Friday, February 24, 2017

She's not going to get over it

A retired teacher friend on Facebook whom I met 14 years ago as a blogger (I've never met her face to face and don't even know where she lives) has thrown down the gauntlet.  She's not going to get over Trump's election, she plans to rechannel her efforts to her representatives and senators to make sure they are voting as she wishes.  I left her a comment.
"That's probably a good idea. That's what conservatives did in 2009 and managed to get a number of seats changed in 2010 and 2012, although Republicans in Congress ignored them. At the state level Republicans control the majority of state houses probably as a result of the so-called Tea Party and Glenn Beck's 9-12 groups and reading clubs. The average American voter is running on what they learned in civics classes in high school if they even teach that in the 21st century. In classes I attended in 2010 we learned about the differences and importance of Supreme Court picks to determine if we had a real constitution or a plastic constitution. Also learned some history which has been pretty much covered up since even the 1920s. What a shock to some people to learn the origins of the KKK, lynchings and Jim Crow (Democrat party) and that it was the Republican administrations that led the fight for Civil Rights even in the 1960s. The biggest advantage was meeting like minded, lovely people after being demonized for so long. Some things were discouraging, like learning how committees at the local level for both parties control just about everything and don't want starry eyed newcomers upsetting their comfortable spots. You'll find out the same in your city, county and state elections. Our government at all levels is only quasi-representative. We elect a board at our church, or elect a school board, or a library board, or we answer to a team at work, and so forth. If we don't participate at some level of committee or board, our voices aren't heard. By the time of the election, it's too late. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2008 primaries against Barack Obama. But the popular vote didn't matter--it was number of primaries."

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