There's this idea that 'people only wanna vote "blue" to get back to the status quo/centrism' that is both incorrect and actively harmful to any kind of social momentum, and it has to be acknowledged to get any work done.
The people out here doing the work are doing it for the revolution of it -- to change society, to change the world one neighborhood at a time, by feeding and housing and helping and growing and mediating and educating and caregiving and everything else. They want BETTER, not SAME, and they're usually too busy *doing that work* to spend much time arguing in defense of it online. So here's an attempt:
The absolute shortest path out of this whole fucking thing (barring outright direct violent chaotic Revolution™ which would have casualties on all sides, and while I'm not making any declarations whether anyone should or shouldn't I just think those calls should only come from those actually both willing and able to pick up the pitchforks themselves) is as follows:
1) Blue-Wave midterm, NOT DNC-picked but the rare Mamdanis found in virtually every community, the charismatic progressive natural community leaders and organizers. we find and support them and get them into offices across the board at all possible levels.
2) Take over the DNC from the inside out. Evict the fuckers. It's just a fucking tent, take it back, tf. Literally none of the other color buttons are attached to anything, those wires BEEN disconnected ON PURPOSE. Hitting those buttons over and over and over and then getting mad they don't work is just embarrassing for all of us pls stop (spoiler: we're gonna connect the extra buttons, keep reading)
3) ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE and ENACT RANKED CHOICE VOTING. It's an unnecessary middle step which "mostly" votes based on the popular vote (and one of the primary mechanisms enforcing the hard-coded duopoly of Red/Blue Buttons!!). RCV is one of the fairest democratic systems humans have designed, only possible on large scales with modern tech we definitely have.
4) REMOVE THE CAP ON THE HOUSE OF REPS/Adopt the "Wyoming Rule": the smallest state pop is set as the district size, and so representation is actually truly proportional and equal, rather than capping it at an arbitrary flat number that we've already long outgrown. (Another mechanism!!)
5) BLUE/"TEAL"/WHATEVER-WAVE FED TERM 2028: Having worked hard at and succeeded at the prior steps, this should be the secondary wave of "new blood" for the Democrat tent, where we promote the reps that did well 26-28 and continue replacing the ones that didn't <- THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART, we have to CONTINUE engaging and HOLDING REPS ACCOUNTABLE, and we have to KEEP DOING THAT every TWO (2) YEARS including hyperlocal elections in between!! It is WORK!!
6) NUREMBOURG TRIALS PART 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: this is self-explanatory, but requires strong "blue" power to ever happen at all
7) REVERSALS: Some emergency-level band-aids for some of the most important pieces recently lost that will immediately save lives, like funding USAID et al <-- THIS is the damage reduction part, NOT a return to status quo BUT a flood-barrier to prevent the worst harm affecting the most desperate communities both here and worldwide
8) The Real Big One: WE NEED A NEW, MODERN CONSTITUTION. We have outgrown the old, we have MUCH to fix and much struggle to honor, and much to rebuild. *Some* of it -- like social safety nets and aid programs and interpersonal protections and liberties -- is worth keeping/tweaking. Not all of it *must* be burned down bc the rote concepts of things like Welfare is not the root problem, but the various systems we've been using ARE.
9) The Next Huge One: Massive, widespread infrastructural reconstruction -- not reform, not full start-from-scratch revolution, but a secret third thing where we reuse/replace the bones as needed and just build it better. Pro-environment, pro-equity, pro-justice, pro-people, pro-worker, pro-education, pro-science, etc etc. Ship Revolution of Theseus
10) THE GOAL: 2030/32 Our first truly free and fair directly democratic election(s), where ANY political party is fair game and where if your fave doesn't win you still might get your 2nd/3rd choice, where we have healthy political competition AND representation, etc etc. THE EXTRA-COLOR BUTTONS ARE CONNECTED NOW, HAVE AT IT
11) THE PROOF: All these prior steps make possible the things we've been demanding for years, from universal healthcare to UBI. These policies are POPULAR but the system is RIGGED; a top-down solution not only won't work but has *already failed several times in a row*. And we know this method actually works because it's the exact method the Tea Party took to evolve to the current MAGA; within two years they had seats in Congress and began evangelizing. It's DOABLE and BEEN DONE and there is ZERO reason we can't do it too if we just fucking TRY. TOGETHER. THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORKING CLASS, INCLUDING THE ONES YOU PERSONALLY CONSIDER SINNERS AND MONSTERS.
None of this easily fits in a witty little punchline and it's harder to strawman and requires some reading comprehension and historical sociopolitical literacy, so it's a difficult social conversation to have at all.
But it has to be done, it's the literal first step to anything good.
