My sign is big block letters reading (words on the left in black, on the right in red)

DENY DOGE

DEFUND MUSK

DEPOSE TRUMP

I was at the Washington Monument with my wife and 2 young kids this past Saturday. I plan to be there on the 19th, too. And we've been at the local Tesla dealership every Saturday there's not a big event planned.

I also really appreciate mentioning this is on a weekend. As a family with two adults who work full-time and two young kids, trying to make an event during a weekday is virtually impossible.

I'm not worried about them getting lost. I know how to keep track of my kids in a large crowd pretty well. And my wife will be there, too. We'll have child carrying harnesses so the kids can ride strapped onto our back if they don't want to walk anymore. My concern is about the intended atmosphere of the event.

Also, as someone who never saw my parents engage in politics beyond voting, and barely even ever heard them speak about politics, I think it's important for kids to see their parents engaging in politics, even if they don't really understand what's going on. It shows them that it's not only OK, but encouraged to form and act on their own political ideas. It opens them up to discussing political issues when they get old enough to, and shows them that politics isn't just something for the ruling elite.

I'd rather Bernie be Minority Leader...

I appreciate and agree with the sentiment, but I think a call to form an entirely new political party demonstrates a naivety with regards to how the American political system works. It's just not going to happen. A third party will NEVER displace one of the two major parties without massive changes to the electoral system that would likely require a Constitutional Amendment.

Our system and political culture is just not structured to allow for 3rd parties. What's more, the 2 major parties have ingrained themselves into the system so much that they have MASSIVE institutional advantages over a 3rd party.

This will never be a successful effort. I think a better goal would be to co-opt and take over the Democratic Party, booting out all the Vichy collaborationists like Schumer, Jefferies, Newsom, Adams, Pelosi, etc, and remaking the party.

With a new 3rd party, best case scenario is it has 0 impact. If it does get any votes, it'll just divide the anti-fascist vote with the Democrats (and any other 3rd parties) making it even more difficult to win.

Nah, they can have it. It's always been a symbol of white supremacy and subjugation. I don't want it.

Feel free to steal/copy.

I feel like the phrase "Deny, Defund, Depose" could become a very powerful slogan if it takes off.

"The dummies" didn't ruin either Facebook or Reddit. The companies changing policies and algorithms in an effort to drive profit did.

That's really why I was hoping to hear from someone involved in planning. If this event is permitted, will have infrastructure constructed (ie a stage, gates, etc) and has a public schedule of speakers, etc along the lines of the Women's March in 2017, the March for our Lives in 2018, or the various Marches for Science, then I think it's much less likely to see a violent crackdown by the administration.

On the other hand, if this is more along the lines of the airport protests against the travel ban in 2017, the anti-Iraq War protests in 2003, or the 2020 uprising protests, which were all MUCH less structured and had a much more confrontational vibe to them, then I think there's a greater likelihood of a violent crackdown.

Most didn't. Only ~23% of the population voted for him.

My older (5 yo) has already attended a couple of protests at Tesla dealerships over the past couple months. When she was less than 1 year old she went along with my wife and I aas we did mutual aid supply drops at various events during the 2020 uprising.

The younger (3 yo) hasn't been to a protest yet. This will be her first. Suffice it to say, though, this will not be the last either one attends.

I found it on Voyager, but had to search for it with the exact correct spelling "50501.chat" and I only knew about it because I found it referenced in another instance and signed up on my browser on my laptop. I don't think I would have found it on Voyager if I hadn't already known about it.

Thanks! I try to be one, although I'm sure there's plenty I could improve upon.

While this is good advice, it's not always very practical. OP indicated they are 17, meaning a minor. That may mean they need to be able to keep in contact with parents/guardians at home. I've also been to actions with groups of people where having contact is important for coordination.

If you need to bring a phone you can do so, but be mindful. Turn off any biometric features (fingerprint, face ID, etc). Police don't need a warrant to access your phone if you have biometrics. They can just put your phone in front of your face or put your finger on it to unlock. But if you have a passcode they cannot force you to unlock your phone without a warrant (and you can always just pretend you don't know the code).

I'd also suggest turning the phone off (or, at the very least, on airplane mode) except when you're actively using it. And minimize when you need it. I typically turn my phone off before arriving and wait until I'm gone from the location to turn it back on.

If you need to bring a phone, don't plan to do anything illegal. Large events like this will always have a significant segment of people who are not doing anything illegal at all. Stick with that group. Carry signs, chant, show your numbers, make contacts with other protesters in the crowd. But if/when you see people in black bloc, don't join them.

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying play the game to win. Don't start with a losing strategy.

I've been in the streets. Where are you?

I've been attending various demonstrations, protests, and actions for nearly 20 years now. Ever since my early 20s (I'm 38 now) I've made a point of attending at least one protest every month, in addition to other actions I take part in. Lately, that's been closer to weekly than monthly. I cook for my local Food Not Bombs and sometimes help distribute (although my work schedule makes that difficult).

I vote, sure, but that's 2 days a year, at most. That's an incredibly small part of my political engagement.

The data in the poll is correct, but people don't vote on policy. The problem is that OP is framing voters as hyper rational people who sit down to form a long list of their policy preferences, then examine each candidate and select the one that best aligns with themself.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, votes like that, and they never have. They look at the candidates and pick the one that's more entertaining/has better vibes, then justify their support by either changing or disregarding their personal policy preferences, or (more often) convincing themself that the candidate supports whatever they support, regardless of the candidate's stated positions.

Again, you're missing the point. I'm not debating the overall end goal. I'm talking about the strategy to achieve it.

Just saying "the Electoral College is bad, so let's get rid of it" is fine, but it's not a strategy to make it happen. That's a goal. What is the strategy to make it happen?

Likewise, just listing off a set of popular policies and saying "let's make a new party" isn't a strategy to actually achieving those goals. I'm not saying that voting for a 3rd party is bad because it "steals" votes from a major party. I'm saying it's bad because it's an effectual strategy to achieving the goal of enacting the policies in OP's post.

You're absolutely right that the 2 party system sucks and that the Democrats are awful. But, again, that's not a strategy to achieve your goals. Like it or not, but none of us will ever break the 2-party system by forming a new party or complaining about how bad it is.

If you compare, say, the Democratic Party of the 1920s to the Democratic Party of the 1960s, they're drastically different, almost diametrically opposed to each other on nearly every policy. Likewise if you compare the GOP of the 1950s to the GOP of the 1980s. Or the Democratic Party of the 1970s to the Democratic Party of the 200s. Or the GOP of the 2000s to the GOP today. How did those changes happen?

In every single instance it happened not by a new 3rd party forming or outside agitators pushing the parties. It happened because a fringe element of the party enacted an organized push in the primaries to co-opt the party, won a convincing general election victory, then strongarmed the rest of the party into ideological compliance. That's how parties change in the US, not by being supplanted by a new party. You want a real, left-wing progressive party? Get behind a massive push to primary key Democratic leadership (I call them the Vichy caucus), win a general election, then strongarm the party into compliance.

Which will never happen unless at least 1 of the 2 major parties is co-opted and taken over by people who specifically want to eliminate Citizen's United, put a strong, enforceable cap on private political donations, and block corporations from donating to campaigns.

A 3rd party is never going to be successful enough to accomplish any, let alone all of that. Republicans will never get money out of politics because it benefits them too much. It hurts the Democratic Party overall, but it directly benefits the Vichy wing of collaborationists leading the party, so they won't back campaign finance reform unless the Democratic Party is wholly overtaken.

Because people don't vote on policy, they vote on personality and vibes. It's how it's always been. This list of policies is (mostly) just a copypasta of the Democratic platform. But people have never voted that way. The Democrats put forth the crypt keeper, then replaced him with one of the most boring public speakers to come out of the Democratic Party in a generation. And they were running against someone who is a horrific fascist, yes, but also has stage presences and charisma and knows how to play to an audience. As much as he's one of the worst people on the planet, Trump knows how to make himself entertaining to watch.

That's what drives votes for politically disengaged people who don't pay attention to politics until the middle of October every 4 years. They listen to who is more entertaining and pretend like that candidate is telling them what they want to hear, regardless of whether or not he is.