In times of chaos, when an assault on the very foundations of moral decency is under attack, it's hard to know where to go to find the unvarnished truth.
Martin I am catching up on your posts , I do have just a small question , are you of the mind that a party, outside of the DNC would not be a strategic option ? Example is the Working Family Party .
Hey Frances, I hate the fact that Dems are the only game in town, it’s certainly not what I want, but splitting the vote in this moment would be fatal I think.
There are people with great ideas and enthusiasm, it’s just third parties can be self defeating.
The question is the leadership , they need to be younger, stronger leaders.Truth Tellers willing to fight not for their bottom line but for the country a country that is at war here and now . Are we to lose democracy while they try to figure this out . I do understand your point , isn't that lack party choice part of the reason the criminals are in power. Voters that did not see any choices.
I grew up in the fight for human/civil rights in the 1960's/1970's. I saw courage, commitment of moderates and left to push through for human, civil, housing, education and healthcare rights by people in my circle attending rallies for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama marches in support of desegregation, etc. At the same time, in St. Louis, others (tied to Trammel Crow, and to others in my community) were attending secret White Supremacist meetings and planning the demise of Blacks, abolitionists and those supporting civil/human rights.
I also saw large swaths of my community enact policy to carry out the new desegregation, education, housing laws, recently enacted by Congress, and this community also had in-depth, head to head conversations to discuss culture, the differences between cultures/races and also what people had in common. By the time I went to college, the majority in our large district were mostly comfortably diverse, because most had learned to be.
That said, secretly -- because to my observation, the wealthy elite is all about pretense -- this organized Mob tied to people like James Earl Ray, Gordon Baum, and by association tied to Trammel Crow, were often painfully violent. There were several in my close orbit who were tortured and/or executed, or they had been made to have a planned accident, death, that never resolved. From what I researched, the histories of the victims were erased; barely a whisper of their name in an obit. Yet, they were changemakers in human/civil rights.
There is only one thing different from then vs. today. In the 1960's/1970's/1980's, Moderates/Left had Congressional candidates who felt as seriously as they did in enacting Human/Civil rights into law. We do not have that luxury now. Because now, by and large our Democrat lawmakers in Congress look the other way, and don't take the opportunities they have, or are given, to stop the hemorrhaging forced on the majority of everyday Americans/workers now.
So, I believe in the next 4 mos., all of us need to usher in 4 new US House Reps., for the "gift" it is. There are 4 Special Elections for US House of Rep. seats by 12/2/2025, (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections). Having 3, or 4 brand new Democrat lawmakers, invested in reversing the course of Trump's Genocidal policy, via humane, responsible legislation, would be a huge step in the right direction.
If any of you have the ability to circulate this, and ask your friends, family and co-workers in these 4 districts to make sure all moderates/Dems get out and vote, I believe it will help to get 4 new, fresh Dem. lawmakers being our voice in legistation -- now -- without waiting for 2026 midterms.
I wrote to the Ohio Democratic Party and strongly suggested that they up their use of online resources. It’s evident that although we are considered a red state, the numbers in push back tell a different story. Democrats are dragging their feet in using technology to their advantage! Keep up the good fight.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
You are on point here Lisa. The pushback nationwide is there. It is a matter of how you exploit that pushback and I worry Democrats seem to be unable to message yet again. Will they never learn? David Pepper has done a lot of work with Blue Ohio.
Since no one left a comment on your very interesting and informative article, I decided I’d put one in; I hope my thoughts and my habitual tactlessness don’t offend you. I wrote off both the Republican and Democratic parties a couple of decades ago. Why? Because of corporate “contributions” to candidates’ election campaigns.
As a direct result of increasing income in the top … oh, say 0.01% of Americans and nothing of the kind for the bottom 50 or 60% of earners, those corporate investments into candidates skew election outcomes heavily toward the candidate who runs the most ads. Qualifications? Experience? A clean record of helping one’s constituents? Irrelevant. I read somewhere that in something like 97% of US elections - I may not have that number correct, but you get the idea - the winning candidate spent the most on advertising.
There’s no question that modern American politics bear virtually no resemblance to anything like a democracy. Bear in mind the Big Bullshit Bill is handing trillions of dollars to a handful of multibillionaires, while the damage to the national debt us to be alleviated by - yep, raising taxes on the people with the lowest incomes.
If the Democrats want to win back popular support they need to provide more support to people who aren’t ridiculously rich. The state of Arizona has made efforts recently to curb the influence of oligarchs on election. If such laws became more common across the country due to Democratic endorsement of strict limits on campaign contributions I think that election outcomes would be quite different than they are now.
I did enjoy your article, by the way. You had a lot of really intriguing ideas. Thanks for posting it!
ALOHA...“Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power.”
Thank you for your clear analysis about the current American political situation. I look forward to your next article about strategy! Ai will be used by many to access strategic moves by ‘everyone’ around the world!
I love your very frank honesty! I hope the right people are out there and realize you are a resource they need! Since turning 66 last year, I already feel, although I believe people like AOC and Bernie Sanders are right about the time is now and the people Want a Progressive agenda. We were a country with the smarts and wisdom to lead and show what representative Democracy could do! Instead we let a wealth gap the likes of one never seen, especially where the people are in a Democracy voting their wants.needs and know our wealth, yet, they / we got schnookered that if we taxed that 1-2% too heavily, the USA Ship would sink for lack of companies, entrepreneurs and the like wanting to keep business here. Manufacturing may have left for inexpensive labor, but these Tech Heads know how to amass their own fortunes without having to move even a mile! And relative to lobbyists and the like, they knew people, our Reps could be bought!
We need Reps elected honestly, with the same financial amounts so competition isn’t based on outspending each other. Citizens United has to go and honestly so does about 3/4 of Trump’s Supreme Court picks. You can’t have a great democracy with a rigged table! Those who want to represent the People need to come with the understanding they are there for others not themselves. And they are there to do Great things (or try for Good!) and they need to realize there’ll be term limits in order to fix the kind crap we live with for governance today! And they should understand that what they vote for the People in terms of social programs, support, and what Gov’t programs will exist for the People, like healthcare and retirement support, that they will be receiving THE Same healthcare, retirement, social service benefits they believe are satisfactory enough for their constituents!
Since when did the plan become to run for office for personal gain? Since when did that become acceptable? To jump in, forget who you represent, take the money grabs and stay as long as you want/can in order to accumulate more personal contacts and chances for wealth! We Allow you to use inside info to play the Market? That s/be understood as unethical. But then again, if a Chief Justice on the Supreme Court doesn’t get it… what can we expect? But what we can DO is remove their sorry, unethical butt asap! And no one is above the Law here! Not SCOTUS members… and sure as hell it isn’t the President who if he were any real leader would be setting the moral example for All in Gov’t positions! If you can manage to stick around for life… maybe great for you! But get real! You likely need to Move over !! Be the cheerleader for those with the new ideas and let some fresh air blow in! We have allowed our Reps to stagnate, becomes bored or lazy or both and unlike most jobs… we Never did a “performance review” to see if they even ever met our expectations!
We, the voter need to be more engaged and be sure we get what we voted for or we can/Will find someone else who Can deliver! And there are circumstances, like Trump, where voters got suckered and lied to so bad… changes may need to be made as a Real Emergency! We now may need a procedural rule for who and how that’s handled. Impeach a President? Impeach a Supreme Court Justice? These people are supposed to represent US! We need to know who we want, where we wish to go and how someone tells us they are going to get us there!
We cannot continue to be the people who cannot abide our choices as throughout history, just until mid-term! If we truly choose someone with a plan we can get behind, abide by, they deserve the time to see it through (the exception being a guy who is an insurrectionist, felon, sexual predator And ran a campaign on lies. Who got in and ran a whole… Project 2025??? Never heard of it! Next time liars are bounced as fast as their lies about how they would govern are discovered! And especially if we stay with the electoral vote! Otherwise we need a popular vote because the anxiety and stress on those of us who KNEW not to vote for a criminal had way too high a cost!
Thanks for listening and thanks for your leadership and help. Mary
“Nobody Said It Would Be Easy” but then, when is anything worthwhile ever easy, simple or quickly fixed and you let it get knotted like a cluster F?!
"I can say to you with an assured sense of confidence that without a change at the heart of the Democratic Party, they are destined to lose again, and this time, rest assured, it will be all over, if indeed it’s not over already." We live inside a giant idea, and that is changing. No resting assured.
Talk to me. I am going solo when I'm better on a team. I have 50K on offer for funding someone's good project, although of course better to draw in a billionaire.
See me talking Coalition this week, as something to create.
I also think about hiring an ad agency. It would be a good conversation for what to advertise. I'd have it be to uplift humanity. A fired-up humanity is our best bet, and our spirits are at a low now.
It wouldn't be a position to be argued with, but a campaign to accomplish something. No comparison is applicable. Why not use the tools we are good at using? And it wouldn't be the only thing to do -- my Substack every week talks about alternatives!!!
Thank you for your honesty and commitment!
My phone just informed me that you’d left a response. How kind of you! Thanks, and have a good weekend yourself.
Martin I am catching up on your posts , I do have just a small question , are you of the mind that a party, outside of the DNC would not be a strategic option ? Example is the Working Family Party .
Hey Frances, I hate the fact that Dems are the only game in town, it’s certainly not what I want, but splitting the vote in this moment would be fatal I think.
There are people with great ideas and enthusiasm, it’s just third parties can be self defeating.
The question is the leadership , they need to be younger, stronger leaders.Truth Tellers willing to fight not for their bottom line but for the country a country that is at war here and now . Are we to lose democracy while they try to figure this out . I do understand your point , isn't that lack party choice part of the reason the criminals are in power. Voters that did not see any choices.
Thank you. I am with you on this.
I grew up in the fight for human/civil rights in the 1960's/1970's. I saw courage, commitment of moderates and left to push through for human, civil, housing, education and healthcare rights by people in my circle attending rallies for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama marches in support of desegregation, etc. At the same time, in St. Louis, others (tied to Trammel Crow, and to others in my community) were attending secret White Supremacist meetings and planning the demise of Blacks, abolitionists and those supporting civil/human rights.
I also saw large swaths of my community enact policy to carry out the new desegregation, education, housing laws, recently enacted by Congress, and this community also had in-depth, head to head conversations to discuss culture, the differences between cultures/races and also what people had in common. By the time I went to college, the majority in our large district were mostly comfortably diverse, because most had learned to be.
That said, secretly -- because to my observation, the wealthy elite is all about pretense -- this organized Mob tied to people like James Earl Ray, Gordon Baum, and by association tied to Trammel Crow, were often painfully violent. There were several in my close orbit who were tortured and/or executed, or they had been made to have a planned accident, death, that never resolved. From what I researched, the histories of the victims were erased; barely a whisper of their name in an obit. Yet, they were changemakers in human/civil rights.
There is only one thing different from then vs. today. In the 1960's/1970's/1980's, Moderates/Left had Congressional candidates who felt as seriously as they did in enacting Human/Civil rights into law. We do not have that luxury now. Because now, by and large our Democrat lawmakers in Congress look the other way, and don't take the opportunities they have, or are given, to stop the hemorrhaging forced on the majority of everyday Americans/workers now.
So, I believe in the next 4 mos., all of us need to usher in 4 new US House Reps., for the "gift" it is. There are 4 Special Elections for US House of Rep. seats by 12/2/2025, (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections). Having 3, or 4 brand new Democrat lawmakers, invested in reversing the course of Trump's Genocidal policy, via humane, responsible legislation, would be a huge step in the right direction.
If any of you have the ability to circulate this, and ask your friends, family and co-workers in these 4 districts to make sure all moderates/Dems get out and vote, I believe it will help to get 4 new, fresh Dem. lawmakers being our voice in legistation -- now -- without waiting for 2026 midterms.
https://substack.com/@wearestillunited/note/c-141558183
I wrote to the Ohio Democratic Party and strongly suggested that they up their use of online resources. It’s evident that although we are considered a red state, the numbers in push back tell a different story. Democrats are dragging their feet in using technology to their advantage! Keep up the good fight.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
You are on point here Lisa. The pushback nationwide is there. It is a matter of how you exploit that pushback and I worry Democrats seem to be unable to message yet again. Will they never learn? David Pepper has done a lot of work with Blue Ohio.
Since no one left a comment on your very interesting and informative article, I decided I’d put one in; I hope my thoughts and my habitual tactlessness don’t offend you. I wrote off both the Republican and Democratic parties a couple of decades ago. Why? Because of corporate “contributions” to candidates’ election campaigns.
As a direct result of increasing income in the top … oh, say 0.01% of Americans and nothing of the kind for the bottom 50 or 60% of earners, those corporate investments into candidates skew election outcomes heavily toward the candidate who runs the most ads. Qualifications? Experience? A clean record of helping one’s constituents? Irrelevant. I read somewhere that in something like 97% of US elections - I may not have that number correct, but you get the idea - the winning candidate spent the most on advertising.
There’s no question that modern American politics bear virtually no resemblance to anything like a democracy. Bear in mind the Big Bullshit Bill is handing trillions of dollars to a handful of multibillionaires, while the damage to the national debt us to be alleviated by - yep, raising taxes on the people with the lowest incomes.
If the Democrats want to win back popular support they need to provide more support to people who aren’t ridiculously rich. The state of Arizona has made efforts recently to curb the influence of oligarchs on election. If such laws became more common across the country due to Democratic endorsement of strict limits on campaign contributions I think that election outcomes would be quite different than they are now.
I did enjoy your article, by the way. You had a lot of really intriguing ideas. Thanks for posting it!
Thanks for your comment Virma, you won’t get me pushing back on what you’re saying here my friend. Have a good weekend.
I agree with all of your comments. Thank you
ALOHA...“Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power.”
Thank you for your clear analysis about the current American political situation. I look forward to your next article about strategy! Ai will be used by many to access strategic moves by ‘everyone’ around the world!
I love your very frank honesty! I hope the right people are out there and realize you are a resource they need! Since turning 66 last year, I already feel, although I believe people like AOC and Bernie Sanders are right about the time is now and the people Want a Progressive agenda. We were a country with the smarts and wisdom to lead and show what representative Democracy could do! Instead we let a wealth gap the likes of one never seen, especially where the people are in a Democracy voting their wants.needs and know our wealth, yet, they / we got schnookered that if we taxed that 1-2% too heavily, the USA Ship would sink for lack of companies, entrepreneurs and the like wanting to keep business here. Manufacturing may have left for inexpensive labor, but these Tech Heads know how to amass their own fortunes without having to move even a mile! And relative to lobbyists and the like, they knew people, our Reps could be bought!
We need Reps elected honestly, with the same financial amounts so competition isn’t based on outspending each other. Citizens United has to go and honestly so does about 3/4 of Trump’s Supreme Court picks. You can’t have a great democracy with a rigged table! Those who want to represent the People need to come with the understanding they are there for others not themselves. And they are there to do Great things (or try for Good!) and they need to realize there’ll be term limits in order to fix the kind crap we live with for governance today! And they should understand that what they vote for the People in terms of social programs, support, and what Gov’t programs will exist for the People, like healthcare and retirement support, that they will be receiving THE Same healthcare, retirement, social service benefits they believe are satisfactory enough for their constituents!
Since when did the plan become to run for office for personal gain? Since when did that become acceptable? To jump in, forget who you represent, take the money grabs and stay as long as you want/can in order to accumulate more personal contacts and chances for wealth! We Allow you to use inside info to play the Market? That s/be understood as unethical. But then again, if a Chief Justice on the Supreme Court doesn’t get it… what can we expect? But what we can DO is remove their sorry, unethical butt asap! And no one is above the Law here! Not SCOTUS members… and sure as hell it isn’t the President who if he were any real leader would be setting the moral example for All in Gov’t positions! If you can manage to stick around for life… maybe great for you! But get real! You likely need to Move over !! Be the cheerleader for those with the new ideas and let some fresh air blow in! We have allowed our Reps to stagnate, becomes bored or lazy or both and unlike most jobs… we Never did a “performance review” to see if they even ever met our expectations!
We, the voter need to be more engaged and be sure we get what we voted for or we can/Will find someone else who Can deliver! And there are circumstances, like Trump, where voters got suckered and lied to so bad… changes may need to be made as a Real Emergency! We now may need a procedural rule for who and how that’s handled. Impeach a President? Impeach a Supreme Court Justice? These people are supposed to represent US! We need to know who we want, where we wish to go and how someone tells us they are going to get us there!
We cannot continue to be the people who cannot abide our choices as throughout history, just until mid-term! If we truly choose someone with a plan we can get behind, abide by, they deserve the time to see it through (the exception being a guy who is an insurrectionist, felon, sexual predator And ran a campaign on lies. Who got in and ran a whole… Project 2025??? Never heard of it! Next time liars are bounced as fast as their lies about how they would govern are discovered! And especially if we stay with the electoral vote! Otherwise we need a popular vote because the anxiety and stress on those of us who KNEW not to vote for a criminal had way too high a cost!
Thanks for listening and thanks for your leadership and help. Mary
“Nobody Said It Would Be Easy” but then, when is anything worthwhile ever easy, simple or quickly fixed and you let it get knotted like a cluster F?!
"I can say to you with an assured sense of confidence that without a change at the heart of the Democratic Party, they are destined to lose again, and this time, rest assured, it will be all over, if indeed it’s not over already." We live inside a giant idea, and that is changing. No resting assured.
Talk to me. I am going solo when I'm better on a team. I have 50K on offer for funding someone's good project, although of course better to draw in a billionaire.
See me talking Coalition this week, as something to create.
Something is stirring in the land
Could an upswing be underway?
https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/something-is-stirring-in-the-land
I also think about hiring an ad agency. It would be a good conversation for what to advertise. I'd have it be to uplift humanity. A fired-up humanity is our best bet, and our spirits are at a low now.
It wouldn't be a position to be argued with, but a campaign to accomplish something. No comparison is applicable. Why not use the tools we are good at using? And it wouldn't be the only thing to do -- my Substack every week talks about alternatives!!!