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.
I've been involved, intemittenly since I was about ten (10) and I'm now 82. I was a member of our Democratic Party executive committee, and was on some national committees during the last presidential cycle.
The main probems we have in Florida are that we have a transient society and we are targeted by several forms of voter preclusion. Although Dems should be in the majority, we are now a minority.
Most of the precinct chairs do not actually know any of their neighbors. However, we have the use of data especially https://www.ngpvan.com/. Through data we can identify every voter and nonvoter. Here in Baghdad By the Sea, entitre neighborhoods were purged of Dem voters and we had to identify them, find other prospective voters and get them rigistered to vote. The Florida legilature has put many hoops and hurdles to undermine this effort.
I also was a voluteer nationally, especially through Field Team 6 and also was a DNC "Ambassador."
Here's boilerplate from Field Team 6.
What is Field Team 6’s mission?
Register Democrats. Save the world.
We are the national leader in proudly partisan voter registration! Using a first-of-its-kind database to reach out via email, text, and postcard, we register Democrats in the most flippable states and districts nationwide, where Democrats are needed most. Our efforts are laser-focused on registering young people, women, and people of color – as well as every goodhearted person we can find – in order to take back the House in ‘26, take back the Senate and White House in ‘28, and save our democracy.
How’s that mission going?
From our start in 2019 through the end of 2024, 8.3 million voters have registered after Field Team 6 outreach, the vast majority in swing states and districts. In 2024, we reached out to a record-breaking 25 million unregistered likely Democrats, in what we believe to be the biggest voter registration drive ever conducted. 6 million of them registered – 4 million votes. Our efforts helped win 5 swing Senate seats and 43 swing House seats… and it is from this foothold that we will climb back into power.
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.
Sign up to become a DNC social ambassador and amplify facts, combat disinformation, and be trained on everything from storytelling techniques to the most current messaging priorities for Democrats. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/become-a-dnc-social-ambassador-2
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
"....show up at your local Democratic Party, sign up, and find out who the players are and what the rules are."
It's true. It's easy. I've explained this process before in another comment section of another site (C.D.) and was given nothing but crap from the complainers there. This CAN be done! We elected Bernie in 2016 in my county and almost the entire state. The process is not difficult, as Thom has stated. If it were not for my physical disability, I would continue to be a functional part instead of a supportive one. It truly does wonders for the psyche.
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.
Yes. and now the task and problem is reforming the party, cleaning out the stables of the old tired race horses. out with the old, in with the new (way of thinking not age)
So long as the Ed Martins, the Paul Begala's, Robert Biggs, James Carvilles and Nancy Peoloi's run the party, we (America) is screwed.
The Problem with the party is the professional, the parasites that suck off the teat.
They only care about the large donors, They talk populist, but don't step on the toes of the donor class.
And when it comes to sponsoring candidates, only what thep perceive as safe, as far as the donor class, are acceptable, and then after they have proven themself, like race horses, being groomed in the stable, exercising in the paddock building up credentials, and then being hauled to the starting gate.
Thus Hillalry Clinton, Biden, Terry McAuliffe.
No imagination, no risk taking, and what did the Republicans do, they threw (throw) all of that overboard, and choose candidates that are fresh to politics and exciting.
Trump had been a Democrat, but would never have made it past or even to the Primary in the Democratic party.
Yes we have a party and it has to change, and it looks like change is on the way, after all they elected a Muslim as mayor of NY, and progressives are showing up all over the ticket, if they aren't squashed and silenced by the establishment.
Outside one guy, Martin, who is actually a progressive, none of them have been active for a long time. Biden is not even a participant but he was the most proressive president since LBJ. .
For folk that aren't active, they sure do show up a lot as strategists and experts on MSNOW, and even Bill Maher.
Yes Biden was the most progressive president since LBJ, what of it, the party still sucked at the teat of AHIP, PhRMA, Chamber of Commerce etc.
None of Biden's bills would have passed were it not for the very heft easter eggs in it for the donors.
The problem with Biden, was that, for one thing, he was known as the senator from Wall Street, the other was that he learned in the senate to compromise (values), be bipartisan, and thus he named a right wing hack, Merrick Garland, as his AG, and let him loose, and Garland played cover up for the Jan 6 conspirators in Congress and in the executive, then he appointed a Trump humping judge, Aileen Cannon, to oversee the documents case, but even worse, he moved the case to the Southern District of Florida, when the crime actually occured in D.C. when the files were loaded onto a truck by Waltine Nauta, and then again in Virginia when they were loaded onto an airplane.
Garland obfuscated, and to the chagrin of the media and all "experts", claiming he moved the case to Florida because that is where the crime occurred, It didn't it occurred in DC when Nauta packed the cases onto a truck.
The sorry state of affairs that we are in can be laid in the lap of Merrick Garla nd, and for that we blame Biden who made him his AG. Garland a contractor for the Federalist Society, and handpicked for SCOTUS, by the most rabid right wing senator at the time, Orrin Hatch R UT.
But enough of water over the dam and under the bridge. It is now, the future that is important, and to change the trajectory of the future we have to change the Democratic party from the inside out, starting with the DNC.
As regards Ed Martins progressive credentials, and his effectiveness, too soon to tell, wait and see.
I was active in the ABA with people like Garland -- many who were once Federalist Society members who have since flipped over an issue. Luttig is/was to the right of Atilla the Hun.
I first met Hatch when he worked for DOL/NLRB in Pittsburgh. He co-sponsored a lot of bills with Teddy Kennedy.
AI: Senators Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, despite being political opposites, were prolific bipartisan partners, co-sponsoring hundreds of bills and major legislation like the Ryan White AIDS Act, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the FDA Modernization Act, creating landmark laws for AIDS relief, children's health, disability rights, and rare disease research that benefited millions and shaped American policy.
_____
I don't think Garland was a plant. He was a judge on the DC Circuit and was reliable. However, he was most probably a dud.
But I don't agree that Rachel Maddow or Jen Psaki are warmed over Republicans, nor Ali Velshi or Ayman Mohyekdin. Now Ari Melber, yep, I agree, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell borderline. O'Donnell's got a life long career in the Democratic party
You evidently don't watch MSNOW, the problem is that they are warmed over Republicans, is that they have gate keepers, that ear bud connects them to the hall monitors and they have to stay on script.
Joy Reid, and Keith Olbermann were fired because they went off script.
And daily program, regardless of hosts, revolves around the three most current outrages and scandals.
The Problem with MSNOW is Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant
MSNOW is owned by Versant Versant.
Media Group is a new, independent, publicly traded media company being spun off from Comcast, with its shares distributed to Comcast shareholders around January 2, 2026, making them the owners. This new entity, Versant Media Group, will house most of NBCUniversal's cable networks (like CNBC, E!, Syfy, Golf Channel) and digital assets (like Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes).
.
The CEO is Mark Lazurus.
MSNOW is a corporation, It's only directive, it's raison d'etre is to make a profit.
It does that by targeting it's programming to the geriatric crowd, the boomers who aren't captured by Fox, that is called market Segmentation.
As regards Ali Velsi, I find him objective when it comes to the Mid east, not so Ayman Mohyledin, he is obviously loyal to the ummah first and foremost. just like some Jews (not all) are loyal to Israel first and foremost.
Fucking identity politics the bane of humanity, the cause of most of our grief, suffering and strife. Christian, Muslim, Jew, Capitalist, Marxist, Russian, Chinese, American.
As regards Hatch and the sponsors and voting of other Senators, why they vote for something, even if it comes from a liberal, has nothing to do with anything except their constituents. Regardless of Hatch's sponsorship with Ted Kennedy, he was to the right of Attila the Hun
And regardless of Garland's bonafides,he more than anyone is responsible for Trump, he sure did cover his ass, and the asses of the perps in Congress that plotted the coup on Jan 6th.
There is a member who posts here, that tried to fluff the attacks on the boats in the Caribbean off on the CIA, but now it is well known that they were under command of Rear Adm Holsey, commander of Southern Command with responsibility for the Caribbean.
Identity politics Daniel, even if that identity is only a profession , a career, the first impulse is to protect or apologize for the identity.
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.
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.
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.
I have a different perpective. We are dependant on our candidates. Dissension is imposed on us by Republicans and by some well meaning "progressives" who are not actually candidates for office. We have primary elections and we need to support every Democrat in the general elections.
Here in Florida, many of our Democratic candidate "leaders" are "reformed" Republicans. This year, David Jolly, who was a Republican, is the leading Dem candidate for governor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jolly
Thanks for the information about the ADA. It looks like a group I could run with.
So, if I read you right, your perspective leans more toward bringing about change in the democratic party by taking action from outside the party rather than from within. Mr Hartmann advocated for making change from every which way, even though the article was mostly about making change from the inside.
As for me, bottom line, I think we've got to do whatever we can to make the party more "real-deal progressive"!
There is folklore about the Party that has to be discounted. The Dempcratic Party is not a top down organization.
Thom has published the same stuff many times. I don't think he has a handle on how it actually works. I think we had the right message and actually were screwed in the 2016 and 2024 election cycles.
I am not a "progressive." I want Medicare for All because it's pragmatic. Same for most other stuff. The "progressives" were running the party for the years that I lived in DC and if you check out the paid groups and foundations that support the party, they are "progressive."
During most of that time I was "super hatched" because of my position. But I was, among other things the president of one group that hired lobbyists, and was an officer of the American Bar Association for over 20 years and they have a raft of lobbyists. https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/about/?login
Here are the Key Progressive Foundations & Examples:
-Center for American Progress (CAP): A major think tank pushing bold, progressive ideas for social and economic change.
-Marguerite Casey Foundation: A large funder of grassroots programs and community-based social justice initiatives.
-Proteus Fund: Connects philanthropists with movement leaders for transformational social justice philanthropy.
-EDGE Funders: A network for progressive funders focused on systemic change and racial justice.
-Progressive Policy Institute (PPI): A centrist-leaning think tank associated with the Democratic Party.
-Vanguard Public Foundation: Supports grassroots social justice movements, facing criticism from conservatives.
Since I retired in 2018, I became active. I've worked literally at all levels. I donate to individual candidates, I've raised funds for many of them.
It really pisses me off to hear all the dissension. We need everyone during general elections.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I especially appreciate the time and trouble you took to list key progressive foundations and examples.
I respect your knowledge and experience. With that in mind, I had some questions: When you put "progressives" in quotes, did you mean to imply insincerity on the part of certain posers? And what does "super hatched" mean? Sorry to trouble you with that - I googled it and got nothing.
I understand your anger over dissension. I was thinking along the same lines when I asked the question about whether or not there was anything like the Concord Project that progressive democrats could turn to for help. The way Mr Hartmann described it, it sounded like the Concord Project organized and unified the conservatives, and my perception is that organization and unification is lacking among progressive democrats.
Best regards, and best wishes for a happy and healthy new year. -Ian Ogard
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.
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?
You have it backwards. We go with whomever the local candidates may be.
We hope that Jeffries becomes the speaker next week.
Rep. Don Bacon (Tweet)
@RepDonBacon (R, NE)
I’m an original sponsor of the bill to impose the toughest possible sanctions on Russia. We will also start a discharge petition in January to force a vote on the floor. Congress must act now. We cannot wait for the White House to do the right thing here.
Add this to Trumpepstein, extension of Obamacare, etc.
Trump continially makes unforced errors. E.G. Trump issued a pair of vetoes on Tuesday that blocked legislation to support bipartisan infrastructure projects in Colorado and Florida.
-Colorado -- the votes are in response to the state refusing to release Tina Peters, who was convicted by a state court of tampering with election machines.
-Florida -- votes against the tribe that objected to Allegator Alcatraz. The sponsor of the bill is MAGAT Carlos Gimienez.
I was in the Green Party for a long time. I finally realized that they were going nowhere. If Ralph Nader, who ran a national campaign; was widely known; was and is a great speaker and is very knowledgeable couldn't get more then a few percentage of the votes in 2000 then how were most of the other lesser known Green candidates going to get anywhere. I came back to the Dems ( I was President of a Young Democratic club in college back in the 60's). Unless there is Rank Choice Voting and/or Proportional Representation third parties are a waste of time at best and detrimental at times.
I am glad that you have shared these insights Thom. And I also pray that the energy to carry them out well be given too many many people to overcome this terrible reality of what the GOP with Trump running things has unleashed.
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.
I've been involved, intemittenly since I was about ten (10) and I'm now 82. I was a member of our Democratic Party executive committee, and was on some national committees during the last presidential cycle.
The main probems we have in Florida are that we have a transient society and we are targeted by several forms of voter preclusion. Although Dems should be in the majority, we are now a minority.
Most of the precinct chairs do not actually know any of their neighbors. However, we have the use of data especially https://www.ngpvan.com/. Through data we can identify every voter and nonvoter. Here in Baghdad By the Sea, entitre neighborhoods were purged of Dem voters and we had to identify them, find other prospective voters and get them rigistered to vote. The Florida legilature has put many hoops and hurdles to undermine this effort.
I also was a voluteer nationally, especially through Field Team 6 and also was a DNC "Ambassador."
Here's boilerplate from Field Team 6.
What is Field Team 6’s mission?
Register Democrats. Save the world.
We are the national leader in proudly partisan voter registration! Using a first-of-its-kind database to reach out via email, text, and postcard, we register Democrats in the most flippable states and districts nationwide, where Democrats are needed most. Our efforts are laser-focused on registering young people, women, and people of color – as well as every goodhearted person we can find – in order to take back the House in ‘26, take back the Senate and White House in ‘28, and save our democracy.
How’s that mission going?
From our start in 2019 through the end of 2024, 8.3 million voters have registered after Field Team 6 outreach, the vast majority in swing states and districts. In 2024, we reached out to a record-breaking 25 million unregistered likely Democrats, in what we believe to be the biggest voter registration drive ever conducted. 6 million of them registered – 4 million votes. Our efforts helped win 5 swing Senate seats and 43 swing House seats… and it is from this foothold that we will climb back into power.
Here the link. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
By golly. Stop listening to the “both parties this or that” nonsense spewed by the detractors within our own party.
Amen.
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.
Sign up to become a DNC social ambassador and amplify facts, combat disinformation, and be trained on everything from storytelling techniques to the most current messaging priorities for Democrats. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/become-a-dnc-social-ambassador-2
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
So true from TX Bexar County Precinct Chair, PCT 3083
So...do you use VAN?
"....show up at your local Democratic Party, sign up, and find out who the players are and what the rules are."
It's true. It's easy. I've explained this process before in another comment section of another site (C.D.) and was given nothing but crap from the complainers there. This CAN be done! We elected Bernie in 2016 in my county and almost the entire state. The process is not difficult, as Thom has stated. If it were not for my physical disability, I would continue to be a functional part instead of a supportive one. It truly does wonders for the psyche.
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.
We already have a party.
Yes. and now the task and problem is reforming the party, cleaning out the stables of the old tired race horses. out with the old, in with the new (way of thinking not age)
So long as the Ed Martins, the Paul Begala's, Robert Biggs, James Carvilles and Nancy Peoloi's run the party, we (America) is screwed.
The Problem with the party is the professional, the parasites that suck off the teat.
They only care about the large donors, They talk populist, but don't step on the toes of the donor class.
And when it comes to sponsoring candidates, only what thep perceive as safe, as far as the donor class, are acceptable, and then after they have proven themself, like race horses, being groomed in the stable, exercising in the paddock building up credentials, and then being hauled to the starting gate.
Thus Hillalry Clinton, Biden, Terry McAuliffe.
No imagination, no risk taking, and what did the Republicans do, they threw (throw) all of that overboard, and choose candidates that are fresh to politics and exciting.
Trump had been a Democrat, but would never have made it past or even to the Primary in the Democratic party.
Yes we have a party and it has to change, and it looks like change is on the way, after all they elected a Muslim as mayor of NY, and progressives are showing up all over the ticket, if they aren't squashed and silenced by the establishment.
Outside one guy, Martin, who is actually a progressive, none of them have been active for a long time. Biden is not even a participant but he was the most proressive president since LBJ. .
For folk that aren't active, they sure do show up a lot as strategists and experts on MSNOW, and even Bill Maher.
Yes Biden was the most progressive president since LBJ, what of it, the party still sucked at the teat of AHIP, PhRMA, Chamber of Commerce etc.
None of Biden's bills would have passed were it not for the very heft easter eggs in it for the donors.
The problem with Biden, was that, for one thing, he was known as the senator from Wall Street, the other was that he learned in the senate to compromise (values), be bipartisan, and thus he named a right wing hack, Merrick Garland, as his AG, and let him loose, and Garland played cover up for the Jan 6 conspirators in Congress and in the executive, then he appointed a Trump humping judge, Aileen Cannon, to oversee the documents case, but even worse, he moved the case to the Southern District of Florida, when the crime actually occured in D.C. when the files were loaded onto a truck by Waltine Nauta, and then again in Virginia when they were loaded onto an airplane.
Garland obfuscated, and to the chagrin of the media and all "experts", claiming he moved the case to Florida because that is where the crime occurred, It didn't it occurred in DC when Nauta packed the cases onto a truck.
The sorry state of affairs that we are in can be laid in the lap of Merrick Garla nd, and for that we blame Biden who made him his AG. Garland a contractor for the Federalist Society, and handpicked for SCOTUS, by the most rabid right wing senator at the time, Orrin Hatch R UT.
But enough of water over the dam and under the bridge. It is now, the future that is important, and to change the trajectory of the future we have to change the Democratic party from the inside out, starting with the DNC.
As regards Ed Martins progressive credentials, and his effectiveness, too soon to tell, wait and see.
As I've been saying -- and you've been denying -- except for Jennifer Psaki, mostMSNBC talking heads are warmed over Republicans and report nothing.
Right now the BIG STORY should be whether Trump gave Bubba a blow job. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-epsteins-brother-sent-231200830.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAFCYiPyJI
Jane Doe, Katy Jonson. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QNSIkDRUmSo
Substantiated by the fixer, Michael Cohen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1EDfTSX7Fk
Two new claims. https://www.thenyindependent.com/politics/1707597/trump-implicated-epstein-murders-death-threats/
Now another whether a girl was impregnated.
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-witnessed-infanticide-during-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-crimes-doj-documents-share-chilling-details-11766539533049.html
_______
I was active in the ABA with people like Garland -- many who were once Federalist Society members who have since flipped over an issue. Luttig is/was to the right of Atilla the Hun.
I first met Hatch when he worked for DOL/NLRB in Pittsburgh. He co-sponsored a lot of bills with Teddy Kennedy.
AI: Senators Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, despite being political opposites, were prolific bipartisan partners, co-sponsoring hundreds of bills and major legislation like the Ryan White AIDS Act, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the FDA Modernization Act, creating landmark laws for AIDS relief, children's health, disability rights, and rare disease research that benefited millions and shaped American policy.
_____
I don't think Garland was a plant. He was a judge on the DC Circuit and was reliable. However, he was most probably a dud.
_________
Virtually all legislation is sausage.
You say that you are a lawyer, therefore Daniel choose your words carefully.
You throw around nouns and adjectives like rice at a wedding. You keep saying that I am in denial.
Denial happens when one has a problem, and refused to recognize the problem.
Not accepting a narrative is not denial. There is a narrative that Jews are the problem of the world. I don't accept that narrative.
There is a narrative that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, I don't accept that narrative.
There is a narrative that Zelensky started the war and only he can bring peace, I don't accept that narrative
That is not denial
These I agree with:
Right now the BIG STORY should be whether Trump gave Bubba a blow job. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-epsteins-brother-sent-231200830.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAFCYiPyJI
Jane Doe, Katy Jonson. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QNSIkDRUmSo
Substantiated by the fixer, Michael Cohen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1EDfTSX7Fk
Two new claims. https://www.thenyindependent.com/politics/1707597/trump-implicated-epstein-murders-death-threats/
Now another whether a girl was impregnated.
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-witnessed-infanticide-during-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-crimes-doj-documents-share-chilling-details-11766539533049.html
But I don't agree that Rachel Maddow or Jen Psaki are warmed over Republicans, nor Ali Velshi or Ayman Mohyekdin. Now Ari Melber, yep, I agree, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell borderline. O'Donnell's got a life long career in the Democratic party
You evidently don't watch MSNOW, the problem is that they are warmed over Republicans, is that they have gate keepers, that ear bud connects them to the hall monitors and they have to stay on script.
Joy Reid, and Keith Olbermann were fired because they went off script.
And daily program, regardless of hosts, revolves around the three most current outrages and scandals.
The Problem with MSNOW is Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant
MSNOW is owned by Versant Versant.
Media Group is a new, independent, publicly traded media company being spun off from Comcast, with its shares distributed to Comcast shareholders around January 2, 2026, making them the owners. This new entity, Versant Media Group, will house most of NBCUniversal's cable networks (like CNBC, E!, Syfy, Golf Channel) and digital assets (like Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes).
.
The CEO is Mark Lazurus.
MSNOW is a corporation, It's only directive, it's raison d'etre is to make a profit.
It does that by targeting it's programming to the geriatric crowd, the boomers who aren't captured by Fox, that is called market Segmentation.
As regards Ali Velsi, I find him objective when it comes to the Mid east, not so Ayman Mohyledin, he is obviously loyal to the ummah first and foremost. just like some Jews (not all) are loyal to Israel first and foremost.
Fucking identity politics the bane of humanity, the cause of most of our grief, suffering and strife. Christian, Muslim, Jew, Capitalist, Marxist, Russian, Chinese, American.
As regards Hatch and the sponsors and voting of other Senators, why they vote for something, even if it comes from a liberal, has nothing to do with anything except their constituents. Regardless of Hatch's sponsorship with Ted Kennedy, he was to the right of Attila the Hun
And regardless of Garland's bonafides,he more than anyone is responsible for Trump, he sure did cover his ass, and the asses of the perps in Congress that plotted the coup on Jan 6th.
There is a member who posts here, that tried to fluff the attacks on the boats in the Caribbean off on the CIA, but now it is well known that they were under command of Rear Adm Holsey, commander of Southern Command with responsibility for the Caribbean.
Identity politics Daniel, even if that identity is only a profession , a career, the first impulse is to protect or apologize for the identity.
Like Pogo said: I saw the enemy and he is us.
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.
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
I'm sorry to report that some of our appointees were duds.
Otherwise we had the best administration, the best legislative record since LBJ.
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.
Actually there are many sub groups, like the ADA. https://adaction.org/issues/
I have a different perpective. We are dependant on our candidates. Dissension is imposed on us by Republicans and by some well meaning "progressives" who are not actually candidates for office. We have primary elections and we need to support every Democrat in the general elections.
Here in Florida, many of our Democratic candidate "leaders" are "reformed" Republicans. This year, David Jolly, who was a Republican, is the leading Dem candidate for governor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jolly
Thanks for the information about the ADA. It looks like a group I could run with.
So, if I read you right, your perspective leans more toward bringing about change in the democratic party by taking action from outside the party rather than from within. Mr Hartmann advocated for making change from every which way, even though the article was mostly about making change from the inside.
As for me, bottom line, I think we've got to do whatever we can to make the party more "real-deal progressive"!
There is folklore about the Party that has to be discounted. The Dempcratic Party is not a top down organization.
Thom has published the same stuff many times. I don't think he has a handle on how it actually works. I think we had the right message and actually were screwed in the 2016 and 2024 election cycles.
I am not a "progressive." I want Medicare for All because it's pragmatic. Same for most other stuff. The "progressives" were running the party for the years that I lived in DC and if you check out the paid groups and foundations that support the party, they are "progressive."
During most of that time I was "super hatched" because of my position. But I was, among other things the president of one group that hired lobbyists, and was an officer of the American Bar Association for over 20 years and they have a raft of lobbyists. https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/about/?login
Here are the Key Progressive Foundations & Examples:
-Center for American Progress (CAP): A major think tank pushing bold, progressive ideas for social and economic change.
-Marguerite Casey Foundation: A large funder of grassroots programs and community-based social justice initiatives.
-Proteus Fund: Connects philanthropists with movement leaders for transformational social justice philanthropy.
-EDGE Funders: A network for progressive funders focused on systemic change and racial justice.
-Progressive Policy Institute (PPI): A centrist-leaning think tank associated with the Democratic Party.
-Vanguard Public Foundation: Supports grassroots social justice movements, facing criticism from conservatives.
Since I retired in 2018, I became active. I've worked literally at all levels. I donate to individual candidates, I've raised funds for many of them.
It really pisses me off to hear all the dissension. We need everyone during general elections.
Greetings Mr Solomon,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I especially appreciate the time and trouble you took to list key progressive foundations and examples.
I respect your knowledge and experience. With that in mind, I had some questions: When you put "progressives" in quotes, did you mean to imply insincerity on the part of certain posers? And what does "super hatched" mean? Sorry to trouble you with that - I googled it and got nothing.
I understand your anger over dissension. I was thinking along the same lines when I asked the question about whether or not there was anything like the Concord Project that progressive democrats could turn to for help. The way Mr Hartmann described it, it sounded like the Concord Project organized and unified the conservatives, and my perception is that organization and unification is lacking among progressive democrats.
Best regards, and best wishes for a happy and healthy new year. -Ian Ogard
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.
As far as I'm concerned, most reasonable that the Tea Party was formed in St. Petersburg and Moscow and was spread via psy ops.
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?
You have it backwards. We go with whomever the local candidates may be.
We hope that Jeffries becomes the speaker next week.
Rep. Don Bacon (Tweet)
@RepDonBacon (R, NE)
I’m an original sponsor of the bill to impose the toughest possible sanctions on Russia. We will also start a discharge petition in January to force a vote on the floor. Congress must act now. We cannot wait for the White House to do the right thing here.
Add this to Trumpepstein, extension of Obamacare, etc.
Trump continially makes unforced errors. E.G. Trump issued a pair of vetoes on Tuesday that blocked legislation to support bipartisan infrastructure projects in Colorado and Florida.
-Colorado -- the votes are in response to the state refusing to release Tina Peters, who was convicted by a state court of tampering with election machines.
-Florida -- votes against the tribe that objected to Allegator Alcatraz. The sponsor of the bill is MAGAT Carlos Gimienez.
I was in the Green Party for a long time. I finally realized that they were going nowhere. If Ralph Nader, who ran a national campaign; was widely known; was and is a great speaker and is very knowledgeable couldn't get more then a few percentage of the votes in 2000 then how were most of the other lesser known Green candidates going to get anywhere. I came back to the Dems ( I was President of a Young Democratic club in college back in the 60's). Unless there is Rank Choice Voting and/or Proportional Representation third parties are a waste of time at best and detrimental at times.
I am glad that you have shared these insights Thom. And I also pray that the energy to carry them out well be given too many many people to overcome this terrible reality of what the GOP with Trump running things has unleashed.