Hope for maga

I have some very dear maga friends and family.

I had a surprisingly fun if lengthy political conversation with one earlier today.

There was a surprisingly-to-me long list of what we agreed on:

- There is no accountability in government; there hasn't been for a very long time; and it's needed at all levels

- If the law isn't being enforced, then it isn't the law

- Unelected, unofficial people who haven't taken the oath of office to the Constitution are not to be trusted

- Corruption is bad and needs to be rooted out and eliminated from every level of government

- There is a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse that needs to be rooted out and eliminated

- It doesn't make sense to just fire people without cause--it doesn't make sense to fire valuable contributors to society only to say oops and attempt to rehire them

- It makes sense to fire the strap-hangers

- America should not bow down to, negotiate with, or appease dictators

- Government should take in all voices, negotiate across both sides of the political aisle, and ultimately come from the true center

- We're in for a bumpy ride, but at the end of it, we'll be able to see where all the corruption is...bright sunlight is the best disinfectant

We didn't discuss what the republicans plan to do to my friend's Medicare or the Social Security of a maga strap-hanger we both know who maybe worked for 10 years max before latching onto a breadwinner and becoming a willfully-non-contributing (not even to the marital partnership) house-spouse, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that my friend and I would agree that we've paid into these benefits our whole working lives (even said working life only lasted for 10 years) and that that money belongs in our hands, not in the hands of billionaires. 

My friend and I both know a couple with a disabled adult daughter, and I'm sure that my friend and I would agree that said disabled adult daughter is not a leech, parasite, or strap-hanger on society and that she deserves whatever federal and state benefits she receives without having to "work" for or otherwise earn them--she just isn't capable.

So we had a lot of common priorities and points of view.

Here's the difference between us: my friend gets their "facts" from murdoch--a billionaire oligarch who'd rather rob my friend blind than look out for my friend's or anyone else's best interests.

I get my facts from what the bills actually say they do, who actually voted yea or nay on them, and what the actual statistics are. I listen to what the politicians say, but I also closely watch what they actually do.

And when it comes to what little news I consume--even the best non-mainstream sources tend to be click-baity and anger-twangy--I only use independent, non-fascist sources that validate their findings and list their sources so that I can follow up and check them myself.

So, at the end of the day, I think there's hope for maga.

Once they realize that the billionaires are lying to them, they're going to be pissed as hell.

They're going to see how donaldina and dork vader are screwing them and people they know and love--including women, POC, LGBTQ+, immigrants....

And, when that happy-if-painful day comes, they're going to re-examine their beliefs and, I believe, shed a lot of the hatred and fear of us "others."

They're going to start to realize that we're all in this together and that the enemy isn't their fellow middle class, working class, and poor Americans--it isn't women or POC or LGBTQ+ or immigrants or anyone else murdoch tells them to hate and fear--it's the greedy, insatiable oligarchs who are hell bent on destroying us the way so many parasites outright kill their hosts.

So let's keep our eyes and ears open, be respectful when interacting with them, plant seeds wherever we can, and keep the faith.

It sucks at the moment, but good WILL come from this.

It just will.