So, this is the moment where we should be freaking the fuck out about our democracy. Not about primaries being postponed, so much, because as I explained before, primaries are not elections.

BUT! Everything about our voting infrastructure is an odds with the health and safety rules being imposed on us in this pandemic situation.

Every single one of us needs to send a Howler to all relevant state authorities (Attorney General, Governor, Secretary of State, Legislature) telling them that we need to revise our election rules RIGHT THIS FUCKING MINUTE.

We cannot count on having an in-person election so every single state needs to prepare to distribute and collect ballots by mail. This is not optional. If we don’t ask for this, Republican governors will be all too happy to stick their thumbs up their asses and coronate Trump as dictator for life.

There is absolutely no reason states can’t do this in the remaining months we have before the election. They can get ballots printed and mailed to voters in that time frame. All it will cost is money and democracy is priceless so money should be no issue.

If anyone tells you it’s an issue, cough at them and let them wonder if you have coronavirus.

OK, don’t but it would be satisfying.

Oregon has vote by mail and I’m pretty sure they would happily explain how they do it. The other states could learn from them in a very short time frame.

Oregon also has exceptionally high voter participation, which, again, Republicans won’t like but screw them and their centuries-long battle to limit suffrage.

Anway, here is sample lanugage to send to state leaders about this:

“I [name] of [address] am very concerned about the November election. It is critical to me that you set up a contingency plan to allow for voting that doesn’t require in-person site. Please explore mailing ballots to all registered voters and accepting ballots by mail or at drop-boxes. Systems like this are already in place in states like Oregon and it is crucial that we move in that direction before November. Postponing the election is not an acceptable response.”

It doesn’t many emails or calls for state government officials to take notice so every person counts in advocacy like this. Get to it.

Chances are very good you are in a state where schools have shut down and you are entering a phase of serious social distancing with your kids. You have been in a frenzy of shopping and reading online testimonies about what to do and now you’re staring into the void of weeks at home, possibly with significant financial repercussions. Please, take a breath now and look to your kids.

Kids are freaking out. The degree is different based on the personality of the kids but basically, they are all low-key not ok.

I’m doing my damndest to be honest with my two and also do what I can to make these next few weeks as pleasant as possible. I have a freezer full of tater tots and an Amazon cart full of coloring books with pictures of animals farting. I’m going to introduce my older kid to the magic of Will Ferrell movies and let my younger one turn entire rooms of the house into blanket forts.

Yes, my county has this idea that they should be continuing to learn but you know what? Education is about two rungs above where we all actually on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs right now. We are all trying to manage food, shelter, and health care. There will be no actualizing of selves in homes with young kids. Don’t force online learning on kids who emotionally can’t handle it. If you want to educate them, choose a documentary on mummies or migratory patterns of cheetahs or some shit from National Geographic.

This is not the moment for our high ideals. I’m sorry this is going to make Jeff Bezos richer than he already is but I am going to use my Prime account like I’ve never used it before. Between the streaming service and the delivery of stuff like shampoo and toothpaste, it’s my lifeline.

We are all entering a period of punk rock parenting. The rules are all obsolete and it’s time to just thrash it out for a while. Ask not what Martha Stewart would do but ask instead what Henry Rollins would do. Then do that.

We are in the throes of a global pandemic and we are existing without reliable federal leadership. Each and every one of us is at the mercy of decisions other people are making, be it our bosses, school superintendents, the person next to us on public transit who may or may not have just sneezed into the air.

Everyone is in a mild state of panic. Even the people who are gamely going along with the line about this being some kind of hoax are panicking underneath it all. We, Americans, are not ok.

If you studied psychology at any time in the past, you probably learned about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I included a graphic of it if you feel like scrolling up. We are all supposed to be on a journey to self-actualization but this week? Every human in a COVID-19 effected region has been pushed down to the bottom level of the pyramid. Safety and health are the only concerns.

I’m only kind of exaggerating.

Take for example schools where I live. The district keeps telling us about the contingencies they are putting in place to ensure kids will still learn even if we are in a restricted social contact situation with schools closed. I am a person who works from home and won’t see any interruption in my livelihood and even I am saying “Check yourself, MCPS. You cannot expect families to manage to stay financially afloat, monitor themselves for health issues, AND step in to supervise learning for their kids. We can stay alive and maybe not go broke. We cannnot also educate anyone.”

We all need to forgive ourselves for abandoning the higher order needs we are used to trying to fulfill. There will be no live entertainment events for a while. We can’t go to large houses of worship and hold hands. Clubs and societies and private gatherings will have to cease. All any of us can focus on right now is staying alive.

And this is ok. Stay alive. Keep your family as safe as you can. You are not failing if you do that. You are taking care of the needs you have right now, which are different than the needs we all had a week ago.

The one thing I would urge, however, for those with financial means, is to find whatever charitable organizations will be doing relief work in your region and donate to them. Food banks, in particular. Home heating assistance in northern regions. Non-profit healthcare facilities. They need cash, not stuff right now. They know what they need to distribute and monetary donations let them exercise their expertise.

Things are about to get very weird and very scary for a while. Do what you need to do to survive this. If you can also help someone else along the way, please do so. But reject guilt and shame for anything you can’t do. These are not normal times and we need to readjust our expectations.

OK, folks, pull up a chair and settle down because I need to rant for a minute. And I need to rant about my fellow Democrats, so you know this is going to be good.

Lately, I have been seeing people speculating that former Vice President Joe Biden has the early signs of dementia because of his frequent verbal stumbles. Now, when I hear this from Trump supporters I roll my eyes and move on. That basket of deplorables can’t be reasoned with.

But when Democrats start doing it, it’s time to HOLD ALL THE FUCKING HORSES.

For one thing, unless you are an expert in gerontology or psychiatry and have personally evaluated a person, YOU MAY NOT DIAGNOSE THEM WITH ANY-FUCKING-THING. So, just cut that shit out.

For another thing, we know for a fact that Joe Biden has a congenital stutter. A stutter brings with it numerous communication problems, including the kind of flubs we’ve all come to expect from Biden. They are not an indication of anything related to his mental acuity.

Therefore…THEREFORE, I SAY…when you try and interpret his mis-spoken sentences as evidence of an intellectual deficiency YOU ARE BEING AN ABLEIST TWATWAFFLE.

Back in the bad old days, everyone assumed everyone with any kind of disability had subnormal intelligence. People with disabilities were denied educational and career opportunities and were pushed to the fringes of society. It was a truly foul form of discrimination.

We know better now. Physical disabilities, hearing and vision loss, speech impediments, neuro-divergence, all of these things are usually unrelated to native intelligence or intellectual abilities. Anyone suggesting otherwise is carrying an outdated attitude and needs to be reeducated.

Hell, this is why I don’t even get on Trump’s case about some of his errors; I have long suspected that some of his difficulty in speaking is poor vision and hearing. If you can’t see the teleprompter, you’ll screw up the speech. If you can’t hear the reporters yelling at you, you’ll miss the question. It’s not stupidity, it’s age related sensory issues. And intersectional feminists do not tolerate discrimination against people with disabilities.

Even people like Trump. Discriminate against his ass at the polls because of his policies. Leave his possible physical disabilities out of it.

So, going forward, we’re just gonna stop looking at one known disability, like stuttering, and assuming that it somehow means there is a concurrent intellectual deficiency, like dementia.

That’s ableist nonsense and we are better than that.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party, of which I am nominally a part, wants a liberal revolution. It wants one bad. It has teamed up with leftist independents who support Bernie Sander to demand revolution RIGHT NOW.

What they fail to notice is that we had a revolution. It just wasn’t the one they wanted. It was the Trumpist revolution.

In 2016, Trump ushered in a world-altering wave of change. He has changed the discourse, changed the vocabulary, changed the policy agenda, and changed the spirit of the nation. Since the day he was elected Americans have existed in one of three states: the uber-wealthy cashing in on pro-business policies; the republican base reveling in lobbing verbal abuse at “libs”; and marginalized groups suffering at the hands of the previous two.

It has been a constant bombardment of bad policies, insulting language, and persistent fears of a crisis of war, poverty-driven famine, or mis-handled pandemic response.

Most of America is tired and emotionally battered and not ready to take up arms after three years of fighting a war to retain their own worth and dignity. They don’t want another revolution. They want palliative care.

Bernie is promising the sweep across the landscape again and remake everything. His supporters are no less vitriolic and dogmatic than their counterparts on the right. It’s yet more of the frantic, destructive energy that has been sapping the lifeforce of the nation. Is it any wonder that some people look at his plans for Medicare For All and think “Oh god. Will that mean I have to redo all my medical forms again? That sounds like work.”

We are looking at torches and pitchforks on the right and more torches and more pitchforks on the left. And then there in the middle is Joe Biden. Uncle Joe, inspiration for a million memes. The grieving dad who took the train home from the Capitol every day when after he and his sons lost his wife and daughter. Obama’s loyal wingman. Dr. Jill Biden’s husband. Familiar, and jocular, and gentle in the ways that maybe we all really need right now.

You don’t have to be afraid of what will happen at a Biden rally. You already know. He’ll quote Obama, make some mistakes because of his congenital stutter, and talk about his boyhood in Scranton. He won’t demand to lock up his enemies or demonize the establishment. He’ll be the same guy he has always been. No shock. No awe. No fear or anger.

So to my fellow progressives who often mutter “burn it all down” when we see history and the patriarchy repeating themselves: give a little grace to the people who are in the middle of the fires already burning. Be willing to accept that maybe this is a moment for a fire extinguisher, not a flamethrower. And don’t blame the losing side in the Trump revolution for being weary and afraid. Be willing to offer them a hand, no matter how they vote.

Photo Credit: United State Senate – the Office of Chris Murphy – https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1056015874505822208, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87634297

I was tooling around social media during Super Tuesday and found a few clusters of people who were griping about the DNC and talking about how to best show their disgust with the political party. Their primary tactic was to sit out the election if the Democrats don’t nominate the candidate of their choice.

I realized after reading that that there are some disconnects in understanding the difference between primaries and real elections and what participating in each means.

First of all, the primaries are not elections. They’re nominating contests run by the parties. The government isn’t involved, except for loaning out infrastructure.

Primaries have more in common with electing the president of the PTA than electing the POTUS. The political party makes the rules the same way the PTA makes the rules. The party can limit participation to just members. It can build in extra delegates. It can draw up the calendar of events leading up to the nomination. It can change the rules from year to year without outside oversight. It’s a private entity and that’s how private entities operate.

So, to everyone saying the DNC isn’t being fair, well, kinda. Compared to an actual election, this is less fair, yeah.

However, this is the organization that every candidate in the race chose to join and these are the rules they agreed to. In exchange, they get money and databases that they wouldn’t get running as independent in the actual election. That’s the trade off.

In November, we will have federal, state and local elections. The laws for those are set by the governments in question. The political parties backing different candidates abide by those laws (I mean, except for Trump accepting illegal foreign assistance, of course.) The results of those elections are of critical importance to the health, safety, and prosperity of our entire nation and everyone in it.

If you hate the DNC and think you’ll be able to stick it to them by not voting in November because your candidate loses the nominating contest, you’re making a mistake. Not an ideological one. A logical one. Sitting at home doesn’t punish the DNC. But your failure to vote in an actual election for actual government officials potentially punishes EVERYONE by ensuring a Trump re-election. The DNC will remain unchanged by your actions.

Also unchanged? The detention camps at the border, rights for workers, wages, and access to health care. If fact, all of those things will just get worse.

If you want a different, viable party to compete against the DNC and RNC, you won’t get that by not voting in November. You need to start one or find one that someone else started and build it up. Turn it into a big enough organization to stand up to the DNC and RNC. Run people for mayor and state legislature and school board and congress. Develop a grassroots power from the local level and then keep moving up. That’s a way to get what you want.

But don’t punish the rest of us in November. We’re not your enemy here. We’re just other Americans who want clean air and water, good schools, and affordable housing and health care. You not voting won’t get what any of us want.

Not voting is a way to get what Trump wants. Do you really want that?

This is an Elizabeth Warren post but’s also a post about being a parent in America.

Do you know why my kids are 4.5 years apart? I’ll tell you.

See, I wanted a second baby starting when my son was 2. I wanted that so bad. But daycare for an infant in DC cost $17,000 per year then. My husband was working on Capitol Hill where salaries are relatively low. I was working at a non-profit and the economy was in bad shape. Our rent was $2000 per month. We didn’t have a car payment at the time but my husband still had loans to pay.

We didn’t have another $17,000 in our budget. I couldn’t have a baby.

My friends were having more babies and I had to force a smile. My sister got pregnant with her second and I locked the door to my office and sobbed to my mother on the phone about how much I wished I could have another baby. One of my best friends actually confessed that she felt bad about telling me when she got pregnant with her second child becasue I was so ripped up about having to delay another baby or maybe never have one at all.

It was more that a year later that my husband went to a private sector job that got him enough of a pay bump to replace most of my salary. By subtracting the cost of daycare, that meant I could leave full-time work and we’d be in the same financial position as before. It also meant I could finally have the second baby my heart had been breaking to have.

Nothing in a family’s life works without childcare. If you don’t have family nearby to help, if you don’t have the income to cover costs, you have to make terrible compromises. You pick substandard care facilities. You go without other things to pay for sitters so you can work or go to school.

You delay a dream of another baby.

One of Elizabeth Warren’s first plans was for universal childcare. She showed me that she understood that families need two incomes and that they also need reliable care for children. She understands how much easier would life be if the question of “Who will watch the kids?” was answered?

Vote for Elizabeth Warren and we might have that answer for ourselves.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheonfrom Pexels

If my generation has a motto it’s probably “Oh well, whatever, never mind.” This is a great attitude to take during down times. We can look disappointment in the face, sigh and trudge onward to expect less next time.

It’s a terrible attitude for generating enthusiasm.

I’ve heard a lot of people I know come at this election with questions about whether or not the candidates can excite the voters. There’s the prevailing opinion that none of the candidates really have that capacity. But I’m starting to suspect that voter might be the problem.

Like, when is the last time you got super excited about anything? When did you feel so stoked about something that you ran around telling all your friends about it and told them to try it, too?

And if you have done that in recent memory, was it about a coffee-based blended beverage? It was, wasn’t it? We’re better about stumping for frappucino than for progressive causes.

The problem might be us. It’s not that the candidates are not exciting. It’s that we suck at getting excited. And our attitude is infectious.

Creeping disaffected ennui.

We all need to drop the idea that excitement generates from the top of the ticket and start generating buzz from the grassroots level. We need to take over the job of spreading excitement about our candidates of choice. Buy the swag! Wear the t-shirts! Share the video clips! Say stuff like “OMG did you hear about the awesome thing my candidate said?”

Stop expecting the candidates to do all the work of motivating an electorate. Instead, be a motivated voter who, in turn, motivates others.

I know this is the third thing I’ve written this week where I’ve yammered on about grassroots effort in politics. But I only do that because GRASSROOTS ARE REALLY FUCKING IMPORTANT IN POLITICS! Government by the people! We are the people! We have to work at it!

Victory in 2020 is going to take a huge surge of motivated voters. It’s time we all got ready to be the motivation.

Remember that old episode of South Park with the underpants gnomes? They snuck in and stole underpants to somehow make a bunch of money? That was their whole plan. They said “Phase one: Collect underpants! Phase two: ? Phase Three: Profit!”

There was no bridge between the underpants and world domination. It was a bad plan.

I sometimes feel like the most ardent Bernie Sanders supporters are like underpants gnomes. They expect to elect Bernie then take over the world without all the stuff in the middle that makes a plan work.

So I ask you this, Berners: Are you ready to do the work? Or are you underpants gnomes?

I was working at the American Cancer Society when Barack Obama tasked Congressional Democrats with writing and passing the Affordable Care Act My organization was part of the process of advising and lobbying in favor of the bill. It took the better part of two years, hundreds of stakeholder groups, millions of grassroots advocates, and countless person-hours to get it to passage. And even with all of that, it damn near fell apart multiple times.

It was hard, intense, unrewarding, stressful work. The result was a deeply imperfect bill that was lightyears better than the status quo but nowhere near the ideal outcome we had envisioned the day Obama promised health care reform.

Every Bernie Sanders supporter who is hanging out on Twitter yelling at Bernie critics needs to understand that that level of work – or more – will be required to get even a fraction of the Bernie agenda accomplished. It will take focused, expert coalitions made up of both insiders and new voices to begin the process of drafting laws that can not only pass, but withstand judicial challenges. You’ll need to rally the type of grassroots support that health care groups mustered for the ACA and you will need existing networks of special interests to help you every step of the way.

The person you are calling a corporate shill today might be the advocacy leader you need tomorrow.

And you will need advocates tomorrow. Trust me on that. If you don’t want to use money to get stuff done, you need people. Lots and lots of people. Politicians listen to two things: deep pockets or loud mobs of constituents. You need one or the other and every person you alienate now is someone who might sit on their hands rather than making calls to Congress when you ask them for their help later.

I don’t have a problem with Bernie Sanders agenda but I’ve never yet seen evidence that he’s is ready to do that kind of work. He – and everyone on his team – needs to figure out what to do once he’s gotten elected or he will end up being an inspiring speaker who never accomplishes a single noteworthy thing in office.

So I ask you all again: are you ready to do the work? Or are you and Bernie Sanders just a bunch of underpants gnomes?

Greetings! I am back at my 15 Minutes Of Feminism project here after taking some time to deal with my depression smacking me in the face. I’m back on level ground emotionally so I have the bandwidth to think about something other than putting one foot in front of the other.

Needless to say, I have been thinking about the election. And Bernie Sanders’ lead in the Democratic nominating contest.

As of a recent poll, about 28% of Democrats support Bernie to be the nominee. That is more support than any other single candidate has but it is not a majority. The simple math is that 72% of Democrats don’t support Bernie. He is by no means a consensus candidate.

If you are part of the 72% and you also read the news, you probably feel pretty dismal about your candidate. It’s easy to believe that Bernie is about to be carried into the convention on a litter to be coronated. But once again, the math doesn’t support that conclusion.

A candidate needs 1,991 out of a total of 3,979 to be the winner. So far, 97 delegates have been allocated. Of that 97, Bernie has 43 delegates secured as of right now.

Bernie is not up by five touchdowns at third down with a minute to go in the game. Bernie is up a one touchdown in the first five minutes. There’s a lot of game left to play.

BUT ALL Y’ALL GOTTA GET OUT ON THE FIELD!

If you like a candidate who is still in the race, do something about it! Send them $5! Retweet their message! Volunteer for their campaign! Put up a yard sign! Play the game until the game is actually over!

As Aaron Sorkin once wrote “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve got to want it bad, because it’s gonna put up a fight.”

It’s easy to observe and pontificate on social media but forget to put up the real fight. But right now, we all have to remember the power of grassroots movements and then remember, we are the grassroots. We have to do the work.

As Megan Rapinoe would say, let’s fucking go.