Wonderful piece -- written with passion and eloquence and insight. As a progressive, an American Jew, a supporter of a free Palestine, and a lifelong Democrat, I share so many of the frustrations you express here. I, too, like the mass transit analogy for voting. In the Age of T%#mp especially, we just cannot afford to allow the quest for perfection to get in the way of pragmatic political choices.
I keep coming back to that tension between ideals and impact, and how exhausting it can be to hold both without giving up on either. The mass transit metaphor I think widens the frame enough to show that progress needs forward momentum not perfection.
Yes. To use an example and another analogy: There is nothing wrong, in my mind, with pushing for an ideal candidate in a primary. Challenging from the left is perfectly legitimate. And once in a while you support a guy like Mamdani, who actually wins the primary (Yay!). But once the primary is over, regardless of who wins, we have to be able to come together and remember who we're REALLY fighting against. It's like being outvoted on what to do with a family outing. You advocate for your choice, but then you go along with the group decision so that everyone enjoys themselves.
Wonderful piece -- written with passion and eloquence and insight. As a progressive, an American Jew, a supporter of a free Palestine, and a lifelong Democrat, I share so many of the frustrations you express here. I, too, like the mass transit analogy for voting. In the Age of T%#mp especially, we just cannot afford to allow the quest for perfection to get in the way of pragmatic political choices.
I keep coming back to that tension between ideals and impact, and how exhausting it can be to hold both without giving up on either. The mass transit metaphor I think widens the frame enough to show that progress needs forward momentum not perfection.
Yes. To use an example and another analogy: There is nothing wrong, in my mind, with pushing for an ideal candidate in a primary. Challenging from the left is perfectly legitimate. And once in a while you support a guy like Mamdani, who actually wins the primary (Yay!). But once the primary is over, regardless of who wins, we have to be able to come together and remember who we're REALLY fighting against. It's like being outvoted on what to do with a family outing. You advocate for your choice, but then you go along with the group decision so that everyone enjoys themselves.