I want to take you on a journey of discovery today. I’d like us to walk together in the hope that I can convince you that even in the darkest of moments, hope can prevail if we invest the will to fight. Two days ago, I made the decision to share my personal struggles in recent years. Struggles which have contributed to where I am today and how they shape my view of the world. It was a very difficult decision to make, and I assure you that I came back to the ‘Send post now’ button a few times over the course of a couple of hours, before I pressed go. If you haven’t read it, I have linked it below.
These are desperate times for America Never has democracy needed you more than it does now.
Some will find this a bit of an ‘off-the-wall post,’ and I would fully understand if you bailed out on it. Still, I feel it’s becoming increasingly critical for people to understand the existential threat posed by the castration of corporate media by a man obsessed with absolute control of the media narrative, as has been so clearly on display over the …
I’m not sure why I was so reticent, probably because I was frightened it would appear I was seeking sympathy, which was absolutely not the case. I did it because I believe it’s essential to understand how my personal experiences have shaped my writing, my politics and my passion for social justice. I don’t have a university degree or even a college education, but I did graduate with a PhD from the University of Life and Hard Knocks. I never had the benefit of inherited wealth, but what I have always had is a ravenous appetite for learning, and I approach everything I do with a passion and level of commitment that sometimes I think some might describe as an illness.
The object of the piece was to say, I know what incredible highs and rock-bottom lows feel like, and I can hand on heart relate to many of the challenges people face in this moment, in a system designed to favour only the winners.
That aside, I woke up at 5 am this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I let my mind wander and reflected on the differences between the fight for the right to vote, the civil rights movement, and where we are today. There is little doubt that the battle for voting rights and the subsequent signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not happen overnight. It was a long and arduous struggle in which many fought, and some gave their lives. The tragedy is that from the moment it was signed, Republicans have spent decades trying to roll it back, and with some success.
What’s going on right now is not a fight between the right and the left; it’s a fight between right and wrong, between tyranny and freedom. If there’s one thing we have learned from those on the opposite side of equity, it’s that there are no rules of engagement; it’s not just about winning, it’s about humiliation and cruelty. It’s about control and subjugation of anyone they perceive to be the enemy, and the cherry on the cake is that they claim to be doing it all in the name of God.
For I was hungry, and you removed my family’s nutritional assistance to provide tax cuts for the rich.
I was thirsty, and you permitted corporations to poison my water.
I was a stranger, and masked men abducted me from the street and sent me to a concentration camp.
I needed clothes, and you laughed at me.
I was sick, and you stole my healthcare to provide tax cuts for the rich.
Matthew 35-36
They do these things with no sense of conscience, void of moral decency, almost with a sense of pleasure in their achievement, with no thought for:
‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me’
Matthew 40
MAGA Republicans are on a mission to put THEIR GOD at the heart of government to sedate their cult in the name of a false God, who they use as cover for worship at the altar of the wealth their cult will never attain, while they pay homage to the greed on which they build their lies. It’s not for me to stand in judgment on these societal parasites; that’s between them and their maker.
What I will not be, however, is lectured by them on their absurd sense of victimhood because someone might disagree with their social Darwinism. I will wear my liberal values with pride and honour because I will not become a victim of their attack on our moral decency, integrity and vision for a better tomorrow. Call me an old romantic if you like, but I believe that, setting aside our political affiliations, we are capable of collectively delivering a better tomorrow by simply doing the right thing.
One thing is for sure: if Jesus walked into Texas tomorrow, he’d be bundled into an ICE van and be held in detention, charged with being caught in possession of a brown face and preaching radical left ideology.
It’s time for us to say THIS IS WHO I AM AND WHAT I STAND FOR without a care that people might ridicule us or call us communists, socialists or Marxists. It’s time for an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment, to put the American people front and centre and work together to build MLK’s ‘beloved community’. The national debt did not stem from prioritising people; it originated from prioritising corporations. Trump contributed $7.8 trillion (almost 25%) in his first term, and now he’s adding a further $3.4 trillion in the current budget cycle, and that’s after stealing nutritional assistance and healthcare from millions of Americans.
I want to grab Democratic leadership by the scruff of the neck and shake them, screaming WAKE UP. I would say this to leadership were I allowed in the same room
I’m sick and tired of this perpetual state of paralysis and reckless indecision. Waiting around for Trump to face-plant is NOT A PLAN. The American people need to see that you care because right now, they have absolutely no confidence that you know what the hell you’re doing. What you will never be forgiven for is not unleashing the phenomenal deep bench of political talent you have at your disposal. WAKE THE F*CK UP and lead.
You can begin by stepping down and cleaning house. I spoke about it before. I see a constant stream of emails begging for money, effectively saying that you can’t make this work without me. I have a message for you: you couldn’t make it work with over a billion dollars in November, so why should any Democrat voter give you a cent based on “Pay to get us elected first and then we’ll tell you what we’ll do”? Do you think voters came down in the last shower of rain? The only thing they are short of from you is the promise of a Democrat Rapture.
It may seem a little harsh, but Democrats are almost a year on from losing the House, the Senate, the White House, and, oh yes, the popular vote in November. Their response seems to be to leave all the work to a few warrior Democratic lawmakers to keep the voting public from switching off the Democratic political life support system? I have no words, well, actually, I do, as you can see, but listening appears not to be their strong point. They didn’t listen to struggling Americans in the campaign; instead, they went after the middle-class vote, leaving Trump to scoop those left behind with his lies.
Before anyone questions my commitment to the Democratic cause, watch this film I made to help the campaign. This was one of several films and Ads I created for the Harris Walz campaign, and my assessment at the time was on point. It still brings a tear to my eye thinking of what might have been.
There has been no transparent autopsy of why Democrats were handed their ass at the ballot box, just an eyes-only internal document. What an insult to the millions of people who donated to and supported the campaign on the ground. Instead, they get a ‘let’s move on, and can we have some more money please?’ REALLY? That’s what you’ve got? And before anyone screams ‘STOP, we really don’t need this infighting,’ have a word with Kamala Harris on her book tour. Are you telling me that Democrats have to buy her book to find out what really happened? Now there’s transparency at work. WTF?
Voters don’t want to see Democratic paralysis and a refusal to endorse their own Mayoral candidate for New York; they want to see strength, commitment and a bold vision. A proposition to voters that puts people first. That’s not socialism, it’s social responsibility. Democrats need to present a clear vision and invite their base, along with the wider public, to participate in a conversation on how to create a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. We are way past the need for the same old same old; we are in a real-life version of the Hunger Games, and Dems need a Katniss Everdeen.
While AOC is, in my view, head and shoulders above the crowd, I get it, she’s a woman, and she dares to hope for a people focussed fairer society, while rejecting special interest servitude . Perhaps this time around is too early, but I remain confident that one day she will become president. For now, enter whatever name you like, but for God’s sake, let them not be beige. Also try to go for a candidate with the ability to communicate so they don’t have to be protected from the press for four years. That would at least be a start.
For anyone who thinks Democrats are gaining ground on Republicans, you are correct; all the special elections indicate that Democrats are significantly over performing with double-digit swings from red to blue. But before you take a victory lap, take a look at the polls. Dems are dead in the water with the public, and well underwater with their own supporters. The voters are voting against Trump. Dems have become a protest vote. ‘I don’t care’, you might say, but IT MATTERS if you want to govern. For government to function effectively, there must be respect and confidence, not toleration and eye rolling resignation to mediocrity.
Never has there been a better opportunity to deliver change. Trump is crushing the hopes of Americans. Millions are about to lose health coverage and food assistance, and they are having their hard-earned tax dollars stolen to feed the rich. The problems are so challenging for Trump that the argument against is so bad it’s almost apolitical. For many, it’s now not Democrats vs Republicans, it’s about the top 10 per cent vs everyone else—so enough of the paralysis and vision deficit, it’s time to go on the front foot.
Americans work longer hours with fewer benefits than many citizens of competing economies, yet, despite living in the allegedly largest and strongest economy in the world, they have a dramatically worse work-life balance. They pay more for healthcare, prescription drugs and childcare, enjoy no paid family leave, and have less to no holiday entitlement, all while the wealth gap grows exponentially each year. At what point do you throw some cold water over your face and wake up to the fact that slavery never left, it just threw on a new suit? YOU DESERVE BETTER, and to achieve a fairer society, you need MUCH BETTER political leaders. The good news is that the Democratic Party is awash with them (present leadership excluded), unlike the Clampetts on the other side of the aisle.
Tax cheats cost you, the taxpayer, an estimated $1 trillion EVERY YEAR. Please take a moment to think about that. In a New York Times report, which I have gifted here, first published in April 2021 and updated on May 5, 2025, the header reads.
The U.S. Is Losing $1 Trillion Annually to Tax Cheats
The Times noted in 2021:
The United States is losing $1 trillion in unpaid taxes every year, Charles Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, estimated on Tuesday, arguing that the agency lacks the resources to catch tax cheats.
The so-called tax gap has surged in the last decade. The last official estimate from the I.R.S. was that an average of $441 billion per year went unpaid from 2011 to 2013. Most of the unpaid taxes are the result of evasion by the wealthy and large corporations, Mr. Rettig said.
The report continues:
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the Democratic chairman of the committee, called the $1 trillion tax gap a “jaw-dropping figure.”
“The fact is that nurses and firefighters have to pay with every paycheck, and so many highfliers can get off,” Mr Wyden said.
To put this into some context, this would eradicate food insecurity (estimated to cost between $40 and $50 billion per year) and eliminate homelessness (estimated at the top end to cost $100 billion per year), while still providing change enough to cancel the Medicaid cuts in the Big Billionaire Bailout Bill. The real cherry on this cake is that many of the tax evaders are the very people who have just been handed $4 trillion in tax cuts. Now, call me old-fashioned, but that’s ‘taking the piss’ as we say in the UK.
For the record, while in office, Joe Biden responded to the findings of the IRS Commissioner in 2021 and provided $80 billion in additional funding to address the problem. However, tax cheat Trump has now gutted the IRS, allowing tax evasion to continue as the favourite sport of the rich.
Look, I could go through a whole host of numbers and stats pointing out that Trump’s tax cuts represent the single largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in US history. Also let’s not forget, the so-called scripture quoting Republican House majority led by ‘Moses’ Mike Johnson, who would have us believe God speaks to him, passed a budget bill which represents the biggest state-sponsored breach of the eighth commandment.
There is no question that the US economy can support Medicare for all, as well as a living wage, affordable housing, affordable childcare, and paid family leave. This isn’t about affordability; it’s about a failure of legislative responsibility. It does not represent socialism; it’s a failure of social responsibility.
Let me be very clear: for all its failings, I still believe in capitalism. I have absolutely no problem with wealth and rewards for taking risks. I don’t want to stifle investment or innovation; I want to encourage it and am happy to help support it. I have no problem expensing plant and equipment, and I support government assistance for critical R&D (in the form of loans). I can absolutely assure you that were the above wishlist to be met, the rich would hardly feel a thing, and that is the simple truth. What’s more, they know it too. This is not about money, it’s about POWER, plain and simple.
The rich need you to be beholden unto them; they need you to live in perpetual fear of losing your job and with it your healthcare. They don’t want you to have a reasonable work-life balance; they want you to answer emails at 10 p.m., and they want you to fear the power they have over you. As I have said, you are just living on a 21st-century economic plantation, and they need you to know your place. I’m so sick of listening to the ‘we can’t afford to feed people who are struggling’ and ‘medical bankruptcy is just a fact of life. It’s NOT, and stop letting them tell you it is.
Every cent invested in the working poor and low wage earners is paid back into the economy via consumption. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The rich have declared war on social mobility in an effort to retain a pool of slave labour. Be in no doubt, they would scrap wages and move to Indentured servitude in the blink of an eye. They think they’ve got you by the balls, but I promise you they have not. You need to know how to play the game, and we are back to economic disengagement. Disney have proved this week that the system is vulnerable to attack.
I want you to take a moment to remember who Trump is and what he’s prepared to do. I made this short film for the 2020 campaign. It was a message to the American people from a democracy hanging on by a thread.
My friends we can do this, but it takes faith and sadly some investment in emotionally connective content. That’s why I’m so grateful for the generosity of paid subscribers, who by their support become stakeholder in what will be a media arms race in 2026. together we can make a difference.
Revolutions don’t happen overnight; they require careful planning and a targeted effort. The government will label any form of economic attack an act of economic terrorism, but what are they going to do, arrest everybody? Governments rule by consent, and it’s time to withhold that consent. No need for a general strike, although a short general strike might send a clear message. This is about a spending strike, which is the kryptonite of a struggling consumer-driven economy. I am simply trying to say you are not powerless. As Trump might say, you hold all the cards.
Next time we’ll take a look at the nuts and bolts or a cohesive economic disengagement campaign. I’ve had time to think since I first floated the idea a while ago and I’ve refined my proposition somewhat. Sorry this post has been a little verbose, but ‘needs must’ as they say.
Martin
I hope we can find it in us to save our democracy. We have too many martyrs who died.
This is the nightmare brewing after his famous speech, for the folks who could not imagine themselves as part of the entire human race, and could only see red, when a man who is not white take center stage , in our hearts and minds he stands so very tall, so very human, so very inspiring!