I've been watching Democrat-led town halls. Amazingly, not a thing has changed since the 20-teens: the same slogans that only appeal to the in-group, the lack of situational awareness of what's going on with right-wing-controlled media, the lack of recognition that anything is wrong with their usually-losing strategy, the old class-warfare paradigm, the lack of connection with non-urbanites, the abiding belief in top-down media driven strategies over grassroots real-world communities, the delusion that the judicial system is impartial, the attitude that protest-and-go-home behavior is effective, the unwillingness to question the Republican party's ties to Russia, the continued expulsion of business people as class enemies, and the continued obsession with "raising awareness" as if the plan is to compel some newly aware person to do the work for them. There's this odd alarmism living in harmony alongside a business-as-usual attitude, and a really odd absence of fresh ideas from such creative people.
It is as if a national football team was coached in a way that produced losing records for over a decade. By 2024 the team lost almost every game, and yet the fans and coaches remain certain that if they just keep doing things the same way, the next season will be a winner. Ideology is one thing, but to have a dogmatic attachment to tactics and strategy is simply odd. It's getting harder and harder to have confidence in American democracy if escaping single-party rule means believing in these folks.
Perhaps this is how it happens in many countries where democracy collapses. The embattled in-group huddles together and focuses on an internal purge of dissent at the direction of the elders who led them into the chaos in the first place. Then they boldly yet half-heartedly go forth with an obsolete plan. Such will be the case with the 2026 midterms. The die has been cast, and no rebels have stepped forward to challenge the status quo of losing.
