What things have you heard or read that are looking forward?
I’m yearning for ideas for ways to move ahead. Here are the only two ideas I can remember encountering since the election. Have you bumped into any?
1. In an interview for the Harvard Crimson, Pete Buttigieg urged Democrats to focus on local issues and elections. It was so reassuringly concrete, and refusing to be depressed into inaction. I haven’t seen this referenced elsewhere but I’m sure he’s repeating this wherever possible.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/11/13/pete-buttigieg-secretary-transportation-iop-president/
2. Today (Friday, 11/29), David Brooks describes the differences in our country as how we regard institutions, who we see as “heroes” and other trenchant observations. I find that I need to have a clear picture of the enemy and what they’re about to be energized to fight back. But in the last few paragraphs he suggests that we use George C. Marshall as a model, in that we see ourselves as reformers rather than people “clinging fiercely to the status quo.”
Using this militaristic language is new to me. I’ve always been one to try to find commonalities between the sides. But narcissists who want to tear down our institutions are my enemies.
The article is titled “The Moral Challenge of Trumpism,” but the only link I could find took me to X and triggered a MalwareBytes warning. Maybe it’s too early after publication. Here are selected extracts, typed in by me.
“…But character is destiny. An administration of narcissists will be a snake pit, in which strife and self-destructive scandal will snuff out effective action. Running things is hard, and changing things is harder and it’s rarely done well by solipsistic outsiders.”
“Today it really is true that the Pentagon is administratively a mess. It really is true the meritocracy needs to be fundamentally re-thought. It really is true that Congress is dysfunctional and the immigration system is broken. But positive change will come from people who have developed a loving devotion to those institutions over years of experience, not people who despise them – the modern day Geroge Marshalls rather than the Pete Hegseths, Tulsi Gabbards and Robert F. Kennedys, Jr.”
So… I guess the forward thing buried here is that Trumpism will (ultimately) fail, and those committed to the survival and reform of our institutions will keep alert for the opportunity to step in and pick up the pieces.
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