T
10/
I'm really weary of sloganeering and litmus tests in candidacies.
I want to support candidates who share my general values - even if we have disagreements - who can also show me how they plan to build coalitions, make common cause with others, and increase their power to actually pass policy that benefits people.
In the age of social media campaigns, bumper sticker sloganeering, and influencer candidates, I know that makes me a little ... old fashioned.
/9
I'm seeing that energy on my side as primary candidacies wind up and various flash-in-the-pan grudge matches spool out on social media.
We are almost certainly going to have some success in the midterms this year.. But, bafflingly, hubris is a problem for us.
And unlike my example ... we haven't even earned that hubris yet.
Torching one another alive when we need to be building what meagre power we've collected into something real: That's a problem too.
/8
They forgot a *basic* rule of organizing and of politics: Don't get a reputation for lighting your friends on fire in public. Even the imperfect ones. Find another way.
There is room, and an important place, in any movement for firebreathers and pariahs. But when that's the *only* thing you offer, the smart players are gonna find someone who actually wants to work collaboratively.
/7
In the couple of years since that period, and Purple for Parents still kindasorta exists, but are decidedly small potatoes.
Imagine that: A right-wing group, working in a supermajority red state with an older, rural population, with stellar levels of clout and access ... managed to just completely flame out because of pure hubris.
/6
On the other side of the fence we were all like, "Your side is winning to a degree that most people would consider a rout. And yet... this is how you're using your clout? How is anybody ever going to want to team up with you after this? How is this a smart way to build and keep power?"
Flash forward: It wasn't.
/5
My favorite example was Indiana's abortion ban. They took out literal attack ads on rightwing Indiana lawmakers who were giving them 98% of what they wanted ... because the final product didn't come to 100% of what they wanted.
/4
Here's the thing: After having a year or two of traction they started doing something that made everyone scratch their heads.
After building all this political capital they started using their public mic almost *exclusively* to burn alive conservative lawmakers who weren't perfectly aligned with them.
Including lawmakers who they'd successfully pushed into further-right positions.
/3
For awhile they were really successful as citizen lobbyists, setting aside their execrable positions. Like, they were a legit phenom, and incredibly successful at getting electeds to support really extreme right-wing policy at the municipal and state level.
/2
Back in the early 2020s, this grassroots(ish) organizing group called Purple for Parents sorta took over the "concerned right-wing-mom" universe. They were backing book bans, anything anti-LGBTQ, and the usual mix of odious garbage. But they looked like nice, polite moms. They rose quickly, bolstered by conservative #Indiana lawmakers who aligned with them politically and who benefited from associating themselves with a "mom" group like this.
I'm going to tell a Hoosier political story from the recent past and some people won't initially make the connection to current events. But folks who are paying attention will. Sorry. A long thread's the only way to do it here, I'm afraid lol.
/1
