(This is a long one. Beware)
Nothing new I suppose, but watching a news team talking to people going to the Trump Rally in Waco last night, and hearing them say things like “We knew from day one that Jan/6 at the Capital was a set up by the Feds!” and “Donald Trump will never be stopped. Anyone thinking he will be, better know what’s coming!” reminds me of something I’ve been reminded of, over & over again the last few years.
What does it remind me of?
That even with many years as a social scientist, and having both studied and taught the things I see playing out in our country, I still have moments of “Holy shit!”
Why is that important? Because the same “Holy Shit!” that I feel, in a negative way, is simultaneously creating a “Hell YEAH!” in his cult members.
The common factors are the attention grabbing aspect of what’s being said and done, and the level of intensity in the emotions being triggered.
Please understand, that arresting and convicting of Trump won’t bring about a lowering of the heat behind those emotions. Not in the short term. (And by short term I mean 3-5 years) It will intensify them. Naturally, that also raises the danger factor. He MUST, though, be indicted, prosecuted and convicted. He must. Even, and ESPECIALLY because it will increase the danger factor.
If you’ve followed me for long, you likely know that I believe that this CAN create a GOOD feeling in us, as a democracy loving people, even as the danger increases.
A soldier going on a mission that he or she knows is one they very likely may never come back from feels fear….with the edges rounded by the overwhelming pride of believing that what they are doing is THE most important thing they will EVER do during their time on earth. They feel BOTH at the same time.
The almost “certain death” we are facing, is the certainty that if we lose the 2024 election, it will be the death of democracy.
The overwhelming pride, for us, is that of embracing-like a first time mother embracing the newborn child she is handed by the nurse-the idea that winning the 2024 election is THE most important thing we will ever have done in our lifetime.
So, go ahead and feel the fear that comes from the thought of losing democracy….and then feel it shift to the background, as you feel the grit, the drive and intensity of an ass kicking sense of “THIS, we will DO!” that comes, as that overwhelming sense of pride and clarity of purpose….easily & effortlessly slides in front of it, and then drives the bus to the finish line.
Both feelings and emotions remain, and BOTH assist us to victory, but there is only one bus driver. Only one.
YOU are on Team Democracy. YOU are among those who will be written about in history books, and described as the people who came forward in the largest collective effort in US history, to squash evil at the voting booth.