John Pavlovitz: The Left is Bickering Into the Abyss

[Nevilledog]

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John Pavlovitz
@johnpavlovitz
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The coming election should be the slam dunk of the century, but it isn't.
We should be easily coalescing around our collective values, but we aren't.
We should be rising up together to eradicate this fascism en masse—but we're not.

johnpavlovitz.com
The Left is Bickering Into the Abyss
This should be easy. We have just endured the most corrupt, inept, and relentlessly predatory presidential administration in our history. We have witnessed a willfully and tragically mismanaged...
5:20 AM · Jul 12, 2022

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2022/07/11/the-left-is-bickering-into-the-abyss/

*snip*

For all their sermonizing and finger-wagging, Conservatives have never allowed their personal morality to get in the way of a political win. We saw this played out in the 2016 Presidential Campaign. Prior to Donald Trump announcing his candidacy, any self-respecting Evangelical would have declared a three-time married serial adulterer with multiple bankruptcies and a history of racist statements and predatory business practices—the complete antithesis of Jesus. What a difference a few months made.

As Trump’s political stock rose, their religious convictions began to miraculously evaporate in the light of political opportunity. Celebrity evangelists who previously claimed to abhor everything he represented, suddenly and gladly leased out their megachurch pulpits, social media platforms, and Christian University commencement stages. It turns out when the devil actually does bring you to the mountaintop and shows you what you get in exchange for your soul—your solid rock theology is a lot more like jello.

Politicians like Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, who at first made vehement, impassioned assaults on Trump’s character, intellect, and suitability to lead—have found themselves falling over one another to bow at his feet and kiss his ring—willingly discarding their previous disgust and gladly auctioning off their souls for a space in the bed of a powerful man who they are willing to sleep with for the shiny trinkets of power, position, and opportunity he gives them.

Professed Christians who’ve spent their entire lives loudly brandishing their family values, devotion to God, and steadfast commitment to the ways of Jesus—have proven themselves able to shove all that in a closet, hold their noses, and play dumb.

*snip*

[walkingman]

1. I follow John Pavlovitz. I'm a atheist but find his view towards religion and politics refreshing.

[Nevilledog]

2. Agreed.

[Phoenix61]

3. Spot on. nt

[empedocles]

4. Pithy

'' . . . Rank-and-File Democrats, this is bigger than you.
Frustrated Progressives, this is bigger than you.
Defiant Third Party holdouts, this is bigger than you.
Exhausted abstainers, this is bigger than you.
Ambivalent moderates of all parties, this is bigger than you. . . '


https://johnpavlovitz.com/2022/07/11/the-left-is-bickering-into-the-abyss/

[Scrivener7]

5. It's messaging. We're a unit. But we accept the conservative media's message that we aren't.

[samnsara]

6. getting dems together is like herding cats but collectively we can scratch the eyes out of anything

[Act_of_Reparation]

7. Eh, not the best take.

The GOP is cohesive because it is largely homogenous. They've pigeonholed themselves into representing a very narrow demographic, while the Democrats have to appeal to everyone to the left of Yosemite Sam.

That isn't an easy task, being fair to Democratic strategists, but it is also unrealistic to expect everyone to chill out and get a long all the time.

[SergeStorms]

10. When the stakes are this high...

we'd damned well better learn to get along.

Fascism is on the ballot this November. If we fragment and bicker about not getting our pony from Joe Biden, all is lost, and I mean all is lost!

There will be no recovering or "wait until 2024, then we'll get them". Democracy in the United States will cease to exist.

This is it, so gird your loins, hold your nose, do whatever we have to do, we must come together as one cohesive unit this November.

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. When the stakes are this high...

...you need a better strategy than, "Everyone needs to be better people than they currently are."

[SergeStorms]

14. Suggestions?

nt

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. Not my job.

We pay strategists piles of cash to figure this stuff out so we, the rank and file, don't have to.

[SergeStorms]

16. If the choice between....

fascism and democracy isn't enough to motivate people to vote.... I'm afraid I'm in the wrong country.

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. I got more bad news for you.

People are people, and this sort of thing can happen anywhere.

Fascist movements could never grow without the help of ordinary people, even conventionally good people. Fascists could never attain power without the acquiescence or even active assent of the traditional elites—heads of state, party leaders, high government officials—many of whom felt a fastidious distaste for the crudities of fascist militants.

Paxton, Robert O.. The Anatomy of Fascism . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[poli-junkie]

8. For starters: Dems need to call Repukes fascists. Nt

[CaptainTruth]

9. The article title sounds like a right-wing talking point...

...like a narrative the media wants us to believe is true. Like all the previous "Dems in Disarray!" BS narratives pushed by the mainstream media.

What utterly baffles me is why in the hell are *WE* falling for it??? We should be the LAST ones to fall for this narrative.

[betsuni]

12. Because conspiracy theory/disinformation/ignorance gullibility is infecting many people.

Too many people who claim to be on the left have been trained by people they trust to mindlessly believe both sides are the same.

[H2O Man]

13. Way recommended!

Great post!