Get ready to shift how you think about congress. (quick thread bc Zeke’s asleep)...

For 10 years, it was a safe bet that congress would accomplish nothing. Congress was defined by dysfunction, gridlock, or outright white plutocracy under Trump.

But there’s a Dem trifecta for the first time in a decade now, so it's time to make new bets- and make them fast.
Usually congress moves slowly or not at all. Historically though, when a Dem trifecta comes, there is a brief window of opportunity - usually measured in months, not years - where legislative progress suddenly speeds up.

A quick trip through the last 100 years of this:
Wilson takes office with his Democratic trifecta in early 1913, and by the end of the year we get a progressive federal income tax and the creation of the Federal Reserve.
FDR takes office with his Democratic trifecta in early 1933, and that year we get the Public Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, banking reform, and massive economic recovery legislation.
LBJ starts his full term with his Democratic trifecta in 1965, and that year we get the Voting Rights Act, creation of Medicare and Medicaid, creation of the Dept of Housing and Urban Development, and federal support for education.
Obama takes office in 2009, and we get the stimulus, banking reform, national service legislation, and the Affordable Care Act within about a year.
Not to say the Biden trifecta success is inevitable. Carter & Clinton won trifectas but failed to translate them into generation-defining legislative reforms. Still, Carter got the Clean Water Act & anti-redlining in his first year, & Clinton got FMLA, gun reform, & NAFTA (...).
So things COULD start to move fast. And those things could be BIG. To help make this happen, Indivisible just published our new guide on how to take advantage of this Dem trifecta: https://t.co/IFJDGfYoHH
You made it to the end! And look at that, Z's still asleep (he sleeps with his hands up like that). /end

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This is partly what makes it impossible to have a constructive conversation nowadays. The stubborn refusal to accept that opposition to Trumpism and GOP nationalism is about more than simply holding different beliefs about things in and of itself. 👇


It's fine for people to hold different beliefs. But that doesn't mean all beliefs deserve equal treatment or tolerance and it doesn't mean intolerance of some beliefs makes a person intolerant of every belief which they don't share.

So if I said I don't think Trumpism deserves to be tolerated because it's just a fresh 21st century coat of cheap paint on a failed, dangerous 20th century ideology (fascism) that doesn't mean I'm intolerant of all beliefs with which I disagree. You'd think this would be obvious.

Another important facet. People who support fascist movements tend to give what they think are valid reasons for supporting them. That doesn't mean anyone is obliged to tolerate fascism or accept their proffered excuse.


Say you joined a neighborhood group that sets up community gardens and does roadside beautification projects. All good, right? Say one day you're having a meeting and you notice the President and exec board of this group are saying some bizarre things about certain neighbors.

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Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


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