How was I being a puritan? I used language throughout that demonstrated I was speaking from my own experience and sharing my own understanding.

All language points at people’s real experiences and understanding. And how I define a word, such as excitement and happiness, affects my understanding of what is possible. I thought they were synonyms for many years, growing up in a consumer capitalist culture, it’s kinda what I was fed by advertising and my environment. Eventually, I learned to delineate them. And found, in my own experience, they’re not the same.

If you use different words and have a different understanding of your lived experience, more power to you.

Been meditating for years, and it took me a long time to realize that excitement is not happiness. But closer to what Buddhism calls restlessness and worry. And it tends to cycle with sloth and torpor in a pattern very similar to what we call bipolar.

Manic episodes, for me, are when the excitement keeps going without any rest. Exhaustion occurs. And delirium sets in.

I don’t find any of these states pleasurable (i.e. euphoric). Joy is what I equate closest to euphoria. An overflowing abundance of positive feelings shared with others. I imagine if we got worried or restless hanging onto that positive feeling, it could play a role in the cycle though.

Happiness is calm, restful. A lack of restlessness, anger, sloth and torpor, etc. Contentedness is a synonym for happy.

Anger/Desire, are, at base, aversion and attachment. If I’m attached to joy or angry at my depression, those are additional factors that keep us caught in the cycle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_hindrances

Money is a carrot on a stick. It’s not fulfillment.

We find lasting fulfillment and self-worth through our connections with each other. With your kid, with your co-workers. With other people in your life.

Try consciously putting your attention on the things that are actually fulfilling. Money doesn’t buy happiness. It does make life easier. But happiness is the time you spend with your kid, not the money you spend on him.

He’s addicted to ketamine. When that stops working, which it will, he’ll either OD or switch to stimulants like Trump and Hitler.

People with antisocial personality disorders tend to not like classical psychedelics as much as they let on. As it tends to be a humbling experience. Which is scary when you think the world revolves around you.

RFK Jr, who is likely to be our new head of health and human services, wants to ban it nationally.

They mostly ignored trans issues too aside from to punch back at Trump’s ads on sport networks.

And I say that as somebody that paid a lot of attention to those issues because I’m trans.

The Trump campaign spread hate speech about me and a ton of misinformation about my health care.

Should the Democrats have just said nothing?

The whole argument reminds me of gay men pretending like I don’t exist so they could advance their own rights, even though it was women like me that started the riots as Stonewall. Throwing trans comrades under the bus just like your post is doing.

Hate crimes went up 20% during Trump’s last term. Hate crime related murders were at a 28-year high.

Hate crimes went up 20% during Trump’s last term.

Hate crime related murder was at a 28 year high.

Stay safe comrades!

The FTC over the last two years has been going after corporations. But, anti-trust lawsuits take time. And I agree that they could have been more aggressive.

So, the issue wasn’t that the democrats weren’t doing anything and had no plans to do anything. It was that their messaging was shit. They should have directed more outrage at corporations and used fewer appeals to reason.

The rhetoric that works in a courtroom isn’t what wins elections, in other words.

Which is why I blame Biden for his pride and hubris. He should have stepped down, so a primary could have been run and the candidate, Harris or otherwise, had a better shot.

I’ve suspected this from before election night. And 100% wouldn’t be surprised.

And I’m hopeful an investigation lands Trump and Musk both in jail.

I get that. But the subjectivity is lack of political education and media bias.

In other words, it’s not subjective, really. It’s a misnomer that’s been spread through propaganda by both parties. And repeated ad nauseam by the media.

People need to understand that the democrats are centrists drifting right, in order to understand that there are other real options, like organizing, striking, and community action/mutual aid. Otherwise, everyone is going to sit on their hands for the next four years, praying that the democrats save them.

The only words I may have put in your mouth is democrats being the party of the underclass.

Which I pulled from context and may not have been your intention. But it’s certainly how Democrats market themselves while being status quo politicians.

The rest of my comment directly addresses your main point.

Losing didn’t reveal anything wrong with the DNC. The problem is with Americans.

Which boils down too. The DNC is fine. Americans are just brainwashed and don’t know what’s good for them!

But I get the impression you’re being dismissive anyway. Similar to your attitude towards working class voters.

They actually have been.

The issue was messaging. Harris made her campaign about fear of Trump. She should have used outrage towards those you just mentioned along with a solid plan of how to regulate that behavior.

Fear was what they used. They used fear of Trump. Fear of democracy ending, etc.

What she needed was outrage at those responsible. Corporations.

She should have been blaming those responsible, corporations. And outlining how she was going to go after them.

But that would have likely cost her campaign funds…

1 is bullshit.

We can organize. Get involved in our communities. Make sure we and our loved ones are as safe as possible if shit does hit the fan.

2 ignores the fact that this isn’t 2016. The judiciary is stacked this time around. And the SC has already given Trump immunity for a lot of the bullshit he says he plans to do.

You can hope for the best. I do. But I’m also preparing for the worst.

I’m not counting on the democrats to save me. You’re praying that things are okay when every indication out of Trump is the opposite.

Some times I’m not going to worry is just apathy in disguise. I think that’s the case here.

And I’m saying that’s propaganda.

The DNC isn’t the party of the underclass. They’re corporate goons who throw working class people a bone, so the status quo isn’t disrupted.

People are so sick of the status quo, they’ll vote for a narcissistic used car salesman like Trump instead.

The fact that the DNC can’t read the room, for the third cycle in a row, is absolutely a problem with the DNC and their messaging.

Harris appealed to reason with people who are frustrated and scared. She argued her position like a courtroom lawyer. Trump connected with people on an emotional level. Even if it was all lies and bullshit, he connected. She didn’t.

Additionally, Biden’s pride and hubris robbed Democratic voters of a primary. People are really sick of this kinda bullshit, and it didn’t get people excited to vote.

So they didn’t. Election turnout this year was worse than 2020 for the Democrats.

Absolutely an issue with the DNC and they don’t need you apologizing for them.

It’s not subjective. The U.S. left is why 40 hour work weeks and SSI exists.

We’ve just never been represented by the duopoly elite/land owners (by design) and instead have had to strike and agitate through those means rather than the ballot box.

In other words, the working class isn’t represented nationally and never has been outside a few radicals like Bernie and AOC.