By Edward Miller

The news hits us like a torrent, its pace almost as distressing as its content. News cycles are measured in minutes, not days.

This blog cannot maintain a minute-by-minute pace with events. For that we must depend on others like The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. What the Moral Compass can do, however, is step back, slow down and offer ideas for thinking and doing.

For thinking, read Frank Bruni’s recent column.

In this sober piece, Bruni asks, “Have Democrats learned and implemented all the right lessons from Trump’s victory and from the party’s brutal fade during Barack Obama’s presidency?”

He celebrates our outrage at Trump’s outrageous behavior, but warns that outrage seldom translates into successful opposition:

“Yelling has an impact, but it takes you only so far if you don’t choose your battles, marshal your fiercest energy for ones that can yield concrete results, and buckle down to the nitty-gritty of electing legislators who can actually vote against Trump’s worst initiatives in numbers that exceed those of his abettors.”

Furthermore, Bruni suggests practicality be tempered by proportionality.

“When you treat every last tweet of Trump’s as if it’s the botched operation in Yemen, voters lose sight of the botched operation in Yemen.

 “Trump provokes ire by the minute, but the response needs to be fashioned by the day or even week, lest everything blur. Resistance is a dish best served with discernment. Too much salt and you can’t taste the food itself.”

Whatever the tactic, the long-term strategy must to elect representatives who actually represent our nation’s values and not the whims of an uninformed and increasingly unpopular demagogue.

Now for the doing.

How well do you know who represents you in Congress and state legislatures? Here’s an easy way to gather the names and numbers of five key officials: your two U.S. senators, your representative in Congress, and your local state senator and state representative.

Send a text to 520-200-2223 and insert your ZIP code. Within a second or two you’ll get a response with the names and phone numbers of your five elected officials.

The next step is to send a message.