Excellent ideas here. Let me add another. Two years of required public service would give young people an opportunity to learn civic responsibility by serving the common good directly. It would help instill in all young people a sense of their obligations to society, regardless of their family’s wealth or status. It would allow young Americans to connect with other Americans who differ from them by race, social class, and politics. It would provide a common experience in the common good.
Public service could take many forms in addition to military service. The Peace Corps could be revived and expanded. Projects like “Teach for America” could be enlarged and extended to other service professions, like “Social Work for America.” Nonprofits could offer a range of public service work. All such recruits would be paid a modest stipend, at least living expenses plus interest payments on any student loans. (That would be less than the current pay of “all-volunteer” army recruits.)
Professor, I'm trying to show off that I have learned something from you. Couldn't we pay the "American Service Corps" participants at least minimum wage plus health care? I think the country can afford it, the consumer-based economy would be boosted by the additional spending power of those young people, and their lifetime productivity would be boosted by their improved health outlooks!
Don't forget that the ACA extended coverage for all young people until age 25 under their parents' plans (so the cost would likely be minuscule, if anything)...
Yes, if their parents had a plan... But we should ensure that all young people have health care without relying on employer plans or risking that their parents are not covered either (too often true in this country).
Professor Reich could chime in on that point - but the federal government did its part in assuring funding for Medicare/Medicaid extension as part of the ACA (state governors either chose to extend coverage or further politicize it)...
I agree with this, but would add using it in the context of a broader attitude of putting the "we" back into society, focusing on the common good, and why that's important.
(I wonder what it would look like if we chose to create "the Great Society" - this is an assignment I would give to Americans, because you do "great" really well.)
Rather than just focusing on the young, why not promote the public service option to older people in or nearing retirement? The 'dino-babies' that IBM is busily trying to kick out of the workforce.
Does the Public Service necessarily have to be mandatory? Why not make it available to those newly graduating from high school as well? As Benjamin suggested, why not provide minimum wage and health care? Maybe those high schoolers would have that extra incentive to graduate, knowing that if they can't or don't have the inclination to attend college, there's something else other than military service that they can depend on to get that start they need. And the rest of us benefit from their service as well.
Playing Devil's Advocate: Won't two years of required public service violate the 13th amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime?
We have no problem requiring involuntary military service when it's needed. Remember, the powers behind the throne can get whatever they want approved-- one way or another.
You’re spot on. Several fixes are possible but political will to do them is practically nonexistent currently.
1. Get the money out (citizens United, lobbyists, the revolving door)
2. Faster Accountability for insurrectionists both in and out of the branches of government. By dragging it out (thoroughness is important, I know) people get numb and tired of it and lose their passion about it.
3. Kick out, recall, impeach the wannabe fascists and obstructionists in the house and senate. This requires money, we’ll coordinated grassroots effort in the states/communities where these cretins came from.
4. Consider some level of ethical and professional competency requirements for holding office. We have too many batshit crazy conspiracists in govt already (Rand, Margarie T green, etc) Just like any job there should be some minimum qualification requirements to be met to even get in. They NEVER should have been even able to get on the ticket.
All good and important steps. Over the slightly longer term, how about reviving civic education in our schools? How about two years of mandatory public service for all young people?
One additional point -- 5. Some means of counteracting the Fox News/Newsmax/Talk Radio propaganda machine. This video helps (but I think using the "fascism" word is a mistake).
In re faster accountability: Speed kills. If you shoot at the king, don't miss. It is crucial to get all the evidence, and all the facts, and all the precedent, and the timing, flyspeck perfect.
How to reverse the rightward trend? Some necessary and insufficient tactics: 1. Make daily videos on Tiktok. See the trendlines on Tiktok. 2. Join and support https://www.workingamerica.org/. 3. Disenfranchise Fox News, which is possibly operating in violation of its rules - at the minimum, require constant banner bottom of screen This program is for entertainment purposes only. It is not news and should not be taken as factual." 4. Administer attitude adjustment to reporters at NYT, WaPo for endless negative and hostile coverage of the Biden administration. What's up with that? 5. Civil and criminal litigation funders of the right wing outfits.
Martha, what about de-platforming Fox News? Google has permanently banned FOX News host Dan Bongino for Covid misinformation. Twitter permanently de-platformed Trump. Facebook permanently banned Alex Jones and his InfoWars disinformation conspiracy content. And DirecTV just announced it will permanently drop the right-wing conspiracy spewing disinformation and lies of the One America Network. Why shouldn't consumers demand that Comcast, Charter, AT&T, and every other cable company drop FOX, too?
Martha Ture ; love the 3rd suggestion, a constant banner across the bottom of the screen warning that it is not news and "should not be taken as factual". This might have saved lives from Covid earlier on. They lie about most things.
Until Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News is liable for its constant Russian propaganda, disinformation, anti vaccination hysteria, probably not.
For millions of Americans, this is their news source, functioning in a fact free medium.
How many of them don’t even believe Biden is our elected president?.
I also find this silence from the DOJ, AG Garland ominous, this lack of accountability soul destroying as the 1/6 participants just laugh in our face, selling merchandise to celebrate their crimes.
I’m not sure at this can be reversed, sorry Robert.
Lots of good thoughts here. We still have far too many guns (lethal weapons) in the hands of adults with the mentality of a six year old. If we can’t get rid of the guns, which we can’t, then we need working law and order.
To have working law and order we need a swift and equitable justice system. Threats with weapons of any kind must take priority for timely trials and punishment. And weapons must include more than guns. Weapons include vehicles, flag poles, tasers, chemical sprays and more.
The left needs to be able to get our free speech rights back. I recently had a visitor remove her “coexist” sticker from her car due to real fears her car (possibly with her in it) could be damaged by the “empowered by guns” intimidation people unleashed by the likes of Trump and Giuliani.
Swift justice needs to include being tried and convicted or found not guilty within three months of apprehension and arraignment.
The only way to enact sanity is to find a way to get a super majority of Democrats in the Senate while maintaining a majority in the House and also maintaining the Presidency. We need a few extras because all Democrats will never vote in a military fashion like the fascist republicans of today act.
There is a ray of hope with the recent case awarding Sandy Hook families damages for the loss of love ones by a young man using their product to kill. It had been shown in Court that they targeted young males to want their product in their video games. It was a large amount of money. Sadly, multi millions are not much for multibillion dollar corporations.
It's a start, though. Other gunmakers may pay attention. Or their own loved ones could be killed by their product. The courts won't stop. There is precedent now.
@Stephen. If we could get that super majority that you hope for, could we also enact term limits for Senators? I think we could give them 3 terms, then ROTATE!! Since so many are lawyers we would also get a ballooning number of unemployed lawyers and perhaps reduce their hourly rates!
Leave guns out of this. I was raised in a home where dad’s shot gun and 22 rifle stood at the door. No one ever bothered them unless they were going hunting. We were taught that guns were not toys, they were tools. We would have probably starved were it not for deer, squirrels, and rabbits. Dare one enter mom’s garden. I still live in the country. My rifle stands near the door. Must be defective, it’s never killed or even been pointed at anyone.
Ladybug ; unless your Dad was using an AK 47 gatling type gun I, like many others, (like my kid sister in MN who has hunted), do not believe that ending the unlicensed, untrained unsettled is a threat to sane gun use. My sister and her husband are former members of the NRA, because they are not good sports!
I understand your point but I believe “the right to bear arms” includes ALL weapons. Not just those used by the average hunter. Those used as self defense are included. Consider a situation where the US were invaded by a foreign power. Would you just lay down and give up? Or would you rather fight to save yourself, family and country? My point was that education, training and reason (proper parenting)are there to prevent stupidity. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Ladybug ; In the scenario where 'the right to bear arms' I don't believe it includes 'All weapons'. When I was growing up there were zero civilians packing assault weapons. Must've been recently (in the last 40 years or so) that the weapons manufacturers were able to market weapons of war to civilians. The power of the NRA is money given through lobbyists to our 'representatives'. Besides, if all weapons were included in the original 'Right to Bear Arms' that could include rocket launchers as well as any 'melon thumper' terror weapons that pierce bullet proof vests worn by police. Plus, the parents responsible for preparing their children for combat against an invading enemy would have to be very well trained themselves in the use and safe handling of such lethal devices. Even the ol' hunting rifle by the back door needs to be emptied of its bullets and placed in a locked cabinet, with the ammo stored in a separate place, at least in my state. Just saying.
The last time we called the sheriffs office to report a lunatic in our front yard it took them 45 minutes to respond. We live in a very rural area. We recently had a white supremacy group purchase property less than 1/2 mile from us which they promptly turned into a target range. My husband and I have heard them shooting semiautomatic and fully automatic weapons for up to 6 hours at a time.
My husband & I are both Democrats in a state where republicans rule everything. One neighbor still flies her Dump flag. Just because my family has owned this property since 1932 doesn’t give anyone the right to harass us or mean that we are not vulnerable.
Do you happen to have a chapter of the KKK living less than 30 miles from you? We do.
Professor, I write both to question your premise about what’s happening to the “center” and, also, to register my fear that, for some time, the country has become increasingly polarized. I further maintain that this polarization largely is abetted by the Senate filibuster, a minority veto over the will of the majority, which, in my view, is the cause for much that is disfunctional in our politics.
Note that late last fall, U.S. Senate’s rules expert Martin Paone met with the Senate Democratic Caucus and, as I understand, save Manchin and Sinema, all were eager to explore resuscitating some version of the talking filibuster that, once exhausted, would have concluded with an up or down Senate majority vote. The thinking was that voter protection legislation would have been the first to benefit from this modest rule change followed by legislation (e.g., the PRO Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act) that already had passed in the House but, because of a handful of Democrats plus all 50 Republicans, has remained stalled in the Senate.
I, further, would note, but for Manchin and Sinema, that both House and Senate Democrats and the public-at-large support the President’s Build Back Better agenda, including the child tax credit, affordable child care, universal Pre-K, investments in housing, in health care, in home and community-based care, in climate, and more.
As for a possible remedy, just as representative government by popular consent likely will founder without an informed public, I would submit, as I have done elsewhere, that absent a highly effective Explainer-in-Chief to educate the public about what they’re losing, while we tolerate a minority veto over the will of the majority, large swaths of the population will continue living precariously from paycheck to paycheck, oftentimes sustaining the family income by more people working longer hours and still being weighted down by mortgage debt, credit card debt….Seriously, I could go on.
You're absolutely correct about the polarization. And I agree that most senate Democrats are where they should be on most issues. The problem is that the right -- most Republicans but even some conservative Democrats -- have moved much further to the right than at any time in living memory. When one of our two major political parties openly seeks to have fewer people vote, we're facing a terrible problem.
Professor, Though I fully concur with your reply, I would add that I feel less threatened by rule changes that suppress votes than I am by rule changes that alter who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified. While we can push back against the former by supercharging voter turnout, no amount of organizing can get us around the latter. Hence, my call for much tougher, much stronger Democratic leadership that, for example, last month would have called out Manchin’s and Sinema’s mere support for voter protections as hollow and performative absent their resolve to do their part to figure out how the filibuster could be modified to pass the combined voter protection bill under regular order, even if it meant taking a long time ( Dems had proposed up to 200 hours) to get an up or down majority vote.
If the present legal events move forward and people who are subpoenaed are actually indicted and brought to justice, it may slow or even reverse the rightward trend. It is exciting to see 6 people receiving subpoenas just on the fake electors case. I would like to see these offenders forced to appear as most of us lowly citizens certainly would be.
There's another Substack called Popular Information that's working on this. The journalists there work with public filings, so there's a lot they can't reveal, but they're contributing. It's heartening to me to see journalism that makes a difference.
I prefer not to discuss this in terms of left-right because that in itself is polarizing and may turn some people off. That said, what is called the right wing has long existed -- right wing extremist Barry Goldwater was the Republican nominee for president in 1964 -- but it has risen from minority status to prominence over the past 50+ years.
But also consider that in 1972, abortion was still illegal in many states, LGBTQ equality was not even on the radar, and there were almost no Black, Hispanic, or Asian members of Congress. Women were a tiny minority who could not even dream of becoming Speaker. Access to healthcare for those who were not very poor or elderly was dependent upon employment or paying out-of-pocket.
I think what has moved dramatically, thanks to Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and their accomplices, is the Overton Window, what is considered politically acceptable. "Freedom" generally and "freedom of religion" are used as justification for the most egregious behavior. A substantial portion of the population tells pollsters that violence is a justifiable means of achieving political ends. A substantial number of elected officials and candidates claim entitlement to prevent those who might oppose them from voting, and to unilaterally overturn election results that don't go their way. Many parents and elected officials want to turn public schools into propaganda machines for their own personal views. Corporations are people, but actual human beings are not. The wealthy are imbued with great competence and high moral character merely by virtue of their possession of wealth.
The intent of the Newt Gingrich types is to create sufficient chaos that people will grasp at anything to restore order, to allow an autocrat to emerge. I am far more concerned that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former vice president Mike Pence would become that autocrat than I am about Trump.
I think one action that is absolutely essential is to rein in the federal courts. Right now, they can dictate anything they want, with zero accountability; there are no checks and balances. The 1803 case Marbury v. Madison, which effectively amended the Constitution by judicial fiat to allow unelected judges to overturn Acts of Congress, thereby usurping Congress' primary Article I power to legislate, must be affirmatively rejected. I think a second action must be to rein in slash-and-burn media, which is acting to sabotage our government and society. (I would love to see Rupert Murdoch denaturalized and sent back to Australia.) Thirdly, there is an organization called Run for Something that recruits and supports young progressives to run for elective offices at all levels to counteract the malign forces infecting our society. Efforts like this should be encouraged.
I'd love to show this to my college classes, but the video uses the 'F'-word in connection with Trump and I wouldn't want to trigger an ugly incident. I suspect some of my students are very conservative : / and I wouldn't want them to disconnect before I have a chance to help them develop some critical thinking skills.
Linda, I think you should still. Tell your students that it's an opinion piece if you must. But your students are adults; they should be able to hear opinions they disagree with. If they don't like Trump being called the F-word, ask them to articulate what the word means to them and why Trump doesn't meet their definition.
Teaching... ahhh. Perhaps you let students opt out of that class, they can have an alternative assignment, something dead solid easy like a quiz on that same class session discussion.
@David. I appreciate your list of 4 factors. I'd add that we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, and to tackle today's unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, we must address the Federal Reserve. Please see Leonard, Christopher. "The Lords of Easy Monday." The Supreme Court is another pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Hopefully, if we did all the above, people's lack of trust in the government would be restored.
All I can do i register Democrats and help make sure they vote. I live in the Fascist state of Florida, where our voter rolls were hacked by the Russians, purged by the Republicans and the governor and state legislature are engaged in voter suppression.
Florida was the first state under Jeb Bush (who promised his brother "W" that he would "deliver" Florida to him, and did) to forge the way to sabotage Federal elections. Here we are. I believe the first successfully stolen election was Al Gore's. The Florida Supreme Court should have decided that case instead it was taken from them by the SC to hand the election to Bush. We better find a way to throw these Republican Fascists out or this country is well on it's way to being gone from anything some of us grew up in.
Florida perverted national politics. By rights, immigrants should lean Democratic. But not here. One theory is that the Castros were able to pick the kinds of enemies in the US that would justify their domestic control in Cuba by making sure that idiots were running the US. Hatred and fear of Uncle Sam unified Cuba. It can be argued that Cuban Republicans were manipulated, contrary to their own economic and societal interests, to turn Florida, the key to electoral politics. Think 2000, 2006, 2016. Now Putin is saying that he will bring more Russian influence to bear in Cuba!!!
I see ideal solutions -- muzzle Fox, impeach Fascists, etc.-- but with the filibuster, GOP SC, and now GOP focusing on infiltrating at the local levels, I don't see how Dem ideals will happen.
That seems a key problem, as your drawing suggests: Democrat = ideals (equality, help people); GOP = self-serving (stop govt so I can do what I want).
That principle hasn't changed. What's expanded on the right are tactics. Dems: pretty much same tactics (peaceful protest, talking nicely among themselves, voting, etc.); GOP: much more involvement from foreign dictators, domestic terrorists, guns, violence, lies, vote suppression efforts, etc.
Specifics of what the GOP want hardly matter. Whatever they want now, their tactics create a major imbalance in "fire power."
So the question is "how do we stop GOP evil force. " Similar to "how do we stop Russia from invading Ukraine." Biden seems to be standing up to Putin more forcefully than to Trump's GOP. But which is the greater threat? Fall of one country or fall of Democracy and its future abilities to stand up for any and all countries?
So is the answer re GOP to threaten sanction? If no help, then enact sanctionm If war on a world-level ensues, then fight? The Dems have politely threatened. Not much success. How do they enact economic sanction with GOP controlling most business? What, if any, kind of sanction would work?
Or are we already at war? War won't work so well after Putin has settled into Ukraine--or after Trump is back in the White House. The time for war is when the enemy fires the first shot?
I don't know exactly what comprises domestic political war, but usually, war means fighting fire with fire. For a party that represents ethics, shooting is hard, especially when shackled by apathy. Is that how evil triumphs? If we don't stop talking and start use some effective type of force, maybe Fascism will win?
If so, what force? And are those with the red button more concerned about elect-ability and popularity polls than with saving Democracy?
I don't know answers, but I see scary questions apparently not being answered.
I've been reading a lot of pieces written by Historians specializing in civil war the consensus seems to be we are already engaged in a civil war. I have a hard time believing it simple because it's such an uncomfortable thought.
Yes, I agree; we are currently in a civil war. I’ve been thinking, and I’m sure I’m not alone, about splitting the country without a shooting war: Blue states would constitute a nation called “Democracy,” and Red states would form a country named “Autocracy and Dominionism.” Of course, “Autocracy and Dominionism” cannot survive financially without “Democracy.” Maybe this is the only way to end the current strife and madness infecting our United States of America.
I’ve been wondering what Biden would do if Texas seceded. I really hope he wouldn’t start a shooting war to bring them back. My feeling is that if states want to secede they should. It’s not working the way it is.
Mo777Jet ; Scary questions indeed. If you can separate them, extricate the Ukraine standoff from domestic seeming apathy about our voting peril, that might be a start. Democracy is messy, and it seems to be getting messier still. I think Biden is doing well with the very threatening Putin, who evilly threatens the people of Ukraine with bombs and death. As to our crazy opponents seeking to stop our votes from the ground up, we can actively become aware of who is running and vote for local people who can affect our election process. I honestly don't know what people are doing in states where they are already doing primaries and actual voting. 😒 I'm glad I live in an educated, progressive state. But I still am vigilant.
I’m reading an article about Ukraine in Time magazine. If what they say is true, Biden has exacerbated the situation since last year. If we’d given Ukraine COVID vaccine back then I don’t think this would be happening.
Thanks for this question. A way to reverse it is viscerally clear to me although the exact path much less so. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GETS BETTER, especially better at loving many if not all people by appreciating their worth and seeking their perspectives even while not of course acting on all of them. Better policy and more success at the polls would follow. Personally, I do not feel loved and accepted by this party even though I vote overwhelmingly for Democrats and have been in small-scale leadership in our local party. I UNDERSTAND why many people are mad at the Democratic Party. although I remain in an uncomfortable coalition with it. Let's control what we can most control, ourselves! I'm still an optimist.
Wouldn’t it be something if we all respected and appreciated each other, Ed? Can you imagine what society would look like then? Do people on the right do that at all? I have no idea.
Yes it would be something! I can't imagine it exactly, but I think that it would be great! I see love with its companions of respect and appreciation as the common coin and language of politics along, sadly, with their opposites. People "on the right" certainly do this although far less universally than I like. For example, as much as I disagree with Liz Cheney and Mike Pence, I think that they showed some love by eventually standing up to Donald Trump. I think that "we" need to not just to say but also to take risks and act on the slogan "Love trumps hate".
I'm with you, Harvey! I discussed an issue with a friend of a friend on FB the other day and he provided a slew of YouTube videos, and I was like, no, I'm not spending hours watching these. Text is better for discussions and for fact-checking and for following arguments down the rabbit hole if you want.
Lots of the kinds of changes discussed here make a lot of sense—but will be tough slogs politically. I think we need to think as well about what has made people so angry and distrustful of government and corporations and how we can address that in ways that can actually get somewhere.
A lot of why people feel the way they do is that they perceive the economy to be essentially unfair (because it is!). Real median wages gave stagnated over the last decades, but consumption needs (especially health care have soared) have grown steadily. But returns to ownership have grown at a rapid pace. Fifty-percent of the private sector workforce does not participate in a retirement plan, and the numbers are worse for women and people of color. The only way we can fix this massive wealth insecurity Is reforming ownership.
That may sound like some left-wing fantasy but it isn’t. Employee ownership plans have proven very effective—participants have three times the retirement assets as employees in companies without these plans—and have been pushed by Republicans and Democrats in equal numbers (and with no opposition). The Alaska Permanent Fund is beloved by both parties. Ideas like platform cooperatives, data ownership, and limiting tax incentives for executive pay unless companies share the wealth are also supported on all sides. There is much we can do to make this happen, but the first step is just to stop treating these ideas with a pat on the head and start making them a priority.
Excellent ideas here. Let me add another. Two years of required public service would give young people an opportunity to learn civic responsibility by serving the common good directly. It would help instill in all young people a sense of their obligations to society, regardless of their family’s wealth or status. It would allow young Americans to connect with other Americans who differ from them by race, social class, and politics. It would provide a common experience in the common good.
Public service could take many forms in addition to military service. The Peace Corps could be revived and expanded. Projects like “Teach for America” could be enlarged and extended to other service professions, like “Social Work for America.” Nonprofits could offer a range of public service work. All such recruits would be paid a modest stipend, at least living expenses plus interest payments on any student loans. (That would be less than the current pay of “all-volunteer” army recruits.)
Professor, I'm trying to show off that I have learned something from you. Couldn't we pay the "American Service Corps" participants at least minimum wage plus health care? I think the country can afford it, the consumer-based economy would be boosted by the additional spending power of those young people, and their lifetime productivity would be boosted by their improved health outlooks!
Don't forget that the ACA extended coverage for all young people until age 25 under their parents' plans (so the cost would likely be minuscule, if anything)...
Yes, if their parents had a plan... But we should ensure that all young people have health care without relying on employer plans or risking that their parents are not covered either (too often true in this country).
Professor Reich could chime in on that point - but the federal government did its part in assuring funding for Medicare/Medicaid extension as part of the ACA (state governors either chose to extend coverage or further politicize it)...
I agree with this, but would add using it in the context of a broader attitude of putting the "we" back into society, focusing on the common good, and why that's important.
(I wonder what it would look like if we chose to create "the Great Society" - this is an assignment I would give to Americans, because you do "great" really well.)
Some do. If we can only get democrats elected and SCOTUS less rigidly wingered.
Rather than just focusing on the young, why not promote the public service option to older people in or nearing retirement? The 'dino-babies' that IBM is busily trying to kick out of the workforce.
Does the Public Service necessarily have to be mandatory? Why not make it available to those newly graduating from high school as well? As Benjamin suggested, why not provide minimum wage and health care? Maybe those high schoolers would have that extra incentive to graduate, knowing that if they can't or don't have the inclination to attend college, there's something else other than military service that they can depend on to get that start they need. And the rest of us benefit from their service as well.
Great point. High school is so easy to ditch if there's no there there after HS.
Playing Devil's Advocate: Won't two years of required public service violate the 13th amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime?
We have no problem requiring involuntary military service when it's needed. Remember, the powers behind the throne can get whatever they want approved-- one way or another.
You’re spot on. Several fixes are possible but political will to do them is practically nonexistent currently.
1. Get the money out (citizens United, lobbyists, the revolving door)
2. Faster Accountability for insurrectionists both in and out of the branches of government. By dragging it out (thoroughness is important, I know) people get numb and tired of it and lose their passion about it.
3. Kick out, recall, impeach the wannabe fascists and obstructionists in the house and senate. This requires money, we’ll coordinated grassroots effort in the states/communities where these cretins came from.
4. Consider some level of ethical and professional competency requirements for holding office. We have too many batshit crazy conspiracists in govt already (Rand, Margarie T green, etc) Just like any job there should be some minimum qualification requirements to be met to even get in. They NEVER should have been even able to get on the ticket.
All good and important steps. Over the slightly longer term, how about reviving civic education in our schools? How about two years of mandatory public service for all young people?
Service requirement sounds great.
All important and #2 is my number #1 to snuff out the flame before the house burns to the ground.
One additional point -- 5. Some means of counteracting the Fox News/Newsmax/Talk Radio propaganda machine. This video helps (but I think using the "fascism" word is a mistake).
Fox should be sued for misinformation that killed lots of people who died from Covid.
A hit to the 'almighty' pocketbook usually hurts. Unless it's a tiny slap on the wrist.
Misinformation is the enemy of Democracy.
What they are doing is more important to stop than what it is called. Lies are lies.
Shut Fox down! And most Rupert Murdoch products and copy cats.
In re faster accountability: Speed kills. If you shoot at the king, don't miss. It is crucial to get all the evidence, and all the facts, and all the precedent, and the timing, flyspeck perfect.
Except when they are at our heels with deadly weapons!
Nailed it! Totally agree....geez, so good to hear someone just say this.
All valid points!
How to reverse the rightward trend? Some necessary and insufficient tactics: 1. Make daily videos on Tiktok. See the trendlines on Tiktok. 2. Join and support https://www.workingamerica.org/. 3. Disenfranchise Fox News, which is possibly operating in violation of its rules - at the minimum, require constant banner bottom of screen This program is for entertainment purposes only. It is not news and should not be taken as factual." 4. Administer attitude adjustment to reporters at NYT, WaPo for endless negative and hostile coverage of the Biden administration. What's up with that? 5. Civil and criminal litigation funders of the right wing outfits.
Martha, what about de-platforming Fox News? Google has permanently banned FOX News host Dan Bongino for Covid misinformation. Twitter permanently de-platformed Trump. Facebook permanently banned Alex Jones and his InfoWars disinformation conspiracy content. And DirecTV just announced it will permanently drop the right-wing conspiracy spewing disinformation and lies of the One America Network. Why shouldn't consumers demand that Comcast, Charter, AT&T, and every other cable company drop FOX, too?
I can only say "hear hear" to that one!
I will start demanding now. We have Spectrum, which is part of Charter, I think.
Great ideas!
Martha thank you for #4. Please NYT wake to the idea we are in a dire situation.
You can write to the individual opinion writers, headline writers, and to the editors.
"necessary and insufficient" is a perfect way to phrase it.
Thank you for providing the link!
Martha Ture ; love the 3rd suggestion, a constant banner across the bottom of the screen warning that it is not news and "should not be taken as factual". This might have saved lives from Covid earlier on. They lie about most things.
Until Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News is liable for its constant Russian propaganda, disinformation, anti vaccination hysteria, probably not.
For millions of Americans, this is their news source, functioning in a fact free medium.
How many of them don’t even believe Biden is our elected president?.
I also find this silence from the DOJ, AG Garland ominous, this lack of accountability soul destroying as the 1/6 participants just laugh in our face, selling merchandise to celebrate their crimes.
I’m not sure at this can be reversed, sorry Robert.
There is the law, and some of the fake electors should face consequences.
Lots of good thoughts here. We still have far too many guns (lethal weapons) in the hands of adults with the mentality of a six year old. If we can’t get rid of the guns, which we can’t, then we need working law and order.
To have working law and order we need a swift and equitable justice system. Threats with weapons of any kind must take priority for timely trials and punishment. And weapons must include more than guns. Weapons include vehicles, flag poles, tasers, chemical sprays and more.
The left needs to be able to get our free speech rights back. I recently had a visitor remove her “coexist” sticker from her car due to real fears her car (possibly with her in it) could be damaged by the “empowered by guns” intimidation people unleashed by the likes of Trump and Giuliani.
Swift justice needs to include being tried and convicted or found not guilty within three months of apprehension and arraignment.
The only way to enact sanity is to find a way to get a super majority of Democrats in the Senate while maintaining a majority in the House and also maintaining the Presidency. We need a few extras because all Democrats will never vote in a military fashion like the fascist republicans of today act.
There is a ray of hope with the recent case awarding Sandy Hook families damages for the loss of love ones by a young man using their product to kill. It had been shown in Court that they targeted young males to want their product in their video games. It was a large amount of money. Sadly, multi millions are not much for multibillion dollar corporations.
It's a start, though. Other gunmakers may pay attention. Or their own loved ones could be killed by their product. The courts won't stop. There is precedent now.
@Stephen. If we could get that super majority that you hope for, could we also enact term limits for Senators? I think we could give them 3 terms, then ROTATE!! Since so many are lawyers we would also get a ballooning number of unemployed lawyers and perhaps reduce their hourly rates!
Leave guns out of this. I was raised in a home where dad’s shot gun and 22 rifle stood at the door. No one ever bothered them unless they were going hunting. We were taught that guns were not toys, they were tools. We would have probably starved were it not for deer, squirrels, and rabbits. Dare one enter mom’s garden. I still live in the country. My rifle stands near the door. Must be defective, it’s never killed or even been pointed at anyone.
Ladybug: No, we won’t leave guns out of it! No one needs an AK-47 to kill *any* animal!
Ladybug ; unless your Dad was using an AK 47 gatling type gun I, like many others, (like my kid sister in MN who has hunted), do not believe that ending the unlicensed, untrained unsettled is a threat to sane gun use. My sister and her husband are former members of the NRA, because they are not good sports!
Assault weapons are not for sport.
AI is working against me. The unvetted use of a weapon of war by people who are not authorized, licensed or trained to do so should be banned.
I understand your point but I believe “the right to bear arms” includes ALL weapons. Not just those used by the average hunter. Those used as self defense are included. Consider a situation where the US were invaded by a foreign power. Would you just lay down and give up? Or would you rather fight to save yourself, family and country? My point was that education, training and reason (proper parenting)are there to prevent stupidity. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Ladybug ; In the scenario where 'the right to bear arms' I don't believe it includes 'All weapons'. When I was growing up there were zero civilians packing assault weapons. Must've been recently (in the last 40 years or so) that the weapons manufacturers were able to market weapons of war to civilians. The power of the NRA is money given through lobbyists to our 'representatives'. Besides, if all weapons were included in the original 'Right to Bear Arms' that could include rocket launchers as well as any 'melon thumper' terror weapons that pierce bullet proof vests worn by police. Plus, the parents responsible for preparing their children for combat against an invading enemy would have to be very well trained themselves in the use and safe handling of such lethal devices. Even the ol' hunting rifle by the back door needs to be emptied of its bullets and placed in a locked cabinet, with the ammo stored in a separate place, at least in my state. Just saying.
The last time we called the sheriffs office to report a lunatic in our front yard it took them 45 minutes to respond. We live in a very rural area. We recently had a white supremacy group purchase property less than 1/2 mile from us which they promptly turned into a target range. My husband and I have heard them shooting semiautomatic and fully automatic weapons for up to 6 hours at a time.
My husband & I are both Democrats in a state where republicans rule everything. One neighbor still flies her Dump flag. Just because my family has owned this property since 1932 doesn’t give anyone the right to harass us or mean that we are not vulnerable.
Do you happen to have a chapter of the KKK living less than 30 miles from you? We do.
Professor, I write both to question your premise about what’s happening to the “center” and, also, to register my fear that, for some time, the country has become increasingly polarized. I further maintain that this polarization largely is abetted by the Senate filibuster, a minority veto over the will of the majority, which, in my view, is the cause for much that is disfunctional in our politics.
Note that late last fall, U.S. Senate’s rules expert Martin Paone met with the Senate Democratic Caucus and, as I understand, save Manchin and Sinema, all were eager to explore resuscitating some version of the talking filibuster that, once exhausted, would have concluded with an up or down Senate majority vote. The thinking was that voter protection legislation would have been the first to benefit from this modest rule change followed by legislation (e.g., the PRO Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act) that already had passed in the House but, because of a handful of Democrats plus all 50 Republicans, has remained stalled in the Senate.
I, further, would note, but for Manchin and Sinema, that both House and Senate Democrats and the public-at-large support the President’s Build Back Better agenda, including the child tax credit, affordable child care, universal Pre-K, investments in housing, in health care, in home and community-based care, in climate, and more.
As for a possible remedy, just as representative government by popular consent likely will founder without an informed public, I would submit, as I have done elsewhere, that absent a highly effective Explainer-in-Chief to educate the public about what they’re losing, while we tolerate a minority veto over the will of the majority, large swaths of the population will continue living precariously from paycheck to paycheck, oftentimes sustaining the family income by more people working longer hours and still being weighted down by mortgage debt, credit card debt….Seriously, I could go on.
You're absolutely correct about the polarization. And I agree that most senate Democrats are where they should be on most issues. The problem is that the right -- most Republicans but even some conservative Democrats -- have moved much further to the right than at any time in living memory. When one of our two major political parties openly seeks to have fewer people vote, we're facing a terrible problem.
Professor, Though I fully concur with your reply, I would add that I feel less threatened by rule changes that suppress votes than I am by rule changes that alter who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified. While we can push back against the former by supercharging voter turnout, no amount of organizing can get us around the latter. Hence, my call for much tougher, much stronger Democratic leadership that, for example, last month would have called out Manchin’s and Sinema’s mere support for voter protections as hollow and performative absent their resolve to do their part to figure out how the filibuster could be modified to pass the combined voter protection bill under regular order, even if it meant taking a long time ( Dems had proposed up to 200 hours) to get an up or down majority vote.
And now, the increase in interest rates!
If the present legal events move forward and people who are subpoenaed are actually indicted and brought to justice, it may slow or even reverse the rightward trend. It is exciting to see 6 people receiving subpoenas just on the fake electors case. I would like to see these offenders forced to appear as most of us lowly citizens certainly would be.
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The SEC can force corporations to disclose all political, lobbying donations.
Very interesting … have they ever? Is is all or nobody?
There's another Substack called Popular Information that's working on this. The journalists there work with public filings, so there's a lot they can't reveal, but they're contributing. It's heartening to me to see journalism that makes a difference.
I prefer not to discuss this in terms of left-right because that in itself is polarizing and may turn some people off. That said, what is called the right wing has long existed -- right wing extremist Barry Goldwater was the Republican nominee for president in 1964 -- but it has risen from minority status to prominence over the past 50+ years.
But also consider that in 1972, abortion was still illegal in many states, LGBTQ equality was not even on the radar, and there were almost no Black, Hispanic, or Asian members of Congress. Women were a tiny minority who could not even dream of becoming Speaker. Access to healthcare for those who were not very poor or elderly was dependent upon employment or paying out-of-pocket.
I think what has moved dramatically, thanks to Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and their accomplices, is the Overton Window, what is considered politically acceptable. "Freedom" generally and "freedom of religion" are used as justification for the most egregious behavior. A substantial portion of the population tells pollsters that violence is a justifiable means of achieving political ends. A substantial number of elected officials and candidates claim entitlement to prevent those who might oppose them from voting, and to unilaterally overturn election results that don't go their way. Many parents and elected officials want to turn public schools into propaganda machines for their own personal views. Corporations are people, but actual human beings are not. The wealthy are imbued with great competence and high moral character merely by virtue of their possession of wealth.
The intent of the Newt Gingrich types is to create sufficient chaos that people will grasp at anything to restore order, to allow an autocrat to emerge. I am far more concerned that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former vice president Mike Pence would become that autocrat than I am about Trump.
I think one action that is absolutely essential is to rein in the federal courts. Right now, they can dictate anything they want, with zero accountability; there are no checks and balances. The 1803 case Marbury v. Madison, which effectively amended the Constitution by judicial fiat to allow unelected judges to overturn Acts of Congress, thereby usurping Congress' primary Article I power to legislate, must be affirmatively rejected. I think a second action must be to rein in slash-and-burn media, which is acting to sabotage our government and society. (I would love to see Rupert Murdoch denaturalized and sent back to Australia.) Thirdly, there is an organization called Run for Something that recruits and supports young progressives to run for elective offices at all levels to counteract the malign forces infecting our society. Efforts like this should be encouraged.
Great information here.
I'd love to show this to my college classes, but the video uses the 'F'-word in connection with Trump and I wouldn't want to trigger an ugly incident. I suspect some of my students are very conservative : / and I wouldn't want them to disconnect before I have a chance to help them develop some critical thinking skills.
Linda, I think you should still. Tell your students that it's an opinion piece if you must. But your students are adults; they should be able to hear opinions they disagree with. If they don't like Trump being called the F-word, ask them to articulate what the word means to them and why Trump doesn't meet their definition.
Teaching... ahhh. Perhaps you let students opt out of that class, they can have an alternative assignment, something dead solid easy like a quiz on that same class session discussion.
@David. I appreciate your list of 4 factors. I'd add that we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, and to tackle today's unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, we must address the Federal Reserve. Please see Leonard, Christopher. "The Lords of Easy Monday." The Supreme Court is another pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Hopefully, if we did all the above, people's lack of trust in the government would be restored.
Yes, we need to restore the Fairness Doctrine'.
All I can do i register Democrats and help make sure they vote. I live in the Fascist state of Florida, where our voter rolls were hacked by the Russians, purged by the Republicans and the governor and state legislature are engaged in voter suppression.
Here is an editorial from the Miami Herald. Democracy is under attack, and voters in Miami are the targets | Editorial BY THE MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article258224973.html
Please help register Democrats. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Florida was the first state under Jeb Bush (who promised his brother "W" that he would "deliver" Florida to him, and did) to forge the way to sabotage Federal elections. Here we are. I believe the first successfully stolen election was Al Gore's. The Florida Supreme Court should have decided that case instead it was taken from them by the SC to hand the election to Bush. We better find a way to throw these Republican Fascists out or this country is well on it's way to being gone from anything some of us grew up in.
Florida perverted national politics. By rights, immigrants should lean Democratic. But not here. One theory is that the Castros were able to pick the kinds of enemies in the US that would justify their domestic control in Cuba by making sure that idiots were running the US. Hatred and fear of Uncle Sam unified Cuba. It can be argued that Cuban Republicans were manipulated, contrary to their own economic and societal interests, to turn Florida, the key to electoral politics. Think 2000, 2006, 2016. Now Putin is saying that he will bring more Russian influence to bear in Cuba!!!
I see ideal solutions -- muzzle Fox, impeach Fascists, etc.-- but with the filibuster, GOP SC, and now GOP focusing on infiltrating at the local levels, I don't see how Dem ideals will happen.
That seems a key problem, as your drawing suggests: Democrat = ideals (equality, help people); GOP = self-serving (stop govt so I can do what I want).
That principle hasn't changed. What's expanded on the right are tactics. Dems: pretty much same tactics (peaceful protest, talking nicely among themselves, voting, etc.); GOP: much more involvement from foreign dictators, domestic terrorists, guns, violence, lies, vote suppression efforts, etc.
Specifics of what the GOP want hardly matter. Whatever they want now, their tactics create a major imbalance in "fire power."
So the question is "how do we stop GOP evil force. " Similar to "how do we stop Russia from invading Ukraine." Biden seems to be standing up to Putin more forcefully than to Trump's GOP. But which is the greater threat? Fall of one country or fall of Democracy and its future abilities to stand up for any and all countries?
So is the answer re GOP to threaten sanction? If no help, then enact sanctionm If war on a world-level ensues, then fight? The Dems have politely threatened. Not much success. How do they enact economic sanction with GOP controlling most business? What, if any, kind of sanction would work?
Or are we already at war? War won't work so well after Putin has settled into Ukraine--or after Trump is back in the White House. The time for war is when the enemy fires the first shot?
I don't know exactly what comprises domestic political war, but usually, war means fighting fire with fire. For a party that represents ethics, shooting is hard, especially when shackled by apathy. Is that how evil triumphs? If we don't stop talking and start use some effective type of force, maybe Fascism will win?
If so, what force? And are those with the red button more concerned about elect-ability and popularity polls than with saving Democracy?
I don't know answers, but I see scary questions apparently not being answered.
I've been reading a lot of pieces written by Historians specializing in civil war the consensus seems to be we are already engaged in a civil war. I have a hard time believing it simple because it's such an uncomfortable thought.
Yes, I agree; we are currently in a civil war. I’ve been thinking, and I’m sure I’m not alone, about splitting the country without a shooting war: Blue states would constitute a nation called “Democracy,” and Red states would form a country named “Autocracy and Dominionism.” Of course, “Autocracy and Dominionism” cannot survive financially without “Democracy.” Maybe this is the only way to end the current strife and madness infecting our United States of America.
I’ve been wondering what Biden would do if Texas seceded. I really hope he wouldn’t start a shooting war to bring them back. My feeling is that if states want to secede they should. It’s not working the way it is.
Mo777Jet ; Scary questions indeed. If you can separate them, extricate the Ukraine standoff from domestic seeming apathy about our voting peril, that might be a start. Democracy is messy, and it seems to be getting messier still. I think Biden is doing well with the very threatening Putin, who evilly threatens the people of Ukraine with bombs and death. As to our crazy opponents seeking to stop our votes from the ground up, we can actively become aware of who is running and vote for local people who can affect our election process. I honestly don't know what people are doing in states where they are already doing primaries and actual voting. 😒 I'm glad I live in an educated, progressive state. But I still am vigilant.
I’m reading an article about Ukraine in Time magazine. If what they say is true, Biden has exacerbated the situation since last year. If we’d given Ukraine COVID vaccine back then I don’t think this would be happening.
Thanks for this question. A way to reverse it is viscerally clear to me although the exact path much less so. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GETS BETTER, especially better at loving many if not all people by appreciating their worth and seeking their perspectives even while not of course acting on all of them. Better policy and more success at the polls would follow. Personally, I do not feel loved and accepted by this party even though I vote overwhelmingly for Democrats and have been in small-scale leadership in our local party. I UNDERSTAND why many people are mad at the Democratic Party. although I remain in an uncomfortable coalition with it. Let's control what we can most control, ourselves! I'm still an optimist.
Wouldn’t it be something if we all respected and appreciated each other, Ed? Can you imagine what society would look like then? Do people on the right do that at all? I have no idea.
Yes it would be something! I can't imagine it exactly, but I think that it would be great! I see love with its companions of respect and appreciation as the common coin and language of politics along, sadly, with their opposites. People "on the right" certainly do this although far less universally than I like. For example, as much as I disagree with Liz Cheney and Mike Pence, I think that they showed some love by eventually standing up to Donald Trump. I think that "we" need to not just to say but also to take risks and act on the slogan "Love trumps hate".
What about those of us--seniors??--who prefer to read and not watch videos? Are we know passe?
I'm with you, Harvey! I discussed an issue with a friend of a friend on FB the other day and he provided a slew of YouTube videos, and I was like, no, I'm not spending hours watching these. Text is better for discussions and for fact-checking and for following arguments down the rabbit hole if you want.
Transcriptions of videos are available (just copy/paste the text to something comfortable!)...
Lots of the kinds of changes discussed here make a lot of sense—but will be tough slogs politically. I think we need to think as well about what has made people so angry and distrustful of government and corporations and how we can address that in ways that can actually get somewhere.
A lot of why people feel the way they do is that they perceive the economy to be essentially unfair (because it is!). Real median wages gave stagnated over the last decades, but consumption needs (especially health care have soared) have grown steadily. But returns to ownership have grown at a rapid pace. Fifty-percent of the private sector workforce does not participate in a retirement plan, and the numbers are worse for women and people of color. The only way we can fix this massive wealth insecurity Is reforming ownership.
That may sound like some left-wing fantasy but it isn’t. Employee ownership plans have proven very effective—participants have three times the retirement assets as employees in companies without these plans—and have been pushed by Republicans and Democrats in equal numbers (and with no opposition). The Alaska Permanent Fund is beloved by both parties. Ideas like platform cooperatives, data ownership, and limiting tax incentives for executive pay unless companies share the wealth are also supported on all sides. There is much we can do to make this happen, but the first step is just to stop treating these ideas with a pat on the head and start making them a priority.