Dear liberal Twitter.

I am a white male in a red rural area of a red southern state.

I wear wrangler pants from Walmart to work, I drive a 4x4, I own a firearm.
I am a fiscally conservative, socially liberal Democrat.

But I look exactly like the magas, and work with my CONT..

Hands so I come into contact with them regularly. Daily even.

I believe I have some insights to offer.

1)They are propagandized.
Decades of faux and talk radio in combination with conservative social media have ingrained right wing talking points into even casual viewers. CONT.

It's everywhere.
On every TV at the doctors office. In every gym. On every radio. Everywhere.

There are virtually no public or private areas that are not being inundated, outside of rare private homes.
If a station besides faux is on at the doctor's, the patients turn the CONT

Channel.

2)Even the folks that are starting to (only just now) realize that something is "wrong" about Individual-1 are
actively shamed if they question his actions openly.

The words "liberal" and "democrat" are said through clenched teeth here.

Folks are afraid for CONT

Their social standing, friendships and jobs.

So all that is openly spoken of him is good, and any bad is suppressed.

This is exactly the type of environment that would make a reasonable person question their own judgment.
And the negative incentive to avoid dissent is real CONT

3)The possible dem voters are pushed too far right culturally to vote progressive right now.
I'm sorry. I don't like it either and I wish it wasn't so.

But if everyone around you is claiming that the dems are out to destroy the country,,, it's a goddamn stretch just to vote CONT

Blue. And if done, will mostly be done in secret to avoid ridicule.

4)It's about race, replacement, and Obama, with a side order of Hillary hate for good measure.

And they can't get past it.

These folks are so radicalized against Obama, he is literally seen as a usurper CONT

And foreign agent that took the presidency with the help of the deep state (Hillary) and tried to bring down democracy.

Watch Tucker or Hannity, or Ingraham. You'll get the idea.

They fear brown people, and losing the control that they presently enjoy.

They believe that CONT

They are fighting for their lives and country, and that if they lose, their grandchildren will grow up in a country with open criminality and Mexico style narco-wars.

They also believe that illegal immigrants have been allowed to vote, and feel justified in voter CONT

Suppression as a result.

Because they been sold the status of "victim" they feel justified in winning by any means necessary.

See @Teri_Kanefield for excellent threads on hardball democracy if you're interested in more on that.

CONT

5) We want them.
The folks that are coming around. We want them and we need them.

If crossing over will result in more shame folks will stay where they are. We need em.

We can teach them all about embracing progressive values after we get em... CONT

But right now, we need them to walk into a voting booth and put a mark next to a blue candidate while that's still an option.

Embrace that.
Wars are won one battle at a time. We need to take any victory we can get.
The bigger the better?
Sure.

But small ones too.

CONT

6) Dems must embrace reality.

I'm uninsured right now and it's scary. I can't afford the marketplace and I'm cash-n-carry at the doctors office.

I want a progressive. Badly.

But if a centrist gets the nomination I'm all in.
This is about democracy.

And keeping it. So.

CONT

7) It's probably best if we don't get the nominee we're all hoping for.

Twitter is not our country, and we have to accept that.
Not everyone has the same understandings we do and we all still need each other to stay intact as a democracy.

Vote for the dem that can win... CONT

And encourage/help others to do the same.

Don't hit the folks crossing enemy lines with fire and brimstone. Help them ease over to the side of tolerance and acceptance.

That's our strength.
We let people have different points of view and choose how to live without shame. CONT

That's who we are.
It's literally the reason we're different. Let's keep it.
It's fucking awesome.

Individual-1 doesn't get to take that from us.

Sorry for the typos and grammar. I have very little formal education.

This concludes today's public service announcement.

Ok!
Getting some traction.
Gotta do some good with that.

Please help me!

Follow @Teri_Kanefield right now. Read her thread on hardball democracy. She's literally America's Twitter mom. Do it.

Follow @SethAbramson. He wrote the book on Trump Russian collusion.

CONT

Then follow @DirkSchwenk and @HatesHorseshoes.
They will teach you how propaganda is being used to divide us so we can't function as a cohesive force.

I've been reading as many of the comments as I can and I have to say thank you.

I'm really humbled by the kindness, support, suggestions and follows.

You guys rock!

I noticed a couple of reoccurring hiccups and wanted to try to clear them up.

When I said that I was fiscally conservative, I meant personally. I personally, am conservative financially.

Dems wind up cleaning up the mess after every repub administration.

We're actually better with money than they are, but they're better at claiming to be. They're lying.

Some folks have brought up the gun ownership thing so...

Rural areas tend to have as much, or more, crime than cities. And there are generally only 4 patrols working in my whole county at night.

If I call 911 at 1am it could be a half hour or an hour before they arrive.

And my neighbors are farther that in the city. They wouldn't likely hear if help was needed.

I've never pointed it at a human being, but I have used it to protect the animals from raccoons and possums.

I believe gun ownership is a right, but would love to see reform/education.

It was pointed out to me that I'm asking a lot from people that feel marginalized, especially people of color.

It's true.
I'd just like to remind everyone that the magas feel marginalized and attacked.
Right or wrong they believe it.

It's the reason they feel justified in...

Fighting dirty.

The problem with us joining that is,,, that we're the only goddamn adults right now.

If we don't do the right thing, nobody will.

Sorry y'all. It's not fair.
But it is fact.

There is nobody else to do it.
It's on us.

Some folks said I was pushing Biden.

Actually I prefer Warren.
I just really identify with the way she sees things.

But we need the candidate that will pull the most dem votes. And I will vote for whoever that is.

The idea that we shouldn't act strategically in choosing...

A candidate is literally the dumbest argument I've ever heard.

And claiming that we shouldn't care about pulling maga voters is a bad argument.
Why?

Because of the electoral college, and the "winner takes all" state systems to distribute those electoral votes, only a few...

States will actually pick the president.

Those are not liberal states.
Sorry. I wish they were.
But they're not.

And we have ZERO chance of fixing that right now.
We just have to navigate it.

Sucks right?
We gotta make the "least bad" choice.
But that's where we are.

To summarize

1. Dems are the real fiscal conservatives.

2. Guns are a useful tool. Reform is DEFINITELY needed.

3. If you've decided that tactical planning is offensive to you stop worrying about it.
You've already lost.

4. We're stuck with a very flawed electoral college system, and that's just the way it is. We should try to make choices based on that reality.

5. We're the adults. It falls to us.

Thanks y'all.
I appreciate your attention and care.

Hey y'all.
I've was trying not to tack too much on to this thread but I've seen some more stuff pop up in the comments that I think is worth addressing.

Hoping it's ok to take a bit more of your time.

I do appreciate it

The first thing I want to address is the bots and trolls.

We've struck a nerve with this talk and they're out in full force.

Please don't feed em.
They just want to divide us.
I know it's hard but if you could just ignore it and move on we'll all be better off.

Next I want to talk about fear.

A lot of folks are very kindly fearful for my safety and well-being.

It is unwarranted.
But thank you!

These are my neighbors and friends. I am proud and privileged to have them.
I love them, and some of them even love me back

I'm not afraid of my daughter, or my sister.
Or my uncle. Or my kind and helpful next door neighbor from whom I have learned much about when to hold my tongue and anger.

All of those people would feed me If I was hungry.
And all know where I stand politically.

Folks are not all poor here.

Many just choose to live a more modest life than city people might like.

They value that.
It's important to them.
I love it

They are survivors.
They are resourceful and self sufficient, and consider it a point of honor to be so.

Respect.

I didn't think this thing would even be noticed, and I was really just trying to put my experiences and insights down in a way that would hopefully be helpful to a few folks that we're struggling to understand.

And...perhaps help me to understand better.

My observations are not detached from emotion in ANY way. I love these people, and will not be swayed from that.

I hope I didn't come off like an expert... I'm not one.

I'm not Jane Goodall.
And these are not monkeys that I'm studying.

These are complicated and proud people

They value independence, hard work, personal faith and self-sufficiency.

They are not Nazis.
And the vast majority are not like the people you see at Individual-1 rallys on TV.

Most have never seen his rallys. Nor do they care to.

They are getting all the info they

believe they need from faux media.

It's an unfair characterization to imagine the average republican is someone like we see on TV.

The ugliest voices always scream the loudest.

This is NOT a fair representation of the average Democrat.

This is NOT a fair representation of average Republicans.

There's no both-siding intended here.

One side of our government has abandoned fact. And now considers lying and gaslighting to be an acceptable method of social control.

The other is literally trying to keep the wheels from coming off the car we're all riding in.

But if we're going to pretend that my kind and thoughtful republican neighbor, who has taught me much about how to hold my anger, is evil and seeks the destruction of our country then we're doing exactly that...

Pretending.

It is foolish for us to consider ourselves immune to the same polarization and radicalization that has happened to...wait for it...

Our Fellow Americans

We don't have to be them, but we might want to walk a mile in those wrangler cargos before we pass judgment.

Something that really troubled me, and kept popping up in the comments, was the idea that we don't need them, some folks expressed it as "f*ck em" and others just tried to explain how we were going to take back our country without all of my neighbors help and support.

Let's address that now.

That's what Individual-1 is doing. He's leading his voters... And nobody else.

How does that feel?
Is it fair?
Do you like it?
Was it good for the country?
Are we better for it?
Is that the country you want your kids to grow up in?

If the plan you want to implement includes the idea that another giant grievance is going to somehow unite the nation, I have to ask you to reconsider.

And... That line of thought has a fatal structural flaw.
It won't work.
It can't.

After we get the bad orange man out, we've still got a really divided and angry country.
And it's not like all the people who think differently than we do are suddenly going to disappear when we put a democrat in the big white house that's supposed to belong to all of us.

To think otherwise is literally insane. It's nuts. It's not based in reality.

We're all literally trapped, together, in that car...
The one we're trying to keep the wheels from coming off of.

And that's not going to change soon.

We can improve the situation greatly by putting a serious and kind person in our family's big white house.

But we shouldn't pretend that's going to be the end of this fight.

You're going to have to make peace with your neighbors.

You've got to personally find a way.

The people who guide them are actively working against them. Against us too.
But also them.

And they don't see that right now. They can't yet.

If we actually have the values we claim to, we have to demonstrate them in the face of adversity, open hatred and disinformation.

And I mean "have to" as in "fight for our lives".

I am not a religious person.

But I have to tell y'all, I am trying to have faith in us.

All of us.

I am old enough to remember when we at least claimed to understand that our differences made us great.

That we were the melting pot.
That we were all immigrants.
That diversity was strength.

And my personal favorite...

That going high beat going low.

I am too old to think that we will return to that in my lifetime.

Many are angry and radicalized, and most of those will likely outlive me.

But I will not forget it.