I listened to the panel below yesterday and I was mystified. In 1928 Conservative Republican rule cause the ‘Great Depression’. The country recovered with the help of Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal programs. Then a different type of recovery happened when the benefits of being American citizens were extended to all minorities, at least as policy, under Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society programs’. His agenda also included the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Mind you both Presidents were Democrats.
I will not pretend to ignore that both Presidents had a history of bigotry but they put forth policies that benefitted minorities directly and indirectly. Thought it was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who force the hand of her husband in many ways. I give this background to put my following comments into context.
There is enough history and enough evidence of today’s Republicans working to turn back the clock, ignore the founders tenet of separation of church and state, and their intent to strip away rights most Americans have enjoyed over the past 60 years. They are focused on doing this all at the behest of the coalition of White Supremacists and Religious Evangelical Social Conservatism.
The disappointing aspects of the comments from Joy Reid and a couple of the panelists we’re that it is the responsibility of the leaders of the Democratic Party to get out and motivate the affected citizens of the Republican plot and not the responsibility of the voting population that is affected. The comments also suggest that Democrats don’t understand the public when in fact it is the public that doesn’t understand the reality of how Congressional, Presidential, and SCOTUS governance works.
In our system the President is not a King. That is something Obama was constantly told when he used ‘Executive Powers’ to bypass an intransigent Congress. It was also something few people said to Trump who openly whined about not having his edicts acted upon as if he were a King. Now Republicans want to reframe our Democracy, use force and intimidation to impose openly authoritarian and racist rule on the nation. They even want the power to unleash the military on citizens or at the very least grow a militarized police state to use on citizens who protests in states that rescind rights currently under Federal protection.
I do not understand how this is the responsibility of Democratic Leaders and not voters (the people). Democrats have control of the House of Representatives. There is a 50/50 Senate where every Republican refuses to vote to preserve women’s rights, civil rights, voting rights. There are at least 2 Democratic Senators from Conservative states that will not vote to bypass the filibuster to ensure these rights. Why is it not the responsibility of voters to correct this imbalance?
Why does anyone need the motivation that reality is not providing. Let’s understand one simple fact. Most states controlled by Republicans rank the lowest in education and healthcare. They also are the most theocratic in policy agendas. If you are an affected citizen do you really need Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer to tell you what you’re up against? Do you really need them to tell you what’s at stake?
Worst of all do you really need someone else to explain what your own self interests are? Really? I like most of the people on this panel, but I abhor the views they present in this video. On this point they are off base.
A Reasonable Point of View 
I agree I was sitting there thinking can’t we as a people see the oncoming train coming our way for ourselves? I for one don’t need a Politician to tell me that my vote is the greatest weapon I have!
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