My Readers Are the Most Awesome People in the Whole World!

Hello Friends!I wrote a note expressing my gratitude to the Substack community, and it was really gratifying to read all your comments on Thanksgiving and the days that followed. For the most part, I stayed off my phone on Thursday. But I did occasionally jump on and scroll through just to make sure that nothing momentous had happened that needed to be addressed.Everything is relative these days. Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to a news cycle where there weren’t 10 acts of treason every hour?It made me feel really good to scroll through all your kind comments and well wishes. I’m not going to lie. 2025 has been perhaps the hardest year politically that I can remember. We’ve been under constant attack, and the media has been complicit in elevating and normalizing the ideology of objectively awful people.The extreme right wing faction of the Republican party has never hesitated to use violence. As Jonathan Harvey brilliantly put it, violence is a feature of the right and it’s an aberration on the left. I’d been looking for a good way to put that sentiment, and Jonathan provided it gift wrapped. When you say it that way, people can’t hit you with the disingenuous “not all” argument that’s just designed to distract the general public from the largest statistical problem.The extreme right is even openly talking about stripping women of the right to vote. That lines up with their embrace of pedophilia when you think about it. They want absolute control, and all they’re going to build with that control is a dystopian Hellscape that is doomed to crumble under its own weight.Every morning I wake up and I find it bizarre that we have to fight this battle, but here we are. Even more bizarre is how people are expected to go to their regular jobs as bus drivers and grocery store clerks and teachers, and we’re not allowed to talk about any of this.Just start muttering, “Universal healthcare would be nice,” and I think it will start to have an effect.But anyway, Thursday was a welcome break from all that. I received a bunch of comments from people who said they were happy to spend the holidays alone, and I applaud them for that. I’ve spent the holidays alone too at times in my life, and although I personally enjoyed it, there’s a social pressure that makes you think something is wrong. There’s a lot of different forms of social pressure that are deployed to maintain unjust systems, tearing them down is part of my mission.Whether you are visiting family, or you’re sitting at home reading a book or playing video games, you can still absorb the sentiment of the holidays. Actually, scrolling through Substack would have been a nice way to spend Thanksgiving, there were so many wonderful comments there!I had Thanksgiving with my wife and kids. My mom and her partner came down to join us and brought chocolate pie and chocolate bars. I ate too many. I’m at that regrettable age where I can’t consume too much sugar or I get a headache. We went and saw Wicked 2 on Wednesday. The film is about a talented Black woman who is denied a position of leadership by a con artist/shameless liar. The first one made me cry. The second one is very good though it doesn’t quite attain the heights of the first. Honestly, I didn’t need that level of emotion again, so it was a good experience. I ate too much popcorn.Your comments were a big part of my Thanksgiving this year. There were so many kind words! I tried to heart them all, and I left occasional responses. I’m not the best when it comes to responding on my phone, but I did read all the comments and they made me feel very happy.Sponsor me for $5 a month ❤️ Sponsor me for $4 a month 🧡 Sponsor me for $3 a month 💛 Sponsor me for $2 a month 💚 Thank you! 💙Somebody just wrote and said she’d first discovered my work on Medium and she wondered if I hadn’t found the same level of community there. Medium has been wonderful for me, and it’s true that the platform did provide me with a huge community. I’ll always be appreciative of Medium since it was the first place where my work started to actually be seen.I still work on Medium, and I still think both of the platforms offer features that are extremely valuable. For me, Substack’s Live feature has really been a difference maker this year. It’s hard to believe I’ve only been doing those lives for about 10 months. I never thought that having conversations would become such a big part of my work day.I know that many of you prefer the written articles, or you prefer the readings, and that’s fine. The more ways I’m able to branch out and bring in some more revenue, the more stable this newsletter becomes. I’m still at the “clawing for a bit more growth” stage, but we’re getting there. I just had a conversation with Robert Danna where we brainstormed about how to get more people and organizations involved. Please consider this platform to be YOUR platform. I’m doing my best to elevate marginalized voices. I particularly want to elevate the voices of women since I think the United States needs women leaders at every level of government. I want to clear the runway so that my daughters can land. Those of you who kindly tell me I should run for office—I really appreciate that! But all of my efforts are going into clearing the way so that my daughters can run.They’re better people than I am. It’s not close.I want your daughters to run too. I want them to have access to education. I want them to have access to healthcare. Right now, I want to make sure they retain their right to vote.Think about it, the Republicans are trying to strip our children of that right. It’s unacceptable.So please, brainstorm with me. Think of new ways to get people onto this platform. If you are already running a newsletter and you want to chat with me, just reach out. Combining platforms is one of the best ways to grow. But also do what you can to bring in your contacts. If you know progressive organizations that are willing to sponsor a small newsletter like mine, please point them in my direction. If you know progressive politicians who want more visibility, put them in contact with me too. There is so much we can do to help each other, and we MUST do it because the Republicans are openly stating that they’re going to take everything from us.Your comments over the last few days have made me feel empowered. I thank you all! We are making progress and we refuse to be defeated because we stand for decency and compassion. Sponsor me for $5 a month ❤️ Sponsor me for $4 a month 🧡 Sponsor me for $3 a month 💛 Sponsor me for $2 a month 💚 Thank you! 💙Unfortunately, the whole world is against us. The big money is against us. The mainstream media is against us. Our whole political system is against us. It’s a daunting task.But we’re going to win because we believe in love. We have love on our side. We’ll take care of each other and we’ll make it happen. Also, we’re not going to quit.So, I just wanted to say thank you for all your kind words. It’s been nice to take a couple days and submerge myself in the energy of the holidays. But come Monday, my wife and kids will be back at school, and I’ll be back to work. There’s plenty of work to do!Enjoy your weekend, and once again, thank you!You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe