Heads Up – A Correction

"Making predictions is difficult – especially about the future." Danish Proverb

"Past performance does not guarantee future returns." Wall Street Boilerplate

"Enough drops make a bucket." Minor Heretic

Sometimes I get things wrong, and it is my duty to correct them. In my last post I referred to the work of a few citizen journalists and their predictions of imminent law enforcement actions against members and associates of the Trump administration. I got caught up in some social media hype and allowed myself to be conned. The sources in question had a few scoops that beat the mainstream news outlets by a few weeks, but then they went off the rails. Sorry about that.

It looks like it is going to be a long slog towards impeachment. Given that the majority of Republicans in Congress have unequivocally chosen party over country, nothing is likely to happen with a GOP majority. I believe that Trump could stab a little girl in a pink dress on Pennsylvania Avenue and the GOP would complain that the media sensationalized the incident.

The only shortcut to Trump’s departure that I can see at this point is the prosecution of people around him to the point that he feels isolated enough to resign. What with all the money laundering and perjury in his vicinity this is a possibility. I do think that having Robert Mueller as Special Counsel almost guarantees that the dirt will be dug up and a number of present and former key players in the Trump Administration eventually will be prosecuted. Flynn, Manafort, Page, and Sessions are at the top of my list. Probably Mueller’s as well. No guarantee as to the schedule, though.

In the meantime, we should focus on flipping the House and Senate to Democratic control. There are a number of organizations nationwide dedicated to this. In particular, there are several organizations focusing on so-called purple districts, where either a Republican or a Democrat won the last election by a narrow margin. You should look at the following organizations and join one.

Indivisible Guide at https://www.indivisibleguide.com/ This was started by a group of Democratic congressional staffers who were, post election, discussing the methods of influencing members of congress that actually worked. They wrote the Indivisible Guide as a brief instruction manual for progressive activists. It became a national movement with local chapters. Whether or not you join the organization I strongly recommend that you read the guide on their website.

Sister District at https://www.sisterdistrict.com/ This is a group for people who live in states and/or congressional districts that are already Democratic, but still want to work on flipping congress. A blue district adopts a purple district and assists groups and candidates.

Swing Left at https://swingleft.org/ is another organization, much like Sister District, that matches people with nearby swing districts. They define a swing district as one that was won by less than 15% in the last election.

Flippable at https://www.flippable.org/ focuses more on state legislative races. The Republican Party has spent a lot of effort in the past decade on state races. As a result there are 25 “trifecta” states, where both houses and the governor are Republican. This allows them to lock their states with gerrymandering and voter suppression. Flippable is working on bringing these states back and reversing the electoral crimes of the GOP.

Many of my readers may not be completely pleased with the Democratic Party, and neither am I. A party that claims to be for the common people and also has $10,000 a plate fundraising dinners is lying. It is lying to itself and it is lying to voters. The Republicans are worse in this regard, but the Democrats need reform. However, these grassroots movements are part of that reform. They rely on small donations and a lot of volunteer labor. The more that the Democratic Party finds this useful, the less it has to rely on large donors.

Pick a group, any group, and try something. I’m signed up with Sister District and a local Vermont group associated with Indivisible called Lean Left.

Again, sorry for passing on the hyped fantasy. We all would like to believe in a quick duex ex machina ending to all this, but life is not a superhero movie. No one person will save the world; we all have to save our tiny piece of it.