# Dear Democrats. You're Close to Something Real. Don't Waste It.

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011/dear-democrats-you-re-close-to-something-real-don-t-waste-it
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011/dear-democrats-you-re-close-to-something-real-don-t-waste-it.md
Podcast: [I Believe](https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-believe-6610011)
Published: 2026-03-03T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://joelkdouglas.substack.com/p/dear-democrats-youre-close-to-something
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/189387583/34cfd9401116aa8e373e44ab89f2822d.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/i-believe-6610011/episodes/dear-democrats-you-re-close-to-something-real-don-t-waste-it
Duration seconds: 1542

## Resource

Once upon a time, I might have been a Democrat. The theory sounds good. Love your neighbor. Build systems that catch people when they fall. Use the government to do what charity alone can’t. I’ve read the arguments. Listened to the sermons. But the more I pull on the logic threads, the more it comes apart. Not because the compassion is wrong. The compassion is right. After all, rend our hearts, not our garments . We need to dig deeper. I’m listening to James Talarico, the Texas state rep running for Senate. The seminarian. Stephen Colbert wasn’t allowed to put him on television . He gave a sermon in Lubbock, where he said the word “love” three dozen times , and people in the second most conservative city in America didn’t laugh. He says politics is just another word for how we treat our neighbors . He’s right. That’s not a liberal idea. It’s a constitutional idea. The framers called it the General Welfare. It’s one of our six national goals, along with Justice, Liberty, Order, Defense, and Union. So I’m writing this to Democrats. Not as an opponent. You’ve been searching for a path forward because you’re getting pummeled. I think your guy is close to something real. And I don’t want you to waste it. Let’s start with a story. There’s a town in northern Missouri called Chillicothe. It sits where the Grand River gathers its creeks and the hills open into bean fields. I’ve chased big whitetail bucks there. The town is real. The math is real. The people I’m about to describe are not. And there are a thousand towns like this between here and Washington. Act I. Chillicothe The Grand River comes down out of Iowa in two forks. They run south through Livingston County and meet a few miles west of town. From there, the river carries everything the land gives it. The Thompson come…

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## Transcript

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