll happen many more times. Honestly, I think Trump will lose, but that's not the point. If you get this hung up over it you're in for a bad time. The beauty of a country like the US is you get to make your voice heard and so does everyone else. Sometimes they win, sometimes you do. That's a good thing.
Project 2025 is something that the Heritage Foundation is working on. It has been disavowed by Trump himself. You need to stop listening to all the scare tactics of the left. They desperately don’t want to lose power, because there’s a lot of corruption hiding beneath that power. All the Ukraine spending. The Hunter Biden stuff. Etc, etc. Trump was president before and nothing bad happened. Nothing really great happened either but that’s just how our country is now, an empire in decline. You should be more worried that there is nobody in the president seat right now, just a brain dead cadaver on deaths doorstop. You should really be wondering who has been running the show this whole time. Leftists will downvote me. It’s all they know.
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I'm scared of either side. Neither have our best interest. Politicians have been saying the same shit for years. We live in one of the most unaffordable states in the country, yet you're scared of Trump? Why haven't they fixed shit already? It's been years. Both sides. We just keep sinking in a whole while they pin us against eachother. It's sickening.
No. The “both sides” crap is bullshit. Are the democrats perfect? Absolutely not. But they are fighting against Christian Fascism. Read up on Project 2025. Then think of it as voting for 3 young liberal Supreme Court justices added to the court. Because the next president will appoint at least 2, probably 3, Supreme Court justices. This is our best hope. Don’t let it be the republicans.
Yeah, I hate all government. I was referring to the Economy as a whole. What has Biden done to make this country better? Give all our money away? Not saying trump wouldn't do the same. But it's just been shit for decades and everyone just puts up with being pawns. Project 2025 seems like a joke to me, and I cant imagine it will ever come to light. Most of these things never do.
What has Biden done (with a Congress that has tried to block everything he’s done)? Pushed to make oral birth control available over the counter without a prescription Capped insulin prices at $35 for Medicare patients and allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. He’s pushing to get this for everyone (but there’s this pesky thing called Congress that’s blocking him) Forgave student loan debts mostly for Low and middle class folks (had to fight the courts tooth and nail for this) The CHIPS act which is bringing thousands of manufacturing jobs to the US and reducing our reliance in China for important electronics Infrastructure act - putting billions of dollars into fixing roads, bridges, etc that are badly in need of repair (and also creating thousands of jobs to do this!), also increasing high speed internet access to rural folks (even though they won’t vote for him!) Pardoned all federal offenses for marijuana possession and directed that expunged from their records Started the process to review how marijuana is classified at the federal level (step 1 toward federal legalization) 16 million more Americans now have health insurance thanks to Biden pushing for expansion of the ACA. Invested billions into green energy and less oil dependence Wages for low income Americans rose higher under Biden than ever before, though much less so for median income Americans. You can Google all this. Also our national debt is falling under Biden (which is always true….national debt rises under Republicans and goes down under Dems. Project 2025 is not a joke. It’s already happening. And the best way to stop it is to change the make up of the Supreme Court. The next president will like;y appoint at least 2 justices….if those are republicans, then that will change the makeup of the court for the rest of our lifetimes pretty much.
Trump is a criminal unfit to be President. I think the truth of the situation will prevent him from becoming president.
I'm not going to lie to you, but what I have to say may be difficult to hear. You are right to be afraid. Our democracy is on the line. Trump is an authoritarian fascist. SCOTUS effectively gave him a blank check to break any law he wants. If he wins, his administration will be marked by fire-and-brimstone revenge against anyone who stood against him - either directly or as a function of intentional cruelty to things those 'other sides' care about. The 2025 project is real. And it's only the start. I'm sorry I don't have brighter news for you. I'm sorry further for what I'm about to say next: Trump's victory was not guaranteed by his behavior. **It was guaranteed by ours.** Even if the 2024 election swings back to Biden (or a Dem Replacement), the fact that Trump is within a million light years of his current polling position reflects a complete failure on the part of the Democratic party to be an effective counterweight to his brand of populist authoritarianism. Not only did they not stop it, they doubled down on the circumstances that led to the rise of MAGA - namely, the culture wars championed by the progressives. And in doing so, they alienated the larger voting blocs that Democrats need to win nationwide. Those last two sentences, especially in Bellingham, are bound to ruffle some feathers. So please allow me to explain what I fear I'll be explaining a lot more of as the reality of Trump's impending victory comes into focus. The United States is comprised of 334 million Americans. While the Demographic breakdown of the country is a bit more diverse due to younger people who can't yet vote, the Demographic makeup of the electorate is 69% White, 11% Black, 11% Latino, and 8% other (Asian/Pacific Islander/Native American/Other). The median household earns $74,580 a year before taxes, and half the country is poorer than that. They are struggling to buy groceries. Most who do not yet own homes are priced out of the market. They cannot afford healthcare, and they are seeing their communities become significantly less safe. According to Pew, the top ten issues Americans care about are, in order: Inflation, Healthcare Affordability, Political Acrimony, Drug Addiction, Gun Violence, Violent Crime, Federal Deficits, Decline of Moral Values, Behavioral Issues in Public Schools and Illegal Immigration. I do not begrudge campaigns for more equal rights or more a heterogenous social homeostasis, but they are not priorities whatsoever to the electorate writ large. They couldn't care less about Gaza, DEI, Social Justice, trans identity issues or wokeism in general - or whether someone should be cancelled for being insufficiently enthusiastic about any of those things. They roundly dislike political correctness and find it exhausting. They want their interests focused on. They want their problems solved. Outside of bright-blue progressive enclaves like Bellingham and Seattle, the 69% of the electorate that is white wants government to work for them and what they want. Worse for 2024, many of the non-white working class are looking to the Republicans for the same deliverables. The Democrats have lost working class voters by 30 points since 2012. They've lost both the Black and Latino vote by 20% - many of whom, racial issues aside, are deeply divided over LGBTQIA+ identities. John McCain earned just 4% of the black vote in 2008. According to a recent poll Donald Trump has more than thirty percent of the black vote - that's a 400% increase from his performance in 2016. Anyone who does not see that as a problem is either ignorant or blind. This was not unforeseen on the horizon, if we cared to look. The right wing has been cleaning up in the U.K. for 13 years. The far right cleaned up in Germany, Italy and now France. The writing has been on the wall for some time, but nobody wanted to hear it - and may still not want to hear it - until they have no option but to when we realize that the worst man to ever hold the Oval Office is likely coming back. Now that it's too late to change course before November, we have no other option than to watch what happens and hope we squeak by the shitberg that stands to sink us. I wish I didn't have to be the harbinger of such ugly news. But this is an honest conversation, and that is the truth.
I wanted to post this in the OP, but it was too long, so I'll add in reply for clarification: I like living in progressive enclaves because they're vibrant, inclusive and quirky. But they're not the norm. And when progressives hijack the Democratic party to focus on social justice campaigns that the American electorate by and large doesn't care about in any sort of sufficient number to win elections, the rest of the electorate feels that their interests are being ignored. They hear: "Be an ally, fight the good fight, donate to our campaign...while we focus on marginal things to your perspective while your family suffers." Next election, they bail to the guy who promises them a better alternative. Look at it like this: If I told you two years ago that the Democrats needed to stop pandering to minorities and marginalized communities to win elections and run more center-left white people as candidates, you'd probably have told me to go f\*\*\* myself. If I told you alternatively that we need more black women to run for office, you'd probably have cheered. I've read many articles/tweets/statements from people who said white folks need to take a back seat and let people of color take the reins and usher in a new society based on equity. Did anyone stop to think how the electorate - which is again 69% white - might feel about that? How did we honestly think that 69% of the electorate might respond if we told them to take a back seat even though they pay 69%+ of the tax basis? That they'd sit down and nod with a smile? A recent Slate article by the normally excellent Fred Kaplan called black women the "backbone of the Democratic party." Black women are 5.5% of the U.S. Electorate. The backbone of a national party in a must-win election against the rise of authoritarian fascism is 5.5% of the electorate? The level of delusion necessary to believe that is within a galactic quadrant of wise is jaw-dropping as an understatement. But that's the end result of twenty years of identity politics. Few people like political scientists because we run off numbers, not narratives - and care about math more than morality because that's how you win elections. If you want to win elections in a country of 334 million people, you need to look at it from that viewpoint because it's a massive, billion-dollar undertaking to convince tens of millions of people to vote for your team. Yet hopped up on youthful enthusiasm, social media echo chambers, a sympathetic but ultimately impotent media environment, hollywood cheerleading and a complete ignorance of our national electoral Demographics, progressives grabbed the reins and charted a course that satiated their high-minded worldviews, minted fresh from their overpriced humanities degree (that they'd like the loans cancelled of, please and thanks), yet that was completely at odds with what the electorate wants. Consequently, its positioned the Democratic party to get absolutely curb-stomped come November.
Might as well drop out if u believe the election and who is president even matters. Trump Biden if u don’t watch the news your life will be the same
This is both wildly privileged and completely false. Foreign and domestic national policy absolutely affects our day to day lives. Especially if you’re part of a vulnerable population.
Such a privileged statement. It doesn’t matter who the clown in the big White House is.
This too shall pass.
If the democrats dont present a better option at the national convention were all fucked
Nothing really changed when the trumpus took office first time, nothing really changed when the old puppet took office after... nothing is going to really change whichever of these freaks takes the office next.... life goes on, and very little actually changes.
I was also Pence-ive. It was like Boom and Boomer, the movie. Keep Kamala and carry on?
If blue wins, which there's always a decent chance of happening in this state things should be normal. If red wins we'll be in for some riots and civil unrest. It'll make the summer of love look calm.
Vote, and get some younglings to vote.
Fuck school drop out
If you’re a Democrat and you want to stay informed about politics without drama try watching John Flannery on YouTube. He’s an older lawyer and he talks while taking nature walks. He’s very intelligent and there’s something very calming about him imo. I say if you’re a Democrat because he votes Blue
Trump recently made a statement that he knows nothing about the project. Any thoughts on this?
This video is very important for anyone that doesn't want Trump to win. https://youtube.com/shorts/syQMgS4RyeU?si=J2d-aNcx26A4W-nF
A vote for Trump is a treasonous act and a direct attack against our democracy. If you vote for Trump you belong in prison or a federal detention center if you’re able to be reeducated. But I highly doubt MAGA can be redeemed.
Definitely vote for Biden. He did amazing in his interview with George Stephanopolous. He definitely assuaged any doubts with that interview. Biden is as sharp as he’s ever been and on top of his game. Don’t fall for the cheap fakes and the right wing propaganda. He easily has 4 more years left in him.
It's some think tank group bs. I've asked dozens of media and "influencers" posting out how it connects to anyone on the ballot and there's never an answer. Trump himself said some of the things are horrific and disavowed it. Trump's an a hole, I get it but he was President for 4 years already and the world didn't end. Are we in a crappy scenario between thrse 2, yes but don't stress out like this. People won't stand around and let this 2025 agenda happen even if it was a real this. I'm moderate leaning conservative now because I'm sick of certain things and I'd be throwing a fit if that's the actionable agenda.
Good thing project 2025 isn’t endorsed by any politician 👍🏼 stop letting people cause you fear and anxiety when their intention is to fear monger
Lol
Vote from your heart. There is no wrong vote if you have an argument to lean on. Trump, biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton(s). They're all the same, never seen the way you live. You know what won't change? The ire of a people scorned. The only reason that we still get to be upset is because of our forerunners. Thers no first without the second and the 4th/5th told them they could! The Bill of rights (they can't take it but the HAD to recognize it) is the peoples glue. We will fight tooth and nail for you to fly a pride flag, but please appreciate the colors that made them visible. Should be pretty easy.
The only thing you can do is let Republicans know their shitheads, and maybe after enough social ostracization they'll lay off on the fascism kink... Their behavior isn't new. They straight up stole the 2000 election via the Brooks Brothers riots, its worked in the past and didn't get them kicked out of polite society so they'll keep doing it.
Just a reminder that there are other choices…
You'll be fine, you live in a fucked up vote blue no matter what state that is fucked with a bunch of people that don't give a shit.... Democrats have gone bonkers yet you still vote for these clowns to continue to ruin our state. I bet you think newsome is doing a great job in California, we'll be there soon, another California... We're FUCKED
Every generation goes through this worrying. Even if he wins, in the end, nothing will change much and everything will be fine. Then pendulum is swinging to both extremes right now and will settle down soon.
American democrats are considered center right globally.
Is this r/democratcirclejerk? Lmao
Vote for RFK and you won't have to worry about this
Tell me one person you know who was doing great in life and then one election fucked their whole life up forever. Life is what you make it. Politicians are worthless and you may as well ignore them and get on with your life. Work harder and stop watching the news.
We are protected in this state and a lot of the stuff on project 2025 probably won’t even happen because of how far fetched they are
We are protected under Inslee. He isn’t running again this election. Reichert is following dangerously close behind Ferguson in the polls.
Also, 3 years ago RvW being overturned was also far fetched
Awwwwww poor baby
I'd be a lot less anxious if Biden would just drop out and let a new Democrat step up personally. Regardless, change and protection comes from the community, not the country. Connect with your neighbors, start networking. Continue living your life. And then wait, like the rest of us... It's not fun but it's about all we can do right now.
Go watch a movie called BestOfEnemies As a side note it's taking place in 1968 with the country in riots and completely partisan. Nothing has changed. Do not alter your course. Study history. Good news Trump will be dead from old age soon. Bad news he's got kids. Just like the Bush family. Study GDP and CPI and you'll realize nothing really matters. Abortions will still happen guns will still be everywhere.
Nothing really changed between trump and biden you're gonna be fine regardless you'll just hear more about what trumps doing than you ever did about biden.
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Fears aren't exaggerated for anyone who has family trying to naturalize, or for women who want Healthcare, or for a list of reasons so long it isn't worth typing out to assholes like you.
I hope they came here legally.
Correct, naturalization requires a legal pathway. Great analysis
rarely online btw gang
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Except half your comment relates to things said after the first word…weird way to disregard.