Arise Ye Authoritarians!

 Last night's election headlines bore out that, for the moment, Dad jokes and bods are back, baby! From Virginia to NYC, it was a good night to be pro-authority (aka pro-parent). In Minneapolis, the electorate of those who fought against authority to remake their police force into a public safety department was served notice 56% - 43% that "the blue" is backed by the majority. The overall message seemed to be: these are serious times and we need serious people in charge.

What this means for 2022 is uncertain. It seems that only a year or so ago, we were fighting to wrestle democracy from an authoritarian-in-chief only to reward his ilk-lite in this cycle. As a progressive, this rightfully scares me. Certainly, the barbarians at the gate against true representative democracy are showing up in force to make this country divide itself into factions, but let's also face it, progressives are not doing what they need to do to keep the ground from slipping out from under us. Whether we like to think it is so or not, we need to harness the moderate voices to our wagon for some important wins. The fact that popular policy is being whittled away by internal politics is proof that some would prefer to set themselves on fire than to hold power. If our elected representatives don't show people that Democrats can govern within themselves, we can look forward to a rise of Trumpians in better packages that will make things worse for many people who aren't seeing any results from the D-crew.

We like to think of the Republicans as being all "me and mine"--but the truth is likely that liberals can be that too and the more moderate will vote against for their interests, like in Minneapolis. As it turns out, the people who want revolution the most are on the right and have the firepower to scare the bejeezus out of many. No, if progressives want to win the hearts and minds of moderates, they have to be willing for a slower-moving revolution of better policies being enacted. Because, as the move toward universal healthcare has shown us, if you build it (and protect it), they will come--slowly, but surely, they will come.