A big dream...

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."--Colin Powell With our midterms winding down and campaigns busy with their final push to the finish line. Today was a really good day to take the time to look back and reflect back on what has been accomplished in a short amount of time. And the progress has been impressive, to say the least. With Jess Piper's impact and starting a movement that exploded across the countryside. Then the same kind of movement took hold in the southern part of the state with Randi McCallian's campaign. I mean folks in the Ozarks are going back to being neighbors again and the political discourse going back to being civil. Compared to the four years of hell brought to us by the ridiculous "Trump parades", and divisive language that sowed extreme discord among families and friends. This is a big improvement and it means that most of us can go to family Thanksgiving dinner without turning into a vile screaming match over politics or religion. It kind of went back to normal and it's refreshing. Even with all these optimistic changes going on right now, there is still so much work left to be done. As my friend, Rick Vandeven pointed out that we still got a fight with a 20-year propaganda machine that has run a muck with lies and divisive storylines that caused people to turn folks against one another. This machine also turned good people into ugly creatures that we only hear about in horror stories and movies. It caused so much damage and consumed the folks to the point it made them paranoid and suspicious of anything or anyone that didn't fit in this manufactured perspective. I mean this kind of machine left people scared to express their opinion out of fear of being retaliated against. This left seats to go uncontested for years and still going uncontested in a lot of areas. The state party went into being less active in rural communities and resulting in county political party committees following the same suit. It has opened up a gateway for threats of political violence toward candidates that decided to tell this machine to get lost. Folks are still screaming about "Communism and Socialism" despite they don't fully understand that the policies designed to help them are a "hand up" and not a "hand out." I'm sure you saw people say that they feel that they're "the only person floating on a blue life raft in a sea of red" and left isolated. And these are a few examples of the damage that this machine has wiped out within a short amount of time. This is our unfortunate reality for the entire state, in particularly rural areas. Yes, it looks like a scene of a "dark and gloomy" night from a Halloween greeting card, but we do have hope, but we're going to have to work for it. And that work isn't going to be easy... In a perfect world, we would be able to make a wish, and the changes we seek would magically appear with no effort. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, nor can we use the "Jedi's force" to get what we want in the way of policies and legislation. Never mind, it happens overnight with the turn of the election on Nov 8th, because it won't. Although, I will say that we have some solid candidates running like Rand McCallion, Jess Piper, John Kienhe, Trudy Busch Valentine, Bernadette Holzer, Tara Anura, Kristen Radaker-Sheafer (if ya'll get a chance you really should check them out), and so many more that give us a really good shot at getting somewhere. But there's also a real possibility that things could go the other way too. But judging by the lack of campaigning from the GOP in my district or area in general, these folks' campaigns are getting making some headway. However, it's probably wise not to "count our chickens before they hatch", as they say. And even if they do manage to pull it off this election, we still have more sweat, blood, and tears to put into the renovation of our politics. That's why we have to keep "preaching to the choir" and keep beating the same old drum despite the fact, it does get repetitive and exhausting after a while. But it's what's going to get us all on the same page and make the song of "Liberty" that much louder to onlookers. Will it sound like a "broken record"? It absolutely will! But that's how we combat one of the biggest obstacles standing in our way of taking back our state and putting decent people into the seats to make the changes we desperately. We are going to have to get our hands calloused and dirty because it's going to take real work to reestablish the bedrock of our state's sense of democracy. This means for us is we got two years to get our metaphorical bridges that were burnt down to the ground by years of lies and discordance by the GOP propaganda machine. In other words, what I'm saying is that there is no magical recipe for what needs to be done. We don't have help coming, and we are our own calvary, because we're on our own in this struggle, and that's the ugly truth. And all the internal bickering that goes on between the blue team and complaining on social media isn't helping anyone and just promotes self-defeatism. Self-defeatism is something that we as an entire group of people that resides in the state of Missouri cannot afford. We have to cowboy up and work together to repair what the GOP has destroyed and rebuild a better state for everyone. What is being asked from you (the reader) is to be part of the solution rather than the problem by contributing. Be it through sharing information, connecting folks with people that could help them, or getting involved in old-school activism. Doesn't matter how you contribute--All that matters is you do something and be active. Nothing more, nothing less. This is what it's going to take to turn our state which is sinking faster than the Titanic from hitting the ocean floor. Yes, it's going to be hard work, because no dream is achieved without it and it won't be achieved without everyone pulling their weight as a collective whole. So, Let's go! As always take care and be good to another Much love and peace out Jojo