You have to accept "those" people as being as fully human as yourself and as deserving of basic civilized life as yourself, and lots of people simply refuse to do so.

I wish like hell the Democrats had done more victory laps.

Maybe we define "victory lap" in different ways. But I remember late '08 and early '09 -- it was like the economic world was coming to an end. Yes, things are rough right now. But the Democrats do have a story: We saved America from the abyss.

(Note: Because of my job, I'm not going to express any opinion on whether any particular thing should or shouldn't have been done.)

What I meant was that the Democrats didn't celebrate their successes enough.

I hate the word seminal.

Should we use "semen filled" instead?

Is there anything to be read between the lines that "seminal" means "important" and also something male-specific?

I thought "seminal" meant "the source from which the ideas came forth."

From OED:

Etymology: < French séminal (14th cent. in Hatzfeld & Darmesteter), = Provençal seminal , Spanish seminal , Portuguese seminal , Italian seminale , < Latin sēminālis , < sēmin- , sēmen seed, semen n.: see -al suffix1.

Is there anything to be read between the lines that "seminal" means "important" and also something male-specific?

It's just a literal translation. semen = seed. Seminal = filled with seeds. In its essence, "Seminal" means "the seed from which bigger things grew."

Am I overexplaining? Could I use the word "seminal" more? Tartlets, tartlets...the word has lost all meaning.

For some reason this is reminding me of a story that someone here (Kat, meara??) told about the trees that smelled like semen, and all the lesbians being like "What is that horrible, disgusting, repulsive smell?"

But the word does make me think of someone ejaculating all over the work in a way I do not like.

Tartlets, tartlets...the word has lost all meaning.

I keep trying to say that to people who don't know what I'm talking about.

I agree with points made by Typo Boy and Ginger. I've been really frustrated with the way the President and the Democrats overall have handled things, not just the things I think they're wrong on, but even the things I think they've done right. If the Democrats had done more to make their successes visible "on the ground", I think more people would have turned up to vote. If you don't follow the pundits or read the papers, you don't know what's going on except for what happens around you. If you and your friends and family and community are still struggling financially, and you know we're still (back, again) at war, it might be hard to come up with a reason why you should vote, why one vote would matter, or why one party is meaningfully different from the other.

Also, I now dislike the word seminal. Ew.