:this: and also

I like to see it as a sales funnel, with Hasan out there canvassing leads (the sales funnel) to at least hearing Socialism's sales pitch (the first conversion). Hasan's whole job is to get a Leftist foot in the door. From there the baton is passed to the next group (like us) to further convert those people. Rarely is a sales pitch a one-and-done thing, especially for huge projects like political change, so we need to stair-step. The biggest tool in our toolbox is The Burden Of Being Right. When we make predictions and explain how we got that conclusion it basically does all the real hard work for us.

I say all of this as a former Clintonite Liberal^[Yes, I used to say "Socially Liberal Fiscally Conservative" and "Socialism works in theory but not in practice" completely unironically. American brainworms go deep.] during the Bush years, arguing in good but naive faith with Leftists. I needed to get cooked on low heat as I got most historical events wrong time and time again while Leftists got most everything right.