A bone to pick with memes and one line slogans. Eventually they fail. Been there, seen it.

I have a bone to pick with memes and one line slogans. Eventually they fail. Been there, seen it.

In 1958 and 1959, I spent my junior year abroad in Berlin. It was 13 years after the end of WWII; I had a front-row seat to observe how the communists were attempting to consolidate their hold on Berlin's Russian-controlled East Sector before the wall was built. One could easily cross zones in those days, and I was in a student dorm in the British sector. I could even walk into the East Sector; I was so close. It was an amazing place for this political science student to be. There were no memes on the internet, no TV commercials to control minds then, but red banners strewn everywhere carried slogans reminding people of the glories that would be given to workers, and similar posters adorned buildings everywhere. Even the poorest, least educated, and unquestioning minds got the message. It didn't work. Reality set in as the East German puppet government became more and more of a police state. Scientists, university students, artists, and skilled workers picked up their backpacks, took the elevated train or walked to the West sectors, and eventually kept on going West. My roommate was one of those. My future husband from another communist country used Berlin for his exit.The brain drain became a gusher, and in August 1961, two years after I returned to Northwestern in Illinois for my senior year, the Berlin Wall went up.

The use of short, choppy sentences with no explanation and plenty of one-line slogans for all to believe and repeat were the memes and repeated mantras and commercials of that era in Berlin. In 2026, like in my Berlin days, these modern memes and slogans, often repeated in commercials or by candidates, will convince only those who want to be convinced and who do not ask impertinent questions.

Dictator Trump? It appears his goal: ban unfriendly media....and a third term?

 The only power left to stop Trump’s march to become a dictator is us…vote Nov. 3 to turn Congress blue. A MAGA congressman has just introduced a bill to give him a third term by a constitutional amendment. Trump's ban of non-loyal (to him)press from the White House is also one more step toward the end of democracy to be replaced by rule of one. person..

.Trump.

Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House Joint Resolution (H.J.Res.29) proposing a constitutional amendment to alter the 22nd Amendment, which currently limits presidents to two terms (source: Google AI). This may go nowhere, but if it gains any support, it shows how far MAGA is willing to go and how important it is to nip this in the bud and to send a strong message.

The courts and process will be another route to stop this madness, but the Supreme Court seems mostly in his pocket, and the lower courts are too slow to act.

It is also time for Democrats to stop using the term "autocracy". It is too wishy-washy and intellectual. In plain English, and as Trump's actions indicate what his goal really is, the correct term is "dictatorship"...He wants obedience to what he rules is the law, instead of what the law books, the courts, the legislature, or the Constitution say. That goes for media, too; per Trump, it should report what he opines, with no unfriendly questions to challenge him. To Trump, all unfavorable news is fake news.

It is also time to refer to the GOP as MAGA, instead as the Republican Party: It is totally controlled by Trump and MAGA. There appears to be no room for Republicans who are "normies"...who are traditional, for small government, with responsible fiscal policies, and spreading support for freedom and democracy, and non-crony, non-corrupt capitalism worldwide. MAGA is none of that.

FYI: Colorado's mail in vote system was birthed by the GOP in 2013. Don't blame Dems for this one

I am seeing on another social media Facebook site an attempt by some in the GOP to blame mail-in voting for Colorado's recent shift from somewhat red to blue. Therefore, the inference goes, vote for the GOP candidate who wants to eliminate mail-in voting and make everyone turn up in person. 90% of GOP voters in Colorado vote by mail. In 2013, the Colorado Secretary of State, Republican Wayne Williams, launched the mail-in voting system we use now. The shift from red to blue may have something to do with Colorado's economy shifting from AG and energy to more high-tech, with an increase to one of the highest education levels in the US and the second-highest voter participation rate in the 50 states. The system Wayne Williams devised provides bipartisan scrutiny and integrity. Before going off on some tangent, MAGA, read this: https://www.denverpost.com/.../colorado-denv

 https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/16/colorado-denver-mail-voting-usps-2020-election/#

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/maga-thinks-dems-fear-saveice-at-polls.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/one-of-most-fundamental-lies-trump-ever.html

Time for Democrats to begin the 2028 presidential race is now with planks in a platform

 Nov. 3 midterms is shaping up to be, one way or another a rebuke of Trump's policies...economic and military while padding his pockets with epic corruption.  However,r what are Democrats proposing as alternatives?  Disgusted independents and non-MAGA Republicans may register their objections, but that is not good enough for 2028, and  Democrats as a party have miserable favorability ratings now.  

I have ideas to share that are relevant and popular today and for the next two years. They may never get signed by Trump or even be veto-proof, but at least they could be "on the record" for a unified Democratic Party in preparation for 2028. None of these are original ideas to me, but they seem to me to have legs and potential for support from the non-MAGA majority. To make an impact between now and then, the focus must be like a laser and unified.  While so many of these proposals will be stonewalled in the Senate, even if it flips blue a bit,  by presidential veto over the next two years, getting MAGA legislators on the record will lay the groundwork for Democrats' success in 2028.

So much depends on what those elected to Congress Nov. 3 will do in these next two years. Just exposing the criminality, corruption, and inhumanity of the Trump administration in House hearings cannot overwhelm the party if it wants to make itself an acceptable alternative to those same swing voters two years from now. So what are the alternatives with legs, anyway?  Here are my nominations.

One slogan might be to "reform for the better".those Trmp policies which anger the swing voters the most.  Yes, it is reactive to Trump's excesses, and so long as he sits in the White House Oval Office for the next two years, that is the fact of political life and will still be the driver of the 2028 presidential cycle..  

Obviously, what needs to be addressed in the next two years is to come up with a believable plan of "what will Democrats do to improve the cost of living." No pie in the sky, but rolling back the Trump tariffs might be a start. Make the bi partisan house financing bill that Trump nixxed be veto -proof.  Support financing to build affordable housing. Depending on what happens between now and then, get the heck out of Middle Eastern wars...and stop the one we are in now to reduce fuel prices. . For the young people, reduce the debt burden of student loans. Infuse Obamacare ACA with funds to lower premiums and restore Medicaid support to prior levels while planning for Medicare for All (polling very popular these days).  While MAGA may object to all of these, at least get their nay votes on the record in preparation for 2028's attack ads.  One of the reasons the socialists have been successful is that their solutions are generally popular, specific, and doable. That is the page Democrats can take from them while not embracing the rest of their planks.

The next set of issues needing reform is to restore checks and balances of the three branches and fight corruption.. These two issues are related to one another; one enables the out-of-control urge of Trump who sees his presidency as his business opportunity, and it is enabling fulfilling his lust for wealth and power. for himself. That could start with legislation to reverse treating corporate dark money as "people" by forcing daylight disclosure into political funding of even those entities.. The other:  Supreme Court term limits of 18 years, staggered to give a greater chance for both parties to get their approved candidates on the bench. One with wistful thinking is to reaffirm that the president is not above the law and can be criminally prosecuted while in office. That most insane SCOTUS decision the Court has ever made was exempting the president from criminal prosecution while in office. It has made him insulated from accountability, and the pardons he can issue on exit will shelter him in his retirement.  It has turned out to be is the greatest gift any wannabe corrupt autocratic president like Trump could have received. It has greenlit his ability to ignore and abuse any laws that have stood in his way of enacting his epic corruption. and power grabs.   Penalties and prosecution must be strengthened to keep future presidents from taking or making money on foreign investments and gifts, and it must be made illegal for Trump to pardon himself or his immediate family for eternity afrer office holding. 

The next is to stop divisive racial hatred and pass the Voting Rights Act.  Anti-DEI is a thinly disguised policy to restore white supremacy; inclusion must become the norm again. All attempts to federalize elections need to be fought tooth and nail since that is one essential method a wannabe dictator can use to destroy our democracy. Keeping voting in the hands of 50 separate states is much harder to subvert than some national binding policy controlled by whoever has the power in Washington. This should resonate with those who fear some far-left lib in the future could do unto them what Trump did to those disloyal to Trump. What goes around comes around.