Suppose someone in that era became def and blind as an infant/toddler. Do you suppose they'd ever be able to learn to communicate?

I'd love to hear someone who thinks Helen Keller wasn't real describe what they think the late 1800s was like.

Falling down and landing head head first is lethal at any age. Ladders don't even have to be a part of it, normal standing height can sometimes be enough. It happens more to older adults because they don't have the speed or mobility to break their own fall, but it can kill a youngster too if they're not careful.

I'm making a cause and effect argument here. If Democrats don't feel pressure, if they feel like all they need to stay in power is wait for Republicans to fuck up enough that the pendulum tips the other way and they win by default, then they don't really need to deliver anything to voters.

And historically, they haven't. It's how we got Trump. And Bush before him. And Regan. Nixon. This is a long story in US politics, and I don't really expect the script to change in the foreseeable future. So yeah I'm gonna complain about the constant right-ward shift. If that makes me sound like a Republican to you, then whatever. So be it.

[Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, by Hunter S Thompson] That's the real issue this time," he said. "Beating Nixon. It's hard to even guess how much damage those bastards will do if they get in for another four years."

The argument was familiar, I had even made it myself, here and there, but I was beginning to sense something very depressing about it. How many more of these goddamn elections are we going to have to write off as lame, but "regrettably necessary" holding actions? And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?

Now with another one of these big bogus showdowns looming down on us, I can already pick up the stench of another bummer. I understand, along with a lot of other people, that the big thing this year is Beating Nixon. But that was also the big thing, as I recall, twelve years ago in 1960 – and as far as I can tell, we've gone from bad to worse to rotten since then, and the outlook is for more of the same.

The DNC doesn't sign my paycheck, I don't work for them. Expecting the general electorate to talk and post about politics like they're DNC employees following a style guide is frankly crazy. They're supposed to try and represent us, not the other way around.

B. this is because of Galilean relativity i think maybe

ampersands are still everywhere, what do you mean?

TUNIC

Voicing criticisms after the candidates have been chosen, but before the general election? Absolutely moronic, the last thing you want to do. It accomplishes nothing except increase the possibility that the worst candidate wins. Totally garbage, toddler-brain decision.

What if the criticism is "you're running a bad campaign and going to lose the election because of it"? I really don't think going easy on our representatives is helping them. A healthy party should be capable of digesting criticism at any point in time, not just in pristine conditions.

Buddy, we're the inheritors of the British Empire. We all deserve Trump.

Tone and perspective can make two statements that look different but essentially say the same thing. "Fall in line" or "stop complaining until after midterms".

Here's a third: "Only voice criticisms when its most convenient for the institution you're criticizing."

"Suck it up and fall in line" seems like sound advice in the spaces that closely follow US politics. Except most americans don't, even now. Most americans want to feel like they're voting for something, not against this or that figure. Kinda the big lesson of the last decades of politics. Keep up this rhetoric, and it's gonna depress turnout more than it helps.