Friends,
A stranger approached me yesterday in our local pharmacy and asked: “Will we be okay?”
I told her what I really believe: “Yes, we’ll be fine.”
She teared up. “Thank you.”
She has every right to cry. So do you. Cry for our beloved country.
The occupant of the Oval Office is stark-raving mad. Madder than Alice’s hatter. Madder than King George III. He started a never-ending war in Iran. He’s imposed a police state in America. He’s trying to silence critics. He’s ruining the economy (a trade war with Canada!?).
But I do believe we will be fine.
On Tuesday, a progressive pulled off a stunning upset in Florida’s Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat, defeating her better-funded opponent with a strong showing in communities where progressives usually struggle.
State Rep. Angie Nixon’s victory over retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was powered by voters in Florida’s lowest-income and least-college-educated counties.
Nixon was the clear underdog. The two-term lawmaker from Jacksonville raised just under $1 million since entering the race this year, compared with the $16 million Vindman raised nationally from Democrats.
Nixon’s 12-percentage-point victory is among the biggest primary shockers this year and the latest example of a progressive insurgent toppling a favorite of the Democratic establishment.
Add Nixon to a list growing longer by the week: Aisha Wahab in California. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Donavan McKinney in Michigan.
Melat Kiros in Colorado. Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Brad Lander in New York.
Frederick Haynes in Texas. Justin Pearson in Tennessee. Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania. Angela Gonzales-Torres and Mai Vang in California. Dr. Adam Hamawy in New Jersey.
And other great candidates for the Senate* and the House.**
Many of them have scored upset primary victories notwithstanding huge amounts of money spent against them, despite long odds, even though they didn’t have the support of corporate Democrats.
They’re winning because they’re focusing on economic issues — on making healthcare affordable, on stopping AI data centers, on accessible childcare, and on ending big-money corruption.
They’re winning because they’re on the side of the people, and the people are listening — and rising.
There’s no guarantee they’ll succeed in November’s midterm campaigns, of course. There’s no certainty that we’ll even have free and fair elections in November.
Yet they are a new and growing force.
Future generations may look back on these dark times and see not just what was destroyed but also what was born.
Many of you are leading this. You — the courageous citizens of Minneapolis and St. Paul who stood up to Trump’s goons. You, who went door-to-door for Zohran Mamdani. You, who organized your friends and neighbors for Aisha Wahab, Angie Nixon, Abdul El-Sayed, Adam Hamawy, Melat Kiros, and all the others.
You are leading the way all over America. You are the groundswell of America’s new progressivism, the green shoots of our future democracy.
The backlash to Trump is growing. His approval ratings are at record lows. His war, his tariffs, his mass deportations, his bigotry, his stupidity — all are catching up with him.
But it’s not just a backlash. We are also creating a new America.
These are terrible times — the worst I’ve lived through, and I’ve lived through some bad ones. (Remember 1968? Nixon’s enemies list? Anyone old enough to recall Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunts?)
Yet as long as we are alive, as long as we are resolved, as long as we are taking action to stop the worst of this, as long as we are trying to make America and the world even a bit better — have no doubt: We will triumph.
We already are.
* Mary Peltola in Alaska, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Troy Jackson in Maine, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa, James Talarico in Texas, Rev. Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Dan Osborn in Nebraska.
** Bill Hill in Alaska, Amish Shah and JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona, Randy Villegas and Marni von Wilpert in California, Manny Rutinel in Colorado, Sarah Trone Garriott and Christina Bohannan in Iowa, William Lawrence and Christina Hines in Michigan, Denise Powell in Nebraska, Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey, Cait Conley in New York, Janelle Stelson and Bob Brooks and Paige Cognetti in Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria in Virginia, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin.
Thank you Prof. Most uplifting! I needed this letter this morning. I am still so disgusted with his unleashed abuse of our country and what we all hold dear. I do hope/pray these candidates win in November. That we can get back to what it means to be the USA and that we don't let someone like him back in office ever again!
And we need to build our beginning into institutions--
- institutions, because it is easier to get things done when you aren't starting from zero with every task,
- institutions structured to provide accessible information to the public, from firms, from researchers, from news around the world
- institutions structured to provide constituent, reliable, coordination among the interacting parties of our complex world
- institutions structured to build sustainability when individual agents left alone might not
- institutions structured to keep the economic table level, toward equity, when the wealthy would tilt it to flow into their already-bulged pockets
- institutions to invest in the people's wealth in their individual and community health, and in the environment, and in our education and sills as a community
Institutions that we must be patient in and thoughtful in building, and patient in staffing and defending.
A battlefield, even a battlefield of victory is no workplace, though it can be necessary foundation for a workplace.