Wow. This letter is "pitch perfect". Clear, realistic and energizing. Robert, your presentations on substack only improve each week and they inspire me. Thanks, I need it.
Thanks, Bill. It was a hard letter to write. I am optimistic, but I thought that Trump crossed (another) line that should cause all remaining members of the GOP to flee in horror and disgust. The mild reactions -- "inappropriate"-- show that they will look away again. Trump says those offensive things because he has been granted permission by the GOP thousands of times over.
Jan 31, 2022·edited Jan 31, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Thank you again, Robert!
I coach our debate team at the local high school. I tell you, these young people are brilliant. They will make a positive dent in the world! I will tell them about Next Generation Politics when we meet today.
Meantime, let's hope that old white patriarchy limps off into the sunset (seems like vaccine resistance is helping). None too soon.
Yes, it is time for these brilliant young people to take the baton from the old patriarchs. You are playing a strong role in that by coaching how to debate!
Speech and Debate: one of the best things for high school students to do--especially at an age when they love to argue! Also tell them about The Civics Center, the other group Robert mentions, to turn good talk into action.
Geez, Robert, are you now a mind reader as well as your other talents? Brazenness and exhaustion….two words that described my weekend. On Saturday as my husband and I were covering our plants in preparation for the “hard freeze” that came Saturday night, a man came over. He had just moved into the neighborhood from somewhere up north and didn’t know what to do with Florida plants and pools. He “brazenly “ wore a “Trump 2024” hat. I was angry at that boldness in a new neighborhood and couldn’t imagine how ANYONE could still support that criminal, especially so openly. All day Sunday I was exhausted from the fight. Ready to pull back. Your letter this morning gave me another boost of energy and resolve. Thank you.
Great to learn of another grassroots organization in service of democracy, and a youth driven one at that! I added them to my list and followed them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:
Hi, Ellie. I really appreciate your use of social media to amplify the groups. Next Generation and The Civics Center are two great organizations focused on youth, doing complementary things.
Hum… On another more important matter, at least one of three outside adopted feral cats has opted to use my warming houses constructed against the back of my house. I dare not bring food out too early in the morning and disturb his den. His two siblings are too stupid to cuddle together with him and keep warm inside and away from this zero degree New England bomb cyclone weather.
I suppose these cats are reminiscent of our body politics. At least a percentage of the population understands how to protect themselves against the elements and the rest, likely as dumb as those other cats that spend nights freezing their little butts off in a broken down shed in a pile of hay.
Jan 31, 2022·edited Jan 31, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I find one fundamental flaw in your optimism about the future of the country 30 years hence, and that is that 5 or 6 years from now, there may not be any legitimate elections held so the chances of throwing out seditionists, anarchists, liars from the halls of government may disappear. The country is rotten to the core.
Hi, Theo. It's our job to ensure that we hold the fort for the next decade. It will be difficult, it may get worse, but I do not believe that Trump is bigger than America or the Constitution. We will outlast him and the nativist populism he has exploited that always flows below the surface in any nation.
I suggest that you resign from the Chicken Little Caucus and get to work to save the nation. No matter how bleak things may seem today, they are not so dark as they were in the spring of 1940, with Hitler’s armies running wild in Europe. Yet Britain chose to stand alone against the tide, held out and eventually triumphed. We owe our country and the world no less effort.
Today’s edition is in my opinion an example of three additional reasons not to elect a Republican to Congress. Frankly I think voters are tired , worn out and over stimulated with the daily barrage of negative and misleading information about politics, the Pandemic, racism, inflation and a host of other things. Things that outraged people months ago have been long forgotten. I strongly believe that many Independent leaning Republicans and conservatives are tired of Trump and as the January 6th hearings uncover the breath and depth of the insurrection planning and attempted implications they no longer feel comfortable supporting him. The more outrageous Trump becomes because of the pressure of litigation the harder it should be for 2022 candidates to use Trump’s endorsement as a political advantage and may help D’s more than pollsters have predicted so far. My prediction is a non Trump, normal Republican will emerge to run for President I’m 2024 on the platform of returning the country and Republicans back to normal.
Thank you, Robert, for getting us to the question of "What do we do about it?", the question we all need to tackle especially raising the media into supporting us rather than focusing on their ratings and negative, sensational but trivial news. We need constructive journalism. We need to hear more about what good is going on rather than giving free advertising to yet another legal problem of the former guy. My concern is that we need to think in big picture terms. For me this is not a two major party spat, not a left vs. right spat, but an up vs. down income equity problem. The GOP is fully in the pockets of the top 1% and the large corporations (larger than most countries) who pay no taxes yet have the entire Republican party representing their interests and their interests alone at the expense of the rest of us, the peasants in their mind. I'll go farther with the direction of Heather Cox Richardson's fabulous letter yesterday and say that corporations are the new monarchy that we need to turn into a democratic system. Corporations are now bigger than most countries. Money in politics -- No representation without taxation. Social media to control the peasants. Legalized corruption allowing corporations and the moneyed monarchs to buy politicians and elected officials to do only their bidding. Income disparity which comes from the greed of the billionaires by controlling governments. Big agriculture corporations stripping family farms of any ability to make a viable living. Deregulation allowing corporations to poison air and water and destroy our natural resources and fuel existential climate calamity. This looks like the quiet revolution we could take on. Employees must have significant financial shares of the companies they produce the profit for. Get the knee of big money off the rest of us which is starving our children. This is the union movement we need especially in the social media giants. The non-violent revolution we need is not left versus right; it is up versus down. The money monarchs are suppressing their indentured servants. Time to stand up and unite. The people united shall never be defeated.
Question?? If you were President Biden, what would you do about Merrick Garland's lack of action? I see Biden as between a rock and a hard place. If he openly speaks with Garland or removes him, he is charged with using the DOJ the same way Trump did. If he does nothing, as he seems to be doing, we may lose our democracy?
I really appreciate your calm, clear, reasonable approach, Robert. It definitely helps me refuse to give in to despair and to stay focused on positive actions, one step at a time.
Wow. This letter is "pitch perfect". Clear, realistic and energizing. Robert, your presentations on substack only improve each week and they inspire me. Thanks, I need it.
Thanks, Bill. It was a hard letter to write. I am optimistic, but I thought that Trump crossed (another) line that should cause all remaining members of the GOP to flee in horror and disgust. The mild reactions -- "inappropriate"-- show that they will look away again. Trump says those offensive things because he has been granted permission by the GOP thousands of times over.
“Engage in millions of small acts of democracy to defend the Constitution”!!! What an action plan! Thank you, Robert.
Any moral Republican left in the GOP has a responsibility to stand up, speak out and act against the madness.
Thank you again, Robert!
I coach our debate team at the local high school. I tell you, these young people are brilliant. They will make a positive dent in the world! I will tell them about Next Generation Politics when we meet today.
Meantime, let's hope that old white patriarchy limps off into the sunset (seems like vaccine resistance is helping). None too soon.
Bless you for coaching the high school debate team! Encourage them to run for office as soon as they are eligible!
Yes, it is time for these brilliant young people to take the baton from the old patriarchs. You are playing a strong role in that by coaching how to debate!
Speech and Debate: one of the best things for high school students to do--especially at an age when they love to argue! Also tell them about The Civics Center, the other group Robert mentions, to turn good talk into action.
Geez, Robert, are you now a mind reader as well as your other talents? Brazenness and exhaustion….two words that described my weekend. On Saturday as my husband and I were covering our plants in preparation for the “hard freeze” that came Saturday night, a man came over. He had just moved into the neighborhood from somewhere up north and didn’t know what to do with Florida plants and pools. He “brazenly “ wore a “Trump 2024” hat. I was angry at that boldness in a new neighborhood and couldn’t imagine how ANYONE could still support that criminal, especially so openly. All day Sunday I was exhausted from the fight. Ready to pull back. Your letter this morning gave me another boost of energy and resolve. Thank you.
Great to learn of another grassroots organization in service of democracy, and a youth driven one at that! I added them to my list and followed them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:
nextgenpolitics.org
https://www.facebook.com/NextGenerationPolitics/
@NextGenPol
https://www.instagram.com/nextgenpol/
Hi, Ellie. I really appreciate your use of social media to amplify the groups. Next Generation and The Civics Center are two great organizations focused on youth, doing complementary things.
Once again, Robert, exactly right.
Hum… On another more important matter, at least one of three outside adopted feral cats has opted to use my warming houses constructed against the back of my house. I dare not bring food out too early in the morning and disturb his den. His two siblings are too stupid to cuddle together with him and keep warm inside and away from this zero degree New England bomb cyclone weather.
I suppose these cats are reminiscent of our body politics. At least a percentage of the population understands how to protect themselves against the elements and the rest, likely as dumb as those other cats that spend nights freezing their little butts off in a broken down shed in a pile of hay.
Waddaya gonna do.
Thank you, as always. Tonight’s newsletter lifted my spirits and invigorated me to do more!
I find one fundamental flaw in your optimism about the future of the country 30 years hence, and that is that 5 or 6 years from now, there may not be any legitimate elections held so the chances of throwing out seditionists, anarchists, liars from the halls of government may disappear. The country is rotten to the core.
Hi, Theo. It's our job to ensure that we hold the fort for the next decade. It will be difficult, it may get worse, but I do not believe that Trump is bigger than America or the Constitution. We will outlast him and the nativist populism he has exploited that always flows below the surface in any nation.
I suggest that you resign from the Chicken Little Caucus and get to work to save the nation. No matter how bleak things may seem today, they are not so dark as they were in the spring of 1940, with Hitler’s armies running wild in Europe. Yet Britain chose to stand alone against the tide, held out and eventually triumphed. We owe our country and the world no less effort.
From Jessica Craven's Substack:
"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."
– William Shakespeare "Measure for Measure
We must not give up nor lose hope.
Today’s edition is in my opinion an example of three additional reasons not to elect a Republican to Congress. Frankly I think voters are tired , worn out and over stimulated with the daily barrage of negative and misleading information about politics, the Pandemic, racism, inflation and a host of other things. Things that outraged people months ago have been long forgotten. I strongly believe that many Independent leaning Republicans and conservatives are tired of Trump and as the January 6th hearings uncover the breath and depth of the insurrection planning and attempted implications they no longer feel comfortable supporting him. The more outrageous Trump becomes because of the pressure of litigation the harder it should be for 2022 candidates to use Trump’s endorsement as a political advantage and may help D’s more than pollsters have predicted so far. My prediction is a non Trump, normal Republican will emerge to run for President I’m 2024 on the platform of returning the country and Republicans back to normal.
"normal" Republicans are now Independents.
Thank you, Robert, for getting us to the question of "What do we do about it?", the question we all need to tackle especially raising the media into supporting us rather than focusing on their ratings and negative, sensational but trivial news. We need constructive journalism. We need to hear more about what good is going on rather than giving free advertising to yet another legal problem of the former guy. My concern is that we need to think in big picture terms. For me this is not a two major party spat, not a left vs. right spat, but an up vs. down income equity problem. The GOP is fully in the pockets of the top 1% and the large corporations (larger than most countries) who pay no taxes yet have the entire Republican party representing their interests and their interests alone at the expense of the rest of us, the peasants in their mind. I'll go farther with the direction of Heather Cox Richardson's fabulous letter yesterday and say that corporations are the new monarchy that we need to turn into a democratic system. Corporations are now bigger than most countries. Money in politics -- No representation without taxation. Social media to control the peasants. Legalized corruption allowing corporations and the moneyed monarchs to buy politicians and elected officials to do only their bidding. Income disparity which comes from the greed of the billionaires by controlling governments. Big agriculture corporations stripping family farms of any ability to make a viable living. Deregulation allowing corporations to poison air and water and destroy our natural resources and fuel existential climate calamity. This looks like the quiet revolution we could take on. Employees must have significant financial shares of the companies they produce the profit for. Get the knee of big money off the rest of us which is starving our children. This is the union movement we need especially in the social media giants. The non-violent revolution we need is not left versus right; it is up versus down. The money monarchs are suppressing their indentured servants. Time to stand up and unite. The people united shall never be defeated.
Question?? If you were President Biden, what would you do about Merrick Garland's lack of action? I see Biden as between a rock and a hard place. If he openly speaks with Garland or removes him, he is charged with using the DOJ the same way Trump did. If he does nothing, as he seems to be doing, we may lose our democracy?
I really appreciate your calm, clear, reasonable approach, Robert. It definitely helps me refuse to give in to despair and to stay focused on positive actions, one step at a time.
Thank you, Robert, for keeping it real..…and giving us the “Audacity of Hope “.