Bob Schwartz

“Hope and a list of horribles is not a strategy.”

Please make no mistake. I do not want to discourage any legitimate and lawful strategies to oppose the impending federal hegemony and the movement that brought it to power.

But I have some thoughts.

In the days since the election, we have heard from various worthy and respected people that things are already looking terrible and that we must stand together—including donating to the Democratic Party—to keep up the fight.

During the campaign, we heard in detail how bad things would get if he and they prevailed. We didn’t have to be told, most of us, because we already knew. Now that they have won, some of the horribles are already in the pipeline, with more to come after inauguration and the seating of the new Congress.

If the plan on resisting and fighting is to remind us every day how terrible each of the decisions and initiatives is, just to make sure we are still committed to opposition, we have eyes and ears and minds, so we already know. Beating us over the head with it is already maddening.

Instead, inside and outside the Democratic Party (which for better or worse in a two-party system is the chief opposition by default), we need to hear and see exactly, in detail, what form the effective resistance is going to take so we can take it together. Saying that you want more money so you can “keep up the fight”, repeating how terrible things are getting, is beyond pointless without detailed strategies. Given a president and a congressional majority completely compliant to his whims, that isn’t going to be easy. But it is essential, because in a version of a famous saying, hope and a list of horribles is not a strategy.