Despair Is Not an Option.

I started this blog in hopes, in my own little microscopic way, of making a difference, in not letting our country become the two-bit kleptocractic cesspool that the tRump crime family is doing their black-hearted little best to make it.

Sorry to say, they’re hell-bound for leather in making it so, and have had much success. But, as the Thom Hartmann quote I've used to title this post says, we can't give in to depression or anger.

We real Americans know full well that this is country is not perfect, nor has it ever been (and we also know no such country has ever existed on Planet Earth). The USA’s warts are ugly and plentiful. We know that the fruits of freedom have not been shared by all. And we know the American right’s is fiercely devoted to freedom and liberty for some -- and denying it to many.

Real Americans, on the other hand, believe that nobody has a monopoly on freedom, that more freedom actually makes us a better country, not worse. Despite many sad and awful chapters in our history, we have also fought hard and most of us have done our best to change that and make the American Dream a reality for all of our citizens. Has it been fast enough? of course not.

We here at the New Patriot blog feel it's still worth fighting for and what we face now in Washington DC, at many state houses, and infested throughout the populace are forces whose wet dream is to ensure that everybody not become a full member of a free society. The whole reason there is a Benedict Donald to specifically see that that doesn't happen.

As depressing and overwhelming as this all sometimes seems to get, I'm one American who's not even close to rolling over. And I have good reason to believe that I have lots of company, and very likely the majority of the country.



These mutants are big-time funders to the evildoers.

It's not going to be easy to fight all of this. The evildoers are fanatical, and they have some very deep pockets in the likes of the Kochs and the Mercers to finance them and back them up. But we actual Americans outnumber the evildoers by a lot.




Even when the right faced crushing defeats, they didn't give up. Now look where they are. Roe v. Wade is about to go; people can talk about re-instituting child labor and can be taken seriously. White supremacists now feel emboldened to march in public without covering their faces . And for people of color, it has become 1963 all over again. We need, more than ever, to adopt their tenacity but use it in the service of good.

I've not kept up this blog as well as I might like. but my motivations are still the same. I'm one real American who is damn sick and tired of watching the Democrats lose elections they should win, or have them be so close that the Supreme Court, the Russians, or party bosses with gerrymandering power can throw these elections to their party even if they get far fewer votes.



A founder of the proud boys. We won't dignify him by saying his name.

I'm not claiming to be a super genius. I don't have a master plan, much as I wish I did. But, I do have the advantage of being an observer for many decades. Perhaps most exasperating in all of this is that the repub game plan never really changes, and the reason it never changes is because it never has to. They have more or less been doing the same kind of stuff really since Nixon in 1968. True, maybe there has been tweak here or there, and they're more intense with those tactics overtime. but the tactics don't change because the Democrats never have pushed back effectively on them.

One of the main things I plan to do with this blog was to shine a light on those tactics and offer a counter, when I can, in hopes finally changing the game.

While I don't really want to give too much personal information on this blog, I'll tell you this much: I have been a practicing martial artist for many years. In that time I've learned that whatever tactic your opponent may employ, there's always counter tactic. and it's no less true politics then it is in karate or jiu-jitsu.

Granted, it's not always easy to figure out what that counter is, and often, the first one doesn’t work. But if the counter doesn't work at first, then you try something else. What I have seen for decades from the Democratic Party is to rarely combat the repubs nonsense, or almost as often, try something very weak and then give up when it doesn't shut the repubs down completely on the first try.

The first step is to shine a light on those tactics. and I'll have to admit the repubs do have a pretty full tool box, so it is kind of tough to pick a place to start.

First, I'll look at some of the tactics in general. I think one of their most effective tactics is the false narrative. We all know this, you know, that one of their go-to false narratives is that Democrats want to take your guns away. Perhaps in a later post, will explain why that narrative is complete horse pucky, but it's a good example false narrative.

Very closely related to that is what I call working the ref. this is sort of a companion to the false narrative, anything that remotely seems to go along with the false narrative they point out as proof that they were right. And. as the name of the tactic suggests, its more aimed at a person or party involved than as a crowd-manipulator, though it’s also pretty effective as the latter, too.

Perhaps the most cherished -- and long-lasting -- work the ref is the whole liberal media myth, which we'll talk about in more detail very soon. By constantly reciting the mantra “liberal media,” they actually get the media itself to either believe it or consider that it might be true. I know. Sometime soon, I’ll share an instance of when I fell for it.

Then of course there's the Big Lie. Just take something it's obvious BS and keep repeating it, ignoring any corrections or fat checks that are done. it's an extremely effective tactics, so much so, that I've actually seen Democrats, liberals, and actual Americans of many stripes repeat those lies.

Cast of the Donna Reed Show

There are a lot of these tactics did I just don't have the time to talk about here, and I'm sure there are many that I'm not aware of. but there's one other one I'm noticing of late -- projection. for those of you that didn't take psychology one on one, that's the practice I'm saying someone else is thinking or doing what you're actually doing. Benedict Donald is a master of this. He takes all of his ugliest tendencies and projects them onto his opponents (it was Hillary that was working with the Russians). Again, very effective. it automatically put people on the defensive.

Part of the reason these tactics work so well is the Dems fatal flaw, which is arrogance. Many of them do notice the tactics, but they have this idea that if they present good ideas and solid facts, that people will see through the repubs nonsense. We've seen it time and time that it doesn’t work that way (ask John Kerry about 2004). The evildoers press their nonsense non-stop, and Democratic politicians dismiss it while the repub lies metastasize in the general public (anybody remember birtherism?).

I’m not saying the Democrats should adopt or one of these tactics (though if they did use them effectively, I don't think I would cry about it), but Geez Louise, don't just let them get away with this crap.

My hope Is that actual Americans, be they elected officials, campaign higher-ups, or just working slobs like me, will start really paying attention and be aware of these tactics. I don't claim to have a silver bullet. Maybe it's just as simple is pointing out these tactics when they're being used.

One final note. far too many of us trying to talk sense into conservatives, repubs and like. and I hope to give actual Americans a few tools. but, those of you who have tried to reason with righties know all too well, it's a waste of time. My experience is that it's like talking to the snottiest 8th grader you’ve ever met. They always have some wise-ass answer.

On some occasions, I was able to find proof that what they were saying is full of crap. Usually, the response is something that in no way refutes what you had to say. Sometimes they'll just double down on whatever they're saying, or they'll just shut down. And on more than one occasion, it has devolved into name-calling and personal attacks. If you're going to waste your time trying to talk sense into a conservative, use good judgement. There's no point and getting into a fist fight or anything like that.

Here’s the good news: just letting them know that we're not buying their crap is enough to drive many of them ape shit. I firmly believe that a lot of the Trump supporters already know he's not going to make their lives better. The mad love is largely about giving the finger to liberals, gays, people of color, and any other kind of person you never saw on an episode of the Donna Reed Show. (which, by the way, we're not saying is bad; it's just the country actually is, shall we say, a little more colorful...) .

By letting them know that we see right through them, we're giving them the finger right back, but we're doing it the American way.