Dave Abbitt

The Dems attacked Zohran Mamdani harder than they fought Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which guts social programs, militarizes ICE and DHS, extends tax breaks to the wealthiest class, and adds $4T to the debt. Punching left while the right burns it all down isn’t strategy - it’s complicity.

Nazis and other fascists are inhumane. They do monstrous, irredeemable things. And they are still human beings. Saying otherwise reduces us to their level of thinking - that “the other” is inhuman. Show humanity, even to those who don’t deserve it.

Fair to call out fascism where it exists. But even facts can be weaponized to divide, rather than repair. The point isn’t to avoid accountability. It’s to stay human while we hold the line.

That’s part of the challenge, isn’t it? When we label others as irredeemable, we risk becoming what we claim to oppose. I’m not saying don’t confront harm, just that healing won’t come from dehumanizing, even when we feel justified.

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It begins by remembering we’re all of us still human, and that beneath the noise and cynicism, most of us want the same things: safety, meaning, connection, and the right to live without being ground down.

So let’s start there.
🩹💡✊

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The wound is real. It runs deep. But the healing doesn’t begin by demanding perfection. It begins by demanding accountability regardless of bias.

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One that centers dignity, care, and accountability not just for the powerful, but for ourselves.

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We need a new story. One that sees through the illusion of Left vs. Right and focuses on Human vs. Machine.

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That’s hard. It takes time. It doesn’t go viral. But it’s the only thing that’s ever worked.

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Change doesn’t come from blaming. It comes from building. From listening. From waking up to the stories we’ve been fed, and writing new ones.

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We need to stop dehumanizing people outside the system who don’t think like we do - whether they come from across a border, a red state, a blue state, wear a colored hat, or pray in a mosque, church, or synagogue.

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We need to stop dehumanizing the people inside the system, even when we rage against what the system does.

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So what now?

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We vote based on fear. We consume based on dopamine. We ignore nuance for outrage. We want simple answers in a complex world. And the machine gives us the simple answers we ask for because that’s what it runs on.

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But here’s the part we often forget: We are not just victims. We are participants.

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We lose due process. We militarize our streets. And call it order. It’s not order. It’s control.

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Meanwhile, the machinery behind every President drops bombs in our name, claims it’s keeping us safe, and erodes civil liberties at home.

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We’re caught in a trap of distraction: Right vs. Left, Red vs. Blue, Identity vs. Identity. Each side throws accusations: predator, puppet, traitor, tyrant.

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This is the wound.

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But in the public eye, he became a symbol of the system. When people feel crushed by that system, they lash out at its symbols.

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That’s why some cheered the murder of a UnitedHealthcare CEO. Not because he was a bad man. By all accounts, he was kind, thoughtful, even hopeful for change.

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They spend on people, not bombs. The U.S. is the opposite. And people feel it on an intuitive, cellular level. They see it in their daily lives and subconsciously (or consciously) clock it.

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Countries like Canada and many in Europe offer healthcare as a right, not a luxury. It’s not utopia. They have challenges, too. But they chose a different social contract.

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But “Hope and change” or “America first” aren’t policies. They’re campaign slogans. Once in office, all leaders must govern within a structure that profits from war, fear, and debt. And so the machine hums on, fueled by misery.

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I want to believe in the promises: “Hope and change” or even “America first” - not in the xenophobic sense, but in prioritizing the wellbeing of people. Demilitarization. Fiscal responsibility. A vibrant middle class.

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Call it the Deep State, the Corporate State, or just the System. It’s the convergence of entrenched bureaucracy, corporate power, and institutional self-preservation.

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But since Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex, it’s been clear: all presidents are managers of a much deeper machinery.

The System and the Wound : 🧵

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It’s not about Trump. Or Biden. Or whichever figurehead is on the stage at the moment. We’ve been sold a fiction - that the president is the author of national destiny.

There's a new street musician in town! 🎶

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📽️dogsig

Went to Prague a couple of weeks ago for a location scout. A city of color and a soul captured in black and white.