While your dedication to improving the Democratic Party is admirable, something deeper is needed to understand Hitler’s rise to power. All of the parties in the middle and the right continued to support austerity policies in order to pay the reparations demanded of Germany by the Allied powers. Then came the Depression and a total economic collapse. Perhaps you can understand that it is not standing up to Trump that is necessary but a fundamental change in how the upper middle class supporters of the Democratic Party are repeatedly minimizing the necessity for reform in their Party thus opening up a path for Trump to destroy them. Hitler wouldn’t have come to power if the reparations policy had been rejected by other parties. Clearly large segments of the working class in the US are losing their middle class status. The Biden reforms would slow this trend. But if those reforms are not realized and are killed by Democrats themselves there is no electoral hope for that Party. When ordinary people see no hope for improvement of their lives through voting then that is the end of democracy, not Trump.
Peter, you're exactly right. The Democratic Party has all but abandoned the American working class -- leaving behind a large group of people who are frustrated and angry, who are easily convinced that the game has been rigged against them (and in many ways it has), and who therefore have been susceptible to Trump and his enablers. Even if Biden's entire package were enacted (which we now know it won't be), the reforms he has proposed aren't nearly enough. The very structure of the economy has to change. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren understand this, as do a few other elected Democrats, but most do not. They continue to rely on campaign funding from the wealthy and big corporations; continue to believe that they can win elections by catering mainly to suburban "swing" voters; and continue to overlook the grotesque inequalities of income, wealth, and political power that now haunt America. Needless to say, GOP is even worse. Republican candidates use the language of populism but once in office vote for whatever the moneyed interests want. Where will all this lead? Perhaps a third party?
Robert. I was a part of the anti-war movement in the 1960s. I was a cameraman, part of a newsreel film collective that tried to bring images of what was going on to the public when the mass media wouldn’t even report what was happening. Today the internet and camera cellphones make it possible for everyone to do what we did. The truth about what happened to George Floyd is an example filmed by a bystander.
Here is exactly what needs to be done.
We take a page out of Martin Luther King’s book. We organize all of the various groups to participate in a mass movement to get something done. We start with a mobilization in support of what was not included in Building Back Better.
Today reminds me of the mood in 1966 when the war in Vietnam was escalating but students were still getting deferments and didn’t really know what to do about it.
Then along came a pacifist group that began building a mobilization against the war. The first major march was on the Pentagon in October 1967. Some people were arrested peacefully, some tried to sit in on the steps of the Pentagon. I remember asking the press spokesperson for McNamera whether they were going to negotiate with the demonstrators to keep things peaceful. He refused to answer the question. But McNamera took notice of the hundred thousand people who circled the Pentagon. And those demonstrations went on building and building.
When the problem in Congress with Democrats is that they are not listening to the people then the proper response is peaceful mass mobilization. The people have show them their power.
I am absolutely sure that if you and other level headed leaders took this page out Martin Luther Kings book we could change Washington.
Take charge of building a mass movement. At least advocate it and talk to Bernie about it.
Remember he raised hundreds of millions of dollars and had 30-40% of the Democrats behind him.
A peaceful and with good leadership well organized coalition in Washington on the streets would have a dramatic effect on all those Congresspersons who are trying to hide the fact that they did not support Medicare negotiating drug prices. They cannot win election in 2022 with that albatross around their neck.
What is lacking right now is progressive leadership to organize a mass movement response to Congress’s failure to enact the legislation we need. It can be done. It should be done. And I believe you can influence progressives to get it done.
It was too small and the police “red” squad focused on the leadership and arrested them before they could build mass. If you look at the civil rights demonstrations in Washington and anti-war demonstrations there, they were very broadly based, very large, and very peaceful. They were the type of events you could proudly bring your children to. They were not spontaneous and they were witness focused not occupy focused. All we need in Washington are numbers. I think we have those numbers if leadership will bring the various groups together and enforce a peaceful agenda the way MLK did.
Thank you kindly for a quite intelligible response. You may be on to something. The devil will be in the detail of being able to organize such a thing without having the "red" squad paying a visit - particularly if the Q-niverse manages to gain control.
During the 60s at the film lab they screened all of our footage before they would release it to us. If the censor didn’t like the footage they wouldn’t release it to us.
I believe that if progressive Democrats sponsored such mobilization it couldn’t be touched by the “red” squad. If the right dared to attack a peaceful mass mobilization rally with speeches from prominent organizations with a stake in the reconciliation bill at the Mall they would discredit themselves just as the Jan 6th people who attacked the Capitol police discredited themselves. Any mass mobilization has to be strictly peaceful. No violent provocateurs and any arrests should be prearranged civil disobedience.
What impact do you think such a third party might have on who gets elected? I'm thinking now of Ross Perot, and how his conservative third party effort did hurt conservatives. I worry about the impact of a third, more social democratic party doing anything but >helping< the Republicans by siphoning off otherwise Democratic voters. I'd say a third party started by ol' Tweety might fit the bill to siphon off the wing-nut voters, but at this point it seems - to my perception - that most of the voting Republicans support him.
This is why post war Germany & much of Europe passed social safety net legislation, to minimize the spread of fascism. This is why Democrats must pass BOTH infrastructure bills. After these bills are passed, Congress must address GOP voter suppression. Don't trust me, read "How Fascism Works" by philosopher Jason Stanley.
Seriously? Your blaming the Democrats for Trump? People like Trump come to power when people are angry and they believe the lies of why they are on the wrong side of prosperity.
Yes, and as soon as we take responsibility for trump, we will be better off. For the last 25-30 years we have been sitting on our collective asses, not voting, relying on the system to take of itself. We have watched bills pass not knowing what their impact will be, because we elect someone, and then leave it up to them. Not just Democrats, every single person in the US. The difference is the Democrats, should have known better. Conservatives are wired to believe nothing is their fault, nothing is their problem.
These people have been elected on big money, this is what we allowed to happen. We sat there and let this happen. And then when we get Sinema and Manchin, we are shocked they won't do the right thing. We are shocked that they will game the same system we allowed to happen. We are not out of the woods yet, we are facing a one-party system or a fascist state as soon as 2022.
Yes, I blame Democratic Party leadership for Trump. Bernie had a large following, but the party leadership made sure that Hillary got the nomination. I am a democrat and voted for Hilary, but I preferred Bernie. My younger brother voted for Trump. He said he preferred Bernie, but couldn’t vote for Hilary. When asked why, he said he wanted change.Trump represented change. Hilary didn’t. My brother was a truck driver who is now retired.
Sometimes people like Trump become a "Playing Tool" to get somebody else elected because they think Trump to be a Sure Looser. Do you remember who he was running against in that election?
I don't hate Hillary, but as a poster child for big money and protecting the wealthy, I don't think she was a wise choice. Vast wealth inequality leads to political instability as people are frightened, resentful, and ripe for demagoguery. Hillary was never the one who could turn the ship around to reverse decades of growing wealth and income inequality. Democracy requires a level of shared economic prosperity to be sustainable.
That I can understand. But I can't imagine a reality in which ol' Tweety a wiser choice. Besides, that's not the kind of visceral response to Hilary I was speaking of. Your objection is the kind of rational view suggesting you'd vote against her in a primary - but not prompt you to vote for ol' Tweety, whose name I shall not utter.
Really, David Z Kasler? Hillary is a very intelligent democrat (although not particularly liberal) who is experienced in national and international politics—much more qualified for the presidency than any of the candidates the republicans had. Two strikes against her are she is named Clinton and she has been in the political system for decades. The third and primary strike against her is she is a WOMAN. Put An intelligent, qualified woman in front of the racist, misogynistic Republican crew and what they’ll give her is pure hatred.
Or to put it more succinctly, I think Republican hatred for Hilary is more personal than just that she has all the qualities necessary in a good president. Never underestimate the destructive force of a WDC vendetta.
Oh, I'll grant all that, and she would have likely faced that anyway - just as any other woman who preceded her, for instance, as a VP candidate. However, I'm >absolutely convinced< that gender issues aside, the current fiasco dates back to Nixon - and Hilary is the face of it. It's no accident that the Republicans of the day went after Bill, conducting the kind of fraudulent investigations they >invented< with "Whitewater"-gate. (Am I the only one who noticed a parallel with "Watergate" there?) They were only able to impeach Bill when he finally got rattled by the psy-op they were running on him and began prevaricating about behaving stupidly with a raven & thrush tag team. I don't deny that what you see is valid, but I think it may be only convenient cover for what lies beneath it - the real cause. After all, the Republican strategists have known her objective for years, and made sure certain events took place to clear the way for her defeat - by a hand-picked moron.
I'm liking the dialogue here.... however, I think you are missing a basic underlying construct that influences the far right. If you don't understand your adversary you are likely to fail to overcome them. I found it worthwhile to read "Jesus and John Wayne" by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I think it provides a lot more insight than some of the stretched interpretations of past political events..... there is a cultural disconnect between the right wing conservatives that is not understood by the liberal Democrats.
Biden can support all the progressive legislation he wants knowing full well it has not a snowball's chance in hell of getting passed. The white elite Democrats aka moderates aka corporatists are quite happy with the status quo. I'm not sure if they are unhappy withthe prospect of an illiberal democracy.
I'm not convinced Biden's ever expected his original proposal to be passed intact. That would explain why it originally had such a high price tag. I think it was more an "opening bid" in a good old-fashioned haggle. Although I'm concerned, I'm not alarmed that the conversation has gone on so long and taken the direction it has taken. I think that >exactly< what Biden had in mind. I'll not give up on the whole thing until the final gavel drops. Everybody knows who is in the way of it passing. Everybody will know >exactly< who is responsible if the final product turns out to be insufficient for our needs as a nation.
Imagery is powerful. I suggest we create photos on tablets that express what is in the BBB plan. The side by side photos will show a contrast between what we in the USA have and what other countries have. The contrast is striking and people can see it without words. A call to action now is included on the screen. The tablets can be given to clear communicators who are on TV and media platforms such as Mr Reich. Clear consistent contrasting imagery messaging can clarify and motivate voters.
Wer trump is a dicktator want to bee who was impeached twice, lost the election and failed his coop. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying” What progress and general fill of pease we had under President Obama compared to how it is now with 4 years of trump tearing the country apart and doubling the republican debt to the point it will cost over $350,000.00 for the 47% of us that pay federal taxes and that is with the interest rate a year ago not were t is headed due to trumps running up the deficit too falsely keep the stock market high so the richer half of the country that are in the stock market get richer and the working class get poorer.
I don't see a distinction between WWI & WWII in Europe, particularly. A Hitler was inevitable in the circumstance. Even in the Pacific, Japan was smarting over lack of recognition by the Allies for their contribution, that prompted Japan to "go it alone - if memory serves. The 20 yrs apparent peace between the wars was more a function of national exhaustion, and Versailles only served to antagonize the defeated, rather than break them. The policies put in place at Versailles amounted to a kind of ongoing "cold war" - to my perception.
I believe you are absolutely right, especially the part about "the Democratic Party repeatedly minimizing the necessity for reform in their Party". It is not enough that the Republican's want to stand in the way of any kind of improvements to help get our country 'UPLIFTED' for the working class. Oh No!! What we have left in the only Political System we have is shallow messaging of "We can't do this and We can't do that Because of: There is No Good Reason. . . . .
Some of that has already come to pass. I remember when Jesse Helms encouraged like-minded Democrats to "cross the aisle," and a number of them made a big public display of doing just that. I don't recall whether that was under Clinton or Reagan. I half expect to see that happen again with the "moderate Democrats" - so called.
It has been a real fright to see that one or two people can destroy the attempts of the Democratic party. The system is so terribly broken. But we never had such a monstrous tyrant as trump with countries like Russia and China fanning the flames of propaganda rhetoric.
I never thought so many republicans would stand by after the very obvious deadly coup attempt. This is horrifying beyond comprehension, yet at every turn the Republicans pull off every unethical thing known to humankind, while the Democrats seem to have empty cannons.
....I'm more worried about all the Dems "standing by", as their special interests, lobbyists and whiz bang sink all significant progressive planks. The Dems are just as deep in bed as the GOP. Third Party, here I come.
Third parties are guaranteed failures as we’ve been shown over and over. The entire system needs a total revamp and multiple parties would be better. Otherwise the big 2 will squeeze them to death.
Strict control of money going to election campaigns, strict time table for campaigning…rather than having to raise money the second anyone steps into office and reversal of Citizen’s United.
Sadly, the SCOTUS ruling that money is speech and campaign contributions are free speech will likely stand for at least a generation, given the Republicans achieved their goal of stacking the court.
You may have already seen it, but the 1965 film "Ship of Fools" fits right in with today's subject. A German Jew and a dwarf, shunned by other passengers on a cruise ship bound for Hitler's Germany, become fast friends. The dwarf (played by the excellent actor Michael Dunn) asks the German Jew (name of the German actor escapes me) what he thinks of Hitler and the future of Germany. I won't give away his response, but it illustrates much of what you are trying to convey to us.
When I was still on social media 5vyears ago, I posted the final clip from "Judgment at Nuremberg", where the former Nazi judge pleads with Spencer Tracy's prosecutor that he 'never thought it would come to this'. Tracy's response was that the horrors of the Nazi regime were inevitable once the first innocent man was sentenced to death. Today we see almost a million dead of Covid-19 in the US, hate crimes in the tens of thousands, Nazi flags defended by a sitting US senator, open corruption in every institution of government, white supremacists throughout the military and police departments, rampant voter suppression and voter nullification bills passing state legislatures, and 70 million people refusing a life-saving vaccine and comfortable with infecting others.Yesterday we saw McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, grovel at the feet of Herschel Walker in an effort to appease the base. Yes, everthing we are seeing today and the likely horrors to come were inevitable from the moment Trump was nominated by the GOP.
Agree with you completely. It is terrifying to watch...as a Cuban born American I am seeing the parallels in many areas. Painfully Trump has caused divisions within my own family. Unbelievable to watch and hear Cubans idolize him when he is clearly the epitome of what we as immigrants fled from 60 years ago....I am losing another country I love
Agree,I have also been astounded by their behavior especially after fleeing for these same reasons. They need to wake up and help vote this gop/gqp out of office or they are in for an instant repeat. They should know better
The U.S.A. is experiencing a unique status of national politics. It is not a television show!
It is bad!
It is not democratic!
It is not healthy! Human beings cannot live in a continuous state of conflict and maintain there health. Babies, toddlers, primary, middle and high-school students, college students, college graduates, newly-weds, retirees, grandparents: none can grow and maintain his or her health in the current, political status in the U.S.A.
The wealthiest minority of our citizenry control 98% of the factors of production and capital in the U.S.A. None of its member labor productively. None pays as much income tax as the least-earning. Members of the idle, elite, wealthy manipulate our government to sustain their extreme wealth and megalomanaical power over our citizens.
Simultaneously, laborers are working harder, earning less, saving less, uninsured against routine costs for health care, unable to leave their jobs for emergencies within their families. cannot afford education beyond high school, and do not know how our government actually keeps them poor, ill educated, desparate and in conflict with each other.
All above must, and can change, with sufficient rallying of a two-thirds of registered voters.
Pass the voters' rights bill! Pass Build Back Better. Save yourselves and democracy, now for the future of your great-grandchildren!
Vote for members of the Democrats at local, state snd national elections!
Sounds good, I for one haven't been pretending, know and have known the consequences. Shouting from the rooftops to any that would listen, found others such as yourself and those on this forum who understood where we were at who used their voices and platforms also I only wish more would have or will listen/ed and believe/d also. So saddened but will continue on for our country and those we will be leaving it to. Disgusted with the amount of corruption and pure selfish greed especially by those who are supposed to be representing we the people. Seriously, I have no words to describe what I'm feeling and if I did I most definitely would not be allowed on here.
I would suggest the 1956 film "The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers", an interesting combination of standard fare "horror" and searing social commentary. Written during the McCarthy era, it documents the gradual changing of an entire town into a community of automatons, ostensibly because they have been taken over by aliens in their sleep. The few holdouts are increasingly terrified by their once trusted neighbors, and wonder just what to do about what seems to be an unstoppable change in the fabric of their lives. One of the most truly frightening films I've ever seen. I think the change many have seen in their family and friends over the last few years into more and more authoritarin leaning group thinkers, that has caused many to abandon even the most casual relationships, is in many ways the most disturbing aspect of the current situation in our country. We did manage to throw off McCarthy and his thugs, and I hope we can lean toward our better selves in a similar way this time as well. As Winston Churchill famously noted, Americans always do the right thing, but not until they've tried all the alternatives first.
(Ignore the remake of the film from the 80's- it completely misses the point of the original).
My favorite movie on our political state is Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9. But in examining how we got here, this is how:
Opinion: Democrats’ biggest problem isn’t in Congress. It’s in your state capitol.
If you pay a lot of attention to politics, just about every day you’ll see news of some outrageous thing that a Republican like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said or did. But David Pepper, the former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, wants you to be aware of something more frightening.
“For every Marjorie Taylor Greene, there are hundreds of statehouse members” just like her, Pepper told me. “They’re on the inside, drawing the lines and setting the rules.”
Pepper has written a book titled “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines,” which persuasively argues that the site of the most pernicious corruption and assaults on democracy is not where congressional Republicans roam. It’s in the statehouses, which Pepper calls “the most corrosive danger America faces.”
All the battles we observe at the national level — over abortion, tax policy, the environment, health care and the fate of American democracy itself — are playing out in state capitols. Some years ago — while Democrats were essentially sleeping — Republicans figured out that it would be relatively easy to take over at the state level, then use that power to make it almost impossible for Democrats to win, locking in their control and creating a playground for special interests.
What makes it possible is the fact that so little attention is paid to state government.
Do you know who your state representative is? How about your state senator? There’s a good chance you don’t, even if you’re a political junkie. That’s because politics has been so nationalized, and there are so many sources of information on Washington, even as local journalism has steadily withered away.
The fewer reporters there are in state capitols, the easier it is for corruption to flourish. And that’s particularly true in places such as Pepper’s home state of Ohio, where through aggressive gerrymandering, voter purges and other voter suppression measures, Republicans have successfully engineered a system that completely insulates them from accountability.
The result is state legislatures populated by officeholders who are largely anonymous to the voting public, but who are surrounded by swarms of lobbyists. “No one knows who they are,” Pepper says, but “insiders in the capitols know exactly who they are.”
We have a kind of national myth that the federal government is where all the self-dealing and corruption happens, while states are the seat of wisdom and virtue. In fact, it’s often just the opposite.
States Republicans control — both heavily conservative ones and more closely divided ones such as Ohio or Wisconsin — are where the GOP is most aggressively working to create what is essentially “competitive authoritarianism." Under it, formal systems of democracy continue to exist, but there’s no real electoral competition.
Democrats haven’t truly mobilized against this assault on their ability to participate in their own governance, and we see it every election. “Democrats tend to get more excited about that one dynamic candidate” rather than thinking systemically, Pepper told me.
In recent years, huge amounts of liberal money flowed into virtually unwinnable races, not because of strategic thinking by Democratic donors but because a compelling Democrat ran against a reviled Republican.
So in South Carolina in 2020, Jaime Harrison raised a staggering $130 million to lose to Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) by 10 points. In Kentucky, Amy McGrath raised $94 million and lost to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) by almost 20 points. That money could have turned the tide on dozens of statehouse races, where far smaller amounts are spent.
Pepper saw it in 2010 when he ran for state auditor. As the election approached, he watched money pouring in to his opponent’s coffers from strange places, like employees from out-of-state corporate interests. Why would they care about an auditor’s race in Ohio?
Well, the auditor sits on the board that draws state legislative lines, which means a role in whether Republicans could gerrymander the state beyond democratic accountability. Which would be very good for corporate interests.
Paying more attention to states also would highlight the problems of the corrupt, unaccountable system that exists in so many places — creating an opening to make a case for change to voters. “It’s inevitable that there’s a decline in public outcomes under the current system,” Pepper told me.
Schools do worse, services decay, problems don’t get solved — and that, Pepper argues, offers Democrats an opportunity. He points to Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat who got elected in 2018 in a deeply Republican state by attacking GOP mismanagement.
Pepper has 30 pieces of advice for Democrats to address their problems at the state level — from passing federal voting legislation, to boosting local journalism, to directing more contributions to key local races. None is a silver bullet, and all will be made more difficult by Republicans’ success in purging accountability from the state political system.
But the most important message is that Democrats can’t make state politics an afterthought. “There’s almost a sense of resignation that statehouses are just going to be this way and we can’t do anything about it,” Pepper told me. “That resignation is when you lose.”
Thank you for pointing this out Ron. And as a democrat living in Wyoming, it is very frustrating feeling so impotent to make much headway in such a bright red state. But it must start somewhere. Learning how to talk to people, help them realize that the autocrats are only blowing smoke up people's hind ends is how I think change can be made in states like mine. We need instruction how to engage and not get caught up in arguments, but true, useful dialogue. Anyone here have suggestions? I'm all ears!
I am continually finding parallels between the Trumpists and "militias" and Hitler's rise to complete power in the late 1920's and especially after he talked his way into the Chancellorship in 1933. It makes me wonder when the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other armed far-right Trumpist lunatics will start wearing brown shirts.
It should be clear from my remarks on the subject of Denmark/Norway that I have not seen the Danish series Badehotellet and I probably won't. I cannot claim knowledge of every single aspect of Danish/Norwegian culture and I do not believe I made that claim below. But there was one thing about Danish culture, one expression that the Danes used constantly (and still use as far as I know) that drove/drives me crazy and that suggests that there is something intensely negative in the way Danes have set up their social lives, In response to learning about a misfortune affecting someone else or some other part of society or some other part of the world, the frequent Danish response (refrain) that I heard over and over again was: "Jeg er mig selv nok" (I have enough to be concerned about/involved with/engaged in with myself.) I'm pretty sure that the guests at Badehotellet and at Hotel d'Angleterre in downtown Copenhagen have said that very thing more than once in their lives. This smug, self-complete response to the problems/worries/crises of others always disturbed me---and still disturbs me. What it seems to suggest is that, well, I mind my own business and that's enough for me. It does not bode well for the people of the world as our crises are becoming global and we will all be impacted. Currently, the wealthiest in any society (even in Denmark) manage to buy their way out of a pinch and force what should be their burdens onto other people. I wonder whether this will always be so--it has been during my lifetime. If, on the other hand, the pandemic and the global environmental crises force us to give up "Jeg er mig selv nok," we may discover a better world---for all of us.
The way he and the Republican party always do. Remember McConnell saying that Obama could not nominate a candidate for the Supreme Court Justice in an election year? They just do what they want!
Your thoughts on the fillerbuster. I believe we need to get rid of the filibuster now to protect our elections from all of the elections security bills passed at the state level. It seems most people are afraid if we lose the midterm elections the republicans will have their way. It seems that these “voting protection/suppression” bills already put us in greater danger of losing the midterm elections to the republicans, if we don’t pass nation legislation aimed at making voting rights fair across the board now, they’ve already increased their chances of taking the midterm elections anyway.
Imagery is powerful. I suggest we create photos on tablets that express what is in the BBB plan. The side by side photos will show a contrast between what we in the USA have and what other countries have. The contrast is striking and people can see it without words. A call to action now is included on the screen. The tablets can be given to clear communicators who are on TV and media platforms such as Mr Reich. Clear consistent contrasting imagery messaging can clarify and motivate voters.
While your dedication to improving the Democratic Party is admirable, something deeper is needed to understand Hitler’s rise to power. All of the parties in the middle and the right continued to support austerity policies in order to pay the reparations demanded of Germany by the Allied powers. Then came the Depression and a total economic collapse. Perhaps you can understand that it is not standing up to Trump that is necessary but a fundamental change in how the upper middle class supporters of the Democratic Party are repeatedly minimizing the necessity for reform in their Party thus opening up a path for Trump to destroy them. Hitler wouldn’t have come to power if the reparations policy had been rejected by other parties. Clearly large segments of the working class in the US are losing their middle class status. The Biden reforms would slow this trend. But if those reforms are not realized and are killed by Democrats themselves there is no electoral hope for that Party. When ordinary people see no hope for improvement of their lives through voting then that is the end of democracy, not Trump.
Peter, you're exactly right. The Democratic Party has all but abandoned the American working class -- leaving behind a large group of people who are frustrated and angry, who are easily convinced that the game has been rigged against them (and in many ways it has), and who therefore have been susceptible to Trump and his enablers. Even if Biden's entire package were enacted (which we now know it won't be), the reforms he has proposed aren't nearly enough. The very structure of the economy has to change. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren understand this, as do a few other elected Democrats, but most do not. They continue to rely on campaign funding from the wealthy and big corporations; continue to believe that they can win elections by catering mainly to suburban "swing" voters; and continue to overlook the grotesque inequalities of income, wealth, and political power that now haunt America. Needless to say, GOP is even worse. Republican candidates use the language of populism but once in office vote for whatever the moneyed interests want. Where will all this lead? Perhaps a third party?
Robert. I was a part of the anti-war movement in the 1960s. I was a cameraman, part of a newsreel film collective that tried to bring images of what was going on to the public when the mass media wouldn’t even report what was happening. Today the internet and camera cellphones make it possible for everyone to do what we did. The truth about what happened to George Floyd is an example filmed by a bystander.
Here is exactly what needs to be done.
We take a page out of Martin Luther King’s book. We organize all of the various groups to participate in a mass movement to get something done. We start with a mobilization in support of what was not included in Building Back Better.
Today reminds me of the mood in 1966 when the war in Vietnam was escalating but students were still getting deferments and didn’t really know what to do about it.
Then along came a pacifist group that began building a mobilization against the war. The first major march was on the Pentagon in October 1967. Some people were arrested peacefully, some tried to sit in on the steps of the Pentagon. I remember asking the press spokesperson for McNamera whether they were going to negotiate with the demonstrators to keep things peaceful. He refused to answer the question. But McNamera took notice of the hundred thousand people who circled the Pentagon. And those demonstrations went on building and building.
When the problem in Congress with Democrats is that they are not listening to the people then the proper response is peaceful mass mobilization. The people have show them their power.
I am absolutely sure that if you and other level headed leaders took this page out Martin Luther Kings book we could change Washington.
Take charge of building a mass movement. At least advocate it and talk to Bernie about it.
Remember he raised hundreds of millions of dollars and had 30-40% of the Democrats behind him.
A peaceful and with good leadership well organized coalition in Washington on the streets would have a dramatic effect on all those Congresspersons who are trying to hide the fact that they did not support Medicare negotiating drug prices. They cannot win election in 2022 with that albatross around their neck.
What is lacking right now is progressive leadership to organize a mass movement response to Congress’s failure to enact the legislation we need. It can be done. It should be done. And I believe you can influence progressives to get it done.
I was just thinking about "Occupy Wall Street." What ever became of all that?
It was too small and the police “red” squad focused on the leadership and arrested them before they could build mass. If you look at the civil rights demonstrations in Washington and anti-war demonstrations there, they were very broadly based, very large, and very peaceful. They were the type of events you could proudly bring your children to. They were not spontaneous and they were witness focused not occupy focused. All we need in Washington are numbers. I think we have those numbers if leadership will bring the various groups together and enforce a peaceful agenda the way MLK did.
Thank you kindly for a quite intelligible response. You may be on to something. The devil will be in the detail of being able to organize such a thing without having the "red" squad paying a visit - particularly if the Q-niverse manages to gain control.
During the 60s at the film lab they screened all of our footage before they would release it to us. If the censor didn’t like the footage they wouldn’t release it to us.
I believe that if progressive Democrats sponsored such mobilization it couldn’t be touched by the “red” squad. If the right dared to attack a peaceful mass mobilization rally with speeches from prominent organizations with a stake in the reconciliation bill at the Mall they would discredit themselves just as the Jan 6th people who attacked the Capitol police discredited themselves. Any mass mobilization has to be strictly peaceful. No violent provocateurs and any arrests should be prearranged civil disobedience.
What impact do you think such a third party might have on who gets elected? I'm thinking now of Ross Perot, and how his conservative third party effort did hurt conservatives. I worry about the impact of a third, more social democratic party doing anything but >helping< the Republicans by siphoning off otherwise Democratic voters. I'd say a third party started by ol' Tweety might fit the bill to siphon off the wing-nut voters, but at this point it seems - to my perception - that most of the voting Republicans support him.
FYI: I must hasten to add, I consider myself a social democrat.
This is why post war Germany & much of Europe passed social safety net legislation, to minimize the spread of fascism. This is why Democrats must pass BOTH infrastructure bills. After these bills are passed, Congress must address GOP voter suppression. Don't trust me, read "How Fascism Works" by philosopher Jason Stanley.
That's exactly what the Q-publicans will do everything in their power to prevent.
Seriously? Your blaming the Democrats for Trump? People like Trump come to power when people are angry and they believe the lies of why they are on the wrong side of prosperity.
Yes, and as soon as we take responsibility for trump, we will be better off. For the last 25-30 years we have been sitting on our collective asses, not voting, relying on the system to take of itself. We have watched bills pass not knowing what their impact will be, because we elect someone, and then leave it up to them. Not just Democrats, every single person in the US. The difference is the Democrats, should have known better. Conservatives are wired to believe nothing is their fault, nothing is their problem.
These people have been elected on big money, this is what we allowed to happen. We sat there and let this happen. And then when we get Sinema and Manchin, we are shocked they won't do the right thing. We are shocked that they will game the same system we allowed to happen. We are not out of the woods yet, we are facing a one-party system or a fascist state as soon as 2022.
Yes, I blame Democratic Party leadership for Trump. Bernie had a large following, but the party leadership made sure that Hillary got the nomination. I am a democrat and voted for Hilary, but I preferred Bernie. My younger brother voted for Trump. He said he preferred Bernie, but couldn’t vote for Hilary. When asked why, he said he wanted change.Trump represented change. Hilary didn’t. My brother was a truck driver who is now retired.
Sometimes people like Trump become a "Playing Tool" to get somebody else elected because they think Trump to be a Sure Looser. Do you remember who he was running against in that election?
I believe you're describing what ol' Count Vlad and his KGB colleagues call "A useful idiot." The thought has also crossed my mind.
I could never figure out what Hilary Hatred was all about. My best guess is that it has something to do with Nixon's impeachment: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-11-05/how-richard-nixon-created-hillary-clinton I've heard it said that >nobody< can hate like a conservative.
I don't hate Hillary, but as a poster child for big money and protecting the wealthy, I don't think she was a wise choice. Vast wealth inequality leads to political instability as people are frightened, resentful, and ripe for demagoguery. Hillary was never the one who could turn the ship around to reverse decades of growing wealth and income inequality. Democracy requires a level of shared economic prosperity to be sustainable.
That I can understand. But I can't imagine a reality in which ol' Tweety a wiser choice. Besides, that's not the kind of visceral response to Hilary I was speaking of. Your objection is the kind of rational view suggesting you'd vote against her in a primary - but not prompt you to vote for ol' Tweety, whose name I shall not utter.
Really, David Z Kasler? Hillary is a very intelligent democrat (although not particularly liberal) who is experienced in national and international politics—much more qualified for the presidency than any of the candidates the republicans had. Two strikes against her are she is named Clinton and she has been in the political system for decades. The third and primary strike against her is she is a WOMAN. Put An intelligent, qualified woman in front of the racist, misogynistic Republican crew and what they’ll give her is pure hatred.
Or to put it more succinctly, I think Republican hatred for Hilary is more personal than just that she has all the qualities necessary in a good president. Never underestimate the destructive force of a WDC vendetta.
Oh, I'll grant all that, and she would have likely faced that anyway - just as any other woman who preceded her, for instance, as a VP candidate. However, I'm >absolutely convinced< that gender issues aside, the current fiasco dates back to Nixon - and Hilary is the face of it. It's no accident that the Republicans of the day went after Bill, conducting the kind of fraudulent investigations they >invented< with "Whitewater"-gate. (Am I the only one who noticed a parallel with "Watergate" there?) They were only able to impeach Bill when he finally got rattled by the psy-op they were running on him and began prevaricating about behaving stupidly with a raven & thrush tag team. I don't deny that what you see is valid, but I think it may be only convenient cover for what lies beneath it - the real cause. After all, the Republican strategists have known her objective for years, and made sure certain events took place to clear the way for her defeat - by a hand-picked moron.
I'm liking the dialogue here.... however, I think you are missing a basic underlying construct that influences the far right. If you don't understand your adversary you are likely to fail to overcome them. I found it worthwhile to read "Jesus and John Wayne" by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I think it provides a lot more insight than some of the stretched interpretations of past political events..... there is a cultural disconnect between the right wing conservatives that is not understood by the liberal Democrats.
Biden can support all the progressive legislation he wants knowing full well it has not a snowball's chance in hell of getting passed. The white elite Democrats aka moderates aka corporatists are quite happy with the status quo. I'm not sure if they are unhappy withthe prospect of an illiberal democracy.
https://rabble.ca/columnists/the-perfidy-of-the-democrats-party-elites-are-the-real-problem-not-joe-manchin/
I'm not convinced Biden's ever expected his original proposal to be passed intact. That would explain why it originally had such a high price tag. I think it was more an "opening bid" in a good old-fashioned haggle. Although I'm concerned, I'm not alarmed that the conversation has gone on so long and taken the direction it has taken. I think that >exactly< what Biden had in mind. I'll not give up on the whole thing until the final gavel drops. Everybody knows who is in the way of it passing. Everybody will know >exactly< who is responsible if the final product turns out to be insufficient for our needs as a nation.
Imagery is powerful. I suggest we create photos on tablets that express what is in the BBB plan. The side by side photos will show a contrast between what we in the USA have and what other countries have. The contrast is striking and people can see it without words. A call to action now is included on the screen. The tablets can be given to clear communicators who are on TV and media platforms such as Mr Reich. Clear consistent contrasting imagery messaging can clarify and motivate voters.
Wer trump is a dicktator want to bee who was impeached twice, lost the election and failed his coop. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying” What progress and general fill of pease we had under President Obama compared to how it is now with 4 years of trump tearing the country apart and doubling the republican debt to the point it will cost over $350,000.00 for the 47% of us that pay federal taxes and that is with the interest rate a year ago not were t is headed due to trumps running up the deficit too falsely keep the stock market high so the richer half of the country that are in the stock market get richer and the working class get poorer.
>You< have certainly gotten the message! Good for you.
I don't see a distinction between WWI & WWII in Europe, particularly. A Hitler was inevitable in the circumstance. Even in the Pacific, Japan was smarting over lack of recognition by the Allies for their contribution, that prompted Japan to "go it alone - if memory serves. The 20 yrs apparent peace between the wars was more a function of national exhaustion, and Versailles only served to antagonize the defeated, rather than break them. The policies put in place at Versailles amounted to a kind of ongoing "cold war" - to my perception.
I believe you are absolutely right, especially the part about "the Democratic Party repeatedly minimizing the necessity for reform in their Party". It is not enough that the Republican's want to stand in the way of any kind of improvements to help get our country 'UPLIFTED' for the working class. Oh No!! What we have left in the only Political System we have is shallow messaging of "We can't do this and We can't do that Because of: There is No Good Reason. . . . .
Some of that has already come to pass. I remember when Jesse Helms encouraged like-minded Democrats to "cross the aisle," and a number of them made a big public display of doing just that. I don't recall whether that was under Clinton or Reagan. I half expect to see that happen again with the "moderate Democrats" - so called.
BTW: The Democrats didn't need to reform. The turncoats reformed the party for them.
It has been a real fright to see that one or two people can destroy the attempts of the Democratic party. The system is so terribly broken. But we never had such a monstrous tyrant as trump with countries like Russia and China fanning the flames of propaganda rhetoric.
I never thought so many republicans would stand by after the very obvious deadly coup attempt. This is horrifying beyond comprehension, yet at every turn the Republicans pull off every unethical thing known to humankind, while the Democrats seem to have empty cannons.
....I'm more worried about all the Dems "standing by", as their special interests, lobbyists and whiz bang sink all significant progressive planks. The Dems are just as deep in bed as the GOP. Third Party, here I come.
That will only benefit ol' Tweety and his Q-publican followers.
Third parties are guaranteed failures as we’ve been shown over and over. The entire system needs a total revamp and multiple parties would be better. Otherwise the big 2 will squeeze them to death.
Strict control of money going to election campaigns, strict time table for campaigning…rather than having to raise money the second anyone steps into office and reversal of Citizen’s United.
Sadly, the SCOTUS ruling that money is speech and campaign contributions are free speech will likely stand for at least a generation, given the Republicans achieved their goal of stacking the court.
I'm really enjoying your excellent book, movie, and TV recommendations. Please keep them coming!
You may have already seen it, but the 1965 film "Ship of Fools" fits right in with today's subject. A German Jew and a dwarf, shunned by other passengers on a cruise ship bound for Hitler's Germany, become fast friends. The dwarf (played by the excellent actor Michael Dunn) asks the German Jew (name of the German actor escapes me) what he thinks of Hitler and the future of Germany. I won't give away his response, but it illustrates much of what you are trying to convey to us.
A little help with your memory here. Enjoy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059712/
Thank you!
When I was still on social media 5vyears ago, I posted the final clip from "Judgment at Nuremberg", where the former Nazi judge pleads with Spencer Tracy's prosecutor that he 'never thought it would come to this'. Tracy's response was that the horrors of the Nazi regime were inevitable once the first innocent man was sentenced to death. Today we see almost a million dead of Covid-19 in the US, hate crimes in the tens of thousands, Nazi flags defended by a sitting US senator, open corruption in every institution of government, white supremacists throughout the military and police departments, rampant voter suppression and voter nullification bills passing state legislatures, and 70 million people refusing a life-saving vaccine and comfortable with infecting others.Yesterday we saw McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, grovel at the feet of Herschel Walker in an effort to appease the base. Yes, everthing we are seeing today and the likely horrors to come were inevitable from the moment Trump was nominated by the GOP.
Agree with you completely. It is terrifying to watch...as a Cuban born American I am seeing the parallels in many areas. Painfully Trump has caused divisions within my own family. Unbelievable to watch and hear Cubans idolize him when he is clearly the epitome of what we as immigrants fled from 60 years ago....I am losing another country I love
Agree,I have also been astounded by their behavior especially after fleeing for these same reasons. They need to wake up and help vote this gop/gqp out of office or they are in for an instant repeat. They should know better
The U.S.A. is experiencing a unique status of national politics. It is not a television show!
It is bad!
It is not democratic!
It is not healthy! Human beings cannot live in a continuous state of conflict and maintain there health. Babies, toddlers, primary, middle and high-school students, college students, college graduates, newly-weds, retirees, grandparents: none can grow and maintain his or her health in the current, political status in the U.S.A.
The wealthiest minority of our citizenry control 98% of the factors of production and capital in the U.S.A. None of its member labor productively. None pays as much income tax as the least-earning. Members of the idle, elite, wealthy manipulate our government to sustain their extreme wealth and megalomanaical power over our citizens.
Simultaneously, laborers are working harder, earning less, saving less, uninsured against routine costs for health care, unable to leave their jobs for emergencies within their families. cannot afford education beyond high school, and do not know how our government actually keeps them poor, ill educated, desparate and in conflict with each other.
All above must, and can change, with sufficient rallying of a two-thirds of registered voters.
Pass the voters' rights bill! Pass Build Back Better. Save yourselves and democracy, now for the future of your great-grandchildren!
Vote for members of the Democrats at local, state snd national elections!
Sounds good, I for one haven't been pretending, know and have known the consequences. Shouting from the rooftops to any that would listen, found others such as yourself and those on this forum who understood where we were at who used their voices and platforms also I only wish more would have or will listen/ed and believe/d also. So saddened but will continue on for our country and those we will be leaving it to. Disgusted with the amount of corruption and pure selfish greed especially by those who are supposed to be representing we the people. Seriously, I have no words to describe what I'm feeling and if I did I most definitely would not be allowed on here.
I would suggest the 1956 film "The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers", an interesting combination of standard fare "horror" and searing social commentary. Written during the McCarthy era, it documents the gradual changing of an entire town into a community of automatons, ostensibly because they have been taken over by aliens in their sleep. The few holdouts are increasingly terrified by their once trusted neighbors, and wonder just what to do about what seems to be an unstoppable change in the fabric of their lives. One of the most truly frightening films I've ever seen. I think the change many have seen in their family and friends over the last few years into more and more authoritarin leaning group thinkers, that has caused many to abandon even the most casual relationships, is in many ways the most disturbing aspect of the current situation in our country. We did manage to throw off McCarthy and his thugs, and I hope we can lean toward our better selves in a similar way this time as well. As Winston Churchill famously noted, Americans always do the right thing, but not until they've tried all the alternatives first.
(Ignore the remake of the film from the 80's- it completely misses the point of the original).
My favorite movie on our political state is Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9. But in examining how we got here, this is how:
Opinion: Democrats’ biggest problem isn’t in Congress. It’s in your state capitol.
If you pay a lot of attention to politics, just about every day you’ll see news of some outrageous thing that a Republican like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said or did. But David Pepper, the former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, wants you to be aware of something more frightening.
“For every Marjorie Taylor Greene, there are hundreds of statehouse members” just like her, Pepper told me. “They’re on the inside, drawing the lines and setting the rules.”
Pepper has written a book titled “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines,” which persuasively argues that the site of the most pernicious corruption and assaults on democracy is not where congressional Republicans roam. It’s in the statehouses, which Pepper calls “the most corrosive danger America faces.”
All the battles we observe at the national level — over abortion, tax policy, the environment, health care and the fate of American democracy itself — are playing out in state capitols. Some years ago — while Democrats were essentially sleeping — Republicans figured out that it would be relatively easy to take over at the state level, then use that power to make it almost impossible for Democrats to win, locking in their control and creating a playground for special interests.
What makes it possible is the fact that so little attention is paid to state government.
Do you know who your state representative is? How about your state senator? There’s a good chance you don’t, even if you’re a political junkie. That’s because politics has been so nationalized, and there are so many sources of information on Washington, even as local journalism has steadily withered away.
The fewer reporters there are in state capitols, the easier it is for corruption to flourish. And that’s particularly true in places such as Pepper’s home state of Ohio, where through aggressive gerrymandering, voter purges and other voter suppression measures, Republicans have successfully engineered a system that completely insulates them from accountability.
The result is state legislatures populated by officeholders who are largely anonymous to the voting public, but who are surrounded by swarms of lobbyists. “No one knows who they are,” Pepper says, but “insiders in the capitols know exactly who they are.”
We have a kind of national myth that the federal government is where all the self-dealing and corruption happens, while states are the seat of wisdom and virtue. In fact, it’s often just the opposite.
States Republicans control — both heavily conservative ones and more closely divided ones such as Ohio or Wisconsin — are where the GOP is most aggressively working to create what is essentially “competitive authoritarianism." Under it, formal systems of democracy continue to exist, but there’s no real electoral competition.
Democrats haven’t truly mobilized against this assault on their ability to participate in their own governance, and we see it every election. “Democrats tend to get more excited about that one dynamic candidate” rather than thinking systemically, Pepper told me.
In recent years, huge amounts of liberal money flowed into virtually unwinnable races, not because of strategic thinking by Democratic donors but because a compelling Democrat ran against a reviled Republican.
So in South Carolina in 2020, Jaime Harrison raised a staggering $130 million to lose to Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) by 10 points. In Kentucky, Amy McGrath raised $94 million and lost to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) by almost 20 points. That money could have turned the tide on dozens of statehouse races, where far smaller amounts are spent.
Pepper saw it in 2010 when he ran for state auditor. As the election approached, he watched money pouring in to his opponent’s coffers from strange places, like employees from out-of-state corporate interests. Why would they care about an auditor’s race in Ohio?
Well, the auditor sits on the board that draws state legislative lines, which means a role in whether Republicans could gerrymander the state beyond democratic accountability. Which would be very good for corporate interests.
Paying more attention to states also would highlight the problems of the corrupt, unaccountable system that exists in so many places — creating an opening to make a case for change to voters. “It’s inevitable that there’s a decline in public outcomes under the current system,” Pepper told me.
Schools do worse, services decay, problems don’t get solved — and that, Pepper argues, offers Democrats an opportunity. He points to Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat who got elected in 2018 in a deeply Republican state by attacking GOP mismanagement.
Pepper has 30 pieces of advice for Democrats to address their problems at the state level — from passing federal voting legislation, to boosting local journalism, to directing more contributions to key local races. None is a silver bullet, and all will be made more difficult by Republicans’ success in purging accountability from the state political system.
But the most important message is that Democrats can’t make state politics an afterthought. “There’s almost a sense of resignation that statehouses are just going to be this way and we can’t do anything about it,” Pepper told me. “That resignation is when you lose.”
By Paul Waldman, Washington Post, 10/27/21
Thank you for pointing this out Ron. And as a democrat living in Wyoming, it is very frustrating feeling so impotent to make much headway in such a bright red state. But it must start somewhere. Learning how to talk to people, help them realize that the autocrats are only blowing smoke up people's hind ends is how I think change can be made in states like mine. We need instruction how to engage and not get caught up in arguments, but true, useful dialogue. Anyone here have suggestions? I'm all ears!
Reich's voice is timely & should be listened to by all of us. Always intelligent & responsible.
I am continually finding parallels between the Trumpists and "militias" and Hitler's rise to complete power in the late 1920's and especially after he talked his way into the Chancellorship in 1933. It makes me wonder when the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other armed far-right Trumpist lunatics will start wearing brown shirts.
They do but they are red caps and tiki torches
It should be clear from my remarks on the subject of Denmark/Norway that I have not seen the Danish series Badehotellet and I probably won't. I cannot claim knowledge of every single aspect of Danish/Norwegian culture and I do not believe I made that claim below. But there was one thing about Danish culture, one expression that the Danes used constantly (and still use as far as I know) that drove/drives me crazy and that suggests that there is something intensely negative in the way Danes have set up their social lives, In response to learning about a misfortune affecting someone else or some other part of society or some other part of the world, the frequent Danish response (refrain) that I heard over and over again was: "Jeg er mig selv nok" (I have enough to be concerned about/involved with/engaged in with myself.) I'm pretty sure that the guests at Badehotellet and at Hotel d'Angleterre in downtown Copenhagen have said that very thing more than once in their lives. This smug, self-complete response to the problems/worries/crises of others always disturbed me---and still disturbs me. What it seems to suggest is that, well, I mind my own business and that's enough for me. It does not bode well for the people of the world as our crises are becoming global and we will all be impacted. Currently, the wealthiest in any society (even in Denmark) manage to buy their way out of a pinch and force what should be their burdens onto other people. I wonder whether this will always be so--it has been during my lifetime. If, on the other hand, the pandemic and the global environmental crises force us to give up "Jeg er mig selv nok," we may discover a better world---for all of us.
True! Nobody can say the climate destruction is 'Not my problem'.
Sherer makes similar comments about ordinary Germans of the time, if memory serves.
You do realize that if Trump did win the election as he claims he can’t run again: term limits. So how’s he going to squirm out of that one?
He claims it was stolen from him, so he won and lost at the same time. That's how he squirms.
The way he and the Republican party always do. Remember McConnell saying that Obama could not nominate a candidate for the Supreme Court Justice in an election year? They just do what they want!
I have thought this, too. Which one is it?
If you stand in front of an oncoming train and yell stop, what might you consider the likely result to be?
Your thoughts on the fillerbuster. I believe we need to get rid of the filibuster now to protect our elections from all of the elections security bills passed at the state level. It seems most people are afraid if we lose the midterm elections the republicans will have their way. It seems that these “voting protection/suppression” bills already put us in greater danger of losing the midterm elections to the republicans, if we don’t pass nation legislation aimed at making voting rights fair across the board now, they’ve already increased their chances of taking the midterm elections anyway.
Imagery is powerful. I suggest we create photos on tablets that express what is in the BBB plan. The side by side photos will show a contrast between what we in the USA have and what other countries have. The contrast is striking and people can see it without words. A call to action now is included on the screen. The tablets can be given to clear communicators who are on TV and media platforms such as Mr Reich. Clear consistent contrasting imagery messaging can clarify and motivate voters.