Epilogue: Hope with Teeth — A Guest Post By Matthew Pearce
NAFO founding member Matthew Pearce reminds us negotiating with lunatics is not a winning strategy, as he documents small, important victories
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“Democracy isn’t always saved by soaring speeches. It’s saved by paperwork, court filings, and governors who still care. The dream lives in clerks, in lawsuits, in late-night legal drafts that stop one more authoritarian stunt before it hits the headlines… It’s small. It’s procedural. It’s beautiful…
“That’s what hope looks like now. Not kumbaya, more like controlled fury with a check list.”—Matthew Pearce for Bette Dangerous
Author’s note: You can follow NAFO founding member Matthew Pearce at The Angry Dogs Substack. Please share this Bette Dangerous guest post with your networks.—hsc
Guest Post: Epilogue — Hope with Teeth
Follow up to Gavin Newsom. Chuck Schumer need not apply because Wins are important, negotiating with lunatics is not.
By Matthew Pearce
Every once in a while, the universe throws us a bone.
It’s not a revolution, it’s a judge in Oregon saying no, the National Guard isn’t your personal army. It’s Josh Shapiro, snapping back at J.D. Vance and putting food money where his mouth is.
It’s small. It’s procedural. It’s beautiful.
These moments don’t trend, because they don’t fit the algorithm outrage cycle. But every time one happens, something good holds.
A door that was supposed to slam shut on someone, stays open.
A system that was written off as broken, actually works for a bit.
And the people trying to burn it all down have to sit there and seethe, waiting for the next outrage to sell.That’s what hope looks like now. Not kumbaya, more like controlled fury with a check list. Because democracy isn’t always saved by soaring speeches. It’s saved by paperwork, court filings, and governors who still care. The dream lives in clerks, in lawsuits, in late-night legal drafts that stop one more authoritarian stunt before it hits the headlines.
You can feel the shift, can’t you? The fatigue is still there, but so is the pushback. For every loud fascist cosplay rally, there’s a quieter win in a courtroom or a statehouse that says: not this time.
That’s the rhythm now.
Small victories. Slow justice. A flicker of decency refusing to die.
So celebrate them. Mock the bastards. Keep receipts.
Because these little wins aren’t scraps; they’re footholds.
And every foothold means we’re still climbing.—Matthew Pearce for Bette Dangerous
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