I don't think you understand how incremental change happens. It doesn't just occur; the political field must have active, meaningful voices pulling it away from the status quo at all times for incremental changes to accumulate at all.
Yeah. Sure. That worked so well for us who were activist in the 60s and 70s. About the only thing we accomplished was getting the voting age reduced to 18 and ending the draft. In retrospect, I'm not sure either of those things were as positive as we thought. Now that we know that the human brain isn't fully developed until around age 25, is it really a good idea to let 18 year olds vote? I'm not so sure anymore. Ending the draft may not have been such a great idea. When we had the draft, everyone was involved when the country entered a war. This helped shorten wars. When the draft ended, we started having what seems like endless wars. I'm not suggesting we resume the draft, as I've been antiwar my entire life and having my ex drafted when we had a two week old baby was horrific. We have had so many unnecessary wars, especially since we've had an all volunteer army. Humans are prone to war, just like some of our closet ape relatives. So, did our loud voices and activism get us anywhere? I'm not so sure anymore. We are in a much worse position now than we were when I was part of a young, idealistic movement that thought we could change the world.
What I learned is that you can't change human nature. At best you can serve the powerless as an individual, and sometimes you can be a positive influence on others through your own actions. But even that can lead to frustration and burnout.
People do need to get more involved in politics, especially on the local level. People should vote, but almost half of the adults in the country don't even bother to do that. I'm very supportive of organizations like the one that Stacey Abrams started. I've given her some small donations because I think everyone should exercise their right to vote. But, I would love it if we didn't have so much disinformation influencing people in very negative ways. We don't need a lot of protests, although I certainly do support that type of activism. We need people to engage in politics, vote and express what they want. Without that, we won't get far. But, how do we get rid of all the misinformation that constantly circulates these days?
Perhaps our viewpoints aren't as different as you might think. Go and read some of Biden's somewhat idealistic plans. They are more progressive than what I've seen from any president in recent history. Now, he and the Democrats must try and convince others that is the direction where we need to head. They must convince those with more conservative views, those who are apathetic or too busy to get involved, etc. But then, with every step forward, there are often two steps backwards. Just take a look at the right wing movements that are developing in many European countries! Why is that? There is no perfect society. There are no easy answers as how to make things better.
I would love for you or anyone here to explain exactly how we are going to change things and head in a different direction. I would love for any progressive in Congress to explain exactly how to accomplish anything. Tweeting and criticizing isn't going to change a thing. I've not seen anything that sounds realistic from those who consider themselves the most progressive.
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