Reply #173: Implicit (if not explicit) in many posts is the expectation that one election ...

[TahitiNut]

... is some "major solution" and all should be right with the world if the "right person" is elected. I suppose it's the imbalance created by all the "rally the base" and GOTV hype that precedes eveery election ... but it just ain't so and NEVER will be.

I've been consistent over my entire tenure on DU and even before that it's ESSENTIAL for any citizen of something that aspires to be a 'democratic republic' to continuously engage other citizens in political dialog, arming themselves with facts and logic and well-articulated principles, and diligently spreading sound, truthful, and well-grounded arguments. It is We The People whose attitudes, preferences, and demands are most important. It's NOT about one election or even a dozen elections, and it sure as Hell isn't about that mythical "60th seat" in the Senate or just the Presidency.

The expectation that we can relax and "let George (or Barack) do it" is doomed to result in disappointment and resentment. It's an appallingly childish viewpoint. If there's anything to which I can most attribute the disgusting and continuous shift to the right over the last 30 years it's the willingness of Liberals to (1) stop even identifying themselves as "liberals" out of some misguided sense of embarrassment and (2) stop speaking up and taking active stances in support of liberal principles and human values.

Clearly, many who fashion themselves as "liberals" or even "progressives" really aren't ... and find themselves supporting the left solely out of self-interest ... seeing themselves (often rightly so) as somehow deprived of equal footing in our body politic but unwilling to invest in defending the rights and liberties of others not similarly situated. The "politics of narrow self-interest" is NOT "liberal" even when that self-interest is other than white and male and straight!