I blame Obama and the Democrats for where we are just as much as Trump and Republicans. “Leaders” who refuse to accept responsibility for where they’ve led us are worthless.
Clinton and the DLC. They acquiesced to the neoliberal Reagan ‘Revolution’, and instead of fighting for working people, bent over for corporate donors. Game over.
Bingo... been saying that forever! Congrats on knowing the DLC. When I used to reference it in my criticism of Democrats turning into Corporate/OnePercent butt-plugs during Clinton I'd add about the DLC... if you have to look it up, you are part of the problem!
Yep. Same with any number of individuals/orgs that set us on the path to corporate totalitarianism. ALEC, the Powell Memo, Federalist Society… it’s a long list. No Dem should have voted to confirm John Roberts. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
If you had called it the DLCC I would have known a little closer to what you were talking about. Is the DLC different from the DLCC?
If they are one & the same, perhaps I just don’t yet know how/why they are the enemy, how they are destructive to our progressive movement. I have learned an enormous amount over the last 4 years; but I guess I have a lot more to learn.
Actually, I’m sure you’ll enjoy finding out about it on your own. It stands for Democratic Leadership Council and people just assume it’s like the DNC.
The DLC set the Democratic Party on the path of Neoliberalism particularly during the Bill Clinton administration that aligned it with business interest, and the elite over unions and regular people. If you Google it, there’s plenty of great source material. Look forward to hearing what YOU think!
PJ… thanks for your very reasonable response and you are teaching me a real lesson in humility… which I have trouble with online. A lot better in real life.
In the middle of stuff right now, but I look forward to explaining the DLC in a way that I hope it’s helpful to you. Thanks for being such a kind and generous person. I hope you have a good night.
Figuring out what you did wrong last time helps you figure out what you need to build. Here’s a helpful chart for Democrats:
FDR - gave Americans Social Security and other benefits, rewarded with FOUR terms, so popular they changed the Constitution so there could never be another FDR
Biden - gave Americans as little as possible, mostly excuses. Does such a crappy job his successor loses to Trump.
Obama - rode into office on a wave of “Hope and Change” but delivered only a meager health insurance purchase assistance program that left Americans at the mercy of predatory insurance companies. Bailed out the banks while people lost their homes. Successor lost to Trump.
Are we seeing a pattern here? People looking for bullshit instead of solutions are going to go to Trump - he’s much better at it. Deliver solutions or GTFO.
Agreed. Not entirely fair critique of Biden. I think he overperformed my expectations. His problem is that many of the things he accomplished were 1. Not immediately and clearly visible to voters and 2. Watered down by Sinemanchin to the point of being disappointing to progressives. Not saying he was great, but “gave Americans as little as possible,” isn’t exactly fair.
He did better than I expected too. It obviously wasn’t good enough. We needed a transformative President, not a caretaker, and Biden desperately wanted to restore a normal that just wasn’t coming back. It’s understandable, especially considering his age. It just wasn’t what we needed.
Yes. Absolutely. Biden was never going to be the transformational president we needed. He represented "normalcy" and that's why he won. We just have to figure out how not get that transformative figure across the line. Harris wasn't it, either.
Biden is an institutionalist - if it worked bring it back and clean it up and make it work again. I think numbers of voters were willing to settle for just cleaning up the mess and weren't ready for the leap we need now.
Wow, I'm always surprised that I can still be disillusioned further, but here we go again. It's crushing to learn these lessons about Mamdani. I really thought he might show us something different, especially the masses behind him. Thank you, Corbin, for illuminating how tidal waves of progressive power get neutralized in office. With your history, you have a rare view into all of this. Your insights are vital. Uncompromising progressive solidarity is truly the only way. FDR i s a great example of this.
Agreed. We cannot move to the center. Nothing is there. Obamacare is the center, it doesn't work. We need universal health care because the inelastic demand for health care allows corporations to extract every dollar people have. Pay or die is not choice. Universal health care works in every country where it is used. This is just one issue. There are many more that exhibit the same problem, compromise on a issue with no intermediary position is dangerous. You can't compromise on a mine. Either you have a copper mine on sacred native lands or you don't. There is no middle. You can have a natural gas pumping station in a town dominated by the descendants of former slaves in North Carolina, or you don't. There are no good compromises in these situations. When maintaining power in the Governor's office is the goal, as it seems to be for Kathy Hochul in New York, then you have little interest in changing the status quo. Change involves risk, and in this dire situation, caused by overuse of natural resources and corporate control of nearly everything, working through a presidency with no moral core, refusal to risk change is folly.
We can’t move to the center because the ratchet effect has moved the Overton Window center so far to the right that even George Carlin, bless his soul, would have had trouble mocking our lack of choice.
This made me cringe at first when I read what you said about Mamdani, who I have totally supported. I think one of the most important things to highlight and “advertise” is what FDR did to try to win over those in the DP. The fact that he was not afraid to do that. The idea that there has to be national collaboration among the progressive candidates to give them support and space to take on the stubborn, fear driven wing of the DP leadership—- is a very important idea to spread . I know that is what “ A Fight Worth Having” is all about. And it is gonna be a fight—- for sure—-to get there.
When Obama won a trifecta, I said, “Great! Now we can get healthcare for all!” And the best he could muster was ACA? My faith wavered. Then the bank bailout shattered it. I don’t want a narcissistic bull in a china shop who flies by the seat of his diaper, but I agree that thinking you have “arrived” after the swearing in is a huge mistake.
Very astute. One of the issues I repeatedly have trouble with when discussing issues with my 'progressive' friends is that the Dems are complicit in where we are with an enormous war machine and the Wall St Gamblers looting the Treasury every 7-10 years while doing nothing to stop the destruction of the union movement with the GOP's right to work state legislation throughout the South and Midwest.
It's a tough call, and I think we put too much of a spotlight on Mamdani. He's in a tough position. Most of what he needs to fulfill his promises to New Yorkers are resources received from the state. Mamdani can make the stands we would love to see from him in the interests of the bigger picture, but he's the Mayor of New York. His obligation, at this point, is not to the movement, it's to New York. And if he gets locked out by Hochul, he doesn't succeed in New York. If he doesn't succeed, he will be the poster child of a crash and burn progressive. Every progressive and Democratic Socialist running after him will find themselves trying to run against Mamdani's failures. And we certainly can't rely on the press to elaborate the nuances of New York politics. I do agree with the gist of the argument, however. How many times have we seen Democrats begin their negotiations with their compromise position rather than a position of strength? Could Mamdani go to Hochul and play hardball? I don't know. I'm not in Mamdani's seat. I think the Fight Worth Having strategy is the stronger route. As the likely apocryphal stories about FDR demonstrate, even elected officials who are sympathetic to our cause need us to organize and make them do the things we want them to do.
I agree regardig his support of Hochul but he didn't have to support Jeffries. He certainly didn't need to sabatoge Ossé. He could have just remained neutral on that.
Agreed. The real problem here isn't really the politicians though...it is the voters. Mamdami can see the writing on the wall. Clinton was only reelected because of his Reaganesc ideas. The voting public has moved the Overton Window the politicians respond in kind.
Mmm. Maybe. I don't think Mamdani is so responsive to the Overton Window as that. If he were, he never would have run as an open Democratic Socialist. He understands that the voters want change, and that's what he was offering in his campaign. Now he's in the big chair and needs to make those changes happen. I think, and I admit I'm speculating, that his actions are, at this point, mostly practical contingency. He's thinking, 'what's the best strategy to get done what I need to get done.'
"Power is not winning. Winning is the beginning of the fight for power" good one! And correct. Otherwise you get the dynamic status quo... sadly, disgustingly, Trump somehow understands that. Obama is a neocon. But Mamdani is not and needs to be pushed.
I have to agree that evil tactics to win power work. But looking at life through your lens of power makes me want to throw up. There has to be a better way to create a kinder and more loving world. Like getting people to want it so much, they will vote for the good guys. We voted for what Obama promised. Not his move to pacify to the right. Trying to get Republicans on our side has always been a self-defeating move. It makes the left more diluted from within. Think Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Not Putin, Stalin, or Hitler. Respect, not fear. Okay. It sounds weak. But it seems to have worked slowly and briefly. Maybe humans will evolve after WWIII.
Power begets ethical weakness. What is a society for? Is it to conduct experiments on how to push it around? Is it to just use society to stroke your ego and play the ages old parlor game of 'my dog can eat your dog?' Corbin you are one smart guy, but your essay says do the right things for the wrong reasons, and you lose. Nah, not any more. It never worked, which is why we are in the air, headed down with a 500 lb. safe tied to our legs. The bottom is only livable for coyotes in cartoons. The rest of us just die ugly. I read this essay and my chest constricts. Just more of the same pissing contests between people who have more Id than Superego, thereby thwarting the harmonic balance of Ego itself, which should be, in this model, the humility it takes from ALL OF US to know we have been walking in quicksand for 2000 years or more. It is said that a leopard cannot change its spots. Problem with that analogy is that leopards and other real animals know how to survive together for millions of years if they simply eschew the memes humans are addicted to - gotta have that power and gotta use it. Look at the current shitshow, the penultimate POWER GRAB -- nothing but massive screw ups, carnage everywhere, Sir Fopling Flutters on every corner barking like chihuahuas. This paradigm sucks Corbin. It cannot work. Your what-to-do strategy is just another road to Hell, and we are already Here In Hell. Pissing contests to see who gets to do the waterboarding on the next prisoner. Now THAT is POWER, huh?
Is it possible you are mostly reacting to Corbin's use of the word ruthless? I actually looked it up to confirm my understanding and agree that I don't want ruthless leaders.
After a year of reading his newsletter, I doubt Corbin does either.
I do want leaders that will not compromise on the hope that friendship will be repaid.
I want courage, intelligence, charisma, practical innovation and a sincere intent to make our country and our world a better place for all its citizens.
We voters have to find and support these rare individuals and help them work together. It's the only way out. Corbin is trying to create a tool for that and I intend to support his effort because I believe it just might work.
While I agree with what you write, there have been enough examples of quicksand avoidance to make me, not hopeful, but aware, of the possibility that we can come our collective senses before we have to rub sticks together to make fire, or go the way of the dinosaur.
Hey, the quantum field is so massive n filled with energy that anything is possible. The rub is that of assumptions. I just read an article about being 'confident.' Studies show that most folk believe if they have confidence good things will happen, but evaluate themselves as either having it or not. Research shows the opposite -- you do, you act, you put in the effort, you take chances, and boom, something ok happens. Then there is the recognition that confidence comes from work, from effort, even maybe from enough belief in something that you 'go for it' without knowing the outcome. Any outcome is at least as tenable as no outcome via no effort. I am with you, I just keep on keepin' on, and know that if I do, something better than nothing usually occurs. I am confident I can do something just about any time, as long as I do not lose my perspective about what is doable and what is not. Baby steps, one at a time, get you somewhere.
This is true. And we also have to have grace for those whose confidence is at rock bottom, due to everything from childhood trauma to repeated disappointments when the effort to achieve has failed repeatedly, through systemic roadblocks rather than individual flaws.
The power of compassion and empathy are so immense, that is why these behaviors are so feared and loathed by the manosphere of the cult of personality. They buy the hype that they are the gifted ones, so whatever they do is correct. The folk near/at the bottom of our 'classless' society know that only via effort n confidence does anything change for the better. Some of those have been dealt a tough hand, and to just give to them to acknowledge their existence and self-worth is more than worth the time and effort. We do not own or hold Ki, we only channel it through our beings on its way to another assignment.
The country needs a written plan like project 2026. Ready to hit the ground running implementing FDR type citizen focused long range work projects. People are going to need jobs to come out of a depression//famine anyway so start with FDRs that worked on the last Great Depression.🫡🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇩🇰🫶
This has been a pattern among elected officials on the Left, to be sure, but let’s also not be too quick to blame or harshly criticize. As @Charles McBryde has astutely pointed out, the Right looks for converts while the Left looks for traitors. He’s only been in 3 months and is off to a great start at his actual job of mayor—of NYC, I might add, not Utica. He does have to be more cognizant of the other heavies around him in this post than if he were the mayor of, say, Poughkeepsie, you know?
This has been a pattern among elected officials on the Left, to be sure, but let’s also not be too quick to blame or harshly criticize. As @Charles McBryde has astutely pointed out, the Right looks for converts while the Left looks for traitors. He’s only been in 3 months and is off to a great start at his actual job of mayor—of NYC, I might add, not Utica. He does have be more cognizant of the other heavies around him in this post than if he were the mayor of, say, Poughkeepsie, you know?
The unwillingness or inability of promising candidates to embrace a broader movement is a problem you’ve written about periodically. I know that Bernie snd AOC have disappointed you in this regard. Me, too!
But let me ask you a serious question. How can Mamdani pass the tax measures he needs in NYC in order to pay for the programs he promised voters without help and support from Governor Hochul? Do you think the voters would give him the time he would need to defy Hochul directly in order to beat her into reluctant submission and eventually render her compliant with his desires?
It’s an honest question, Corbin. I share your view that we need to replace leaders who seem to work only to maintain the status quo. But at the same time, our heroes need to govern. Where do you strike the balance? Can you strike a balance? Or is it just naive to think it’s possible and necessary?
Obama indeed was a great disappointment all things considered but I don't think Mamdani is pulling an Obama at all. The situations are radically different.
Obama was President. He was the de facto figure head of the party and the entire center-left by the time he got elected in 2008 with a 60 vote Senate. Yet he chose to handover the keys to the corrupt Clintonite machine and failed to accomplish anything of enduring substance (other than his symbolic victory itself).
Mamdani is just a mayor of a single city in a much bigger state. He is not even the leader of the NY Democrats and the people of NYC did not elect him to wage an ideological war, they elected him to lower costs and deliver services now not 10 years from now. Also the deck is stacked against him as the establishment wants him to fail. So Mamdani in 2026 is in a much different place than Obama was in 2008.
I blame Obama and the Democrats for where we are just as much as Trump and Republicans. “Leaders” who refuse to accept responsibility for where they’ve led us are worthless.
Clinton and the DLC. They acquiesced to the neoliberal Reagan ‘Revolution’, and instead of fighting for working people, bent over for corporate donors. Game over.
Bingo... been saying that forever! Congrats on knowing the DLC. When I used to reference it in my criticism of Democrats turning into Corporate/OnePercent butt-plugs during Clinton I'd add about the DLC... if you have to look it up, you are part of the problem!
Yep. Same with any number of individuals/orgs that set us on the path to corporate totalitarianism. ALEC, the Powell Memo, Federalist Society… it’s a long list. No Dem should have voted to confirm John Roberts. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
If you had called it the DLCC I would have known a little closer to what you were talking about. Is the DLC different from the DLCC?
If they are one & the same, perhaps I just don’t yet know how/why they are the enemy, how they are destructive to our progressive movement. I have learned an enormous amount over the last 4 years; but I guess I have a lot more to learn.
Actually, I’m sure you’ll enjoy finding out about it on your own. It stands for Democratic Leadership Council and people just assume it’s like the DNC.
The DLC set the Democratic Party on the path of Neoliberalism particularly during the Bill Clinton administration that aligned it with business interest, and the elite over unions and regular people. If you Google it, there’s plenty of great source material. Look forward to hearing what YOU think!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council
Money quote: “According to Bill Curry, an advisor to Bill Clinton, "the whole point of [the DLC] was to exterminate the progressives".[10]”
PJ… thanks for your very reasonable response and you are teaching me a real lesson in humility… which I have trouble with online. A lot better in real life.
In the middle of stuff right now, but I look forward to explaining the DLC in a way that I hope it’s helpful to you. Thanks for being such a kind and generous person. I hope you have a good night.
We're out of time to blame. Let's learn from their mistakes and build.
Figuring out what you did wrong last time helps you figure out what you need to build. Here’s a helpful chart for Democrats:
FDR - gave Americans Social Security and other benefits, rewarded with FOUR terms, so popular they changed the Constitution so there could never be another FDR
Biden - gave Americans as little as possible, mostly excuses. Does such a crappy job his successor loses to Trump.
Obama - rode into office on a wave of “Hope and Change” but delivered only a meager health insurance purchase assistance program that left Americans at the mercy of predatory insurance companies. Bailed out the banks while people lost their homes. Successor lost to Trump.
Are we seeing a pattern here? People looking for bullshit instead of solutions are going to go to Trump - he’s much better at it. Deliver solutions or GTFO.
Agreed. Not entirely fair critique of Biden. I think he overperformed my expectations. His problem is that many of the things he accomplished were 1. Not immediately and clearly visible to voters and 2. Watered down by Sinemanchin to the point of being disappointing to progressives. Not saying he was great, but “gave Americans as little as possible,” isn’t exactly fair.
He did better than I expected too. It obviously wasn’t good enough. We needed a transformative President, not a caretaker, and Biden desperately wanted to restore a normal that just wasn’t coming back. It’s understandable, especially considering his age. It just wasn’t what we needed.
Yes. Absolutely. Biden was never going to be the transformational president we needed. He represented "normalcy" and that's why he won. We just have to figure out how not get that transformative figure across the line. Harris wasn't it, either.
Biden is an institutionalist - if it worked bring it back and clean it up and make it work again. I think numbers of voters were willing to settle for just cleaning up the mess and weren't ready for the leap we need now.
I agree about Biden. He really did try to help the people.
Punishment matters. Impunity is the core problem here (and I wouldn't call them "mistakes", either).
It's the whole strategy of corporatism: A cult of conformity in which the buck stops NOWHERE.
"[The Borg] don't change, they metastasize!"
- Jean-Luc Picard
“Somewhere along the way the Democrat party forgot you can’t keep reaping from a field you stopped planting .”
Sure, but it's more like 'the entire NATOsphere gentry-class'!
Wow, I'm always surprised that I can still be disillusioned further, but here we go again. It's crushing to learn these lessons about Mamdani. I really thought he might show us something different, especially the masses behind him. Thank you, Corbin, for illuminating how tidal waves of progressive power get neutralized in office. With your history, you have a rare view into all of this. Your insights are vital. Uncompromising progressive solidarity is truly the only way. FDR i s a great example of this.
Agreed. We cannot move to the center. Nothing is there. Obamacare is the center, it doesn't work. We need universal health care because the inelastic demand for health care allows corporations to extract every dollar people have. Pay or die is not choice. Universal health care works in every country where it is used. This is just one issue. There are many more that exhibit the same problem, compromise on a issue with no intermediary position is dangerous. You can't compromise on a mine. Either you have a copper mine on sacred native lands or you don't. There is no middle. You can have a natural gas pumping station in a town dominated by the descendants of former slaves in North Carolina, or you don't. There are no good compromises in these situations. When maintaining power in the Governor's office is the goal, as it seems to be for Kathy Hochul in New York, then you have little interest in changing the status quo. Change involves risk, and in this dire situation, caused by overuse of natural resources and corporate control of nearly everything, working through a presidency with no moral core, refusal to risk change is folly.
We can’t move to the center because the ratchet effect has moved the Overton Window center so far to the right that even George Carlin, bless his soul, would have had trouble mocking our lack of choice.
The Money rules the USA!
This made me cringe at first when I read what you said about Mamdani, who I have totally supported. I think one of the most important things to highlight and “advertise” is what FDR did to try to win over those in the DP. The fact that he was not afraid to do that. The idea that there has to be national collaboration among the progressive candidates to give them support and space to take on the stubborn, fear driven wing of the DP leadership—- is a very important idea to spread . I know that is what “ A Fight Worth Having” is all about. And it is gonna be a fight—- for sure—-to get there.
When Obama won a trifecta, I said, “Great! Now we can get healthcare for all!” And the best he could muster was ACA? My faith wavered. Then the bank bailout shattered it. I don’t want a narcissistic bull in a china shop who flies by the seat of his diaper, but I agree that thinking you have “arrived” after the swearing in is a huge mistake.
Very astute. One of the issues I repeatedly have trouble with when discussing issues with my 'progressive' friends is that the Dems are complicit in where we are with an enormous war machine and the Wall St Gamblers looting the Treasury every 7-10 years while doing nothing to stop the destruction of the union movement with the GOP's right to work state legislation throughout the South and Midwest.
If progressives help a candidate win, then have that person turn their back on them, they’ll disengage and become cynical.
It's a tough call, and I think we put too much of a spotlight on Mamdani. He's in a tough position. Most of what he needs to fulfill his promises to New Yorkers are resources received from the state. Mamdani can make the stands we would love to see from him in the interests of the bigger picture, but he's the Mayor of New York. His obligation, at this point, is not to the movement, it's to New York. And if he gets locked out by Hochul, he doesn't succeed in New York. If he doesn't succeed, he will be the poster child of a crash and burn progressive. Every progressive and Democratic Socialist running after him will find themselves trying to run against Mamdani's failures. And we certainly can't rely on the press to elaborate the nuances of New York politics. I do agree with the gist of the argument, however. How many times have we seen Democrats begin their negotiations with their compromise position rather than a position of strength? Could Mamdani go to Hochul and play hardball? I don't know. I'm not in Mamdani's seat. I think the Fight Worth Having strategy is the stronger route. As the likely apocryphal stories about FDR demonstrate, even elected officials who are sympathetic to our cause need us to organize and make them do the things we want them to do.
I agree regardig his support of Hochul but he didn't have to support Jeffries. He certainly didn't need to sabatoge Ossé. He could have just remained neutral on that.
Agreed. The real problem here isn't really the politicians though...it is the voters. Mamdami can see the writing on the wall. Clinton was only reelected because of his Reaganesc ideas. The voting public has moved the Overton Window the politicians respond in kind.
Mmm. Maybe. I don't think Mamdani is so responsive to the Overton Window as that. If he were, he never would have run as an open Democratic Socialist. He understands that the voters want change, and that's what he was offering in his campaign. Now he's in the big chair and needs to make those changes happen. I think, and I admit I'm speculating, that his actions are, at this point, mostly practical contingency. He's thinking, 'what's the best strategy to get done what I need to get done.'
"Power is not winning. Winning is the beginning of the fight for power" good one! And correct. Otherwise you get the dynamic status quo... sadly, disgustingly, Trump somehow understands that. Obama is a neocon. But Mamdani is not and needs to be pushed.
I have to agree that evil tactics to win power work. But looking at life through your lens of power makes me want to throw up. There has to be a better way to create a kinder and more loving world. Like getting people to want it so much, they will vote for the good guys. We voted for what Obama promised. Not his move to pacify to the right. Trying to get Republicans on our side has always been a self-defeating move. It makes the left more diluted from within. Think Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Not Putin, Stalin, or Hitler. Respect, not fear. Okay. It sounds weak. But it seems to have worked slowly and briefly. Maybe humans will evolve after WWIII.
Power begets ethical weakness. What is a society for? Is it to conduct experiments on how to push it around? Is it to just use society to stroke your ego and play the ages old parlor game of 'my dog can eat your dog?' Corbin you are one smart guy, but your essay says do the right things for the wrong reasons, and you lose. Nah, not any more. It never worked, which is why we are in the air, headed down with a 500 lb. safe tied to our legs. The bottom is only livable for coyotes in cartoons. The rest of us just die ugly. I read this essay and my chest constricts. Just more of the same pissing contests between people who have more Id than Superego, thereby thwarting the harmonic balance of Ego itself, which should be, in this model, the humility it takes from ALL OF US to know we have been walking in quicksand for 2000 years or more. It is said that a leopard cannot change its spots. Problem with that analogy is that leopards and other real animals know how to survive together for millions of years if they simply eschew the memes humans are addicted to - gotta have that power and gotta use it. Look at the current shitshow, the penultimate POWER GRAB -- nothing but massive screw ups, carnage everywhere, Sir Fopling Flutters on every corner barking like chihuahuas. This paradigm sucks Corbin. It cannot work. Your what-to-do strategy is just another road to Hell, and we are already Here In Hell. Pissing contests to see who gets to do the waterboarding on the next prisoner. Now THAT is POWER, huh?
Is it possible you are mostly reacting to Corbin's use of the word ruthless? I actually looked it up to confirm my understanding and agree that I don't want ruthless leaders.
After a year of reading his newsletter, I doubt Corbin does either.
I do want leaders that will not compromise on the hope that friendship will be repaid.
I want courage, intelligence, charisma, practical innovation and a sincere intent to make our country and our world a better place for all its citizens.
We voters have to find and support these rare individuals and help them work together. It's the only way out. Corbin is trying to create a tool for that and I intend to support his effort because I believe it just might work.
While I agree with what you write, there have been enough examples of quicksand avoidance to make me, not hopeful, but aware, of the possibility that we can come our collective senses before we have to rub sticks together to make fire, or go the way of the dinosaur.
Hey, the quantum field is so massive n filled with energy that anything is possible. The rub is that of assumptions. I just read an article about being 'confident.' Studies show that most folk believe if they have confidence good things will happen, but evaluate themselves as either having it or not. Research shows the opposite -- you do, you act, you put in the effort, you take chances, and boom, something ok happens. Then there is the recognition that confidence comes from work, from effort, even maybe from enough belief in something that you 'go for it' without knowing the outcome. Any outcome is at least as tenable as no outcome via no effort. I am with you, I just keep on keepin' on, and know that if I do, something better than nothing usually occurs. I am confident I can do something just about any time, as long as I do not lose my perspective about what is doable and what is not. Baby steps, one at a time, get you somewhere.
This is true. And we also have to have grace for those whose confidence is at rock bottom, due to everything from childhood trauma to repeated disappointments when the effort to achieve has failed repeatedly, through systemic roadblocks rather than individual flaws.
The power of compassion and empathy are so immense, that is why these behaviors are so feared and loathed by the manosphere of the cult of personality. They buy the hype that they are the gifted ones, so whatever they do is correct. The folk near/at the bottom of our 'classless' society know that only via effort n confidence does anything change for the better. Some of those have been dealt a tough hand, and to just give to them to acknowledge their existence and self-worth is more than worth the time and effort. We do not own or hold Ki, we only channel it through our beings on its way to another assignment.
The country needs a written plan like project 2026. Ready to hit the ground running implementing FDR type citizen focused long range work projects. People are going to need jobs to come out of a depression//famine anyway so start with FDRs that worked on the last Great Depression.🫡🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇩🇰🫶
This has been a pattern among elected officials on the Left, to be sure, but let’s also not be too quick to blame or harshly criticize. As @Charles McBryde has astutely pointed out, the Right looks for converts while the Left looks for traitors. He’s only been in 3 months and is off to a great start at his actual job of mayor—of NYC, I might add, not Utica. He does have to be more cognizant of the other heavies around him in this post than if he were the mayor of, say, Poughkeepsie, you know?
This has been a pattern among elected officials on the Left, to be sure, but let’s also not be too quick to blame or harshly criticize. As @Charles McBryde has astutely pointed out, the Right looks for converts while the Left looks for traitors. He’s only been in 3 months and is off to a great start at his actual job of mayor—of NYC, I might add, not Utica. He does have be more cognizant of the other heavies around him in this post than if he were the mayor of, say, Poughkeepsie, you know?
The unwillingness or inability of promising candidates to embrace a broader movement is a problem you’ve written about periodically. I know that Bernie snd AOC have disappointed you in this regard. Me, too!
But let me ask you a serious question. How can Mamdani pass the tax measures he needs in NYC in order to pay for the programs he promised voters without help and support from Governor Hochul? Do you think the voters would give him the time he would need to defy Hochul directly in order to beat her into reluctant submission and eventually render her compliant with his desires?
It’s an honest question, Corbin. I share your view that we need to replace leaders who seem to work only to maintain the status quo. But at the same time, our heroes need to govern. Where do you strike the balance? Can you strike a balance? Or is it just naive to think it’s possible and necessary?
Obama indeed was a great disappointment all things considered but I don't think Mamdani is pulling an Obama at all. The situations are radically different.
Obama was President. He was the de facto figure head of the party and the entire center-left by the time he got elected in 2008 with a 60 vote Senate. Yet he chose to handover the keys to the corrupt Clintonite machine and failed to accomplish anything of enduring substance (other than his symbolic victory itself).
Mamdani is just a mayor of a single city in a much bigger state. He is not even the leader of the NY Democrats and the people of NYC did not elect him to wage an ideological war, they elected him to lower costs and deliver services now not 10 years from now. Also the deck is stacked against him as the establishment wants him to fail. So Mamdani in 2026 is in a much different place than Obama was in 2008.