12 Comments
Feb 18, 2021Liked by Garrett Bucks

Thank you, this perfectly encapsulates the feelings I've had the past few days, that there is real work to be done besides just not being awful ourselves.

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Feb 18, 2021Liked by Garrett Bucks

I've been thinking about this essay all day and trying to formulate a response, just as I've been trying to think about Limbaugh's "legacy." I was in college in the early 1990s and was simultaneously aware of current events while lacking the context for thoughtful analysis. In retrospect, I see the negative influence of both Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich on, well, thoughtful analysis and nuance.

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Feb 18, 2021Liked by Garrett Bucks

Thank you. I have no words because you have so encapsulated this situation with your own transparency and given us some things to ponder as we sit in our limiting beliefs. Sharing this far and wide and to some who will perhaps push back or not read at all. I have to try !

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I'd totally forgotten about Air America but you have reminded me that I spent a lot of time in those days wondering why Democrats and/or liberals were just so bad at the kind of zingy, pointed messaging that right-wing Republicans seemed to shine at. Too earnest maybe?

Anyway, yes, all of this! I was talking with a friend the other day and I've never seen her so pessimistic about politicians and leadership. There are all the things you mentioned that fall under "why ARE so few Democrats interested in things that actually matter to people?" but chief among them right now is wondering where a national virus roadmap is and why we're all still crapshooting decision-making among family members and Covid bubbles and schools districts. Things are still unravelling and they shouldn't be.

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Thank you. I'll be honest that growing up Rush Limbaugh did not frequent the airwaves of my life (and facts like that alone have influenced who I am today). These words really resonated: "But where does my comparative right-ness actually get us? It doesn’t keep the lights on in Texas. It doesn’t keep a family from being evicted in the Bronx. It doesn’t keep a Navajo elder from getting poisoned by Yellowcake uranium." This makes me think of how we are also building vs. not solely interrogating systems (or lazer focusing on individuals). I believe that we can build in such a way that it forces systems to change as well.

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