On complacency
Happy Monday, everyone!
Y'all may not know it, but I often get ideas for posts from you brilliant people. And yesterday I saw this:
I couldn't upvote both of these comments enough.
Democratic Party supporters need to, well, act like fucking winners. Do you ever see Republicans act like their candidates are 30 points behind? No. They act like they're ahead by 30 points, and then cause a ruckus when they actually lose by those 30 points.
This "advice" to guard against "complacency" is prevalent on our side. Because we're conditioned to believe that we're not actually that popular, and any victories we eke out are minor miracles.
Even now you can see comments like "Don't take the massive leads for Fetterman and Whitmer as truth. It'll be a close race!" Comments like that don't engender activism. They engender anxiety. And when one is anxious, one doesn't think clearly, or engage in actions which drive home victories.
No, I'm not saying to have untrammeled faith in polling. 2016 should have put paid to that idea. (Even though Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote by the forecast margin.) Polling is one tool to use. But it is an important tool. However, when Democrats were down in the generic ballot polls, the usual suspects were gleeful with the demise of the corporatist party. And now that Democrats are ahead in the generic polls, the usual suspects are preaching caution.
I don't know about you, but I work and live better from a position of strength. Coming from a position of weakness is almost guaranteed to be a failure. And the Eeyores evangelizing on "No, we can't take good polling as anything other than a distraction" are not helping. (Of course, the question which begs asking is this: Do they actually want Democrats to win? I think you've read me long enough to know my thoughts on that.)
Don't get me wrong: I suffer from occasional anxiety. Yesterday I stayed away from all social media because of it. But in general, my default position is "Let's go". I plow ahead and get stuff done, even if I don't feel up to snuff. Why? Because that's the only way anything gets accomplished. The Bertrand Russell quote highlighting this piece is what we're facing. And it's time for us to not follow that path. To do that, we have to *gasp* trust in the strength of our arguments. We have to *gasp* trust in the rationality of our fellow citizens. Our opponents depend on the irrationality of the electorate, and too many of us accept that as an immutable fact. And you know what? That's a sucker's bet. If you assume people are stupid, then you will act as such, and not reach out to them. Has this moved the world forward? No, not one centimeter.
We need to get out of our heads. We need to get over this assumption that people are naturally stupid. Once we do that, and treat our peers as rational beings, it might surprise us as to what we can achieve.