Some #Midterms2022 Election Lessons:
A Thread

1. We really need to rethink how we—and how others—use polling data. Sometimes it’s not aimed at reporting. It’s an attempt to persuade—an electoral strategy—more than anything else.

For more: cafe.com/now-and-then/p…
2. The youth vote matters. A lot.
3. The press should do more reporting and less predicting.
4. The threat to democracy lives on. A lot of election-deniers were elected.

There’s a hell of a lot of work to be done.

Keep your guard up.
5. The Democratic state Secretaries of State who were elected matter A LOT. Denier-Secretaries of State can bring our entire political system down.
6. Some of our strongest political guardrails are people—even more than institutions. That’s both good and bad.

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More from @jbf1755

Nov 12
1/ So…in the same way that the DJT presidency revealed the profound vulnerabilities of “norms,” the erosion of Twitter is revealing a vulnerability of democracy.
2/ It certainly isn’t THE public square. But it has acted as an important one.

I’ve been saying for quite some time that we’re in the midst of a crisis of “we.”

For better and worse—sometimes much worse—Twitter was a “we”-creator.
3/ It has been a place where groups can talk and cohere and plan.

Sometimes, the outcome of that has been VERY ugly.

But sometimes, it has forged community in a positive sense.
Read 6 tweets
Oct 23
THIS THIS THIS

The party in power often loses in the midterm, unless there’s a major issue or event with sweeping (and in this case deadly) repercussions.

The overturning of Roe.
Republicans know this.

They removed anti-choice statements from campaign websites.

As the thread below states, they distracted us w/planes of asylum seekers sent to other states—this election’s “caravans.”
(“Non-white people coming to get us”—a visceral non-fail prod for some)
They’re banking on “women are the weaker sex” nonsense to defuse righteous anger at rights removed, and give men on the right a sense of righteousness of their own.
Read 7 tweets
Sep 1
This is what I'm interested to see--how Biden's address balances the dire need to discuss threats vs democracy vs how it deals w/issues of partisanship

They're related but not identical

Having a president directly address the preservation of American democracy is a big event.
It will be important to consider who he's talking about, when he talks about "MAGA Republicans" but not Republicans as a whole.
I do think--& have said many times- that we need to step back from the assumption that everything will be fine in the end.

We don't know that.
We don't know how this will end.
I'm not simply spouting off when I say that democracy is at risk.

It is.

We HAVE to protect it.
Read 29 tweets
Aug 1
1/ A few words on honor and the founders -- that relate to politics today. (Trust me.)

Elite men in early America DID worry about their honor - a combination of their reputation and their "value" as men -- particularly, public men (i.e. politicians).
2/ The fact that the founders--generally--worried about their honor DOESN'T mean that they were all honorable.

It means they were focused on their reputations & the public impact of their actions.

In a way, worrying about your honor is selfish; it's about you protecting you.
3/ The importance of a practical focus on honor had an impact on early American politics that's counterintuitive.

Public minded men (politicos) worried about their honor/reputation/identity in others' eyes.

Which means...they assumed they were accountable for their actions.
Read 7 tweets
Jul 23
Starting now—a panel with secondary school teachers talking about teaching history during the “History Wars.”

We need to have their backs!

#SHEAR2022
Great line up of secondary school history teachers. Interested to hear their insights on teaching in the here and now.
#SHEAR
H.S. Teaching panel: Not students or parents that cause the biggest problems in history teaching in high schools. It’s outside agitators.

#SHEAR2022
Read 17 tweets
Jun 19
1/ We have been in this situation for several years: we assume—w/o even realizing it—that the US will be ok in the end because it always has been.

That is wrong—& dangerous.
2/ As I’ve said countless times, the idea of American exceptionalism—the idea that the US can’t & won’t fall because it’s special—is blinding us to what’s happening all around us.
3/ The foundations of democracy—free & fair elections, the *belief* in free & fair elections, the accountability of public servants to the American people & the rule of law—are being destroyed right in front of us.
Read 5 tweets

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