Thom: The United States is not chile, South Korea, or any other country. For one thing internal surveillance is much more refined and pervasive, thanks to the PATRIOT Act, the DATA Center at Bluffdaale, UT and AI. Then there is the cultural divide. Almost unbreachable. Rural America, the South, hate with a passion "libs" whatever that stands for (race, gender, sexuality, politics, education, intellect, they are willing to endure anything so long as they can "own the libs"
Our hope lies in Number 5 and number 7
5. Build Alternative Power Structures. Already started, now we need to get our bloviating governors on board, step away from the microphone and start doing stuff like signing on to interstate compacts, sign laws for health care for all, laws to protect the vote, laws to prohibit ICE and CBP from using state facilities,laws that require state police to protect citizens from armed and masked goons who say they are federal agents, or even if they are federal aagents.
Federal employees do not have the authority to kill,harass, intimidate and kidnap people.
So far one mayor, (no governor) has taken action Denver Mayor Mike Johnston signed an executive order on February 26, 2026, banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using city-owned property and directing police to protect residents during federal immigration operations. Johnston's order aims to prevent ICE from staging actions on municipal property, amidst criticism from federal authorities.
We have a lot of big talkers (alligator mouths) but no action (humming bird ass)
7. International action.
Don’t expect any from anyone except Carney of Canada, they are too busy debasing themselves for trade. However there is hope from the private sector; The Trump trade is dead. Long live the anti-Trump trade. Wherever you look in financial markets, you see signs that global investors are going out of their way to avoid Donald Trump’s America. There might be some pain, but no pain no gain.
Daniel, Donald Trump has taken America to war against Iran.
The president who so pathetically claims to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize has launched a deadly and unconstitutional regime change war.
There is no congressional declaration of war nor authorization for the use of force in Iran, making Trump’s actions transparently unconstitutional and illegal.
Importantly, Trump’s actions in Iran would be illegal under international law even if there were congressional authorization. Iran poses no imminent security threat to the United States. Exactly like the Iraq war Trump untruthfully claimed to have opposed, this is a war of choice driven by arrogance and imperial ambition. And exactly like the Iraq war, the risks are manifold — with needless short-term deaths inevitable and long-term consequences unknowable.
War is to be expected from authoritarian rulers, who are inclined to demonstrate their power by deploying force and who by nature may tend to view genuine diplomacy as weakness.
War is also the default move of weakened political leaders, who hope that a call to rally behind the flag can overcome their unpopularity and flagging control.
Congress must act immediately to end this illegal and unconstitutional aggression.
Please join us in a simple but urgent message to Congress:
Take immediate action to end Donald Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran.
More than one thing can be true at a time. There are multiple birds that Trump is shooting with one shotgun shell.
I subscribe to Ha'aretz. Bibi fired the first shot, Trump followed suit. The two are BFF's
and have similar legal and electoral problems. On the old adage "you don't change horses in the middle of the stream", one that Dubya invoked when he declared war on Saddam (he wanted to be re elected, unlike his Dad)
Bibi is in deeper shit than Trump, at least in Israel they can bring charges against the President, and he has the Likkud and it's right wing allies, working over time to delay the reckoning.
This is also a gift to Oil Exec;s as the price of oil will rise as will the salaries and bennies of the oil company execs and shareholders.
Yep I know all of this Daniel, I subscribe to Ha'aretz. Bibi is to Israel what Trump is to America, the Likkud and settlers are Israel's MAGA
You place to much faith in Epstein, so long as Trump controls the DOJ, you will never see anything come of the Epstein files.
Help comes from elsewheres, Our governors are executives of 51 Sovereign states, and each one can declare a state of emergency and there are at least 24 governors, that aren't MAGA. I've posted this before Daniel, it is an alternative to your fixation on the Epstein files, which has and will go nowhere so long as Trump holds the reins of power
"Contact your governor. Send this to two people and ask them to send it to two more. Gmail has a feature that lets you send an email to everyone you’ve ever exchanged emails with. You can post it, announce it, whatever you feel is appropriate. We need to let people see us taking action, because that’s what makes the next person do it too. We need governors receiving thousands of these messages. We need it posted about so much that podcasters and YouTubers and even some of the oligarch media start reporting on it. You can make a difference. You can make all the difference. You can influence the situation. Please join us. We need you, and we need you to invite others.
Here is what I sent to Washington state Governor Ferguson today using the contact form at governor.wa.gov:
Governor Ferguson,
Governor, we are in a state of emergency. Please declare it as such. The threats to our national security, our elections, the economic stability of our state, the safety of our residents, all of it is sufficient justification for an official state of emergency requiring the kind of immediate, broad authority that only an emergency declaration provides. We need Washington state to aggressively investigate and criminally prosecute the crimes in the Epstein files, and refer out to other states when the evidence intersects with their criminal codes. This is the web connecting every crisis we’re facing, and pulling on it is how we restore democracy and protect the people of Washington state."
We can protest ‘till Hell freezes over and it won’t mean a thing because we have no functionaing congress. They are in on this coup or they are cowards who won’t do anything but talk about it on TV. Meaningful action is the one thing they wont’ do. We have to remember that many, many people died trying to overthrow these tyrants. I fear that’s where we are headed. As of this morning we’ve lost service members to the illegal, immoral attack on Iran. IMPEACHMENT IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL STOP THIS, BUT ALAS, THE COWARDS OF CONGRESS WILL DO NOTHING, AS USUAL.
Never ever has alternative media been this important. By reading and listening to Thom Hartmann you have already found the best.
It's also good to get in touch with other generations. Their take on what is happening is bold and filled with energy. Here are some of the really good YouTube channels and shows:
Meidas Touch Network (MTN), The Young Turks (TYT), I've Had It Podcast (IHIP), Pod Save America, Secular Talk (Kyle Kulinski & Krystal Ball), The Bulwark, Hysteria, The Daily Beast, Zeteo, The Dangerous Ones (Portland group), The Daily Beans, Adam Mockler, Harry Sisson, Keith Edwards, Jack Cocchiarella, Bryan Tyler Cohen, Luke Beasley, and for fun Have I Got News For You US or the The Daily Show.
They are out to make some "Good Trouble". A little danger can be fun. See you in the streets.
I agree, whole heartedly. One of the main causes for all this mess has occurred because of misleading, biased opinions and outright lies instituted and promoted by media primarily owned and controlled by a small group of billionaires/trillionaires.
These billionaires/trillionaires have obtained their wealth from us—all of us, and they have an agenda to control and continue this practice. They are and have been manipulating our economic and political system in order to keep their personal lifestyles in tact through an economic system they both foster and maintain to their likening and benefit, which is draining us dry.
These few controlling power brokers and money makers have convinced themselves and most of our population that they are separate and above us, more deserving than the rest of us. And, somehow, this mere fraction of the population, .5%, deserve more than all the rest of us, much more.
Possibly half of our voting population voted for this present regime because they saw and believed what they heard on TV or the internet, on stations and addresses owned, controlled or influenced by these few billionaires, where they promote their economic and political agenda. This agenda includes media, bought-off politicians and laws which they use to manipulate and siphon off our money, resources and, possibly, our very intelligence. This is their power. The people who listen to these controlled media outlets only seem to believe the sugared down versions, and twisted lies they hear and see from these news outlets.
These are economic vampires and their power comes straight from us and is channelled through their media. The media is also where they hide behind. They believe they are not only invisible to the public and also hoard what they have using laws that protect their wealth and power, they are safe from public opinion. The laws that still protect us all, as we have seen, can be changed, altered and even deleted, but that door swings both ways.
This is a crucial time, a tipping point. This group of criminals who are controlling our political and economic system believe they can so influence the next few months through their minions and their media that the will of the general public will be permanently controlled to feed only their interests alone. They are banking on their plan to make all of us completely dependent upon a system of government that will allow this small group of people to ultimately control both our livelihoods and our very bodies and what we can and can do in life.
The ONLY way for us to overcome this plan is for our population to get united and stick together. Unfortunately, most of us have succumbed to the lies of who’s to blame and what should be done, but the fact is, all of us are being used. The vast majority of the population all have this in common, and all of this ultimately is controlled by what we believe is true.
Until we unite against our common enemy, a mindset that is doing everything it can to divide the only power we have, each other, we will be doomed to fight each other and lose.
Division did not work in Minnesota, GP. Some hopium.
What you are saying is basically: It's the Billionaires, Stupid! I give you the Technate of America---the plan to dominate the Western Hemisphere and the billion people in it.
The younger podcast-ers that have also figured this out and preach it are Kyle Kulinski and Krystal Ball. Kyle's show is "Secular Talk" on YouTube.
Older people do not often make meaningful reforms, offer enduring and passionate resistance, or live long to remember. As Thom says, "...defeating authoritarianism is...a long-term process..." We have to enable young people to be the power that replaces corrupted power.
Can we, in all honesty, deny that as Democrats, and Liberal/Progressives, we have not been lacking or negligent in some ways other than being too pliable, anxious to prove we are reasonable, or too afraid to challenge reactionary conservativism, white collar corruption, and Republican crimes against nature or their indifference to human suffering? He quotes Justice Brandeis: "...let our minds be bold." Which is to let change happen and let younger minds develop without coercion or undue influence. Are even we too afraid of our impulses and desire to progress toward a better future, to be bold, to fight, and to stand up angrily for good science and more decency? What does it mean in fact to be Liberal/Progressive, and do we meet the requirements?
Have we, for example, been too reluctant to clean up capitalism as an “ism” and a bad addiction, and to condemn its many faults or weaknesses? Have we been too soft on Republican crime and their fake rationalizations? What about the failure to take on meritocracy as the actual operating system which has always ruled everywhere in the U. S., even though we claim we are opposed to that concept widely ‘in theory’ or categorically? What about democracy? Not pure political democracy, but democracy as a way of thinking, with real equality, justice, and brotherhood in the way we live and legislate as “the people” are all represented? We have never remotely begun to practice what we preach here in mellow, happy, preoccupied, milk toast America.
And, what about real Progressivism? Dewey bravely tried to give it a shot in the arm with “Progressive Education” by which he meant progressive schooling, rejecting the meritocratic and obsessive constant evaluation system. He was quoted, cited, honored, remembered, and recognized as a great thinker and scholar. Then, his beliefs and methodology were too hard to implement, too grand and scientific to apply, and too simple to overcome tradition and “the system”. They faded to black overnight to never see the light of day. Having real scholars introduce changes and real science dictating school policies was “interference “with teachers who “just teach students every day, like always” and who practice their innate skill in their naturally assigned roles without too much outside meddling or over-thinking and complicated theory.
Diane Rativich took up the battle to get back down to brass tacks (and maybe some knuckle-busting) and “back to basics” backed by well-meaning leaders such as Randi Weingarten and millions of frustrated and under-appreciated teachers. Progressive “education” got a bad name as cerebral, impractical, or as a panacea. As school goes, so goes the culture, the society, and even the political milieu. Progressivism has now been falsely and fatally labelled as Utopian, pie-in-the-sky, or wishful thinking and dreaming, or much worse, threatening and dangerous. It’s for talk shows and debates, but way too far “out there on the fringe” to be considered worthy of respect and regard.
As always, I protest. If you want to claim to be progressive, then you are obliged to act like you believe in progressive, aggressive, and committed fighters for change, modernization, and especially, science. Dewey was correct, of course. The potential must come via youth and schooling practices, conditioning, and experiences. Schools which are based on a factory model, with an arbitrary authority architecture, and subservient students have no capability for instilling progressive attitudes and habits. Schools which deliver “knowledge” pre-conceived and pre-manufactured and which enforce social values rigidly cannot allow students to create new REAL knowledge or to adequately appreciate what democracy looks and feels like. Which is why compulsory attendance laws must be struck down. Once again, the laws are the means of prohibiting anything which doesn’t maintain the authority structure and reward the muscle and money fueling the smoking engine. You cannot imagine an argument that refutes those facts. If you could, it would have been stated long ago.
Authoritarianism IS our destiny if we fail to recognize how we are keeping the door wide open for its proponents to drill obedience, conformity, and compliance into youthful consciousness. A few days ago, Thom wrote: “A clash of perspectives and approaches is how we fine-tune our ideas and correct mistakes. It’s how we prevent a concentration of power from calcifying into naked tyranny.” Liberal/Progressives and Democrats have allowed the bureaucratization and narrow restriction of perspectives through state-dictated common core curriculum and indoctrination. It may be too late to overcome those self-inflicted handicaps.
Thom: The United States is not chile, South Korea, or any other country. For one thing internal surveillance is much more refined and pervasive, thanks to the PATRIOT Act, the DATA Center at Bluffdaale, UT and AI. Then there is the cultural divide. Almost unbreachable. Rural America, the South, hate with a passion "libs" whatever that stands for (race, gender, sexuality, politics, education, intellect, they are willing to endure anything so long as they can "own the libs"
Our hope lies in Number 5 and number 7
5. Build Alternative Power Structures. Already started, now we need to get our bloviating governors on board, step away from the microphone and start doing stuff like signing on to interstate compacts, sign laws for health care for all, laws to protect the vote, laws to prohibit ICE and CBP from using state facilities,laws that require state police to protect citizens from armed and masked goons who say they are federal agents, or even if they are federal aagents.
Federal employees do not have the authority to kill,harass, intimidate and kidnap people.
So far one mayor, (no governor) has taken action Denver Mayor Mike Johnston signed an executive order on February 26, 2026, banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using city-owned property and directing police to protect residents during federal immigration operations. Johnston's order aims to prevent ICE from staging actions on municipal property, amidst criticism from federal authorities.
We have a lot of big talkers (alligator mouths) but no action (humming bird ass)
7. International action.
Don’t expect any from anyone except Carney of Canada, they are too busy debasing themselves for trade. However there is hope from the private sector; The Trump trade is dead. Long live the anti-Trump trade. Wherever you look in financial markets, you see signs that global investors are going out of their way to avoid Donald Trump’s America. There might be some pain, but no pain no gain.
https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/the-anti-trump-trade-critical-mineral?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=192845&post_id=189492167&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=9q8rt&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
How Timely, I just read this from Christopher Armitage: https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/does-an-authoritarian-takeover-of
The power lies in the states: Our governors have the authority to declare a state of emergency. so why aren't they doing it
No 8, Thom. Turn the opposition. In the Soviet Union, the head of the government had an epiphany. https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/mikhail-gorbachev-the-fundamentally-soviet-man
I am not a Christiian, but the tax collector was on the way to Damascus when.....
A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink.
Call it the "Epstein War."
Malcolm Nance just said war will keep Epstein off the headlines for maybe two days. https://deanblundell.substack.com/
He's killing several "birds." Primary is to detract from Epstein.
Secondary is personal aggrandizement.
Also raises oil prices -- to benefit Putin's war machine.
And a pretext -- an "emergency" to invoke the "unitary executive".
My sign already reads: Murder, Lies, Your Tax Dollars at Work. Now I will add The Epstein War.
In my mailbox:
Daniel, Donald Trump has taken America to war against Iran.
The president who so pathetically claims to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize has launched a deadly and unconstitutional regime change war.
There is no congressional declaration of war nor authorization for the use of force in Iran, making Trump’s actions transparently unconstitutional and illegal.
Importantly, Trump’s actions in Iran would be illegal under international law even if there were congressional authorization. Iran poses no imminent security threat to the United States. Exactly like the Iraq war Trump untruthfully claimed to have opposed, this is a war of choice driven by arrogance and imperial ambition. And exactly like the Iraq war, the risks are manifold — with needless short-term deaths inevitable and long-term consequences unknowable.
War is to be expected from authoritarian rulers, who are inclined to demonstrate their power by deploying force and who by nature may tend to view genuine diplomacy as weakness.
War is also the default move of weakened political leaders, who hope that a call to rally behind the flag can overcome their unpopularity and flagging control.
Congress must act immediately to end this illegal and unconstitutional aggression.
Please join us in a simple but urgent message to Congress:
Take immediate action to end Donald Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran.
Click to add your name now. https://www.citizen.org/
Thanks for taking action.
For peace,
- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
More than one thing can be true at a time. There are multiple birds that Trump is shooting with one shotgun shell.
I subscribe to Ha'aretz. Bibi fired the first shot, Trump followed suit. The two are BFF's
and have similar legal and electoral problems. On the old adage "you don't change horses in the middle of the stream", one that Dubya invoked when he declared war on Saddam (he wanted to be re elected, unlike his Dad)
Bibi is in deeper shit than Trump, at least in Israel they can bring charges against the President, and he has the Likkud and it's right wing allies, working over time to delay the reckoning.
This is also a gift to Oil Exec;s as the price of oil will rise as will the salaries and bennies of the oil company execs and shareholders.
TRUMP TOLD BIG OIL HE'D DELIVER THEIR WISHLIST IF THEY SPENT $1B ON HIS CAMPAIGN. AND HE'S DOING IT https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/videos/watch/trump-told-big-oil-hed-deliver-their-wishlist-if-they-spent-1b-on-his-campaign-and-hes-doing-it
So we have
1. A distraction from Epstein
2. A distraction from ICE , DHS, DOJ
3. A gift to Bibi
4. A gift to the petrobros.
Netanyahu has been indicted for fraud. Has faced trial since about 2023. Has little popular support. Also deflects.
Trump has also done this for personal aggrandizement, as a favor to Putin etc...
BUT WHERE HE IS MOST VULNERABLE IS EPSTEIN. His own people are turning on him. ..
Yep I know all of this Daniel, I subscribe to Ha'aretz. Bibi is to Israel what Trump is to America, the Likkud and settlers are Israel's MAGA
You place to much faith in Epstein, so long as Trump controls the DOJ, you will never see anything come of the Epstein files.
Help comes from elsewheres, Our governors are executives of 51 Sovereign states, and each one can declare a state of emergency and there are at least 24 governors, that aren't MAGA. I've posted this before Daniel, it is an alternative to your fixation on the Epstein files, which has and will go nowhere so long as Trump holds the reins of power
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/does-an-authoritarian-takeover-of
From his newsletter I quote"
"Contact your governor. Send this to two people and ask them to send it to two more. Gmail has a feature that lets you send an email to everyone you’ve ever exchanged emails with. You can post it, announce it, whatever you feel is appropriate. We need to let people see us taking action, because that’s what makes the next person do it too. We need governors receiving thousands of these messages. We need it posted about so much that podcasters and YouTubers and even some of the oligarch media start reporting on it. You can make a difference. You can make all the difference. You can influence the situation. Please join us. We need you, and we need you to invite others.
Find contact information for your governor here: https://www.usa.gov/state-governor
Here is what I sent to Washington state Governor Ferguson today using the contact form at governor.wa.gov:
Governor Ferguson,
Governor, we are in a state of emergency. Please declare it as such. The threats to our national security, our elections, the economic stability of our state, the safety of our residents, all of it is sufficient justification for an official state of emergency requiring the kind of immediate, broad authority that only an emergency declaration provides. We need Washington state to aggressively investigate and criminally prosecute the crimes in the Epstein files, and refer out to other states when the evidence intersects with their criminal codes. This is the web connecting every crisis we’re facing, and pulling on it is how we restore democracy and protect the people of Washington state."
We can protest ‘till Hell freezes over and it won’t mean a thing because we have no functionaing congress. They are in on this coup or they are cowards who won’t do anything but talk about it on TV. Meaningful action is the one thing they wont’ do. We have to remember that many, many people died trying to overthrow these tyrants. I fear that’s where we are headed. As of this morning we’ve lost service members to the illegal, immoral attack on Iran. IMPEACHMENT IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL STOP THIS, BUT ALAS, THE COWARDS OF CONGRESS WILL DO NOTHING, AS USUAL.
They won't if we don't pressure them.
Never, ever.....
Never ever has alternative media been this important. By reading and listening to Thom Hartmann you have already found the best.
It's also good to get in touch with other generations. Their take on what is happening is bold and filled with energy. Here are some of the really good YouTube channels and shows:
Meidas Touch Network (MTN), The Young Turks (TYT), I've Had It Podcast (IHIP), Pod Save America, Secular Talk (Kyle Kulinski & Krystal Ball), The Bulwark, Hysteria, The Daily Beast, Zeteo, The Dangerous Ones (Portland group), The Daily Beans, Adam Mockler, Harry Sisson, Keith Edwards, Jack Cocchiarella, Bryan Tyler Cohen, Luke Beasley, and for fun Have I Got News For You US or the The Daily Show.
They are out to make some "Good Trouble". A little danger can be fun. See you in the streets.
I agree, whole heartedly. One of the main causes for all this mess has occurred because of misleading, biased opinions and outright lies instituted and promoted by media primarily owned and controlled by a small group of billionaires/trillionaires.
These billionaires/trillionaires have obtained their wealth from us—all of us, and they have an agenda to control and continue this practice. They are and have been manipulating our economic and political system in order to keep their personal lifestyles in tact through an economic system they both foster and maintain to their likening and benefit, which is draining us dry.
These few controlling power brokers and money makers have convinced themselves and most of our population that they are separate and above us, more deserving than the rest of us. And, somehow, this mere fraction of the population, .5%, deserve more than all the rest of us, much more.
Possibly half of our voting population voted for this present regime because they saw and believed what they heard on TV or the internet, on stations and addresses owned, controlled or influenced by these few billionaires, where they promote their economic and political agenda. This agenda includes media, bought-off politicians and laws which they use to manipulate and siphon off our money, resources and, possibly, our very intelligence. This is their power. The people who listen to these controlled media outlets only seem to believe the sugared down versions, and twisted lies they hear and see from these news outlets.
These are economic vampires and their power comes straight from us and is channelled through their media. The media is also where they hide behind. They believe they are not only invisible to the public and also hoard what they have using laws that protect their wealth and power, they are safe from public opinion. The laws that still protect us all, as we have seen, can be changed, altered and even deleted, but that door swings both ways.
This is a crucial time, a tipping point. This group of criminals who are controlling our political and economic system believe they can so influence the next few months through their minions and their media that the will of the general public will be permanently controlled to feed only their interests alone. They are banking on their plan to make all of us completely dependent upon a system of government that will allow this small group of people to ultimately control both our livelihoods and our very bodies and what we can and can do in life.
The ONLY way for us to overcome this plan is for our population to get united and stick together. Unfortunately, most of us have succumbed to the lies of who’s to blame and what should be done, but the fact is, all of us are being used. The vast majority of the population all have this in common, and all of this ultimately is controlled by what we believe is true.
Until we unite against our common enemy, a mindset that is doing everything it can to divide the only power we have, each other, we will be doomed to fight each other and lose.
Division did not work in Minnesota, GP. Some hopium.
What you are saying is basically: It's the Billionaires, Stupid! I give you the Technate of America---the plan to dominate the Western Hemisphere and the billion people in it.
The younger podcast-ers that have also figured this out and preach it are Kyle Kulinski and Krystal Ball. Kyle's show is "Secular Talk" on YouTube.
Older people do not often make meaningful reforms, offer enduring and passionate resistance, or live long to remember. As Thom says, "...defeating authoritarianism is...a long-term process..." We have to enable young people to be the power that replaces corrupted power.
Can we, in all honesty, deny that as Democrats, and Liberal/Progressives, we have not been lacking or negligent in some ways other than being too pliable, anxious to prove we are reasonable, or too afraid to challenge reactionary conservativism, white collar corruption, and Republican crimes against nature or their indifference to human suffering? He quotes Justice Brandeis: "...let our minds be bold." Which is to let change happen and let younger minds develop without coercion or undue influence. Are even we too afraid of our impulses and desire to progress toward a better future, to be bold, to fight, and to stand up angrily for good science and more decency? What does it mean in fact to be Liberal/Progressive, and do we meet the requirements?
Have we, for example, been too reluctant to clean up capitalism as an “ism” and a bad addiction, and to condemn its many faults or weaknesses? Have we been too soft on Republican crime and their fake rationalizations? What about the failure to take on meritocracy as the actual operating system which has always ruled everywhere in the U. S., even though we claim we are opposed to that concept widely ‘in theory’ or categorically? What about democracy? Not pure political democracy, but democracy as a way of thinking, with real equality, justice, and brotherhood in the way we live and legislate as “the people” are all represented? We have never remotely begun to practice what we preach here in mellow, happy, preoccupied, milk toast America.
And, what about real Progressivism? Dewey bravely tried to give it a shot in the arm with “Progressive Education” by which he meant progressive schooling, rejecting the meritocratic and obsessive constant evaluation system. He was quoted, cited, honored, remembered, and recognized as a great thinker and scholar. Then, his beliefs and methodology were too hard to implement, too grand and scientific to apply, and too simple to overcome tradition and “the system”. They faded to black overnight to never see the light of day. Having real scholars introduce changes and real science dictating school policies was “interference “with teachers who “just teach students every day, like always” and who practice their innate skill in their naturally assigned roles without too much outside meddling or over-thinking and complicated theory.
Diane Rativich took up the battle to get back down to brass tacks (and maybe some knuckle-busting) and “back to basics” backed by well-meaning leaders such as Randi Weingarten and millions of frustrated and under-appreciated teachers. Progressive “education” got a bad name as cerebral, impractical, or as a panacea. As school goes, so goes the culture, the society, and even the political milieu. Progressivism has now been falsely and fatally labelled as Utopian, pie-in-the-sky, or wishful thinking and dreaming, or much worse, threatening and dangerous. It’s for talk shows and debates, but way too far “out there on the fringe” to be considered worthy of respect and regard.
As always, I protest. If you want to claim to be progressive, then you are obliged to act like you believe in progressive, aggressive, and committed fighters for change, modernization, and especially, science. Dewey was correct, of course. The potential must come via youth and schooling practices, conditioning, and experiences. Schools which are based on a factory model, with an arbitrary authority architecture, and subservient students have no capability for instilling progressive attitudes and habits. Schools which deliver “knowledge” pre-conceived and pre-manufactured and which enforce social values rigidly cannot allow students to create new REAL knowledge or to adequately appreciate what democracy looks and feels like. Which is why compulsory attendance laws must be struck down. Once again, the laws are the means of prohibiting anything which doesn’t maintain the authority structure and reward the muscle and money fueling the smoking engine. You cannot imagine an argument that refutes those facts. If you could, it would have been stated long ago.
Authoritarianism IS our destiny if we fail to recognize how we are keeping the door wide open for its proponents to drill obedience, conformity, and compliance into youthful consciousness. A few days ago, Thom wrote: “A clash of perspectives and approaches is how we fine-tune our ideas and correct mistakes. It’s how we prevent a concentration of power from calcifying into naked tyranny.” Liberal/Progressives and Democrats have allowed the bureaucratization and narrow restriction of perspectives through state-dictated common core curriculum and indoctrination. It may be too late to overcome those self-inflicted handicaps.