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"
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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 - 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.
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.)
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
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.
Two or three days ago I posted a new article on Substack entitled, “The Persistent Myths of Liberals and Atheists Imposing Their Beliefs” with the subtitle, “Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing”. One of the most effective strategies of the radical reactionaries calling themselves conservatives during the period Thom is writing about today is to proliferate far and wide the false notion that liberals are using illegitimate techniques and institutionalized rights to indoctrinate and “brainwash” students and the general public. This is the impetus behind their obsession to privatize and destroy public schools. I asked Thom to write an article specifically about this malicious subterfuge. I believe I covered the topic adequately; however, I lack the writing skills to get the message across clearly and concisely.
I will copy here a paragraph from my piece which exemplifies their lie.:
The very word, “liberal” signifies liberty, freedom of thought and action within rational bounds, openness, and non-judgmental attitudes. Our essential maxims are minimizing control over the movements and ability of others to live as they choose if any control is appropriate, discouraging irrational controls on self or neurotic obsessions with power, judging, or possessiveness, and doing our best to show tolerance of people, behaviors, traditions, and practices with which we may not be comfortable, but which do not harm us, too greatly insult us, or threaten us in any significant manner.
By creating a strong impression that liberals are being deceptive and manipulative and that we are the ones who do not respect the free speech rights of conservatives, they cut off the discussion and control the narrative, making themselves the victims when they are the perpetrators of the deception. They are highly skilled with this psychological warfare. Unless something is done to alert more people to what the realities and the truth are, we will be fighting a losing battle.
Once again, I cannot let stand another false impression, also. Thom wrote,
“Instead, we’ve raised two generations of Americans who can’t even name the three branches of government, much less understand the meaning of the Constitution’s reference to the “General Welfare.” And forget about trying to explain to them the difference between Hitler’s fascism, Stalin’s communism, and the modern-day governments of Russia, Hungary, and China. Or what Trump and his cronies are up to.”
The poor understanding and knowledge evidenced in students is not new in the least and did not come about solely because of the ending of civics classes. Our traditional public schools have not been the factor responsible for well-informed citizens in the past of for higher rates of literacy or civic participation. That is a pernicious myth which I am obliged to point out at every opportunity. Our public schools have been destroying themselves and have failed miserably for generations despite all odds because their mission was always to produce unthinking, anti-intellectual, drones who would be obedient and passive participants in the economy desired by the uber-rich. And Thom has demonstrated before that he knows that.
Young people are indeed angry and frustrated. But few of them understand why or what the remedies for their problems are. That is a dangerous situation.
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.
“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 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.
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.
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
William,youve got it. Please repeat.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sacking Chucky Schums would be a good start.
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.
Thank you, Thom, once again, for putting everything so logically and succinctly. This is definitely a keeper and sharer.
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.
"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 - 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.
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/
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
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.
Two or three days ago I posted a new article on Substack entitled, “The Persistent Myths of Liberals and Atheists Imposing Their Beliefs” with the subtitle, “Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing”. One of the most effective strategies of the radical reactionaries calling themselves conservatives during the period Thom is writing about today is to proliferate far and wide the false notion that liberals are using illegitimate techniques and institutionalized rights to indoctrinate and “brainwash” students and the general public. This is the impetus behind their obsession to privatize and destroy public schools. I asked Thom to write an article specifically about this malicious subterfuge. I believe I covered the topic adequately; however, I lack the writing skills to get the message across clearly and concisely.
I will copy here a paragraph from my piece which exemplifies their lie.:
The very word, “liberal” signifies liberty, freedom of thought and action within rational bounds, openness, and non-judgmental attitudes. Our essential maxims are minimizing control over the movements and ability of others to live as they choose if any control is appropriate, discouraging irrational controls on self or neurotic obsessions with power, judging, or possessiveness, and doing our best to show tolerance of people, behaviors, traditions, and practices with which we may not be comfortable, but which do not harm us, too greatly insult us, or threaten us in any significant manner.
By creating a strong impression that liberals are being deceptive and manipulative and that we are the ones who do not respect the free speech rights of conservatives, they cut off the discussion and control the narrative, making themselves the victims when they are the perpetrators of the deception. They are highly skilled with this psychological warfare. Unless something is done to alert more people to what the realities and the truth are, we will be fighting a losing battle.
Once again, I cannot let stand another false impression, also. Thom wrote,
“Instead, we’ve raised two generations of Americans who can’t even name the three branches of government, much less understand the meaning of the Constitution’s reference to the “General Welfare.” And forget about trying to explain to them the difference between Hitler’s fascism, Stalin’s communism, and the modern-day governments of Russia, Hungary, and China. Or what Trump and his cronies are up to.”
The poor understanding and knowledge evidenced in students is not new in the least and did not come about solely because of the ending of civics classes. Our traditional public schools have not been the factor responsible for well-informed citizens in the past of for higher rates of literacy or civic participation. That is a pernicious myth which I am obliged to point out at every opportunity. Our public schools have been destroying themselves and have failed miserably for generations despite all odds because their mission was always to produce unthinking, anti-intellectual, drones who would be obedient and passive participants in the economy desired by the uber-rich. And Thom has demonstrated before that he knows that.
Young people are indeed angry and frustrated. But few of them understand why or what the remedies for their problems are. That is a dangerous situation.
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.
“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?
Did you hear that Somali immigrants don’t want to immigrate to a country with a shit-hole president?
American prosperity has increased; it’s the sharing of that prosperity that has decreased.
Lowering 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.