NKC Newsletter

Art Friedson has graciously shared his posts with us before and now has allowed us to post another of his offerings. This is an important message, a positive one that stands guard against the phony claims of American carnage, attacks on our democracy, lies about late term abortions and the political dishonesty, hypocrisy and cowardice that assaults our senses and our democracy. You know: our everyday pestilence.

I promise you’re going to like this one.

What Art Friedson Has On His Mind

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Yes, I’m a cockeyed optimist. It’s my preferred defense for getting through life. Yes, I’m a highly partisan Democrat. I believe in my kishkes – Yiddish for ‘deep down in my gut’ – that the majority of the American people know in their kishkes that TFG is only in it for himself and is not guided by the interests of America or Americans. I just refuse to accept that the majority of the voters in the United States believe that we are a desolate, broken, shambles of a country as TFG would have us think. To the contrary, I absolutely believe most Americans have faith in the promise of America.

I do have some support for my gut feelings. A recent AP/NORC poll shows that 54% of Americans believe that Trump’s actions after the 2020 election did more to threaten democracy than defend it, and only 19% of Americans feel the opposite was true. They know that a second term would be worse – far worse – than his first term.

Then there’s momentum. Dems hugely outperformed in the 2022 midterm elections despite a constant drumbeat in the media of a red wave that was nearly universally expected but did not materialize. In the 38 special elections held since then, Democrats outperformed by an average of 10 percentage points. Not to mention the spectacular failure of anti-abortion ballot referendums in red states like Ohio, Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana.

Next, there’s demographics. We know that Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, form a powerful part of the Republican coalition. They’re so powerful, of course, that they force the R’s into taking anti-abortion positions that are wildly out of line with even much of the R’s natural base. But as Pew Research reports, Christians (of all types) account for 64% of American voters, down from nearly 80% in 2002. In the opposite direction, voters who identify as religiously unaffiliated (AKA ‘the nones’) has risen from 15% to almost 30% during the same period. Even if the proportion of Christians who are evangelical is constant (which it’s not; it’s falling), the number of unaffiliated (and likely pro-choice) Christians is rising dramatically. More D’s, fewer R’s.

President Biden looking pretty darn good during a grueling trip to Ukraine (Photo Credit: Daniel Berehulak/NYTimes)

Finally, there’s Generation Z. Each year, 4 million American citizens turn 18 and become eligible to vote. At the same time, 2.5 million older Americans die. Younger voters overwhelmingly support Democrats. You do the math. But, you say, will they show up to vote? When the issues matter, they do show up. In the Kansas abortion referendum, 41% of women under 30 turned out. In Michigan midterms, the youth turnout was 49% and 69% of them were pro-choice!

At the end of the day, there are more of us than there are of them. This is true in raw numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans, and it’s even more true since the abortion debate has driven a disproportionate number of independents to vote for Democrats.

Everybody complains about Joe Biden, but as Nicholas Grossman writes in The Bulwark, Americans fully embrace the Biden agenda. Grossman (but nobody else on Earth) calls them Bidenists. Here’s a partial list of what Bidenists support:

Bidenists like a president who shows empathy.

Bidenists really believe in the American idea. All people are created equal, We The People, a more perfect union, equality under the law, leader of the free world, and the arc of moral justice aren’t just slogans, they are part and parcel of who we are as Americans, and as such, we need to defend democracy when it is threatened, as it is now.

Bidenists believe in minority rights but majority rule.

Bidenists include the legions of public servants who faithfully abide by the Constitution and believe all of our elected officials should do so as well.

Bidenists believe that all U.S. citizens are real Americans no matter where they or their parents were born.

Bidenists believe strongly in abortion rights.

Bidenists support Ukraine in its fight against Russian hegemony.

Bidenists don’t support outrageous manipulations of the voting system like the gerrymandering in Wisconsin. And they just don’t care about Hunter Biden who is not an elected official and whose actions, whatever they have been, have not involved his father.

When you put it that way, it’s really hard to see a scenario where Biden doesn’t win in 2024. At the end of the day, Joe Biden’s favorite adage – Don’t judge me against the Almighty, judge me against the alternative – will be what voters will be saying as they cast their ballots.

But wins don’t happen by themselves (see also: Clinton, Hillary). It’s up to each of us to do everything we can to turn my optimism into reality, thereby saving our nation from its greatest threat in generations. We can do this. I’m sure.

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Art Friedson is a regular contributor on Nancy Kohn’s NKC Newsletter. You can subscribe here.

Today is a good day to be the light

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What Art Friedson Has On His Mind

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Today is a good day to be the light

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