We're NOT Doomed: May 7, 2026

It's on us to make noise.

Yesterday, someone complained to me on Facebook that the DNC is only giving an additional $5k a month to red states. They said that’s not enough and it proves the DNC is out of touch.

But here’s the question, how can they give more money when they are in debt because most people refuse to donate to them anymore?

I mean, they literally are having to scale back on their incredible plans because people refuse to donate. Here’s a quote from a recent Washington Post article:

The committee shelved some of its plans to invest in the South, a region where Martin says the party needs to expand its reach into growing areas dominated by Republicans…They also discarded the idea of a midterm party convention to showcase candidates because they worried there wasn’t enough money for the proposal, the sources said.

You can’t complain that an org isn’t doing enough AND refuse to give them money to do the things you want them to do.

It doesn’t work that way.

I promise you, Ken Martin would love to give an additional $10k to red state Dem parties, or even an additional $20k to all state Dem parties regardless of the partisan lean of their state, but the DNC doesn’t have the money. They barely have the money to give the additional $5k they’ve already promised.

And then that leads to “well, if they just stopped texting me”

So what should they be doing? It’s not that they think texting and emailing is the best answer, but what’s better?

You can’t say “this sucks, it must go away” without having something else to take its place.

I know from my conversations with people at the DNC and DCCC that they are working on this, but the best way for it to happen slower is to make sure they don’t have enough money.

If you donate, you are not proving that these methods work, they already know they don’t work. Your refusal doesn’t make that clearer. All you’re doing is making it harder to find a better solution.

You can be anti capitalist and also realize we live in a capitalist society. If you want people and organizations to be able to get creative, they need money to do so.

When you stop donating to the DNC or DCCC you’re not telling them their methods suck, you’re saying they must take the small amount of money they are getting and make it stretch further.

That’s not possible. It’s already stretched to the max.

The donor class doesn’t want to give them money anymore, because they’re not taking their advice anymore. That’s what you wanted, right?

Well you have to prove that was a viable idea.

Making fun of the DNC for doing what you asked isn’t helping your cause.

It is possible to change how the DNC works. We know how powerful small dollar donors are. But they don’t have those either, because every single post I see says “I’ll never donate another dime to the DNC till they do X.”

What is your “X” that they can do without money?

You don’t think they’re doing enough? Great, they don’t either, like, at all.

But all you’re doing is making it even more likely they can’t.

And who is that helping, exactly?

Certainly not the southern states that need our investment and time and energy.

Maine

Fri, April 10 - Back in 2022, Governor Janet Mills started a free college program for new high school graduates to attend Community College tuition free. The program covered students who graduated from 2020-2023 and then was extended to 2025.

Now, as part of the new budget, Maine community college will be free for all high school graduates going forward. To qualify, you must first apply for grants and scholarships, and attend within two years of your high school graduation.

To date, this program has covered over 23,000 graduates, with many more to come now that it’s permanent.

Julius Edwards, President of Eastern Maine Community College said:

Free College represents a commitment to creating opportunities for students and families at Eastern Maine Community College and across Maine…By expanding access to education, we are not only supporting individual students. We are strengthening Maine’s economy through education.

Even if college isn’t for everyone, it’s amazing that every student has the option if they want it.

And removing the barrier to learning, especially when Republicans want us to know less and ask less questions, makes me feel less Doomed.

Joplin, Missouri

Mon, April 20 - There is no better story to prove the power of our voices. Ryan Jackson is a member of the Joplin council. He ran unopposed for the seat, and he has now been censured due to a very transphobic comment against council candidate, Ellie Wolsey, on social media.

Initially they voted to remove Jackson from office, but that vote failed 5-4 (it needed 3/4 to pass), so they pivoted to censuring him, which passed 8-1, with the one being Keenan Cortez, who felt censuring wasn’t enough.

And he’s right, it’s not. But nothing would have happened if it wasn’t for JOMO Pride founder Ron Burch who led this effort.

And, as Burch says, even 4 in favor of recall is a huge deal in a city like Joplin. In a statement, he said:

I feel good that some council members did see that maybe Mr. Jackson shouldn’t be representing the city. So, a 5-to-4 vote for his removal is pretty historic in Joplin. Even a censure is pretty historic in Joplin. Hopefully this is a way to hold him accountable and prevent him from attacking people in the future.

To put it in perspective, 2026 is the first time there has been a democratic challenger in this state senate district since 2018.

So four votes for recall over transphobia? That’s a BIG deal, and makes me feel less Doomed.

Global

Mon, April 27 - We can knock Disney for a lot of things, but National Deaf History Month in April, they recreated several of their most beloved songs with animated sign language. And yes it is animated, not AI.

The idea was the brainchild of animator and director Hyrum Osmond who, with a team of 20 animators worked to make this as authentic and meaningful as possible.

He said:

From the very beginning of the project, we were never going to take sign language and just slap it on to character performances. In the majority of cases, we’ve created entirely new animation. Our directive to the animators was for them not to be bound by what was there. Our approach was to use the sign language reference footage shot with the actors from Deaf West as a base structure, but then to adjust that for the texture of the shot.

That’s right, they worked directly with Deaf West Theatre to bring this to life. And made sure to hire deaf actors from the communities the songs were from.

Unfortunately none of these articles name the actors who created the signs, that were later animated, but “Beyond,” from Moana was signed by a Samoan deaf actor, while “We Don’t Talk about Bruno,” from Encanto was signed by a Colombian deaf actor.

Look, Disney gets a lot of things wrong, and I don’t even want to give them credit for this. I’m sure it only happened because Osmond is a veteran and really used his pull to make this a reality. But also, it shows that they thought this would be profitable.

Everyday the administration keeps trying to prove that making things diverse and inclusive and equitable is a bad decision for any company’s bottom line. Our voices are proving the opposite.

We are making enough noise that a company like Disney has decided that even right now showing real care for a piece of content for the deaf community isn’t bad for their bottom line. So yeah, this story makes me feel less Doomed, but it’s because we’re using OUR power and forcing them to listen.

Regardless of if they want to or not.

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So those are some of the ways we’re not Doomed. I hope this reminds you that we just have to keep fighting.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!