One Word We Need to Stop Using Right Now
Can we all stop “shoulding” on each other? Please??

Yes, I know.
Hillary Clinton should have gone to Michigan. She should have gone to Wisconsin. And Lordy knows, James Comey should have kept his big mouth shut. Vladimir should have minded his own damn business. Robby Mook should have gotten his head extracted from his buttocks, and the 45th President and all his cronies should be in jail.
I know, okay?
And I know Tom Perez should be more visible as a leader of the Democratic Party, and Hillaryland should stop blaming Bernie Bros for fucking everything up, and Bernie Bros should stop blaming Hillary for being so entitled. And liberals should stop fighting each other over the small stuff and should start paying attention to the big stuff. I know.
Don’t even get me started on Mark Penn and Andrew Stein, two pimply pustules who shouldn’t have the full attention of the New York Times opinion section readership, but do anyway. Here’s these nincompoops’ bottom line upfront:
The path back to power for the Democratic Party today, as it was in the 1990s, is unquestionably to move to the center and reject the siren calls of the left, whose policies and ideas have weakened the party.
Unquestionably? Are you kidding me? Other smart people have suitable annihilated this elitist stream of bull excrement, so let’s suffice it to say, transitioning the social construct from what it was in the 1990s to what it needs to be in the interconnected, technology-laden world of 2017 should not be as easy as a few policy tweaks to the ol’ platform. I agree with this headline: It’s 2017. Democrats Should Really Just Stop Taking Mark Penn’s Advice. AND WE SHOULD!
But here’s the problem: these days no one has anything but shoulds!
Republicans should vote no on the proposed healthcare legislation. Democrats should get their shit together and show some moral courage. Hillary Clinton should realize her moment has passed, and get out of the damn way (or not). Maybe Bernie Sanders should run for President again in 2020 so we can all have ourselves a grand old time on the same old merry-go-round, what do you say?
We may be on the brink of an authoritarian crisis, but shoulding on each other isn’t going to help.
Should should should should should should should.
Enough! It’s time we stop talking about what we should do, and focus on what we all want.
What do you want the world to look like in 2024? In 2028? (I’m afraid 2020 is already too far gone). Do you want humanity to survive rising global temperatures, melting arctic ice caps (whatever be the cause)? Do you want to be able to afford to go to a doctor? Do you want your children and grand children to survive past the age of five? Do you want to be able to afford healthy food for your family? What about your neighbor? Do you want the same thing for her?
We are human beings, in whom confirmation bias leads us to believe:
- We have all the answers
- If we repeat past actions, we can still manage to create different future outcomes
- Things will always be the way they have always been
- The way things have always been may be bad, but it’s better than an unknowable (scary!) future
Confirmation bias leads to shoulds. It makes us think, if we only do this one thing, everything will be better/different.
There is no silver bullet for the socio-political challenge facing America right now, no single action that will easily and safely fix it. Yes, a large number of left-leaning liberals are confronted by the tyranny they see in the actions of America’s 45th president. But there are also a large numbers of right-leaning conservatives who are relieved to have a president who speaks directly to them, and who is willing to burn down the house to change the system.
Because if we’re being honest, the problem isn’t the Democrats’ surge to the left. The problem is a dysfunctional system that serves the needs of plutocrats and elites (the same system that provides free healthcare to government employees but not to America’s working poor is the one that enabled the election of our 45th president, the Plutocrat in Chief). The system has been in decay and decline for decades, and Americans on both the left and the right have been swinging from party to party, voting for change for years. How do you explain the Florida voter who votes for Obama in 2008 and the 45th President in 2016? Because he’s voting for change he can believe in. It may come in different colors, shapes, and sizes, but that change vote is the junk they crave. Mobilizing, organizing, fundraising, PAC-forming, moving to the god-damned CENTER. These things will not reshape the system.
I want the progressive movement to stop being so self-righteous. I want people to listen to one another rather than trying to wrangle each other into submission. I want my progressive friends to stop shaming me for the ways my views, when different from theirs, make them feel “unsafe.” I want us all to start loving each other for our collective humanity, rather than tearing each other apart for our small, petty differences. Don’t you??
The house is on fire. It’s not a question of if we are going to put out the fire, but how many people will die in the process. Can we all stop arguing about who should call the fire department and who should start bucketing water? Instead, let’s foster human connection, dialogue, and the deep-seated belief that together, we have the power to transform the system to be something completely different — a government, an economy, a social order that works for all of us.
It’s unlikely to come about by repeating past actions, and it’s almost certainly not as simple as embracing the policies that worked in 1992. But it probably starts with listening, empathy, and human connection, don’t you think?
Lord knows, in these dog days of politics, we need more of that.
