Dems didn't take voters for granted, voters took Dems for granted

[The Mouth]

55. I think it is what it is.

I think we'll survive Trump, but *only* because he's too immature and impatient. If he had merely *acted* as presidential as anyone before him, he would have won 2020; it was only because he has the emotional self-control of a badly raised 6-year-old that enough people were worried to show up and vote against him.

My understanding of what being a 'Republic' means is that should function as *exactly* the kind of bulwark against a dictatorship that we both see is needed, particularly in this era of ever-increasing social media, AI deepfakes, and such. In other words some things that simply *cannot* be changed in anything other than a very long and very difficult amendment process. The irony is that the Republicans are just as anxious to dismantle the Republic as anyone on the left.

You can't have a true Democracy the way some seem to want it without the danger of a simple majority turning it to tyranny; you can't have a Republic without some things, however repulsive, that are effectively nearly impossible to change. I think we are trying to find a balance and it's harder than it's been since the very violent and chaotic elections of 1820 and 1824.

Winston Churchill's quote "The best argument against Democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter" comes, sadly, to mind.

Voters as a whole are pretty much going to ask 'What have you done for me LATELY'. Democrats either need to have clear, concise, SIMPLE bullet points, or lose.