Our republic did not arrive overnight. It was cultivated over centuries.
It took dedicated organizers and movements to help craft the multiracial democracy we have today.
It took a women’s movement, a labor movement, a Civil Rights movement, and a literal civil war to quash a violent white supremacist insurrection and extend basic rights to the vast majority of the population. That work is far from over!
Our republic is like a living, breathing organism. It requires attention and growth to meet the needs of its population.
And just as it can be strengthened, it can be corrupted, weakened and destroyed.
Inequality, endless wars, a corrupt unaccountable elite can all lead to both violent overthrows or unprecedented democracy expansion.
The question now is: which path will we take? Democracy breakdown—represented by Donald Trump and his minions—or democracy reform?
Reform begins with full accountability and justice for everyone who led a violent insurrection against our democracy, however powerful they may be.
But we can’t stop there. We are doomed to repeat this cycle of instability and backsliding if we do not undertake a bold agenda to reimagine our democracy— from our elections on down.
We cannot fall into the trap of making policies guided by terror, treating the symptoms of the illness without addressing the root causes. If we do not abide by our principles now, then we cannot really say that we ever did.
The next Trump will be more competent, and more clever. The work to prevent the catastrophes we should all be able to see coming starts now.
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Trump began his presidency by backing out of the Iran nuclear deal, imposing crippling sanctions on the people of Iran, and further empowering the brutal regime there, and risking a nuclear conflict.
Iran now has 12 times more enriched uranium than would have been permitted under the agreement.
There seems to be a continued effort to malign Black activists and the people who represent them, so here is a brief thread on what I saw happen this election.
First, polls consistently show that Black Lives Matter is more popular than ever. A majority of Americans support the movement by *28 points*, a stark increase from just earlier this year. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Despite this, Trump explicitly used racism in an effort to win white suburban voters, repeatedly invoking loaded language like “thugs” and “riots.” cnn.com/2020/06/20/us/…
The work @JCA_MN is doing around antisemitism and housing justice is so critical. Especially moved by their deep canvass work - work that our party should emulate. givemn.org/organization/J…
“We’re turning out this vote to get to the starting line of the real work that is to come…That’s when the real work begins.” - @aoc
“I want you to think about your community, the person that you might’ve lost during this pandemic, the person that lost a job, the person that is waiting for us to pass a COVID relief package and so much more.” - @RashidaTlaib