The clock is ticking, and cynicism isn’t a strategy. Here’s the concrete, local, Tea Party-style roadmap to rebuild Democrats into a fighting progressive party…
Because of Bernie Sanders saying that people needed to get involved, I filed paperwork in 2016 to be elected as a precinct committee person starting in 2017. Nobody was in the position before me, so I was automatically elected. I’ve been automatically elected every 4 years since. I recommend doing it. I chair the platform committee in my county party too. It’s all volunteer work in my state, but it’s a good thing to be doing.
If I were not nearly deaf but also sound sensitive and mobility limited, I would happily do what you urge, Thom. I hope younger (I’m approaching 78), healthier progressives heed your call. I will keep doing what I can—post comments, make small donations to candidates I favor (most recently AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Mamdani, some others). It will take time, though, and I am not sure how much we have. The coming elections will be a barometer, both in weather and how they occur and the outcome after all the court challenges that are likely.
Agreed - Each of us need to do something, even things very small - just communicating, just small financial contributions, especially to your local democrats that agree with your ideas of building communities within a constitution.
My main "thing" is to spread knowledge of the results of data experts showing that the Republicans cheated on the 2024 and the 2020 elections (as well of course in 2016).
Several independent groups have shown that the cheating was severe in the fringe states, and even in the recent 2025 Tennessee election.
The work is non-trivial to both do and to explain - I urge every reader to spend 30 minutes or an hour reading through the work of ETA=https://electiontruthalliance.org/ and also other sites referenced there. - "This will Hold" has excellent resumes of the work continuing.
Did Trump win or lose the 2024 elections if all the votes were counted correctly?? That question still needs to be answered... My reading of the latest data suggests he lost.
Yesterday I sent your entire article to the Working Families Party "contact us" page and asked them not to keep helping the GOP. No answer of course, but maybe somebody read it and thought about the message. Anyway, you are right about how people who aren't prominent can tip the balance. Unlike Trotsky, Stalin was not an obvious leader. But he did very well in what sounded like the boring position of General Secretary of the Communist Party. That gave him power to do two things. One, control appointments to party and government offices. And two, write the agenda for meetings. Behind the facade is where power often lies.
People form parties and organizations for good reasons, but once the money and attention starts flowing in, the purpose became irrelevant, and Fantastic and much needed piece Thom, we need a Concord Project of our own, to take over the Democratic party and make it a true populist party. Trump and MAGA are not populism, they parade as such, but their populism is limited to the narrowest swatch of America
Sadly many Democratic hopefuls are imitating them, in the hopes of winning an election.
You don't have to throws and minorities , under the bus as Gavin Newsom did, you just have to cease making them a cause celebre, don't elevate or even talking about those who are victims of the culture war. Just take action to help them when in office.
LBJ didn't advertuse Civil Rights and the Great Society Program, He merely pushed through and signed the legislation.
Run on real patriotism, encourage others to discuss the war on Venezuela for what it really is, a grab for the oil reserves, not a war on drugs.and for the benefit of Exxon Mobil and the petro cabal, not for you and I.
Broadcast the hegemnistic designs of the tech bros, Trump and his backers, that of the Technate of America, of which Canada, Greenland, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil are part.
Lost Jobs, inflation, there is a lot of meat, but sublimate culture war issues, don't feed them negative propaganda, And for special interests on the left, my advice, choke it up, stop bleating, whining complaining, accusing and demanding special attention.
BLM fed abd grew tge right, as did defund the police, even the Occupy Movement was counter productive,.
Although the situation caused by 250 years of instiutional and systemic oppression, has led to the marginalization and discriminaion of 13% of the populace, you aren't going to make amends or solve the problem by handing out checks, so don't even whisper the possibility, You do it by quietly shifting assets and programs to depressed areas, provide jobs, subsidize edcuation, health care
And recognize that there is a point, in objecting to "men" in women's sports", but the point is larger than that. There is a lot of inequality in sports, not just on gender, but on culture, physique,. Culture affects one's self perception, and self perception is all important in all things human, including sports.
As for physique, why no noise about Michael Phelps and his tons of gold medals. Phelps steps on to the edge of a pool with and advantage, his height and arm reach, He takes one stroke for every one and one quarter stroke of his competitors and nothing is said of that.
There are cultures and yes races, that have a biological advantage (I know that that statement will raise eyebrows and demurrers, even accusations, but prove me wrong and not by an exception.
The only way to win is to let America know that their very lifestyle, their ability to support themselves and their families is threatened if they continue on the path.
What would be great is to run on a program that forbids hedge funds and corporations from owning single family dwellings. And that every citizen is entitled to health care and affordable drugs, but that will cut off the legs and donor cash from AHIP and PhRMA
I got into some heated exchanges mostly on the Reich Substack, leading up to the 2024 election, with RFK Jr and Jill Stein advocates, at least they said they were, the Jill Stein voters were most likely part of a Russian troll farm. They disappeared after Nov 5th.
Third parties work at the local level, but not at the national level, every third party attempt at the national level has resulted in a victory for the establishment, the plutocrats.
Agreed we have to change the party from within, and that starts with cleaning house at the DNC, but they are their own worst enemies. Too many professionals making house and car payments off of Vote Blue, and enjoying benefits from corporations and lobbyists. a meme to justify their existence.
My favorite example is the March of Dimes, founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to find cure for polio. They didn't, they couldn't for finding a cure would have made the organization and it's well paid, hob nobbing executives and employees superfluous,
However a non affiliated scientist, Jonas Salk, did, and his vaccine made Polio ancient history and as the last of the victims started to die, the MoD, closed the doors, went into think tank mode, and reopened with a new charter, and one for which there will never be a cure.. Birth Defects., now they exec's can continue to receive salaries and be invited to
cocktail parties and hob nob with politicians.
The Working Parties Family party is not about anything other than self disparagement
People are listening to your show and acting. I am in a red county of a blue state. Younger people have taken over running the local party. They make sure that people understand that filling the precinct jobs is how to have your say.
When someone chooses to run or is elected everyone at the monthly meeting is introduced to them. They are given time to address us so we know their thoughts and faces. They are given applause and recognized for their work.
Can't thank you enough, Thom and Company. We CAN get there from here. See you in the streets.
Fantastic and much needed piece Thom, we need a Concord Project of our own, to take over the Democratic party and make it a true populist party. Trump and MAGA are not populism, they parade as such, but their populism is limited to the narrowest swatch of America
Sadly many Democratic hopefuls are imitating them, in the hopes of winning an election.
You don't have to throws and minorities , under the bus as Gavin Newsom did, you just have to cease making them a cause celebre, don't elevate or even talking about those who are victims of the culture war. Just take action to help them when in office.
LBJ didn't advertuse Civil Rights and the Great Society Program, He merely pushed through and signed the legislation.
Run on real patriotism, encourage others to discuss the war on Venezuela for what it really is, a grab for the oil reserves, not a war on drugs.and for the benefit of Exxon Mobil and the petro cabal, not for you and I.
Broadcast the hegemnistic designs of the tech bros, Trump and his backers, that of the Technate of America, of which Canada, Greenland, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil are part.
Lost Jobs, inflation, there is a lot of meat, but sublimate culture war issues, don't feed them negative propaganda, And for special interests on the left, my advice, choke it up, stop bleating, whining complaining, accusing and demanding special attention.
BLM fed abd grew tge right, as did defund the police, even the Occupy Movement was counter productive,.
Although the situation caused by 250 years of instiutional and systemic oppression, has led to the marginalization and discriminaion of 13% of the populace, you aren't going to make amends or solve the problem by handing out checks, so don't even whisper the possibility, You do it by quietly shifting assets and programs to depressed areas, provide jobs, subsidize edcuation, health care
And recognize that there is a point, in objecting to "men" in women's sports", but the point is larger than that. There is a lot of inequality in sports, not just on gender, but on culture, physique,. Culture affects one's self perception, and self perception is all important in all things human, including sports.
As for physique, why no noise about Michael Phelps and his tons of gold medals. Phelps steps on to the edge of a pool with and advantage, his height and arm reach, He takes one stroke for every one and one quarter stroke of his competitors and nothing is said of that.
There are cultures and yes races, that have a biological advantage (I know that that statment will raise eyebrows and demurrers, even accusations, but prove me wrong and not by an exception.
The only way to win is to let America know that their very lifestyle, their ability to support themselves and their amilies is threatened if they continue on the path.
What would be great is to run on a program that forbids hedge funds and corportions from owning single family dwellings. Abd that every citizen is entitled to health care and affordable drugs, but that will cut off the legs and donor cash from AHIP and PhRMA
I got into some heated exchanges mostly on the Reich Substack, leading up to the 2024 election, with RFK Jr and Jill Stein advocates, at least they said they were, the Jill Stein voters were most likely part of a Russian troll farm. They disappeared after Nov 5th.
Third parties work at the local level, but not at the national level, everythird party attempt at the national level has resulted in a victory for the establishment, the plutocrats.
Agreed we have to change the party from within, and that starts with cleaning house at the DNC, but they are their own worst enemies. Too many professionals making house and car payments off of Vote Blue, and enjoying benefits from corporations and lobbyists.
So, the Tea Partiers had the Concord Project to help them infiltrate local politics and capture the republican party.
Do real-deal progressive democrats have anything like the Concord Project? Something that could help them infiltrate the democratic party and replace the corporate sell-outs? Something that we might maybe call the Conquer Project?
The Tea Party had the Koch brothers behind them. Real-deal progressive democrats have something even more powerful: the public good.
Excellent way to end 2025 and begin to focus on 2026, Thom! As abhorrent as the Tea Party movement was, we must acknowledge their success in reshaping the Republican Party. And it has been true for a long time that the Democratic Party needs a similar revamp--from top to bottom--to better reflect what actual boots-on-the-ground Democrats want and expect of their party. So let the effort begin at the precinct level! Let's turn things around in 2026.
Yes, from the inside out, but there is much more to be reviewed, recollected and considered than just a surface review of the right’s model.
There are things that the bad guys did that can work for Progressives. And things that will not translate.
Micro-level, locale by locale organizing and mobilizing, as Thom highlights must be ramped up. Unfortunately, while there has continued to be progressive leaning players in the field, they have not been coordinated to conform to a national vision toward a step by step, long term campaign.
The right kept, until around 2015, the monsters relatively quiet and in the back room, telling them that their day would come. Trump unleashed them, not to the GOP’s long term plan schedule, but to his own advantage. Once they were out, the GOP leadership could not put them back into the lamp.
So far, a GOP movement featuring guys with CAMP AUSCHWITZ tee shirts or guys chanting, over and again for hours “Jews will not replace us…” has yet to eat itself up.
This is very much due to the progressive failure to respond to the right’s aggressive media strategy I will mention, below. If people are not encouraged to outrage on the evening news, they will not be outraged. It is just where we are as a people.
Contrary to the right’s keeping the vermin under the rocks for years, organized “progressives’, however, have since the late ‘60s had no trouble letting it all hang out. I have, since that time, argued against having every splinter faction of the body populace get their 15 minutes at the microphone.
I got banned from the DAILY KOS for suggesting that it is time to tell the Handicapped Lesbians with AIDs to sit in the back room and shut up until we get back on track.
Every time one of these groups open their mouths, the Rightwing Echo Chamber salivates with delight with the ammunition Progressives lay, free of charge, at their door.
So, if we are going to work from the bottom up, along with the grass roots process and workers, they will need a coordinated messaging plan, AND a medium/media to deliver the framed message. George Clooney smiling on TV is not going to carry the day.
What will not work for us as it does for the right is the corporate Dem reliance on big money. Whether on the national or precinct level, the Democratic Party cannot deliver a revived message while ensuring Wall St is happy with the message.
I recall, vividly, the day Obama was asked about the subprime mortgage catastrophe that destroyed the lives of perhaps a million or more American families. Specifically, what action would he take against the perpetrators… He mumbled something about the country needing a financial system.
We lost the common man and woman in America in that moment. If the corporate Dems had put a dozen or so of those thieves into jail… If Obama had thrown his administration’s support behind Occupy Wall St, we may not be faced with this looming catastrophe.
Instead, the right snapped up the message and created the Tea Party to replace what shoulda, coulda, woulda been a winning movement for progressives.
In place of big money, Progressives must immediately develop a tight financing network and control of who gets what when. Grass-roots teaming must find an alternative to Wall St money. Silicon Valley has deserted the Democratic Party, already, so we are already half way to being on our own.
Today, every day, for the last nine months, I get at least one hundred (100) requests for money from organizations for this and that cause, many I never heard of, all leading with something Trump or one of his minions just did.
I cannot be the only one who is just shutting down participation.
“Who’s in charge, here???” As Richard Prior once cried.
So, yes, as the right did within the GOP: From the ground up; Two, keep the voices that will give the opposition any ammunition away from the microphone; Three, re-invent a new microphone to counter FOX et al. MSNBC or whatever it is called, now, is not working….
But, no, to big money involvement, choosing to organize system-wide coordination of progressive fund raising and placing of funds.
Fair enough, but the DNC and the Party’s leaders would do well to pay less attention to consultants and the entrenched old guard, more to voters. Their preference for neoliberal moderates has been notably unsuccessful. Nancy Pelosi is currently beating the drum for Hakeem Jeffries, who earlier this year articulated already-obvious abuses while affirming the Dems lack of power. Leadership?
There are people who receive money from those with deep pockets whose intent is to destroy democracy—period. Anywhere there is money exchanged there is the opportunity for corruption, for self enrichment, The Tea Party quietly turned into MAGA. I’ll bet many were very discouraged and disillusioned about that, but it was predictable. Tea Party didn’t start out with a strong central theme but attracted many who were disappointed in their present circumstances and with both Parties. But, that was then.
The one’s who are feeding individuals and organization with big bucks choose where they can cause the most damage by division and derision, and by aggrandizing those who would ordinarily not be able to buy the ability to a bully pulpit position on their own, yet, have a charismatic, influencing way. It seems that a great deal of our society can be bought and more are coming now that our so-called leader has made dishonesty so popular and accepted.
Staring new organizations attract influencers, the same ilk who influence us to buy, buy, buy. Our biggest problem is that we no longer have the same accepted line drawn in the sand as to how far you can go—on any subject, anymore. We all poured a lot of cash into the DNC and its candidates in the last few elections—a lot, and it seems we all have different ideas as to why we were for a particular candidate. The DNC now is almost as divided as the GOP. After all, once upon a time, moderate and liberal Democratic candidates didn’t seem that far apart. That was then.
Once you accept money from Corporations and treat them as people, you get what you deserve, and they will get what they paid for, whether you want to or not, they control you. Our whole big 2-party political system is dependent upon the media to build a campaign and to bullshit their way into our hearts, which is out of the price range of anyone who is not beholden to the billionaire/trillionaire contributors and owners of our big media.
Except maybe those few who have made a career of NOT taking corporate money and the public still trusts. So, what’s the answer? To my way of thinking the first step is promoting and contributing to those few who we do trust, and get them to positions of power so that laws can be changed and the public sees that there is some honesty left in politics.
Thank you Thom. I would like to add that once and IF Dem's get into power, they don't blow it and hold no one accountable. I think this too created a vacuum for a Trump as this writing from Salty Politics today expertly points out.
Taking over the Dem part is extremely important and getting the young involved in that change is fundamental. We must get the big business interests out of the party and purely on a progressive movement to bring back the American dream of a living income, free education and healthcare paid by taxes on the rich, and affordable housing by getting the high finance Wall Street out of the market of owning single housing. By making the basic needs of society human rights we change the dynamic of the economy in serving the American dream.
Because of Bernie Sanders saying that people needed to get involved, I filed paperwork in 2016 to be elected as a precinct committee person starting in 2017. Nobody was in the position before me, so I was automatically elected. I’ve been automatically elected every 4 years since. I recommend doing it. I chair the platform committee in my county party too. It’s all volunteer work in my state, but it’s a good thing to be doing.
By golly. Stop listening to the “both parties this or that” nonsense spewed by the detractors within our own party.
So true from TX Bexar County Precinct Chair, PCT 3083
If I were not nearly deaf but also sound sensitive and mobility limited, I would happily do what you urge, Thom. I hope younger (I’m approaching 78), healthier progressives heed your call. I will keep doing what I can—post comments, make small donations to candidates I favor (most recently AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Mamdani, some others). It will take time, though, and I am not sure how much we have. The coming elections will be a barometer, both in weather and how they occur and the outcome after all the court challenges that are likely.
Agreed - Each of us need to do something, even things very small - just communicating, just small financial contributions, especially to your local democrats that agree with your ideas of building communities within a constitution.
My main "thing" is to spread knowledge of the results of data experts showing that the Republicans cheated on the 2024 and the 2020 elections (as well of course in 2016).
Several independent groups have shown that the cheating was severe in the fringe states, and even in the recent 2025 Tennessee election.
The work is non-trivial to both do and to explain - I urge every reader to spend 30 minutes or an hour reading through the work of ETA=https://electiontruthalliance.org/ and also other sites referenced there. - "This will Hold" has excellent resumes of the work continuing.
Did Trump win or lose the 2024 elections if all the votes were counted correctly?? That question still needs to be answered... My reading of the latest data suggests he lost.
Yesterday I sent your entire article to the Working Families Party "contact us" page and asked them not to keep helping the GOP. No answer of course, but maybe somebody read it and thought about the message. Anyway, you are right about how people who aren't prominent can tip the balance. Unlike Trotsky, Stalin was not an obvious leader. But he did very well in what sounded like the boring position of General Secretary of the Communist Party. That gave him power to do two things. One, control appointments to party and government offices. And two, write the agenda for meetings. Behind the facade is where power often lies.
People form parties and organizations for good reasons, but once the money and attention starts flowing in, the purpose became irrelevant, and Fantastic and much needed piece Thom, we need a Concord Project of our own, to take over the Democratic party and make it a true populist party. Trump and MAGA are not populism, they parade as such, but their populism is limited to the narrowest swatch of America
Sadly many Democratic hopefuls are imitating them, in the hopes of winning an election.
You don't have to throws and minorities , under the bus as Gavin Newsom did, you just have to cease making them a cause celebre, don't elevate or even talking about those who are victims of the culture war. Just take action to help them when in office.
LBJ didn't advertuse Civil Rights and the Great Society Program, He merely pushed through and signed the legislation.
Run on real patriotism, encourage others to discuss the war on Venezuela for what it really is, a grab for the oil reserves, not a war on drugs.and for the benefit of Exxon Mobil and the petro cabal, not for you and I.
Broadcast the hegemnistic designs of the tech bros, Trump and his backers, that of the Technate of America, of which Canada, Greenland, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil are part.
Lost Jobs, inflation, there is a lot of meat, but sublimate culture war issues, don't feed them negative propaganda, And for special interests on the left, my advice, choke it up, stop bleating, whining complaining, accusing and demanding special attention.
BLM fed abd grew tge right, as did defund the police, even the Occupy Movement was counter productive,.
Although the situation caused by 250 years of instiutional and systemic oppression, has led to the marginalization and discriminaion of 13% of the populace, you aren't going to make amends or solve the problem by handing out checks, so don't even whisper the possibility, You do it by quietly shifting assets and programs to depressed areas, provide jobs, subsidize edcuation, health care
And recognize that there is a point, in objecting to "men" in women's sports", but the point is larger than that. There is a lot of inequality in sports, not just on gender, but on culture, physique,. Culture affects one's self perception, and self perception is all important in all things human, including sports.
As for physique, why no noise about Michael Phelps and his tons of gold medals. Phelps steps on to the edge of a pool with and advantage, his height and arm reach, He takes one stroke for every one and one quarter stroke of his competitors and nothing is said of that.
There are cultures and yes races, that have a biological advantage (I know that that statement will raise eyebrows and demurrers, even accusations, but prove me wrong and not by an exception.
The only way to win is to let America know that their very lifestyle, their ability to support themselves and their families is threatened if they continue on the path.
What would be great is to run on a program that forbids hedge funds and corporations from owning single family dwellings. And that every citizen is entitled to health care and affordable drugs, but that will cut off the legs and donor cash from AHIP and PhRMA
I got into some heated exchanges mostly on the Reich Substack, leading up to the 2024 election, with RFK Jr and Jill Stein advocates, at least they said they were, the Jill Stein voters were most likely part of a Russian troll farm. They disappeared after Nov 5th.
Third parties work at the local level, but not at the national level, every third party attempt at the national level has resulted in a victory for the establishment, the plutocrats.
Agreed we have to change the party from within, and that starts with cleaning house at the DNC, but they are their own worst enemies. Too many professionals making house and car payments off of Vote Blue, and enjoying benefits from corporations and lobbyists. a meme to justify their existence.
My favorite example is the March of Dimes, founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to find cure for polio. They didn't, they couldn't for finding a cure would have made the organization and it's well paid, hob nobbing executives and employees superfluous,
However a non affiliated scientist, Jonas Salk, did, and his vaccine made Polio ancient history and as the last of the victims started to die, the MoD, closed the doors, went into think tank mode, and reopened with a new charter, and one for which there will never be a cure.. Birth Defects., now they exec's can continue to receive salaries and be invited to
cocktail parties and hob nob with politicians.
The Working Parties Family party is not about anything other than self disparagement
Keeping democracy alive.....
People are listening to your show and acting. I am in a red county of a blue state. Younger people have taken over running the local party. They make sure that people understand that filling the precinct jobs is how to have your say.
When someone chooses to run or is elected everyone at the monthly meeting is introduced to them. They are given time to address us so we know their thoughts and faces. They are given applause and recognized for their work.
Can't thank you enough, Thom and Company. We CAN get there from here. See you in the streets.
Fantastic and much needed piece Thom, we need a Concord Project of our own, to take over the Democratic party and make it a true populist party. Trump and MAGA are not populism, they parade as such, but their populism is limited to the narrowest swatch of America
Sadly many Democratic hopefuls are imitating them, in the hopes of winning an election.
You don't have to throws and minorities , under the bus as Gavin Newsom did, you just have to cease making them a cause celebre, don't elevate or even talking about those who are victims of the culture war. Just take action to help them when in office.
LBJ didn't advertuse Civil Rights and the Great Society Program, He merely pushed through and signed the legislation.
Run on real patriotism, encourage others to discuss the war on Venezuela for what it really is, a grab for the oil reserves, not a war on drugs.and for the benefit of Exxon Mobil and the petro cabal, not for you and I.
Broadcast the hegemnistic designs of the tech bros, Trump and his backers, that of the Technate of America, of which Canada, Greenland, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil are part.
Lost Jobs, inflation, there is a lot of meat, but sublimate culture war issues, don't feed them negative propaganda, And for special interests on the left, my advice, choke it up, stop bleating, whining complaining, accusing and demanding special attention.
BLM fed abd grew tge right, as did defund the police, even the Occupy Movement was counter productive,.
Although the situation caused by 250 years of instiutional and systemic oppression, has led to the marginalization and discriminaion of 13% of the populace, you aren't going to make amends or solve the problem by handing out checks, so don't even whisper the possibility, You do it by quietly shifting assets and programs to depressed areas, provide jobs, subsidize edcuation, health care
And recognize that there is a point, in objecting to "men" in women's sports", but the point is larger than that. There is a lot of inequality in sports, not just on gender, but on culture, physique,. Culture affects one's self perception, and self perception is all important in all things human, including sports.
As for physique, why no noise about Michael Phelps and his tons of gold medals. Phelps steps on to the edge of a pool with and advantage, his height and arm reach, He takes one stroke for every one and one quarter stroke of his competitors and nothing is said of that.
There are cultures and yes races, that have a biological advantage (I know that that statment will raise eyebrows and demurrers, even accusations, but prove me wrong and not by an exception.
The only way to win is to let America know that their very lifestyle, their ability to support themselves and their amilies is threatened if they continue on the path.
What would be great is to run on a program that forbids hedge funds and corportions from owning single family dwellings. Abd that every citizen is entitled to health care and affordable drugs, but that will cut off the legs and donor cash from AHIP and PhRMA
I got into some heated exchanges mostly on the Reich Substack, leading up to the 2024 election, with RFK Jr and Jill Stein advocates, at least they said they were, the Jill Stein voters were most likely part of a Russian troll farm. They disappeared after Nov 5th.
Third parties work at the local level, but not at the national level, everythird party attempt at the national level has resulted in a victory for the establishment, the plutocrats.
Agreed we have to change the party from within, and that starts with cleaning house at the DNC, but they are their own worst enemies. Too many professionals making house and car payments off of Vote Blue, and enjoying benefits from corporations and lobbyists.
So, the Tea Partiers had the Concord Project to help them infiltrate local politics and capture the republican party.
Do real-deal progressive democrats have anything like the Concord Project? Something that could help them infiltrate the democratic party and replace the corporate sell-outs? Something that we might maybe call the Conquer Project?
The Tea Party had the Koch brothers behind them. Real-deal progressive democrats have something even more powerful: the public good.
Excellent way to end 2025 and begin to focus on 2026, Thom! As abhorrent as the Tea Party movement was, we must acknowledge their success in reshaping the Republican Party. And it has been true for a long time that the Democratic Party needs a similar revamp--from top to bottom--to better reflect what actual boots-on-the-ground Democrats want and expect of their party. So let the effort begin at the precinct level! Let's turn things around in 2026.
Thom has opened the discussion that must be made.
Yes, from the inside out, but there is much more to be reviewed, recollected and considered than just a surface review of the right’s model.
There are things that the bad guys did that can work for Progressives. And things that will not translate.
Micro-level, locale by locale organizing and mobilizing, as Thom highlights must be ramped up. Unfortunately, while there has continued to be progressive leaning players in the field, they have not been coordinated to conform to a national vision toward a step by step, long term campaign.
The right kept, until around 2015, the monsters relatively quiet and in the back room, telling them that their day would come. Trump unleashed them, not to the GOP’s long term plan schedule, but to his own advantage. Once they were out, the GOP leadership could not put them back into the lamp.
So far, a GOP movement featuring guys with CAMP AUSCHWITZ tee shirts or guys chanting, over and again for hours “Jews will not replace us…” has yet to eat itself up.
This is very much due to the progressive failure to respond to the right’s aggressive media strategy I will mention, below. If people are not encouraged to outrage on the evening news, they will not be outraged. It is just where we are as a people.
Contrary to the right’s keeping the vermin under the rocks for years, organized “progressives’, however, have since the late ‘60s had no trouble letting it all hang out. I have, since that time, argued against having every splinter faction of the body populace get their 15 minutes at the microphone.
I got banned from the DAILY KOS for suggesting that it is time to tell the Handicapped Lesbians with AIDs to sit in the back room and shut up until we get back on track.
Every time one of these groups open their mouths, the Rightwing Echo Chamber salivates with delight with the ammunition Progressives lay, free of charge, at their door.
So, if we are going to work from the bottom up, along with the grass roots process and workers, they will need a coordinated messaging plan, AND a medium/media to deliver the framed message. George Clooney smiling on TV is not going to carry the day.
What will not work for us as it does for the right is the corporate Dem reliance on big money. Whether on the national or precinct level, the Democratic Party cannot deliver a revived message while ensuring Wall St is happy with the message.
I recall, vividly, the day Obama was asked about the subprime mortgage catastrophe that destroyed the lives of perhaps a million or more American families. Specifically, what action would he take against the perpetrators… He mumbled something about the country needing a financial system.
We lost the common man and woman in America in that moment. If the corporate Dems had put a dozen or so of those thieves into jail… If Obama had thrown his administration’s support behind Occupy Wall St, we may not be faced with this looming catastrophe.
Instead, the right snapped up the message and created the Tea Party to replace what shoulda, coulda, woulda been a winning movement for progressives.
In place of big money, Progressives must immediately develop a tight financing network and control of who gets what when. Grass-roots teaming must find an alternative to Wall St money. Silicon Valley has deserted the Democratic Party, already, so we are already half way to being on our own.
Today, every day, for the last nine months, I get at least one hundred (100) requests for money from organizations for this and that cause, many I never heard of, all leading with something Trump or one of his minions just did.
I cannot be the only one who is just shutting down participation.
“Who’s in charge, here???” As Richard Prior once cried.
So, yes, as the right did within the GOP: From the ground up; Two, keep the voices that will give the opposition any ammunition away from the microphone; Three, re-invent a new microphone to counter FOX et al. MSNBC or whatever it is called, now, is not working….
But, no, to big money involvement, choosing to organize system-wide coordination of progressive fund raising and placing of funds.
D. Laghezza
Fair enough, but the DNC and the Party’s leaders would do well to pay less attention to consultants and the entrenched old guard, more to voters. Their preference for neoliberal moderates has been notably unsuccessful. Nancy Pelosi is currently beating the drum for Hakeem Jeffries, who earlier this year articulated already-obvious abuses while affirming the Dems lack of power. Leadership?
There are people who receive money from those with deep pockets whose intent is to destroy democracy—period. Anywhere there is money exchanged there is the opportunity for corruption, for self enrichment, The Tea Party quietly turned into MAGA. I’ll bet many were very discouraged and disillusioned about that, but it was predictable. Tea Party didn’t start out with a strong central theme but attracted many who were disappointed in their present circumstances and with both Parties. But, that was then.
The one’s who are feeding individuals and organization with big bucks choose where they can cause the most damage by division and derision, and by aggrandizing those who would ordinarily not be able to buy the ability to a bully pulpit position on their own, yet, have a charismatic, influencing way. It seems that a great deal of our society can be bought and more are coming now that our so-called leader has made dishonesty so popular and accepted.
Staring new organizations attract influencers, the same ilk who influence us to buy, buy, buy. Our biggest problem is that we no longer have the same accepted line drawn in the sand as to how far you can go—on any subject, anymore. We all poured a lot of cash into the DNC and its candidates in the last few elections—a lot, and it seems we all have different ideas as to why we were for a particular candidate. The DNC now is almost as divided as the GOP. After all, once upon a time, moderate and liberal Democratic candidates didn’t seem that far apart. That was then.
Once you accept money from Corporations and treat them as people, you get what you deserve, and they will get what they paid for, whether you want to or not, they control you. Our whole big 2-party political system is dependent upon the media to build a campaign and to bullshit their way into our hearts, which is out of the price range of anyone who is not beholden to the billionaire/trillionaire contributors and owners of our big media.
Except maybe those few who have made a career of NOT taking corporate money and the public still trusts. So, what’s the answer? To my way of thinking the first step is promoting and contributing to those few who we do trust, and get them to positions of power so that laws can be changed and the public sees that there is some honesty left in politics.
Thank you Thom. I would like to add that once and IF Dem's get into power, they don't blow it and hold no one accountable. I think this too created a vacuum for a Trump as this writing from Salty Politics today expertly points out.
https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/how-democrats-must-exercise-power?utm_campaign=email-post&r=2g7cs&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Taking over the Dem part is extremely important and getting the young involved in that change is fundamental. We must get the big business interests out of the party and purely on a progressive movement to bring back the American dream of a living income, free education and healthcare paid by taxes on the rich, and affordable housing by getting the high finance Wall Street out of the market of owning single housing. By making the basic needs of society human rights we change the dynamic of the economy in serving the American dream.