We used to one community everywhere. All of us. I actually hoped we'd spread that to the world.
But the poltical parties' unending quest to take and keep power, especially the GOP, have destroyed our sense of community.
1/
Where are all the mini democracies we used to depend on daily? Our PTAs, our unions, our (yes) community organizations, our heavily attended town hall meetings?
We no longer listen to each other and instead scream at each other from afar, then wonder how we got here.
2/
For millennia the only thing that has enabled the tasty pink packages that our bodies truly are to survive has been numbers against predators and bad humans. We're inherently social beings for a reason...
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...yet we seem to have forgotten that and I'm pretty sure that if we don't find that sense of community again we're gonna kill each other off, by hook or by crook.
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And every time I come here to Twitter I'm constantly reminded how cruel we are and how much we enjoy watching the train wreck from afar, as long as the bodies being tossed around like paper aren't people we know.
It's a damn mass scale tragedy, and we're all taking part.
5/
When I see people "LOLing" at trump supporters maskless at a rally, then hoping they'll die, it hurts me inside that we've become so callous and indifferent to the suffering of others.
We hate that trump dehumanizes people then we do the same.
6/
Personally, as someone who found out what community is in the US miltary I find this state of affairs just sickening, and I know I'm not the only vet, or citizen, who thinks so.
All of us need to take a step back and find a little empathy again or this nation is kaput.
7/
Because one day this trump/GOP experience is gonna be over and if all we can do is hate one another instead of pick up the pieces and fix what's REALLY wrong then there's no hope for our future, or our children's.
I had a complex relationship with my mother, who's name was Retha btw. She was a terrible angry drunk, and was drunk by 10AM daily.
I hated her and loved her. I crashed a car getting to her when I thought she was hurt once, yet haven't called her in years.
2/
She was a southern girl through and through. She dolled out advice both good and bad, as all parents do. About sex she told me "Do for her what you think would feel good," but about race it was "Don't bring a black girl home."
3/
This gerrymandering is a huge deal yes, but I'd also point out that the people of Ohio voted on a Constitutional Amendment that would have prevented this, and the GOP just ignored it.
Ignored the will of the people. If that's not already authoritarian I don't know what is. 1/
Same thing happened in Wisconsin. The people of that state voted to participate in the Affordable Care Act and their government just ignored that too, as they AGAIN are gerrymandering themselves into a very lopsided and undeserved majority.
2/
Look at Texas, now an arguably purple state. The policies coming out of that legislative body and executive office are authoritarian to the core. Telling businesses what to do, private citizens what to do.
From the "smaller, less intrusive government" people no less.
3/
Let's talk about passing the two infrastructure bills and the #VotingRightsAct for a bit okay? I know the process isn't exactly what you'd like and I know you've got donors who aren't too keen on some of the proposals, like prescription drug prices for instance.
2/
You should know that your recalcitrance is making a lot of folks nervous, and for a myriad of reasons. But polls are showing there's one thing most Americans DON'T care about: the price.
The only people out here that care about the price aren't your voters.
3/
I'm seeing over and over the pandemic has (re)taught us something VERY important: work to live, don't live to work.
I thought maybe I'd thread my thoughts on that, so here we go. #HowToHuman
1/
Y'all, the work habits of Americans have driven me crazy for years now. I've lost count of how many 60-80 hour a week workers I've talked into toning it down.
"If you're always working how can you enjoy the fruits of your labor?" 2/
And the worst part about it is we've been brainwashed into overworking. Corps have told us since the invention of TV that we're less than if we don't have an extra car, or a too big house. All this enriches THEM, not us.
The Virginia GOP just nominated for governor the hedge fund billionaire ex CEO of The Carlyle Group, who personally hosted Osama Bin Laden's brother at a gala dinner on September 11, 2001.
Because they're the party of "patriots" & the "working class."
The best part about it? They had a train wreck of a primary designed to weed out the trumpies so this guy could win. He played on about "election integrity," but that's the old white supremacist dog whistle party line anyway.
2/
They had a "drive through" primary and required all sorts of numbers and signatures from their primary voters, information which the actual base refused to give, basically en masse.