I upvoted this, even though I believe there is a serious flaw that makes it unworkable. You’ve clearly worked hard on it, and at the individual scale, in the specific situations you outline, it will work.
The flaw is exposed when we zoom out and see the scale of the problem. Literally millions of right thinking, intelligent, patient , and informed people would have to study the guide and put it into practice if the intent is to change the position of a relatively small percentage of 45's supporters who are are subject to change. Those millions have to abandon an attack strategy (excellent) and a fact based strategy (good in theory, impossible in reality for many of us). In fact, the chances of changing enough minds to make a significant difference approaches zero. I’m truly sorry, but it ain’t gonna happen.
If there is hope at this point, it lies in 45 and his administration. Many who are part of his team are coming to the conclusion that he is going to do exactly what he said he would do without applying even a little bit of common sense. They are seeing that making a mistake will get you shut out of the club. That could lead to collapse from within… not unlike the collapse of building #7 on September 11th, 2001. To clarify, it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the structure of building #7 was cause by numerous fires that burned for hours, mostly below ground level. That weakened internal load bearing steel to the point that the inside of the building began to collapse. Finally, the shell that remained standing came down in a way that conspiracy lovers claimed shows that the building was intentionally imploded. We can only hope that fires fueled by big money are weakening the internal structure of 45’s regime.
That possibility is bolstered by realizing that those with big money and power don’t seem to be able to control 45 like then did Obama. There is no way they would favor “The Wall”. In economic terms, it fails by any reasonable measure. Once the positive impact on the economy of spending a few TRILLION begins to fade, there is no tangible value remaining.
By comparison look at the Boulder (now Hoover) dam project. It cost LESS than 1 Billion 2016 dollars ($49 million at the time). It also had a real impact in terms of employment, and making more money available in the economy. After that part was over, it kept on giving in terms of flood control, new recreational lakes, irrigation, and… most of all, in electricity generated.
The Wall has none of that. The fact that powerful big money interests have yet to get 45 to back peddle even a little bit, says that he is a proverbial loose cannon. The hope is that those powerful interests are working behind the scenes to save the ship before the cannon does irreparable damage.
What can the rest of us do. I, like you, suggest that we avoid attacking 45’s supporters. Likewise, we (really hard for me) should stop wasting our time and peace of mind posting facts and figures intended to undermine his support. Instead, look for opportunities to publicly, in a non-adversarial way, point out some of the emotional reasons 45 is a disappointment to some supporters. Those include unpopular actions that indicate incompetence… and other comments/actions that clearly pose a threat to all Americans.
Trying to get the job done “one on one” is flawed because there aren’t nearly enough of us who are capable and willing to follow the strategy you’ve so carefully outlined. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
