Love this. Never stop with this whole refrain. By the way, I don't know why your common sense here made me think of it--but it also reminds me of the challenge parents are having getting their kids to love reading.
This argument:
A friend recently told me that her child’s middle-school teacher had introduced To Kill a Mockingbird to the class, explaining that they would read it over a number of months—and might not have time to finish it. “How can they not get to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird?” she wondered. I’m right there with her. You can’t teach kids to love reading if you don’t even prioritize making it to a book’s end. The reward comes from the emotional payoff of the story’s climax; kids miss out on this essential feeling if they don’t reach Atticus Finch’s powerful defense of Tom Robinson in the courtroom or never get to solve the mystery of Boo Radley.
Young people should experience the intrinsic pleasure of taking a narrative journey, making an emotional connection with a character (including ones different from themselves), and wondering what will happen next—then finding out. This is the spell that reading casts. And, like with any magician’s trick, picking a story apart and learning how it’s done before you have experienced its wonder risks destroying the magic.
- Katherine Marsh is an Edgar Award–winning author of novels for young readers, most recently The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine, and a former managing editor of The New Republic.
Democratic values are the same as they’ve always been. Social safety nets, Civil rights, national security, fair economic policies that benefit all, not just some. Why are those toxic? They aren’t.
But aren’t some state Democratic organizations being a lot more effective at winning votes and passing legislation? I’m from near Chicago so I read more about the Midwest. MN recently won a trifecta and passed lots of progressive legislation. WI Democrats keep pulling themselves out of redistricting hell by winning state Supreme Court & Governor races. MI recently won a trifecta. Beshear’s success with Republican voters may not be completely repeatable if you’re not the son of a Republican governor, but there’s probably a lot to learn there.
Even Republican controlled Missouri passed ballot measures on the minimum wage and union rights suggesting they know something about messaging to voters who chose Republican candidates.
BUT one has to account for the VERY bad case of Fox poisoning among members of the public. So many potential voters never hear whatever the Democrats are saying. All the polls before the 2024 election said that people preferred Democratic policies to Republican ones if they were presented without party labels. But ... if Democrats are automatically devils, then the labels will kill them.
ALSO the mainstream media LOVE Trump's excitement and craziness, so don't report the boring policies of the other side - not to mention the sane washing so Trump's increasing dementia and incoherence are papered over. And not to mention the grotesque double standard where people are shocked if a Democrat does something that Trump gets a pass on because it's just Trump being Trump.
These challenges have nothing to do with whether the Democrats are marketing or politicking.
I am looking for leaders in Democratic ranks--wherever they are and even if they don't hold office--that can face the public every day and raise the issues that the Republican wrecking crew-has done that has affected your life, my life and the life of the community. Find these people that we all like to listen to and get them out there! Every day. Perhaps start with Mayor Pete B. Not sure if I am saying this correctly, but a team of good communicators needs to get out there. How do we get this going?
Love this. Never stop with this whole refrain. By the way, I don't know why your common sense here made me think of it--but it also reminds me of the challenge parents are having getting their kids to love reading.
This argument:
A friend recently told me that her child’s middle-school teacher had introduced To Kill a Mockingbird to the class, explaining that they would read it over a number of months—and might not have time to finish it. “How can they not get to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird?” she wondered. I’m right there with her. You can’t teach kids to love reading if you don’t even prioritize making it to a book’s end. The reward comes from the emotional payoff of the story’s climax; kids miss out on this essential feeling if they don’t reach Atticus Finch’s powerful defense of Tom Robinson in the courtroom or never get to solve the mystery of Boo Radley.
Young people should experience the intrinsic pleasure of taking a narrative journey, making an emotional connection with a character (including ones different from themselves), and wondering what will happen next—then finding out. This is the spell that reading casts. And, like with any magician’s trick, picking a story apart and learning how it’s done before you have experienced its wonder risks destroying the magic.
- Katherine Marsh is an Edgar Award–winning author of novels for young readers, most recently The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine, and a former managing editor of The New Republic.
We need to connect before we even discuss policy.
Democratic values are the same as they’ve always been. Social safety nets, Civil rights, national security, fair economic policies that benefit all, not just some. Why are those toxic? They aren’t.
There’s a lot of truth to your piece.
But aren’t some state Democratic organizations being a lot more effective at winning votes and passing legislation? I’m from near Chicago so I read more about the Midwest. MN recently won a trifecta and passed lots of progressive legislation. WI Democrats keep pulling themselves out of redistricting hell by winning state Supreme Court & Governor races. MI recently won a trifecta. Beshear’s success with Republican voters may not be completely repeatable if you’re not the son of a Republican governor, but there’s probably a lot to learn there.
Even Republican controlled Missouri passed ballot measures on the minimum wage and union rights suggesting they know something about messaging to voters who chose Republican candidates.
BUT one has to account for the VERY bad case of Fox poisoning among members of the public. So many potential voters never hear whatever the Democrats are saying. All the polls before the 2024 election said that people preferred Democratic policies to Republican ones if they were presented without party labels. But ... if Democrats are automatically devils, then the labels will kill them.
ALSO the mainstream media LOVE Trump's excitement and craziness, so don't report the boring policies of the other side - not to mention the sane washing so Trump's increasing dementia and incoherence are papered over. And not to mention the grotesque double standard where people are shocked if a Democrat does something that Trump gets a pass on because it's just Trump being Trump.
These challenges have nothing to do with whether the Democrats are marketing or politicking.
They don't. They're also not a good enough excuse for Democrats sitting out elections.
I am looking for leaders in Democratic ranks--wherever they are and even if they don't hold office--that can face the public every day and raise the issues that the Republican wrecking crew-has done that has affected your life, my life and the life of the community. Find these people that we all like to listen to and get them out there! Every day. Perhaps start with Mayor Pete B. Not sure if I am saying this correctly, but a team of good communicators needs to get out there. How do we get this going?
Got it. Would you point out good examples?
What are your