Republicans Are Better at Supporting Hate Than Democrats Are at Supporting Kindness

Thank you for being part of this movement! Grassroots support in the form of comments, likes, shares and paid sponsorship keeps me going. I appreciate everything you do! Now we need to pressure the big corporate donors to do their part too!Republicans believe in an ideology of hatred and intolerance. Democrats claim to believe in kindness and diversity. The difference is that, when it comes to promoting their respective messages, Republicans are willing to open their wallets.Even as Republicans cut funding to PBS, they organize cash funnels to divert millions in private donations to extremist organizations. They want to silence Sesame Street, even as they send neo-nazis to harass your children on college campuses.If you’ve been wondering how the United States could become so hateful, this is the answer. Powerful Republican groups are funding hate speech, wealthy Democrats are not answering with a message of their own. It’s as simple as that.For a long time, I’ve wondered why it’s borderline impossible to make a living as a writer. My ambitions have never been detached from reality. I’ve never dreamed about making millions, driving fancy sports cars, or living in a mansion.All I’ve ever wanted is to earn the respect of a community and make close to what I could earn as a high school teacher (while putting in twice as many hours). What I’ve discovered in 50 years of writing is that success in this field is damn near impossible.Why is that? Why are messages so controlled?Usually at this point, the malicious right-wing bots rise up to say, “Well, that’s because you’re not good enough.”But the thing is, most writers with big 3 contracts never even earn out their advances. Without any distribution or marketing advantages, I’ve sold more books than many writers who have been gifted major media appearances. I don’t consistently make as much money as a high school teacher, but I have hit that threshold a couple of times.The simple fact is that I outperform a huge percentage of writers with major contracts. That being the case, it doesn’t make sense that it’s so hard for me to get any support.Why aren’t wealthy Democrats looking at the stat sheet and saying, “Gee, this guy seems to really reach people. That’s an asset! Let’s help him?”My support is entirely grassroots and I couldn’t be more appreciative of all the wonderful people out there who support this newsletter and allow me to continue writing. Messaging is critical, and it’s frustrating that the ivy-league educated Democrats shrug their shoulders and concede battle after battle.It’s especially irritating when you consider how little it would take to fund an army of kind-hearted writers. Even now, there are many compassionate voices that could survive and continue to spread a message of kindness on as little as $20,000 a year.We need that!During our conversations on white supremacy, Will Fullwood and I are always discovering new mechanisms of oppression. The depressing reality is that the citizens of the United States of America are conditioned to not take any action which might improve their quality of life.One example is the anti-socialism campaign that even rational people begin to chant when you propose the idea of universal healthcare. Currently, the United States government, through Medicare, is the largest purchaser of pharmaceuticals. But Medicare has been historically banned from negotiating drug prices.Where is the army of voices touting the importance of the “free market?” What sense does it make to ban a purchaser from negotiating prices, particularly when the funds being used come from taxpayer dollars?Astonishingly, many people have no idea these kind of contradictions exist. The reason that the general public is so ill-informed is because we don’t have a mechanism in place to financially support progressive voices.It takes a lot of brainwashing to get people to believe a lie. As tempting as it is to dismiss the general public as “willfully ignorant,” it’s our job to take note of the structure of disinformation that’s been allowed to take root.There’s a reason articles with the words “gaslighting” or “narcissism” in the titles get thousands of clicks. Just beneath the surface of our collective awareness, there’s a roiling frustration over the injustices we’re forced to endure.We all know that this society is unfair, we just don’t put it into words. Now, we can either be perpetually frustrated by that fact, or we can do something about it.What we really need to do is pressure the Democratic party to start supporting the creators of compassionate content with the same intensity that Republicans support right-wing hate groups.We need legislators who fight to get decent messaging on the internet, on the radio, in schools, in film, and on the television.We don’t have that now. Instead, we have a pack of feckless and comfortable politicians who use every opportunity to bleat, “Well, we can’t be ‘too woke’.” Then they turn around and ask for our donations even after they commit an unforgivable sequence of messaging errors.Take a step back and make an assessment of our media landscape. If you do that, you’ll see a major gap. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t live in a society where we have reasonable, rational discussions about the potential benefits of universal healthcare. That these conversations are a non-starter in the United States is not natural.The simple fact is that compassionate voices in this country are censored. The only people who are doing anything about it are the kind people who are willing to sponsor newsletters like mine.At some point, we have to stop and ask ourselves what kind of country do we want? Do we like living in a society where our leader refers to human beings as “garbage?” Do we like living in a society with a leader who has been recorded bragging about sexual assault? Do we like living in a society with a man who tells women to “shut up” and calls them “piggy?”I don’t like it. But how do we change it?Well, the first thing we have to do is elevate voices that model mature, compassionate, and respectful behavior. That has to be an objective not just of the people out there who can afford to give $10, $20, or $100, but the people who can offer nationwide distribution.Our children do not have access to role models that live by a code of basic human decency. They just don’t. Do you think little kids like to turn on the television and be subjected to brutish men who scream at them and insist they’re less than human? Our children deserve better than that.There’s no reason that everyone in this country should be forced to live with their back against the wall. We’re supposed to cower in constant fear because a privileged class wishes to beat us into submission. I think that’s the real reason that decency and dignity are absent from our mainstream media.They want us beaten down and submissive. That’s a pretty far cry from land of the free and home of the brave. But the fact is, our current exploitative power structure couldn’t be maintained unless we were constantly browbeaten.Having said that, it’s impossible to overlook that both political parties are in on this deplorable state of affairs. We know that there are prominent democrats who use their time in office to make themselves millionaires hundreds of times over. They have every benefit of information that the Republicans do. It’s a corrupt system, but Democrats have no excuses for not finding compassionate voices in independent media to sponsor.No excuse except for the fact that they want the general public to remain browbeaten and uniformed.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