I share the sentiment gabi, but then realized that why care about the future because the future doesn't care about me. I have 25 living descendants including two great great grandchildren and they are all so wrapped up in their own lives, that their only concern is how much money they can get from me and what gifts I will send. My daughters even compare gifts,t then call me up (past tense, because I stopped giving) to whine that I don't live them as much as the other, because they other got more.
In disgust I sent them identical cards and gifts one year, and they both whined that they were different. I am not a beach ball in sibling rivalry, but they are just like their mother mercenary.
With disgust I've witnessed grown children hovering like vultures over the death bed, ready to pounce and quarrel over the leavings, stripping the corpse to the bone even before it is in the ground.
We did not make the world we were born into, we had to make our own way, thus it is and will be for future generations.
As the Billy Joel song goes "I didn;t start the fire"
This not about you. It is not about me. It is about the future of all. Your relationship with your children did not begin when they were adults. It broke a long time ago.
Have some humility, and be open to learning what you contributed to that particular mess.
I have two great great grandchildren, all they will know of me is what I know of my own great great grandfather (born in 1816)/
The world I live in is very different from the world that he lived in, and the world my great great grandchildren will live is quite different from the world that I live in.
There is absolutely nothing that I can do that will affect their world, anymore than my own great great grandfather was able to affect me. He didn't even imagine me, much less my name. At least I've seen photos of my two great great grandchildren, and the breeding hasn't really started yet.
As regards "hope" that you speak of, what hope, we will be long gone by the time they take their place in the world.
I, you, all of us have absolutely no control over the future, it will be what it will be.
I've noticed that all too often, family members hovering over death beds like vultures. One of my sisters was by my mothers side in a nursing home, she lived closest, in her final moments and when she passed, she swooped up all of her belongings and doll collection.
As I remember the late 1970's, it was a time of stagflation, declining jobs in the steel industry, and competition from Japanese auto manufacturers. Reagan's solution was to blow up the unions and give out tax cuts to the wealthy. And throw more drug addicts in prison. This is still the program to this day, and of course it has only made matters worse.
All of this is true and I am in full agreement. The problem? Young people feel much the same way about the Democratic Party for different (and some of the same) reasons. What do we do about that?
There are in reality two Democratic Parties, there is the party of the people, like you and I, and the party of the insiders, the professionals, those who never had to shop for groceries, the strategists, the analysts, who see politics as sucking up to those with money and power
Again, full agreement. Most young people don’t see the difference and only see us as a bunch of grasping, tragic old Boomers.
Communicating the different approaches of we different Democrats is being lost in a blitz by the GOP and the insider Dem party.
I’ve had a number of 20 somethings shut me down (although we were in full agreement culturally, politically and environmentally) as soon as I identified as a Democrat.
It makes me sad since I fully believe in “We the People” (stolen by awful right wingers).
Jennifer,keep repeating you are on their side. Last week,I watching some football @a bar in Smyrna,Georgia and the young guy I was talking to was complaining about the high cost of everything,but most importantly the cost of housing and the possibility of being a renter for life and having to deal with his slumloard for life. I mentioned that I was advocating for lower housing costs and he appreciated my input. Just remember the reason that prices are so high for the following reasons.
1. Wall Street always wants higher prices,otherwise who would invest in the stock market.
2. Firms that call themselves "Advisors" cannot justify the fees they charge if their clients did not see profits.This is a hugh business.
It will take younger generations to get out in the streets,call congressmen,call the Federal Reserve and tell them they are pissed. It may also take a revolution.
I've seen the same phenomenon discussed on TV. Full agreement on issues, but a shut down when political affiliation is mentioned. It is our Manichean culture, us vs them.
It is carried to extremes in sports. A sports team is simply a plantation owned by a wealthy individuals or a corporation, the players are well paid slaves, and instead of being whipped, they are fined or put out to pasture.
The slaves, are bound by contracts, indentures, which dictate their personal lives, what they are not allowed o do or say, however they are well compensated, too well compensated, because their performance makes money for the planter, and elevates his social status.
Yet people get so violent in their partisanship for these overpaid professionals, that they will commit violence and engage in hate.
I was communicating with a distant cousin in New Zealand, and his life revolved around an English football (soccer) team, Manchester United.
I made a comment about soccer, that he didn't like and he would have strangled me if he could, he did not answer my emails after the flame.
In Europe there are riots and violence,if a nations team loses. I know why, it is because they identify with their team and loss means a loss in testosterone and violence is a way to rebuild the loss.
"Competition" is nearly as damaging a concept as "Socialist". That's why humans inevitably wind up hating each other, and ultimately find something ... ANYthing ... to kill each other.
I agree competition is a zero sum game. Our species survived by cooperation. Even the "cave men" cooperated with each other and took care of each other, but when tribe breaks up into clans. or when tribes come in conflict with other tribes and they squabble for the same resource, then competition breaks out and leads to violence
It is a law of nature.
We (humans) create our own problems, simple people want simple answers, and simplify problems and simplify solutions.
For this discussion I will use the words socialism and capitalism.
The "left" (and that term requires examination and definition) uses capitalism as a slur. The Right (and that term requires examination and definition) uses socialism as a slur.
Bur were it not for some forms of socialism and capitalism, we would be living in Savanahs, for fear of 4 legged predators, chasing down four legged herbivores for sustenance.
But we lack the mental acuity, patience, intelligence to discuss or evaluate the world so we resort to shorthand, shortcuts, deceit, aggression.
My experience, considered "old" for about 50 years, is that the DNC acquesced to "young" people to their detriment. We have tools to idenify and to convince virtually every voter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGP_VAN
I saw that again in the 2024 cycle.
The way to win is to out register and out vote the opposition.
IMHO we did that in key states and districts the last cycle but the election was stolen.
If by "acquiesced to young people" you mean the thoughtless, self righteous, peer approval seeking idjits, behind political correctness and pro HAMAS I agree, but that is only a segment of the population, and only they are centered or clustered in universities and colleges.
An example is "feminists and queers for Palestine". Neither one of which would survive a day in Gaza or the West Bank.
The student body at Berkeley caused the cancellation of Bill Maher (he was reinstated by the admin) because he rightfully pointed out that Islam is misogynistic and oppresses women, calling the abaya and chador, bee keeper suits, and this in the place where the free speech movement started (free speech for me, but not for thee)
But there is also a larger picture. The Democratic Party is run by professionals, whose world is inside the bubble of the beltway, who probably never see in the inside of a supermarket, professionals who make their living off donations and who schmooze with industry lobbyists, go to their cocktail parties, eat dinner with them at exclusive restaurants.
And that is why the Democratic party is losing and has lost, not only out of touch with the people, but tell the people what to feel, tell them to appreciate the crumbs thrown at them.
Last election, voters were told to appreciate what was done for them, like the IRA, ARP and Chips acts, but that isn;t human nature, their memories are short, and they take for granted their situation, they are motivated by fears, needs and promises.. what is being done to them (real or not) and what will be done for them in the future.
Frankly Daniel, the Democratic party is addicted to donor cash, they have ignored the example give by Bernie, who funded his campaign with donations from people, not corporations.
The hand that gives, also taketh. Corporate donations are always quid pro quo.
Our universities have discovered that their achilles heel is their dependence on federal dollars, a weakness that Trump has exploited with great success.
This applies to politics as well. If you take my money, you are obligated to me, if you want more.
No. Without any experience, they ran campaigns. When i lived in DC, E.G. the DNC did not even want retired people, many who had loads of experience as volunteers.
I voulteered with 2 data groups. Both run by PhDs. They had no local knowledge whatsoever. Limited political knowledge also. E.G. in some of the VAN data we were able to identify military dependants. We also had problems re votes from overseas. We had data for them to show why a vote for Trump was a vote to screw them. We had email and phone addresses. Never put into use.
This might be a stretch, but the thought came to me that the professionals, those that make a living off politics, TV appearances, being wined and dined by lobbyists and courted by corporations, really don't want to win.
If they win, they are no longer relevant, no invites to show up up as an analyst on MSNOW to kvetch about the administration., and lobbyist ignore the, and go straight to the source, the cabinets and their flunkies.
I honestly don't think that Kamala really wanted to win, she was too eager to concede, 4 pm the next day while votes were still being counted.
She would have had to govern and it was more fun and lucrative campaigning and raking in residuals or her book, where she blamed her loss on Gov Shapiro.
20 years ago, the DNC terminated year-round voter registration programs due to budget pressures, expecting other organizations to step in.
In the last two cycles, traditional non-partisan voter registration organizations have experienced an 87% drop in productivity.
“Did Not Vote” won every election! Of the 82 million eligible who did not vote in 2024, 62 million were unregistered.
After I retired I volunteered in severral programs like the DNC and Field Team 6. Field Team 6 resolved to DOUBLE the outreach for 2024 and reach out to 10 million unregistered likely Democrats.
But the data vendors ran out of names!
2024 Goal: 10 million
2023-2024 Cycle
But the political data vendors could provide
only 8 million names.
2024 Goal: 10 million
Only 8 million available
But in the districts, it funded, Field Teram 6 was able to help candidates win as 6 million registered as blue or purple after Field Team 6 outreach.
References include Tammy Baldwin and Elissa Slotkin.
You are not in full agreement with "young people." Do you think that Joe Biden and Antony Blinken should be prosecuted as war criminals for their genocide in Gaza. Those "young people" do. Those "young people" understand that both parties have corrupted our political system in equal measure, and that Democrats like Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Hillary Clinton and even AOC are part of the problem and not the solution. They are all careerists and self-promoters who will do anything the Democratic Party says including lying about the genocide in Gaza and failing to stand up for workers. So you likely do not agree with them politically or culturally as they see the Democrats' genocide in Gaza as the intersectional issue of our time, a genocide that Thom Hartmann simply ignores because the Democrats started it and did nothing, and I mean nothing, to stop it.
Barry,you sound like a Netanyahu supporter with your genocide comments. Let's be very clear about the Genocide,it is Netanyahu and many far right Israels in this country who advocate for the genocide.. You blame all the Dems for the problem but obviously see no problem with your annointed leader and god : Trump,the biggest " Nazi" this country has ever had and cannot figure out how to deal with him.
Barry is a troll (or Russian bot?), but he offers valuable insight into how radical right-wing extremists think.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Jennifer,we can listen to Sanders,AOC, Mamdani and any other individual who fights for the rights of minoritiesand young people.The Democratic party has been tainted,not to the extent that the " Neo Nazi"party has by accepting huge contributions from Corp America for whom they must pay back in legislation that is favorable to Corp America. We have so many institutions that have been corrupted,Supreme Court,all forms of our current Gov't, the Federal Reserve.
"Greed is Good" propaganda defines American capitalism. American culture groomed us to pursue an indentured life. As Boomer children, we were taught in school that American capitalism made our democratic government better than all others, past and present - communism especially. That was because our government and our economic system (rigged as it is) gives everybody the freedom to get rich and lead the good life (implying that not being rich was the bad life). Look at communism, they'd say, nobody is allowed to get rich in that system. Everybody does their job and gets paid the same. Unions want us all to be communists!
It was no coincidence that when not being groomed in school, on weekends, we boomers grew up on a steady diet of cowboy TV shows. Real men; Hoppy, Roy, Gene, Matt, Paladin all lived independently on the Bonanza Ponderosa. Those real men built this country. Real men shot the bad guys who tried to steal their wealth. Was it a coincidence that Ronald Reagan had been a six-shooter cowboy star? No wonder the GOP adopted the NRA.
Also, after school and after dinner and homework, we were exposed to the ideals of middle-class American life: "Leave it to Beaver," "Ozzie and Harriet," "Father Knows Best," "Dennis the Menace," "My Three Sons," etc.
President Reagan told America that the noble rich shared their success by letting some of their wealth trickle down on everybody else, so we workers too could live better. The richer we workers made them, the more money would trickle down to us. We didn't need taxes. Of course, working SMARTER is what makes people rich. Working HARDER just makes other people rich. Working RUTHLESSLY makes rich people billionaires.
Just to be clear: Unions want their companies to succeed (legitimately) and are not against people becoming wealthy (legitimately). Unions only want fair wages and benefits for their members, a reasonable share of the wealth that workers of all races, genders, and ethnicities helped create.
When you think of unions, think of families with the purchasing power to juice the economy, which helps everyone, including nonunion workers and their businesses.
When I said "Unions want us all to be communists!" I was referring to what the GOP has been saying for half a century+. I totally support unions. The most courageous union in my mind was the Air Traffic Controllers when they all walked off the job while GOP President Reagan fired them all.
Today, federal employees are arbitrarily fired by a Trillionaire Wanna-Be who likes to play with chainsaws or by any incompetent MAGA appointee who thinks that anyone refusing orders that violate the Constitution or some standing law must be a radical Democrat, Deep-State traitor.
It's all good, Tom. I suspected that that is what you meant, but I felt compelled to clarify the point just in case there was any misunderstanding on the part of anyone who might be speed-reading through the posts and miss the nuance.
I've been a union guy my whole life (33 years in the operating department on the railroad), so I'm kinda sensitive about the subject. Yup, the Air Traffic Controllers union is right up there as a true hero, standing up for what's right on behalf of all of us.
Agree with most of what you stated. This is all basically why communism seems to only work in small, consenting groups. Humanity is definitely not ready for this in any form.
John Stoehr at Rawstory published a piece this morning (including an interview with Samantha Hancox-Li, editor and podcast host for Liberal Currents) that complements Thom's article insofar as how the Democratic Party should respond to this Republican crisis of democracy in realistic terms that will actually provoke change.
In a nutshell, they argue that the base and, especially, young people desperately want Democratic politicians, should they gain back power, to take the gloves off and fight as dirty as Republicans — but on the side of righteousness. Since Trump and his traitorous faction have blown up nearly all of our erstwhile norms of polite politics and institutional traditions, why should Democrats play by quaint rules? The days of marshmallow Schumer and company are over—real, consequential action, not "strongly worded" statements and then back to business as usual!
Do what Republicans fear the most: shitcan the undemocratic filibuster; stack the Supreme Court with liberal justices; impeach Trump and anyone else in power who shamelessly enabled the felonious crimes of this administration; gerrymander the hell out of the blue states; completely overhaul campaign financing laws and outlaw dark money; bust up the monopolies with an iron grip on the media and the economy; and everything else screaming for serious reform so that wannabe dictators like Trump will never again rise to power and subvert our democracy.
People are really pissed off, and Democrats need to match the times if they expect to recapture the mood of the electorate and once again become champions of the working class in the vein of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
(IMHO, on January 20, 2029, the first thing the next Democratic president should do is bulldoze Trump's goddamn billionaires' ballroom and rebuild the East Wing! This ridiculous monstrosity is an edifice to his narcissistic ego. The dark ages of kings and dictators must not serve as an inspiration for future generations.)
Ha! That auction should make more than enough money to pay for several new wings, considering how many people are utterly disgusted by Trump's boondoggle vanity project.
The youth of this nation are not a monolith, but enough of them are ready to say lead, follow or get out of our way.
They now see the lies, grift and corruption. We could not have had a "better" bad example than this Administration of psychos and sickos. Let's prosecute as soon as we can.
Gen Z grew-up knowing bullying is wrong. They vote in school. Their connection to the rest of the world has been amazing. Income inequality is killing people. It's all so obvious. See you in the streets.
Somehow we have to show that borh parties are not the same, that the Democratic party works for the people. They must know that FDR created Social Security after rhe Great (GOP) Depression. Medicare and Medicaid were created during LBJ’s administration. That Elizabeth Warren created the CFPB to guard consumers from bank theft. A boatload of other programs for the working class that the GOP has fought tooth and nail to kill. Progressive programs that help people!
No wonder your readers are so misinformed. Republicans pushed through NAFTA? Didn't Bill Clinton sign it and that other bastion of progressivism Robert Reich, then Clinton's Secretary of Labor, promote NAFTA as legislation that would bring "prosperity" to workers for years to come? The deindustrialization that resulted from NAFTA is one of the main reasons for the rise of Trumpism. Didn't Bill Clinton pass "welfare reform" that put more Americans into extreme poverty while robbing those in poverty of benefits like Medicaid? Didn't Obama cut $8 billion from the food assistance program WIC for women and children? I could go on, but many of the things you blame Republicans for were initiated or expanded by Democrats. Didn't Democrats "cave" (willingly) to the Senate Parliamentarian who said a $15 minimum wage couldn't be included in a particular bill, only to never bring it up again (Trump fired the Parliamentarian who nixed his legislation and pushed it through). I could go on, but blaming one party for something that the other party does only exacerbates the austerity that is making Americans turn to Trump. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/stop-fascism-defund-the-democrats
First, Bill Clinton and Obama weren't exactly progressive. In many respects, they were sellouts, like many in the big-corporate Democrat class (who indeed need to be replaced by true progressives). They made the crass miscalculation (not entirely incorrect) that big-corporate money is a sure-fire way to win the game of politics in plutocratic America, losing sight of what the Democratic Party has traditionally stood for: workers and their families versus corporate monopolies sucking up the wealth and screwing over workers.
Second, you say you "could go on, but blaming one party for something that the other party does only exacerbates ... [blah, blah, blah]." Do you actually listen to yourself? And do you think the list of Republican Party corporate transgressions is shorter than the list of Democratic failings? Quite the opposite.
Alternatively, I could go on for pages and pages (but why waste any more internet ink arguing the obvious with a right-wing troll?) of real-life Democratic accomplishments that have, to a significant extent, helped the poor and middle classes over the last century share in the bounty of our nation.
In comparison, a similar list of Republican policies is nonexistent. "Conservatives" (hahaha...what a misnomer!) are all about enriching the already rich at the expense of everyone else and the planet. The only difference nowadays from FDR's time is that the Overton window has shifted far to the right, and certain Democratic politicians have foolishly followed their Republican buddies down the big-corporate primrose path.
We could easily cancel all student debt and also make higher education affordable or even free like many other countries. But the fact is that the morbidly rich just can’t get enough of the community pot. It’s time for them to have an intervention and get the help they need. They have an addiction.
Thom,this is a brilliant piece that should be repeated. It is almost impossible to understand how many negative events have occurred that many of your readers may be unfamiliar with.
We are living in the new " Nazi America" and at some point there will be meaningful pushback. If the 67 million democrats who have been AWOL in the protests,etc would show up,there is a chance something might change.
Every day brings a raft of bad news,so much so that I'm sure there will be an increase in depression.
Today,the Federal Reserve,owned by Trump stated that their is virtually no inflation,paving the way for another interest rate decrease next week,all to appease our totally corrupt financial markets.
This will starve savers,between 2012-2022 when interest rates were 0,many older Americans who depended upon some savings to supplement social security,saw their income reduced to nothing but SS. .They then started selling assets that they could,ate 1-2 meals a day,did not socialize due to the costs and died broke. The reduction in interest rates is just another way the totally corrupt Federal Reserve will increase the wealth of the billionaire class.
Short of a revolution,I suspect we will continue to live under : " Neo Nazi" gov't for the forseeable future.
“America’s young people are over it, Republicans, and they’re going to reboot this nation to fulfill its potential and promise.” May I?: America’s young people are over it, DEMOCRATS, and they’re going to reboot this nation to fulfill its potential and promise.
Earlier this week, Chuck Schumer opined that the Republicans are in “disarray” on healthcare, a word choice that suggests he sees the issue as a purely political game. They are not in “disarray” on healthcare. They want to privatize it, period, disagreeing only about how to arrange that. Meanwhile, Maine Democrats are seriously considering running a 79 year old against Susan Collins. Brilliant. With friends like this, who needs enemies? Efforts to return to the ‘50’s-era standards you enumerated are invariably branded “radical” by the political right, and undermined by invertebrate political left “leadership”. Is there an FDR in the room?
American prosperity has increased; it’s the sharing of that prosperity that has decreased.
Lowering corporate taxes can be justified (wrongly but arguably) as creating jobs; but lowering income taxes on individuals cannot be said to help job creation or provide any benefit to the working classes.
Since the 1970s, when the New York Times supported Milton Friedman's maximum shareholder Value doctrine, executives have taken more of corporate profits for themselves and given less to workers. Before 1970, the executive worker pay gap was 20 to 1; now it is 300 to 1. That's where the corporate probability is going.
If high-end individual income tax rates, not corporate, are again raised to 70%, that rate will apply almost exclusively to executives and hedge fund money managers. They didn't flee the country when the rate was 70%. That's a hollow threat.
If only the amounts used in share buybacks were allocated to worker pay, that pay would almost double. There would be no increase in product prices, no decrease in dividends, or the outrageously high executive pay. But executives will never agree to raising workers' wages, so taxation is the only remedy.
Attempts to reduce executive pay, as Clinton and Obama did, would have no benefit. Even if the executive-worker pay gap were reduced, executives would see that the profit would not go to workers, but to dividends. So for that reason again, the only solution is to make it known that high tax on individuals is tax on the executives.
Lowering corporate taxes can be justified (wrongly but arguably) as creating jobs. This is an absolutely upside down understanding of the economic cycle. Demand is what drives the need for higher productivity production (increase in investment aka capital). An increase of capital does not (as has been amply demonstrated over the last 40 years) cause an increase of demand.
I will speak up in favor of Democratic Socialism until I die. We can only teach our children so much about money. But recognize "teachable moments" IMO I plan to do what I can for my kids but it takes our Government with policy and regulation to lessen income inequality. Opposite of what is happening! I have stopped contributing to the Christmas Consumerism. I give it a Happy Holiday break and give to my kids at Birthdays.
Thom, this is a great post to end all posts summary of your decades of work. I hope others will read and absorb and then read more deeply. This is the education we were denied and it may have taken various degrees of discomfort to wake us up….I believe we the people are waking up and that is the only hope I have. Being awake is a gift in itself that I hope many will embrace. And what we can be as a country demands us to know these truths. Where we go with it can still make an amazing future but the times are more and more dire by the week.
I desperately hope this will happen. For the young people’s sake!
I share the sentiment gabi, but then realized that why care about the future because the future doesn't care about me. I have 25 living descendants including two great great grandchildren and they are all so wrapped up in their own lives, that their only concern is how much money they can get from me and what gifts I will send. My daughters even compare gifts,t then call me up (past tense, because I stopped giving) to whine that I don't live them as much as the other, because they other got more.
In disgust I sent them identical cards and gifts one year, and they both whined that they were different. I am not a beach ball in sibling rivalry, but they are just like their mother mercenary.
With disgust I've witnessed grown children hovering like vultures over the death bed, ready to pounce and quarrel over the leavings, stripping the corpse to the bone even before it is in the ground.
We did not make the world we were born into, we had to make our own way, thus it is and will be for future generations.
As the Billy Joel song goes "I didn;t start the fire"
Yeh I know, I am kind of harsh, but that is me.
Give all of your money to a worthwhile cause instead. They don’t deserve a dime.
If my wife survives me she gets it. If she doesn't it goes to the local animal shelter
This not about you. It is not about me. It is about the future of all. Your relationship with your children did not begin when they were adults. It broke a long time ago.
Have some humility, and be open to learning what you contributed to that particular mess.
Thanks for the lecture. but don't need it.
Since you don't know me or my situation, your comment tells me more about you than me.
What about great great grandchildren - even younger than Gen Z - the youngest our our hope - not so much the baby boomers.
I have two great great grandchildren, all they will know of me is what I know of my own great great grandfather (born in 1816)/
The world I live in is very different from the world that he lived in, and the world my great great grandchildren will live is quite different from the world that I live in.
There is absolutely nothing that I can do that will affect their world, anymore than my own great great grandfather was able to affect me. He didn't even imagine me, much less my name. At least I've seen photos of my two great great grandchildren, and the breeding hasn't really started yet.
As regards "hope" that you speak of, what hope, we will be long gone by the time they take their place in the world.
I, you, all of us have absolutely no control over the future, it will be what it will be.
How close is this to your family: ggC 2021 gC 1991 child 1961 Today 2025 89 you 1936 father 1906 gF 1876 ggf 1846 gggF 1816 .
At about 90 (as I am lucky) I would hope to be able to communicate with a 5 to seven year old. Am always surprised by how acute the young are.
You are not alone in this familial dilemma. Yes, I'm disgusted with this also but see no end to the money grubbing, at least in our family situation.
I've noticed that all too often, family members hovering over death beds like vultures. One of my sisters was by my mothers side in a nursing home, she lived closest, in her final moments and when she passed, she swooped up all of her belongings and doll collection.
When my father died, I tore up his will.
As I remember the late 1970's, it was a time of stagflation, declining jobs in the steel industry, and competition from Japanese auto manufacturers. Reagan's solution was to blow up the unions and give out tax cuts to the wealthy. And throw more drug addicts in prison. This is still the program to this day, and of course it has only made matters worse.
All of this is true and I am in full agreement. The problem? Young people feel much the same way about the Democratic Party for different (and some of the same) reasons. What do we do about that?
There are in reality two Democratic Parties, there is the party of the people, like you and I, and the party of the insiders, the professionals, those who never had to shop for groceries, the strategists, the analysts, who see politics as sucking up to those with money and power
Again, full agreement. Most young people don’t see the difference and only see us as a bunch of grasping, tragic old Boomers.
Communicating the different approaches of we different Democrats is being lost in a blitz by the GOP and the insider Dem party.
I’ve had a number of 20 somethings shut me down (although we were in full agreement culturally, politically and environmentally) as soon as I identified as a Democrat.
It makes me sad since I fully believe in “We the People” (stolen by awful right wingers).
Jennifer,keep repeating you are on their side. Last week,I watching some football @a bar in Smyrna,Georgia and the young guy I was talking to was complaining about the high cost of everything,but most importantly the cost of housing and the possibility of being a renter for life and having to deal with his slumloard for life. I mentioned that I was advocating for lower housing costs and he appreciated my input. Just remember the reason that prices are so high for the following reasons.
1. Wall Street always wants higher prices,otherwise who would invest in the stock market.
2. Firms that call themselves "Advisors" cannot justify the fees they charge if their clients did not see profits.This is a hugh business.
It will take younger generations to get out in the streets,call congressmen,call the Federal Reserve and tell them they are pissed. It may also take a revolution.
I've seen the same phenomenon discussed on TV. Full agreement on issues, but a shut down when political affiliation is mentioned. It is our Manichean culture, us vs them.
It is carried to extremes in sports. A sports team is simply a plantation owned by a wealthy individuals or a corporation, the players are well paid slaves, and instead of being whipped, they are fined or put out to pasture.
The slaves, are bound by contracts, indentures, which dictate their personal lives, what they are not allowed o do or say, however they are well compensated, too well compensated, because their performance makes money for the planter, and elevates his social status.
Yet people get so violent in their partisanship for these overpaid professionals, that they will commit violence and engage in hate.
I was communicating with a distant cousin in New Zealand, and his life revolved around an English football (soccer) team, Manchester United.
I made a comment about soccer, that he didn't like and he would have strangled me if he could, he did not answer my emails after the flame.
In Europe there are riots and violence,if a nations team loses. I know why, it is because they identify with their team and loss means a loss in testosterone and violence is a way to rebuild the loss.
This same phenomenon (way of thinking and belief system) applies to so many aspects of life.
"Competition" is nearly as damaging a concept as "Socialist". That's why humans inevitably wind up hating each other, and ultimately find something ... ANYthing ... to kill each other.
I agree competition is a zero sum game. Our species survived by cooperation. Even the "cave men" cooperated with each other and took care of each other, but when tribe breaks up into clans. or when tribes come in conflict with other tribes and they squabble for the same resource, then competition breaks out and leads to violence
It is a law of nature.
We (humans) create our own problems, simple people want simple answers, and simplify problems and simplify solutions.
For this discussion I will use the words socialism and capitalism.
The "left" (and that term requires examination and definition) uses capitalism as a slur. The Right (and that term requires examination and definition) uses socialism as a slur.
Bur were it not for some forms of socialism and capitalism, we would be living in Savanahs, for fear of 4 legged predators, chasing down four legged herbivores for sustenance.
But we lack the mental acuity, patience, intelligence to discuss or evaluate the world so we resort to shorthand, shortcuts, deceit, aggression.
My experience, considered "old" for about 50 years, is that the DNC acquesced to "young" people to their detriment. We have tools to idenify and to convince virtually every voter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGP_VAN
I saw that again in the 2024 cycle.
The way to win is to out register and out vote the opposition.
IMHO we did that in key states and districts the last cycle but the election was stolen.
If by "acquiesced to young people" you mean the thoughtless, self righteous, peer approval seeking idjits, behind political correctness and pro HAMAS I agree, but that is only a segment of the population, and only they are centered or clustered in universities and colleges.
An example is "feminists and queers for Palestine". Neither one of which would survive a day in Gaza or the West Bank.
The student body at Berkeley caused the cancellation of Bill Maher (he was reinstated by the admin) because he rightfully pointed out that Islam is misogynistic and oppresses women, calling the abaya and chador, bee keeper suits, and this in the place where the free speech movement started (free speech for me, but not for thee)
But there is also a larger picture. The Democratic Party is run by professionals, whose world is inside the bubble of the beltway, who probably never see in the inside of a supermarket, professionals who make their living off donations and who schmooze with industry lobbyists, go to their cocktail parties, eat dinner with them at exclusive restaurants.
And that is why the Democratic party is losing and has lost, not only out of touch with the people, but tell the people what to feel, tell them to appreciate the crumbs thrown at them.
Last election, voters were told to appreciate what was done for them, like the IRA, ARP and Chips acts, but that isn;t human nature, their memories are short, and they take for granted their situation, they are motivated by fears, needs and promises.. what is being done to them (real or not) and what will be done for them in the future.
Frankly Daniel, the Democratic party is addicted to donor cash, they have ignored the example give by Bernie, who funded his campaign with donations from people, not corporations.
The hand that gives, also taketh. Corporate donations are always quid pro quo.
Our universities have discovered that their achilles heel is their dependence on federal dollars, a weakness that Trump has exploited with great success.
This applies to politics as well. If you take my money, you are obligated to me, if you want more.
No. Without any experience, they ran campaigns. When i lived in DC, E.G. the DNC did not even want retired people, many who had loads of experience as volunteers.
I voulteered with 2 data groups. Both run by PhDs. They had no local knowledge whatsoever. Limited political knowledge also. E.G. in some of the VAN data we were able to identify military dependants. We also had problems re votes from overseas. We had data for them to show why a vote for Trump was a vote to screw them. We had email and phone addresses. Never put into use.
Same with a number of other issues.
This might be a stretch, but the thought came to me that the professionals, those that make a living off politics, TV appearances, being wined and dined by lobbyists and courted by corporations, really don't want to win.
If they win, they are no longer relevant, no invites to show up up as an analyst on MSNOW to kvetch about the administration., and lobbyist ignore the, and go straight to the source, the cabinets and their flunkies.
I honestly don't think that Kamala really wanted to win, she was too eager to concede, 4 pm the next day while votes were still being counted.
She would have had to govern and it was more fun and lucrative campaigning and raking in residuals or her book, where she blamed her loss on Gov Shapiro.
Daniel,dealing with supersized PHDs may have been the problem. Once your a PHD,you know everything and take no advise.
20 years ago, the DNC terminated year-round voter registration programs due to budget pressures, expecting other organizations to step in.
In the last two cycles, traditional non-partisan voter registration organizations have experienced an 87% drop in productivity.
“Did Not Vote” won every election! Of the 82 million eligible who did not vote in 2024, 62 million were unregistered.
After I retired I volunteered in severral programs like the DNC and Field Team 6. Field Team 6 resolved to DOUBLE the outreach for 2024 and reach out to 10 million unregistered likely Democrats.
But the data vendors ran out of names!
2024 Goal: 10 million
2023-2024 Cycle
But the political data vendors could provide
only 8 million names.
2024 Goal: 10 million
Only 8 million available
But in the districts, it funded, Field Teram 6 was able to help candidates win as 6 million registered as blue or purple after Field Team 6 outreach.
References include Tammy Baldwin and Elissa Slotkin.
You are not in full agreement with "young people." Do you think that Joe Biden and Antony Blinken should be prosecuted as war criminals for their genocide in Gaza. Those "young people" do. Those "young people" understand that both parties have corrupted our political system in equal measure, and that Democrats like Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Hillary Clinton and even AOC are part of the problem and not the solution. They are all careerists and self-promoters who will do anything the Democratic Party says including lying about the genocide in Gaza and failing to stand up for workers. So you likely do not agree with them politically or culturally as they see the Democrats' genocide in Gaza as the intersectional issue of our time, a genocide that Thom Hartmann simply ignores because the Democrats started it and did nothing, and I mean nothing, to stop it.
Barry,you sound like a Netanyahu supporter with your genocide comments. Let's be very clear about the Genocide,it is Netanyahu and many far right Israels in this country who advocate for the genocide.. You blame all the Dems for the problem but obviously see no problem with your annointed leader and god : Trump,the biggest " Nazi" this country has ever had and cannot figure out how to deal with him.
Barry is a troll (or Russian bot?), but he offers valuable insight into how radical right-wing extremists think.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Third Way vs Berniecrats
William,youve got it. Please repeat.
Jennifer,we can listen to Sanders,AOC, Mamdani and any other individual who fights for the rights of minoritiesand young people.The Democratic party has been tainted,not to the extent that the " Neo Nazi"party has by accepting huge contributions from Corp America for whom they must pay back in legislation that is favorable to Corp America. We have so many institutions that have been corrupted,Supreme Court,all forms of our current Gov't, the Federal Reserve.
Sacking Chucky Schums would be a good start.
"Greed is Good" propaganda defines American capitalism. American culture groomed us to pursue an indentured life. As Boomer children, we were taught in school that American capitalism made our democratic government better than all others, past and present - communism especially. That was because our government and our economic system (rigged as it is) gives everybody the freedom to get rich and lead the good life (implying that not being rich was the bad life). Look at communism, they'd say, nobody is allowed to get rich in that system. Everybody does their job and gets paid the same. Unions want us all to be communists!
It was no coincidence that when not being groomed in school, on weekends, we boomers grew up on a steady diet of cowboy TV shows. Real men; Hoppy, Roy, Gene, Matt, Paladin all lived independently on the Bonanza Ponderosa. Those real men built this country. Real men shot the bad guys who tried to steal their wealth. Was it a coincidence that Ronald Reagan had been a six-shooter cowboy star? No wonder the GOP adopted the NRA.
Also, after school and after dinner and homework, we were exposed to the ideals of middle-class American life: "Leave it to Beaver," "Ozzie and Harriet," "Father Knows Best," "Dennis the Menace," "My Three Sons," etc.
President Reagan told America that the noble rich shared their success by letting some of their wealth trickle down on everybody else, so we workers too could live better. The richer we workers made them, the more money would trickle down to us. We didn't need taxes. Of course, working SMARTER is what makes people rich. Working HARDER just makes other people rich. Working RUTHLESSLY makes rich people billionaires.
Just to be clear: Unions want their companies to succeed (legitimately) and are not against people becoming wealthy (legitimately). Unions only want fair wages and benefits for their members, a reasonable share of the wealth that workers of all races, genders, and ethnicities helped create.
When you think of unions, think of families with the purchasing power to juice the economy, which helps everyone, including nonunion workers and their businesses.
Agreed!
When I said "Unions want us all to be communists!" I was referring to what the GOP has been saying for half a century+. I totally support unions. The most courageous union in my mind was the Air Traffic Controllers when they all walked off the job while GOP President Reagan fired them all.
Today, federal employees are arbitrarily fired by a Trillionaire Wanna-Be who likes to play with chainsaws or by any incompetent MAGA appointee who thinks that anyone refusing orders that violate the Constitution or some standing law must be a radical Democrat, Deep-State traitor.
It's all good, Tom. I suspected that that is what you meant, but I felt compelled to clarify the point just in case there was any misunderstanding on the part of anyone who might be speed-reading through the posts and miss the nuance.
I've been a union guy my whole life (33 years in the operating department on the railroad), so I'm kinda sensitive about the subject. Yup, the Air Traffic Controllers union is right up there as a true hero, standing up for what's right on behalf of all of us.
No sweat - my bad for sloppy punctuation.
Agree with most of what you stated. This is all basically why communism seems to only work in small, consenting groups. Humanity is definitely not ready for this in any form.
John Stoehr at Rawstory published a piece this morning (including an interview with Samantha Hancox-Li, editor and podcast host for Liberal Currents) that complements Thom's article insofar as how the Democratic Party should respond to this Republican crisis of democracy in realistic terms that will actually provoke change.
In a nutshell, they argue that the base and, especially, young people desperately want Democratic politicians, should they gain back power, to take the gloves off and fight as dirty as Republicans — but on the side of righteousness. Since Trump and his traitorous faction have blown up nearly all of our erstwhile norms of polite politics and institutional traditions, why should Democrats play by quaint rules? The days of marshmallow Schumer and company are over—real, consequential action, not "strongly worded" statements and then back to business as usual!
Do what Republicans fear the most: shitcan the undemocratic filibuster; stack the Supreme Court with liberal justices; impeach Trump and anyone else in power who shamelessly enabled the felonious crimes of this administration; gerrymander the hell out of the blue states; completely overhaul campaign financing laws and outlaw dark money; bust up the monopolies with an iron grip on the media and the economy; and everything else screaming for serious reform so that wannabe dictators like Trump will never again rise to power and subvert our democracy.
People are really pissed off, and Democrats need to match the times if they expect to recapture the mood of the electorate and once again become champions of the working class in the vein of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
(IMHO, on January 20, 2029, the first thing the next Democratic president should do is bulldoze Trump's goddamn billionaires' ballroom and rebuild the East Wing! This ridiculous monstrosity is an edifice to his narcissistic ego. The dark ages of kings and dictators must not serve as an inspiration for future generations.)
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/ruben-gallego/
Auction off the bulldozer driver's seat to help pay for the new wing.
Ha! That auction should make more than enough money to pay for several new wings, considering how many people are utterly disgusted by Trump's boondoggle vanity project.
Just like us.....
The youth of this nation are not a monolith, but enough of them are ready to say lead, follow or get out of our way.
They now see the lies, grift and corruption. We could not have had a "better" bad example than this Administration of psychos and sickos. Let's prosecute as soon as we can.
Gen Z grew-up knowing bullying is wrong. They vote in school. Their connection to the rest of the world has been amazing. Income inequality is killing people. It's all so obvious. See you in the streets.
Thank you, Thom, once again, for putting everything so logically and succinctly. This is definitely a keeper and sharer.
Somehow we have to show that borh parties are not the same, that the Democratic party works for the people. They must know that FDR created Social Security after rhe Great (GOP) Depression. Medicare and Medicaid were created during LBJ’s administration. That Elizabeth Warren created the CFPB to guard consumers from bank theft. A boatload of other programs for the working class that the GOP has fought tooth and nail to kill. Progressive programs that help people!
I so hope they are over it! Gen Z must save us 😇. My grand- and great grandchildren are it!
No wonder your readers are so misinformed. Republicans pushed through NAFTA? Didn't Bill Clinton sign it and that other bastion of progressivism Robert Reich, then Clinton's Secretary of Labor, promote NAFTA as legislation that would bring "prosperity" to workers for years to come? The deindustrialization that resulted from NAFTA is one of the main reasons for the rise of Trumpism. Didn't Bill Clinton pass "welfare reform" that put more Americans into extreme poverty while robbing those in poverty of benefits like Medicaid? Didn't Obama cut $8 billion from the food assistance program WIC for women and children? I could go on, but many of the things you blame Republicans for were initiated or expanded by Democrats. Didn't Democrats "cave" (willingly) to the Senate Parliamentarian who said a $15 minimum wage couldn't be included in a particular bill, only to never bring it up again (Trump fired the Parliamentarian who nixed his legislation and pushed it through). I could go on, but blaming one party for something that the other party does only exacerbates the austerity that is making Americans turn to Trump. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/stop-fascism-defund-the-democrats
First, Bill Clinton and Obama weren't exactly progressive. In many respects, they were sellouts, like many in the big-corporate Democrat class (who indeed need to be replaced by true progressives). They made the crass miscalculation (not entirely incorrect) that big-corporate money is a sure-fire way to win the game of politics in plutocratic America, losing sight of what the Democratic Party has traditionally stood for: workers and their families versus corporate monopolies sucking up the wealth and screwing over workers.
Second, you say you "could go on, but blaming one party for something that the other party does only exacerbates ... [blah, blah, blah]." Do you actually listen to yourself? And do you think the list of Republican Party corporate transgressions is shorter than the list of Democratic failings? Quite the opposite.
Alternatively, I could go on for pages and pages (but why waste any more internet ink arguing the obvious with a right-wing troll?) of real-life Democratic accomplishments that have, to a significant extent, helped the poor and middle classes over the last century share in the bounty of our nation.
In comparison, a similar list of Republican policies is nonexistent. "Conservatives" (hahaha...what a misnomer!) are all about enriching the already rich at the expense of everyone else and the planet. The only difference nowadays from FDR's time is that the Overton window has shifted far to the right, and certain Democratic politicians have foolishly followed their Republican buddies down the big-corporate primrose path.
We could easily cancel all student debt and also make higher education affordable or even free like many other countries. But the fact is that the morbidly rich just can’t get enough of the community pot. It’s time for them to have an intervention and get the help they need. They have an addiction.
Thom,this is a brilliant piece that should be repeated. It is almost impossible to understand how many negative events have occurred that many of your readers may be unfamiliar with.
We are living in the new " Nazi America" and at some point there will be meaningful pushback. If the 67 million democrats who have been AWOL in the protests,etc would show up,there is a chance something might change.
Every day brings a raft of bad news,so much so that I'm sure there will be an increase in depression.
Today,the Federal Reserve,owned by Trump stated that their is virtually no inflation,paving the way for another interest rate decrease next week,all to appease our totally corrupt financial markets.
This will starve savers,between 2012-2022 when interest rates were 0,many older Americans who depended upon some savings to supplement social security,saw their income reduced to nothing but SS. .They then started selling assets that they could,ate 1-2 meals a day,did not socialize due to the costs and died broke. The reduction in interest rates is just another way the totally corrupt Federal Reserve will increase the wealth of the billionaire class.
Short of a revolution,I suspect we will continue to live under : " Neo Nazi" gov't for the forseeable future.
“America’s young people are over it, Republicans, and they’re going to reboot this nation to fulfill its potential and promise.” May I?: America’s young people are over it, DEMOCRATS, and they’re going to reboot this nation to fulfill its potential and promise.
Earlier this week, Chuck Schumer opined that the Republicans are in “disarray” on healthcare, a word choice that suggests he sees the issue as a purely political game. They are not in “disarray” on healthcare. They want to privatize it, period, disagreeing only about how to arrange that. Meanwhile, Maine Democrats are seriously considering running a 79 year old against Susan Collins. Brilliant. With friends like this, who needs enemies? Efforts to return to the ‘50’s-era standards you enumerated are invariably branded “radical” by the political right, and undermined by invertebrate political left “leadership”. Is there an FDR in the room?
American prosperity has increased; it’s the sharing of that prosperity that has decreased.
Lowering corporate taxes can be justified (wrongly but arguably) as creating jobs; but lowering income taxes on individuals cannot be said to help job creation or provide any benefit to the working classes.
Since the 1970s, when the New York Times supported Milton Friedman's maximum shareholder Value doctrine, executives have taken more of corporate profits for themselves and given less to workers. Before 1970, the executive worker pay gap was 20 to 1; now it is 300 to 1. That's where the corporate probability is going.
If high-end individual income tax rates, not corporate, are again raised to 70%, that rate will apply almost exclusively to executives and hedge fund money managers. They didn't flee the country when the rate was 70%. That's a hollow threat.
If only the amounts used in share buybacks were allocated to worker pay, that pay would almost double. There would be no increase in product prices, no decrease in dividends, or the outrageously high executive pay. But executives will never agree to raising workers' wages, so taxation is the only remedy.
Attempts to reduce executive pay, as Clinton and Obama did, would have no benefit. Even if the executive-worker pay gap were reduced, executives would see that the profit would not go to workers, but to dividends. So for that reason again, the only solution is to make it known that high tax on individuals is tax on the executives.
Lowering corporate taxes can be justified (wrongly but arguably) as creating jobs. This is an absolutely upside down understanding of the economic cycle. Demand is what drives the need for higher productivity production (increase in investment aka capital). An increase of capital does not (as has been amply demonstrated over the last 40 years) cause an increase of demand.
I will speak up in favor of Democratic Socialism until I die. We can only teach our children so much about money. But recognize "teachable moments" IMO I plan to do what I can for my kids but it takes our Government with policy and regulation to lessen income inequality. Opposite of what is happening! I have stopped contributing to the Christmas Consumerism. I give it a Happy Holiday break and give to my kids at Birthdays.
Thom, this is a great post to end all posts summary of your decades of work. I hope others will read and absorb and then read more deeply. This is the education we were denied and it may have taken various degrees of discomfort to wake us up….I believe we the people are waking up and that is the only hope I have. Being awake is a gift in itself that I hope many will embrace. And what we can be as a country demands us to know these truths. Where we go with it can still make an amazing future but the times are more and more dire by the week.