THE REPUBLICAN MARCH TOWARD EXTINCTION

2045 will be a landmark year, because if current population trends continue, that will most likely be the year the United States becomes a majority-minority country. To spell that out, if you are on the planet in 2045 and you happen to be a non-Hispanic white American, you will no longer be in the majority.

And just to rub it in for those who proudly wear a MAGA cap and for whom tear gas at the border brings tears of joy, 2015 marked the year that racial-ethnic minority babies in the U.S. officially outnumbered white babies.

Donald Trump can stop a caravan, but he can’t stop reality. Of course, he can lie about reality, which is just fine for the roughly one-third of our fellow citizens who have taken up residence in Donald Trump’s alternative universe.

The MAGA in your life will tell you that immigrants, which in this case does not mean Norwegians who have overstayed their visas, but rather those dangerous brown people from poop-hole countries, who come here specifically to bring crime and disease, are the number one problem facing each and every one of us.

I know a few of you who have placed your faith in Donald Trump. I know many more of you through your posts and comments on social media. I hear your anger.

You happen to live in one of the many cities, towns, or neighborhoods across the country that has already shifted from white majority to white minority, leaving you surrounded by others, who speak English with odd accents, or speak languages that are not American, or attend services of a dangerous religion, and these non-white invaders now live in homes where the friends from your childhood once lived. I get it. I do.

You used to ask yourself: How did this happen?

Now you tell yourself and anyone who will listen: This country is being taken from us!

So, when Donald J. Trump arrived on the presidential scene, after he had already convinced you that the first Black President was actually born in Kenya, thereby making him an illegitimate POTUS, there was no question about it. Trump was your candidate.

And when he came back to you in 2016 and told you to support his war to save the real America, you absolutely had go to the polls, and you absolutely had to vote against every open border, soft on crime, caravan loving Democrat on the ballot.

You answered the call. Of course you did! You voted Republican.

As the exit polls told us, 75% of Republicans believed that the number one issue facing the country was Immigration.  Fox News told them that the caravan of invaders was within striking distance. There were Middle Easterners and tough hombres hiding amongst the innocent looking families and they were carrying diseases like small pox. Troops had been sent. Barbed wire was being strung. Tear gas had been fired. This was a national emergency!

But angry Hillary-loving, Trump-hating Democrats just didn’t get it. 75% of them believed that Health Care was the most serious issue facing the country.

Propaganda won Republicans, but would it win the midterms?

Democrats won back the U.S House of Representatives with a 40 seat advantage, flipped 7 governorships, 6 state legislative chambers, and over 300 House and Senate seats.

Not only did Donald Trump’s phony caravan politics lose the midterm elections by a landslide, but it may well have lost the future for what has become a party of cowardice, hypocrisy, and unconscionable opportunism.

How is the party of Old White Men, currently owned and operated by Trump, going to survive until 2045 when the midterm exit polls tell us that 76% of non-Hispanic white voters voted Democratic and only 22% voted Republican?

How is the party selling fear of the future going to stay in business when their most important potential customers – young voters – are not buying the necessity of putting children in cages?

67% of voters age 18 to 29 (aka: the future) voted Democratic while 32% voted Republican. And, if we add early-middle agers to that group, we see that voters age 18 to 44 broke for Democrats 61% to 36%.

Donald Trump was never really a Republican. He was just a loud mouth celebrity, who mainlined notoriety. Even he was probably shocked at how easily the Grand Old Party turned over the keys to the car. With their permission, he has taken the nation on a terrifying joy ride.

  

However it ends, they are as guilty as he is, and they should never be forgiven. Just going out of business is not punishment enough.

Until it ends, I will continue to survive Trump two minutes at a time.

THE MIDTERMS: DID HEALTH CARE ANXIETY TRUMP CARAVAN CRAZINESS?

The 2018 midterm elections are now history (except for results yet to come in), and the exit polls tell quite a story.

Actually, they tell many stories, so you may want to examine the results for yourself and pick the ones that mean the most to you. I will tell you what resonates most with me.

Voters were asked: What is the most important issue facing the country?

For months, the opinion polls had been telling us that the answer would be Health Care. And it was.

41% of voters answered: Health Care, making that the number one issue, by a wide margin. Democratic candidates had already figured that out from hearing the fear and rage coming from those lost in the cracks of a badly broken system.

In the United States of America, 62% of bankruptcy filings are due to medical bills. Health Care anxiety has become a middle class disease. Quite simply, you might have to lose your house to pay for your child’s cancer treatment.

Meanwhile, Republicans have worked tirelessly to repeal Obamacare, shrink Medicaid, undermine the health exchanges, and return to insurance companies the right to discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of non-elderly Americans with some kind of pre-existing condition may total 130 million. That number alone just might translate to an awful lot of high anxiety health care voters.

As the midterms grew closer, Republican candidates realized that they would likely pay a steep price by being on the losing side of this issue. So they shrewdly put together a two-pronged strategy to save the House, increase their numbers in the Senate, and save their governorships.

First, they would proudly present themselves as the true champions of Health Care, especially when it came to protecting pre-existing conditions. Not hard to do! It just required using alternative facts in the context of an alternative Trump-Fox News reality.

The second prong of the midterm strategy would be to go full-Trump and scare voters into believing that nothing would endanger life and liberty more than lax border control, and for that, the caravan presented them with the opportunity of a lifetime.

Without stopping the caravan at the border, MS-13, ISIS, a loose collection of bad hombres, and of course people carrying diseases, including smallpox, would be spreading through America, raping, murdering, dropping babies, collecting benefits, and illegally voting Democratic.

So, did the Republican strategy work?

On some level, did genuine Health Care anxiety trump manufactured caravan craziness?

Well, of the 41% of voters who told exit pollsters that Health Care was their number one issue, 75% were Democrats and 23% were Republicans.

And, would you care to guess which issue finished second to Health Care, as the most important issue facing the country? 23% of voters answered: Immigration.

That party breakdown was the exact opposite of the Health Care answer. 75% were Republicans and 23% were Democrats. Of course, for some of those “Immigration” Democrats, the threat of deporting a family member would likely outweigh even severe Health Care anxiety.

I guess you could say that the Republican strategy worked on Republican voters.

Republicans made a good short term bet, but a bad long term bet when they first vowed to repeal and replace “every word of Obamacare.” Remember when Ted Cruz was willing to shut down the government to stop Obamacare from becoming law?

He warned his Tea Party friends that by getting subsidized health insurance, Americans would become “addicted to the sugar.” But that was back in 2013, when Ted had job security. He had no idea that one day he would get battered by a guy named Beto, running around deep red Texas, championing health care for all.

Texas will never be the same, and neither will Ted.

Besides electing leaders and policies, elections tell us a lot about who we are as a nation. Sometimes those answers are perplexing, but sometimes they are loud and clear.

The 2018 midterms delivered a big blue wave, but they also provided some answers as to what we have become in the last two years. 

The exit polls have a lot more to tell us, but I am at the end of my two minutes.

THE BRILLIANCE OF BETO IS BEAUTIFULLY BASIC

Though I am an eternal optimist, not just on this blog, but in everyday life, I confess that the past weeks of Trump-inspired domestic terrorism, and sad aftermath, left me needing a strong pick-me-up.

So I reached for my laptop and took a strong dose of Beto O’Rourke.

Warning! First-time watchers of Beto rallies have reported experiencing a sudden jolt of Beto-mania. It is powerful stuff.

I start watching the video. Beto takes the stage like a rock star. The Charisma Kid needs no warm-up. He is at full gallop, and so is the audience. They are with him, stride for stride, standing, cheering, and screaming. Halfway through, I go back to the beginning of the video and start transcribing. I want to be able to see the naked words.

Hello San Antonio, how are you? 

(THUNDEROUS CHEERS) 

I feel the same way. I feel a lot better than I sound or than I look at this moment. In fact, I feel like you sound right now. I’m pumped up. I’m thrilled. I’m excited. I’ve got more energy, though I’ve had less sleep than at any other time in my life, because you all are making something absolutely extraordinary happen right now.

Now we learned that here in San Antonio, in Bexar County, yesterday, we surpassed the midterm first time early voting totals for all time here. And then, today we beat yesterday’s numbers in San Antonio.

So, with your help, tomorrow, if you want to help beat today’s numbers, yeah! We’re counting on each other at this time. It’s all of us in this together, meeting the urgency of this moment with the power and joy of people -- no PACS, no special interests, no corporations, all people, every day, in every single county, in the state of Texas.

BETO SPEAKS TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THOSE WHO OPPOSE HIS POSITIONS. THE RESPECT AND HUMILITY HE SHOWS TO THE OPPOSITION CAN BE SERIOUSLY DISARMING.

Listen, not only are we running this the right way, going to every one of the 254 counties of Texas, working for, listening to, seeking to understand, represent, fight for and serve all of us, regardless of your party affiliation. If you’re a Republican and you’re here, you’re in the right place. If you’re a Democrat and you’re here, you’re in the right place too.

Everyone welcome! The small differences – party, geography, who you love, who you pray to, how many generations you can count yourself an American, or whether you just got here this morning – all that matters is that we are all here together. Am I right?

TEXAS IS SUCH A HEALTH CARE MESS THAT THERE IS NO PLACE TO GO BUT UP. SO, BETO ASKS: WHO BETTER THAN TEXAS TO LEAD THE WAY ON GUARANTEED HEALTH CARE FOR ALL?

We’re going to do this for everyone. And we’re not only going to run it in the right way, we’re going to win this in the right way, so that we set ourselves up to deliver on the very high expectations that we have set for and by one another, like this, going from the least insured state in the United States of America where the number one provider of mental health care services is the county jail system, where people with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder get arrested on purpose, to get locked up so they get taken care of – fed, clothed, prescribed the psychotropic medications that they literally need to stay alive.

A state that sees us lose people to diabetes and the flu, though we are the wealthiest, most powerful country on the face of the planet. We understand the consequences of failing to be there by and for one another perhaps better than any other people in any other state and that is why we are going to lead the way on guaranteed high quality universal health care for every child, every woman, every man, in every single way -- primary health care, specialty health care, mental health care.

IN TEXAS, WOMENS’ HEALTH IS STUCK IN THE DARK AGES.

And for a state that is at the epicenter for a maternal mortality crisis, three times as deadly for women of color, a state that has shut down so many of its family planning clinics, we’ve made it too hard for too many to get that cervical cancer provider that family planning  provides, to see a provider of any kind that we’re losing them here faster than perhaps any place in the developing world.

We also say that universal health care means that every woman makes her own decisions about her own body and has access to the health care that insures that she can.

IN THIS DEEP RED BORDER STATE, BETO GOES BEYOND DEFENDING IMMIGRATION. HE CHAMPIONS IMMIGRATION.

This state, this beautiful, bold and ambitious state, defined in part by the immigrants who have chosen us, those who have left their homes, their families, sometimes their comfort, their language, their culture to start anew as strangers here, in a strange land, trying to do better here for themselves, their families, but also doing better for this country that they were called to and inspired by, their very presence making us stronger and safer and more successful, and yes, more secure.

BETO MAKES IT CLEAR. FAMILY SEPARATION IS A HUMAN TRAGEDY AND A MORAL CRIME. TEXANS MUST DEMAND AN END TO IT.

Those of us in this defining border state who bore witness to kids who, if they were lucky, arrived here with their parents, fleeing some of the deadliest places on the planet, bar none, what would it take for you to travel two thousand miles, spend three weeks on the road with your baby girl, your infant child to try to come here, this land of refugees and asylum seekers and immigrants and instead of finding asylum, or refuge, or safety, you encountered your worst nightmare -- that kid literally taken from you at your most vulnerable and desperate moment, torn from your arms, prosecuted like a common criminal for doing what any human being would do in the same situation.

That child today might be in a foster care home in Michigan or Ohio, or God only knows where. That mom, back in El Salvador, not knowing when, or even if she will see that child, for whom she risked her life. This state, we all together, regardless of party can rise up and insist that never again can another child be taken from a parent coming to this country, and we will reunite all those kids right now, get them back with their families.

WHO ARE THE DREAMERS? THE DREAMERS ARE US.

And we take the next step, defining ourselves, not by what we are against, but what we are for, rewriting our immigration laws in our own image, defined by our experiences, what we know to be true, our values and our interests, beginning with freeing every dreamer from any fear of deportation by making them U.S citizens here in their home country.

DAMN IT TEXAS, START RESPECTING YOUR TEACHERS!

For those school teachers and public educators here, out in the community, many of them, too many of them, nearly half of them working a second or a third job just to make ends meet because they do not earn enough teaching our kids in that classroom. I want to make sure that we’ve got those teachers’ backs, that we pay them a living wage so that they just have one job, the most important job, connecting with that child, unlocking that lifelong love of learning and not being forced to teach to a high stakes, high pressure test that in no meaningful way measures that teacher’s performance or that child’s potential.

THE WAR ON DRUGS HAS BACKFIRED, ESPECIALLY ON THE YOUNG, MINORITIES, AND VETERANS.

We can lead in this state on the issue of criminal justice reform, acknowledge that a war on drugs has become a war on people. We can end the prohibition on marijuana and we can expunge the arrest record of everyone arrested for a substance that is legal or decriminalized or medicinalized in most of the rest of the country. Make sure that not another veteran has to be an outlaw in the eyes of the law for wanting to take medicinal cannabis instead of an opioid, make sure that not another young person, and if we’re honest with ourselves about who we are locking up right now, not another young person of color is behind bars for something that’s perfectly legal in most of the country. Not another young person, when released, will have to check a box on an employment application form, saying that they have a conviction, meaning that they will not get that job. Not another young person denied a Pell Grant because of one decision that they made in their lives, freeing everyone to live to their full potential to be who they’re supposed to be, to contribute to their maximum capacity. I know that we can lead on this.

TEXAS IS TERRIBLE ON CIVIL RIGHTS, SO WHO BETTER THAN TEXAS TO LEAD THE NATION ON CIVIL RIGHTS? BETO SEES FAILURE AS OPPORTUNITY. ALWAYS!

You give me the challenge. We are up to it. In a state that has seriously debated that proposition that we are going to try to scare parents, freak you out about transgender kids coming into your child’s bathroom, though we know that transgender kids are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrator of an attack in any schools. This state where it is perfectly legal, although not in my measure, not at all okay to fire someone based on their sexual orientation, in a state where there are thirty thousand kids in the foster care system because they needed a loving home but in this state apparently, you can be too gay to be able to adopt one of those kids right now.

What if that was the same state through this election that decided that we would stand up for every single one of us and the full civil rights of every single American, regardless of their differences? We can do that as well.

BEING HIT REALLY HARD BY CLIMATE CHANGE HAS PREPARED TEXAS TO LEAD THE NATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. A MORAL OBLIGATION.

Climate change, we got you on that one. No one understands the shift better than the people of Texas. We’ve lived it. We’ve experienced it. We know the clock is ticking and we have precious little time to get it right and damn the next election or polls. I’m talking about the next generation and every generation to follow. They’re counting us, the people of 2018, sending this message to the people of the future, our kids, our grandkids, the generations yet to come. They want to know that while we still have a chance to get this right, that we did this, that every tough political decision that we decided that we would come together, that we would transcend the pettiness, the partisanship, the bitterness, the smallness of this moment and offer our courage, our strength, our big bold beautiful heart that could only come from the state of Texas.

And what you have shown just over the first two days of early voting, is that the hope we feel, that you have given me, the inspiration that you have provided, the investment that you made into this campaign and into the future of this country, you have turned it into action by voting at the early voting locations.

BETO WANTS EVERY LAST OUNCE OF YOU. HE CAN ASK FOR THAT BECAUSE HE IS GIVING EVERY LAST OUNCE OF HIMSELF.

And let me tell you this: if like me, you want to make sure that you have done everything that you can, spared no expense or effort to make sure that you deliver at this defining moment of truth, when we decide this on the sixth of November, you do not want to wake up on the seventh, wondering what more you could have done, given the stakes, given everything that is on the line for this country.

Please make sure that your conscience is clear that you have done everything, knocked on every door, made every phone call, reached out to every friend and family member, classmate and colleague and invited them into the election of our lifetime. If you’re like me, on the seventh of November, the day after this is decided, you want to wake up with a glorious hangover, celebrating the victory of our lifetimes for this state, for this country, for this generation, for every generation that follows.

Are you with me?

Are you with me?

I am with YOU, San Antonio!

(The crowd screams BETO! BETO! BETO!)

WILL GILLUM KILL 'EM WITH COURAGE, COMPASSION, AND COMMON SENSE?

If there is one single contest on November 6 (with the possible exception of the Texas Senate race) that might restore our faith in the heart, soul, and brains of the American electorate it could be the Florida governor’s race.

Florida primary voters could not have made this contest any more dramatic if they had all gotten together and hired a Hollywood script writer.

The Republican, Ron DeSantis made it clear that if you are a Florida voter and you are energized by “Build that wall!” and “Lock her up!” rallying cries, you have found your man. Anyone looking for daylight between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump was wasting their time.

And just to put the icing on the cake, he made it clear that his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum is a danger to the people of Florida. If (God forbid!) he ever got elected governor, he would likely “monkey this up.”

He said he was not being racially offensive. He was simply pointing out that a Governor Gillum’s far-out, radical, progressive, socialist policies would “turn Florida into Venezuela.” That was not meant as a compliment. Oil-rich Venezuela proved that even wealthy nations, like some wealthy individuals, can find a way to become destitute.

A current Republican television ad portrays Andrew Gillum as being on another planet. Ground control can’t make contact with him because he is so far out with his positions on Medicare for All, sensible gun laws, raising the state corporate tax rate to pay for better public education and higher salaries for teachers, and a $15 per hour minimum wage.

Conventional wisdom says: Do not embrace these way too risky non-mainstream positions. If a Democrat is going to win over Independents, he needs to be careful not to scare them away with radical ideas and, If there is any state that loves guns and hates taxes it’s Florida.

So Gillum is nuts. Case closed. The voters will send him back to Planet Crazy and DeSantis will stroll into the governor’s office, wearing a red cap that reads: “KEEP FLORIDA JUST THE WAY IT IS.”

Well, not so fast! Let’s add some context. Donald Trump will be on every ballot in every district and in every state, especially Florida where a vote for Ron DeSantis is a vote for Donald Trump.

According to the latest national opinion polls, Donald Trump is on a roll, but it is not a good roll for him or for any Republican candidate clinging to his coat tails. His approval ratings that were always in the 40s are now mostly in the 30s.

In the most recent CNN poll, the president’s approval ratings dropped from 42% in August to 36% in early September. You might say he had a rough few weeks. It is now clear that his base is shrinking just in time for the November midterms.

Another poll number might be especially predictive of the outcome of a number of those midterm contests. The president’s approval rating among Independents has plunged from 47% to 31%, just since August.

The political earth is shifting beneath our feet. Democrats will take back the House. Taking the Senate is still a long shot, but the fact that so many Senate races, once solidly in the bag for Republicans, are now real contests, makes us wonder how many disillusioned Trump voters are quietly jumping off the MAGA wagon.

And remember, while Floridians have tended to vote for Republican governors and legislators, they voted twice for Barak Obama. Maybe the foolishly bold Andrew Gillum is on another planet, but it might be the same planet where Barak Obama came from to steal the nomination from Hillary Clinton and go on to defeat John McCain in 2008, and then Mitt Romney in 2012.

Republican Governor, Rick Scott and the state Republican leadership rejected Medicaid expansion. They had to. Accepting it might have been counted as a win for Socialist, Barak Obama.

Andrew Gillum thinks that it just makes sense for all Floridians to have adequate health insurance. Recent polls tell us that 70% of Americans now support Medicare for All – that would be 84% of Democrats and a surprising 51% of Republicans.

Does Ron DeSantis believe that all uninsured or underinsured Floridians are Democrats? Andrew Gillum is betting that some Independents and Republicans who are adequately insured actually give a damn about their less fortunate neighbors – you know, those compassionate Conservatives.

Andrew Gillum thinks that Florida is ready for common sense gun laws. Ron DeSantis boasts of his A-rating from the NRA. Does it matter to him that 70% of NRA members and 78% non-NRA gun owners are now in favor of comprehensive background checks? Or that 70% of all Americans believe in stricter laws for assault weapons?

Is the DeSantis answer to preventing future Parkland massacres to arm teachers? How will that sell with the fed-up David Hogg/Emma Gonzalez generation and all those older folks inspired by their outrage-driven activism?

Ron DeSantis won the nomination talking a lot to Fox News – over 120 times since getting the Trump endorsement in December. Fox provided a nice safe space to preach the simplistic Gospel of Trump. Andrew Gillum won his party’s nomination having real conversations with everyone, everywhere. He has the quiet fearlessness of a man who puts others first.

His opponent has not revealed much of a platform. Until he figures one out, he will continue to pound Gillum with those “far out” labels, doing everything possible to make them stick.

And Gillum will continue to answer: “For Floridians who are struggling, these labels mean nothing.”

Courage, compassion, and common sense. Radical.

There is so much more, but for now, my two minutes are up.

WILL DIRECTION DEFECTIONS TILT THE ELECTIONS?

We will have to wait for the opinion polls to tell us how voters are processing the revenge of Omarosa, the guilty verdict against Manafort, and the guilty pleas of Michael Cohen, the revelation of thirty hours of testimony given to the Mueller team by White House counsel Don McGahn, and the granting of immunity, first to Trump Organization CFO, Allen Weisselberg, and then to National Enquirer publisher, David Pecker.

And to all of that, we now add the death of John McCain.

Barring a crazy event (which you can never discount in the age of Trump), John McCain will dominate the news, and the comparisons between the American statesman and the man who pledges allegiance to himself will be unavoidable to any thinking person.

We can expect that some or all of those recent developments may have nudged some Trump supporters to slowly drift away, but not the ones who attend his rallies, where Trump does what Trump does best --stir the inner fires of the faithful, prompting their tried and true chants of “LOCK HER UP!”

But the numbers indicate that the desertions have already begun.

I tell everyone who will listen that Donald Trump’s favorability ratings of 40 to 45% do not reflect his hardcore loyalty numbers -- the devoted ones who will support his presidency, regardless of what he says or does.

I do not dispute the accuracy of those poll numbers. I think that about 43% of our friends, neighbors, and family members continue to support Donald Trump. I just happen to believe that it is only 30 to 35% of those individuals who would stick by him if he actually does shoot someone on 5^th Avenue.

The latest Quinnipiac University Poll tells us that only 31% of voters say they LIKE Donald Trump. I am certain you know one or two of those people. We all do. They still respond to evidence of incompetence and criminality with “Anyone but Hillary,” and they know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Obama’s mother faked her newborn baby’s birth certificate, so that he could one day be President of the United States. The woman had vision.

That Quinnipiac poll also tells us that 43% of voters approve of Donald Trump’s policies, but only 30% approve strongly.

That squishy 13% gives me hope – a lot of hope, and if your inner optimist hasn’t thrown in the towel, that 13% should give you hope too.

Speaking of optimism, when the Trump supporter you know and love (or used to love) starts looking glum, you can take that as a hopeful sign. Has he stopped saying that Trump is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers? Has he or she stopped insisting that alienating our allies, starting trade wars, and standing by his pal in the Kremlin are going to make us great again?

Maybe he has finally decided that the country might be on the wrong track. Maybe she is worried about how her children and grandchildren will be affected by opening the door to more dirty air and rising sea levels.

There should be major opinion polls that measure optimism and pessimism.

Actually there are, and one of them is now in. The Monmouth University poll for the month of June told us that only 40% of voters believed that the country was headed in the right direction, while 53% believed we were on the wrong track.

But under this runaway presidency, June is now ancient history. What do we know about optimism and pessimism in August?

This is what we know.

The Monmouth poll conducted between August 15 and August 19 tells us that only 35% of voters now believe we are headed in the right direction, and 57% believe we are on the wrong track.

And need I remind you that a lot has happened in the few action-packed days since August 19?

And, do you doubt that a lot more will happen in the many action-packed days before the November 6^th midterm elections?

Speaking of the midterm elections, the exit polls will be revealing, to say the least. The answers to those poll questions will tell us how many Americans voted to change direction.

I hope voters are asked if character and integrity influenced their vote. We might assume that those who answered YES voted for the candidate more like John McCain and less like the phony who disparaged his heroism.

And now my optimistic two minutes are up.

YOUNG GUNS MARCH TO THE MIDTERMS

Before I give you my two cents (in approximately two minutes) as to why David Hogg, Emma González, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, Alex Wind, and the rest of their gang of superkids have exactly the right stuff to turn red districts blue in November, I need to give you a depressing statistic to help explain my optimism about changing the political landscape.

In the 2014 midterm election, according to TIME, only 14% of eligible voters between the age of 18 and 20 bothered to go to the polls to cast a vote. They must not have been chomping at the bit to exercise their brand new democratic privilege.

These post-Millennials left it to every other voter group to decide which representatives should continue to make decisions (or continue to avoid making decisions) on budget priorities, foreign wars, personal freedoms, saving the environment, reversing the soaring national debt, and passing sane gun laws.

One common explanation for the 86% who decided to stay home and play video games instead of going to the polls goes like this:

A few decades ago, young people got married and started families in their early twenties. Today, the tendency is for them to get married and start families in their thirties. So, it takes having to deal with taxes, mortgages, and raising and educating their children to make them feel they have something tangible at stake when it comes to electing their leaders.

If that feeling of having nothing tangible at stake was the reality, then that reality changed after 6 minutes and 20 seconds of murder.

On February 14, 2018, an all too common event took place when 17 students were shot to death by a deranged classmate at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida – just another case of murder in the classrooms of America.

But then, in the immediate aftermath of this entirely unextraordinary mass school shooting, something extraordinary happened. New leaders stepped from the wreckage and introduced themselves.

They handled interviews with ease and honesty. They said that they had no use for the usual chorus of “our thoughts and prayers are with you.” They announced that they would be taking matters into their own hands, and they knew they had the power to deliver on that promise.

Now, we know too.

They are fluent in the language of social media and are connected nationwide to a largely untapped army of eligible and soon to be eligible voters who are all involuntary members of the post-Columbine generation.

I had intended to use this space to share with you my admiration of the sound strategies supporting their mission – organizing the school walkout, cementing their bond with students in cities and towns across the country; organizing the March that took place in Washington and in 800 other locations that showed off the discipline and organizational skills of student leaders from every participating school.

I had intended to point out the lessons wisely learned from the Women’s March. Just as the women knew that their protest could not be limited to white suburban women, but had to include black, Hispanic, and Muslim women, the students knew that their movement could not be mostly about white suburban kids. Their platform needed to include inner city students, who lived where gun deaths earned little if any national attention.

I wanted to applaud them for continuing to build on their successes and sustaining their momentum. Parkland student leaders are now in the midst of two major bus tours. One is covering all 27 districts in the state of Florida. The other is making 75 stops in 20 states. They are registering voters who will tip elections.

I wanted to make this post all about strategy, execution, and measurable progress, in order to reassure myself and you that there will be a critical Victory on November 6^th.

Instead, I will use the remainder of my time to recall the pure poetry of one of the most amazing speeches I have ever heard:

“6 minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15, and my friend, Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice.

Aaron Feis would never call Kyra Miss Sunshine,

Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan,

Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp,

Helena Ramsay would never hang around after school with Max,

Gina Montalto would never wave to her friend Liam at lunch,

Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan.

Alaina Petty would never,

Cara Loughren would never,

Chris Hixon would never,

Luke Hoyer would never,

Martin Duque Anguiano would never,

Peter Wang would never,

Alyssa Alhadeff would never,

Jamie Guttenberg would never,

Jamie Pollack would never.”

Emma González brought each of her fallen classmates back to life for barely a second, just long enough to sear their images into the minds and hearts of millions of high school students, college students, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, and anyone else held captive by her gut-wrenching words.

She could not possibly follow-up that magic trick with one even more mesmerizing, but as you know, that is exactly what she did.

She held her place on stage and on camera, fought back tears, and remained silent for an excruciating 4 minutes and 26 seconds.

It was the silence heard around the world.

It was the silence that, along with the silence of cowardly lawmakers, will help cost Republicans the United States House of Representatives.

You can take that to the bank.