{"id":136411,"date":"2026-05-14T18:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=136411"},"modified":"2026-05-14T19:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:06:03","slug":"reject-fear-embrace-change-vote-rabb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=136411","title":{"rendered":"Reject Fear, Embrace Change, Vote Rabb."},"content":{"rendered":"

Progressives or, indeed, anyone pointing to a new direction in political life, often find that as they get close to victory, some of their supporters begin to have doubts and fall away.<\/p>\n

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. pointed to this phenomenon in his account of the 1960 presidential election in A Thousand Days<\/strong>. Kennedy was ahead of Nixon in the campaign\u2019s internal polls for much of the race. But then in the last few weeks the gap closed. Schlesinger\u2019s explanation was that Kennedy was not only offering something new and different to the American electorate but was younger than the typical presidential candidate. And that combination ran up against the inherent conservatism of human beings.<\/p>\n

Most of us find change hard. We find new idea, new approaches, and new directions challenging. And that\u2019s true even if we are dissatisfied with much of the status quo.<\/p>\n

We know what to expect from things as they are. Our problems are familiar. We know they are coming. We have found ways to deal with them.<\/p>\n

But we don\u2019t know what to expect from a new direction or even new opportunity. We don\u2019t our lives might change. And while we my hope for something better, we are often more worried about what we might lose than what we might gain.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never had that problem. I\u2019ve never feared changed. I\u2019m with John Cage, who once said, \u201cI can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.\u201d \u00a0But I\u2019ve had enough experience through out my life of having to cajole, push, and drag people to try something new to know that Schlesinger\u2019s observation was fundamentally right.<\/p>\n

The 3rd<\/sup> District Congressional Election is a choice between a candidate who is bold and different and one who will tread the path that others have taken. And in the last week or so I\u2019ve seen the fear of change\u2014the concern that something new will go off the rails\u2014rise among some people who want to support the agent of change, Chris Rabb, but are now unsure.<\/p>\n

The US badly needs a new direction. And Democrats must point to it.<\/p>\n