The Intercept - The Democratic Party Must Harness the Legitimate Rage of Americans

[Blasphemer]

52. This doesn't resonate for me...

And, though I could be wrong, it's now how I'm reading the 2020 U.S. electorate as a whole. There is definitely anger out there but I think there is much less of it than some assume. Those who are angry are louder, but I think there is a silent majority who is looking for something very different. I count myself in this group. I've been part of the angry contingent in the past (Bush II years) and I look back on that time as one of wasted psychic energy. I don't think it's a coincidence that I turned my life around and went through a major personal transformation during the Obama years. When I read Michelle Obama's book, I realized that I never fully appreciated just what she and President Obama did in terms of trying to lift us beyond righteous, blinding anger and toward a renaissance of civic participation that allows us to be spirited and passionate but not lose our souls in the process. I don't think people want anger. I think they want to get back what we've lost (and, at least some recognize that it was lost well before Trump). I think the COVID-19 crisis will amplify this urge as people witness what happens when anger (in the form of Trump) faces collective crisis and tragedy. In the face of tremendous uncertainty, I think the yearning is for something more hopeful.