We have reached a stage where US politics is so fractured that the argument for a fresh start seems closer with each passing day, and soon there may be no choice.
The good news , such as it is, being that the tRump regime is making a yuuge, yuuge deal of Saturday's NK 2.0, that in itself is grabbing equally large media attention, and that attention will give even more prominence and coverage of the event, more so surely than NK 1.0. And hopefully, any provocations and violence by ICE/CBP will also get coverage, so there's that.
I am also very pessimistic about the state of this nation. The founders saw the danger, and created a constitution which, as Franklin pointed out, was the best compromise that could be made at that time. The power given the executive was considered by some a major flaw, but with Washington to be president, this was reassuring. Virtue and the constitution may have worked to a degree for 250 years, but Trump is the opposite of Washington.
I heard a song about protesting in the 60s with advice that may be helpful when we are confronted and attacked, "go limp and be carried away." Hopefully, the systems are still intact enough that we will not end up in El Salvador, or some other dark site.
"It amazes me to say that people aren’t willing to save their money for a couple of months to preserve their way of life. Explain that to me like I’m a child, because I just don’t get it."
Dear Boy, since it takes receiving a blow to fight back, pulling our dear Jimmy off the air did the trick. But, herding cats is more challenging, and the "idea" of not buying this and that is way too amorphous (hopefully that is not too big a word for you) to get massive results. But, sweetie, there is a way. Just get an auspice with more outreach that we have to sign up many millions of people for a coalition. Maybe People for the Good. Then, all that has to happen is the instruction to boycott something or join marches or whatever else our coalition instantly would respond to, and you have a simple way to get fabulous results. Do you understand me, or shall I try to make this clearer?
Canadians boycotting US products and not travelling to the US has certainly had an effect. This also didn't start in an organised way, but rather individual people just taking a stand. The "elbows up" came much later. If you can herd your cats, it can work. Other examples: Winnipeg General Strike, Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Yes, we need something like a "smart revolution." I prefer the less loaded term, "Smart Reformation." We need to start thinking seriously about the various end-states we can imagine and the scenarios that could get us there. Stopping the Trump rampage is only a first step. What would a reformed representative democracy look like in today's rapidly changing world?
A smart revolution or reformation clearly can't just take us back to the pre-Trump era. Our government has been dysfunctional and our politics has been divisive for at least 40 years. We need creative thinking about what we want to create and we need to design a trusted process to get us there. This thinking needs to begin now in parallel with our efforts to stop the current rampage. In fact, a clear vision will help us create a much broader and more durable reform movement.
And, the reform movement needs to do some serious thinking about alternative scenarios. We need to get beyond "fight, flight, or freeze." The best collective scenario thinking doesn't pretend to predict the future. Instead it spells out several plausible scenarios and uses those scenarios to do contingency planning, i.e. to prepare a response for each of them and to increase the probability of the desired scenarios. We need to articulate the various scenarios that are implicit in our fears and our hopes (especially our hopes), and then plan accordingly. In our PoliticsAndGov.Substack, we'll seek out individuals, organizations, and networks of concerned citizens who are exploring the range of possibilities. Join us if this rather complex challenge appeals to you.
Everyone needs to calm down and shop communally/locally aka buy nothing from corporations. They die and community springs back to life. Problem solved….if people would stop funding them!
9-11 was Trump's keyhole .....today and yesterday were the door knocks .....tomorrow the door will be shut ...US on the outside ....and it's very upsetting for us elders that know what's really happening
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country?
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, tell politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
We are running out of peaceful options. The legislature and Supreme Court are controlled by HRH. He controls the executive branch, including the Military, Justice Department, FBI, ICE, the IRS. He controls all levers of power.
We, the people, still have the power of the purse. No one can control our spending, or lack of spending. When all else fails we can go on a spending strike until the business community stops supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
Economic warfare is the only thing the oligarchs, the business community will understand and act on. Call it a Surreptitious General Strike (Quiet Quitting). Go to work, do as little as possible. Stop spending money except on essentials. Quit feeding the corporate beast that supports the HRH.
Stop participating. Nearly 70% of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending. All of us. Hobble the economy and the stock market. Mahatma Gandhi drove the British from India by peaceful civil disobedience and boycotts. We can stop the fascist takeover in the same way.
We can keep rehashing past and present atrocities until our access to the internet is taken away by the regime, or we can DO something!
The most difficult for the most of us will be to NOT USE AI, do not go on social media, do not by at online-stores, only use your smartphone to record the cruelty of the regime and to make phone calls. The tech brows need to be punished but will will we be able to make that sacrifice? Than you only need a strike of the truckers, public transport, airport workers , port workers, metal workers and farmers to have a total black-out
I've been doing it since Nov 5th 2024. And ain't going back . I'm proving my survival skills are beyond the scope . My own chickens ,eggs, garden .. gave up driving . No more ins ...registration for a few years or no smog .. I'll catch up after 2028 ...until then ...I'm just having fun going thru all my old and new pennies ..but spending nothing (which is easy. Cuz I ain't got it anyway) all grandmas old ways (rubber band balls and string balls as well as tin foil rolls) rollin up cardboard after it gets wet and turns into logs for burning . Blew out the furnace pilot , two years ago . And I get up with the sun and go to bed with it too . Guess what ...I'm happy 😊😁
Seems like I've boycotted just about everyplace now. I buy at thrift stores and independent Amazon refuse stores. It's not convenient and there's little fun in it because they are not the most pleasant places but I refuse to support Billionaires. We eat at a local Mexican restaurant a couple times a month. We buy groc. from Aldis and only go to Big groc. stores for our Rx. We spend alot of $ on our 5 rescue dogs - 3 of which have special needs. We exercise at our local community center 6-7 days a week. This is where we have found our tribe. I'm considering tearing up my credit cards but I just haven't yet - mostly because I am forgetful and am always afraid of misplacing my purse. We got out of the stock market as soon as trump took office.
This morning I find that I just can't deal with this any longer. I am 78 and never thought I would leave our world with the state it is in. I have lost hope in God, Country and mankind in general
Charlotte, I go thru these same ups and down. It feel like I'm on an emotional Rollercoaster. My family has been torn apart and someday, I have no more rage left to give. Then, I feel more courage and less loneliness when I get out and see or communicate with those who are like minded. Today was a good day. I'm proud to say that I participated in history by attending a well attended protest and feel rejuvenated. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but I know that I am on the right side of history. Keep the faith and get involved in the process.
Thanks. I did go to No Kings rally here in Chicago today. So helpful.. felt such a sense of peace there. Everyone was dead serious about what is happening in our Country but there was no shouting or nasty goings on. Just a lot of people rallying for a common cause. It helped!
There is a way to prevent a slide into autocracy. In your economic series, you described the wealth ownership contest between the Top 50% vs the Bottom 50%. A more useful perspective is viewing the contest as being as the ultrawealthy Top 1% vs the ordinary Americans in the Bottom 99%. This administration, the agent of the Top 1%, is shaping an economy and a political environment enabling the Top 1% to extract even more wealth from the Bottom 99%. Legislation originating in the House together with House member behavior is the key to shaping the economy.
In 2024, 94% of House seats were won by the candidate with a campaign spending advantage. Nearly all House incumbents intend to run for reelection in 2026. Members from both parties believe they need campaign funding from Top 1% donors to win. That belief allows the Top 1% to control House member behavior. Members won’t do anything that risks losing Top 1% funding support. GOP members are in lock-step support of Trump’s agenda, and Dem opposition is muted. The House checks-and-balances powers have been neutralized. There has been no effective response to the Administration’s assumption of powers the Constitution allocates to the Legislative Branch.
The Bottom 99% are 99% of the voters. Without our votes nobody can get elected. If we could leverage that power, we’d be invincible. However, as individual voters we’re powerless. We are divided by fundamental differences on a broad range of issues. As members of political parties and independents, we’re unable to cooperate. We’re too easily manipulated by campaign programs funded by the Top 1% into exchanging our votes for promises that are never fulfilled.
The Top 1% vs Bottom 99% perspective reveals a solution. There is one issue on which all Bottom 99% voters are in agreement: we want an economy that works for us ordinary Americans instead of the Top 1%. That makes the economy a nonpartisan issue.
Leveraging the Bottom 99% voting power requires a solution strictly limited to our shared economic goal that enables all Bottom 99% voters to participate without compromising their beliefs on other issues.
The key to getting an economy that works for ordinary Americans is getting a House majority committed to making decisions on economic issues that support achieving that goal. Creating influential nonpartisan House district voting blocs in as many districts as possible is the way to do it.
Here's how blocs work. Bloc members intend to vote exclusively for House candidates committed to prioritizing bloc economic interests. Each bloc member makes a political decision at election time by choosing which committed candidate to vote for.
To be eligible to get bloc votes, candidates sign a formal pledge and are held accountable by the bloc for their performance. Failure to perform loses eligibility to get bloc votes. Once blocs reach critical size, no uncommitted candidate can get enough votes to win regardless of how much Top 1% money they spend.
Building blocs can be fast. Bottom 99% voters are angry about being victimized by the current Top 1%-focused economic agenda. That anger should provide ample motivation to join a district bloc. We live in a digital age. Most states provide public access to district registered voter files, and there are commercial services that augment the basic data with voter demographic information. Today’s digital outreach tools make it easy to scale sending digital bloc-join invitations. Many voters can join their district’s bloc by replying “yes” to their invitation.
Once millions of Bottom 99% voters get a taste of the power they have in acting together, they will forcefully oppose any effort to limit that power.
Jim, there is one flaw in your thesis. The next election will be rigged or won't happen. MAGA will ensure that there is no chance of them losing control of either house. The option of voting this lot out of power is dead.
It won't happen! It's too late for that approach.
I want to say it now because too many of you are pinning your faith on future elections that just won't happen. You need more effective action now. A major slow down in spending is probably the best option.
Max, I appreciate your feedback, and I agree that relying on the 2026 elections is a poor strategy and that we “need more effective action now”. My comment was already too long so I didn’t go into the near-term impacts of district voting blocs.
There are dozens of GOP House members whose districts are full of voters dependent on federal program payments to make ends meet. They are beyond angry that their rep voted for Trump’s tax bill that includes huge cuts in those payments. A big voting bloc in such a district forces a GOP incumbent seeking reelection to make a decision.
To be reelected, they’ll have to be eligible to get bloc votes. They’ll have to commit now to serving bloc interests on economic issues and build a record of fulfilling that commitment. That means they’ll have to flip to opposing Trump’s economic agenda.
If they don’t commit, they risk being primaried by a challenger who will be eligible to get bloc votes or being identified as the “billionaire’s candidate” and losing in the general election. If only a few GOP incumbents flip, Trump will be faced with a multi-party House majority in opposition to his economic agenda within a few months.
It is certainly possible that Trump will try to cancel the 2026 elections. Millions of voters in nonpartisan district voting blocs would forcefully oppose any effort to nullify their power. Digital invitation and join processes enable blocs to reach influential levels quickly.
There will be 50 million Gen Zers who will be old enough to vote in 2026. Gen Z grew up using digital communication methods. Today their economic prospects are dismal. If they were aware that they had the power to improve their economic future, they could lead the effort to get district voting blocs in place.
The good news , such as it is, being that the tRump regime is making a yuuge, yuuge deal of Saturday's NK 2.0, that in itself is grabbing equally large media attention, and that attention will give even more prominence and coverage of the event, more so surely than NK 1.0. And hopefully, any provocations and violence by ICE/CBP will also get coverage, so there's that.
I am also very pessimistic about the state of this nation. The founders saw the danger, and created a constitution which, as Franklin pointed out, was the best compromise that could be made at that time. The power given the executive was considered by some a major flaw, but with Washington to be president, this was reassuring. Virtue and the constitution may have worked to a degree for 250 years, but Trump is the opposite of Washington.
I heard a song about protesting in the 60s with advice that may be helpful when we are confronted and attacked, "go limp and be carried away." Hopefully, the systems are still intact enough that we will not end up in El Salvador, or some other dark site.
"It amazes me to say that people aren’t willing to save their money for a couple of months to preserve their way of life. Explain that to me like I’m a child, because I just don’t get it."
Dear Boy, since it takes receiving a blow to fight back, pulling our dear Jimmy off the air did the trick. But, herding cats is more challenging, and the "idea" of not buying this and that is way too amorphous (hopefully that is not too big a word for you) to get massive results. But, sweetie, there is a way. Just get an auspice with more outreach that we have to sign up many millions of people for a coalition. Maybe People for the Good. Then, all that has to happen is the instruction to boycott something or join marches or whatever else our coalition instantly would respond to, and you have a simple way to get fabulous results. Do you understand me, or shall I try to make this clearer?
Canadians boycotting US products and not travelling to the US has certainly had an effect. This also didn't start in an organised way, but rather individual people just taking a stand. The "elbows up" came much later. If you can herd your cats, it can work. Other examples: Winnipeg General Strike, Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Yes, we need something like a "smart revolution." I prefer the less loaded term, "Smart Reformation." We need to start thinking seriously about the various end-states we can imagine and the scenarios that could get us there. Stopping the Trump rampage is only a first step. What would a reformed representative democracy look like in today's rapidly changing world?
A smart revolution or reformation clearly can't just take us back to the pre-Trump era. Our government has been dysfunctional and our politics has been divisive for at least 40 years. We need creative thinking about what we want to create and we need to design a trusted process to get us there. This thinking needs to begin now in parallel with our efforts to stop the current rampage. In fact, a clear vision will help us create a much broader and more durable reform movement.
And, the reform movement needs to do some serious thinking about alternative scenarios. We need to get beyond "fight, flight, or freeze." The best collective scenario thinking doesn't pretend to predict the future. Instead it spells out several plausible scenarios and uses those scenarios to do contingency planning, i.e. to prepare a response for each of them and to increase the probability of the desired scenarios. We need to articulate the various scenarios that are implicit in our fears and our hopes (especially our hopes), and then plan accordingly. In our PoliticsAndGov.Substack, we'll seek out individuals, organizations, and networks of concerned citizens who are exploring the range of possibilities. Join us if this rather complex challenge appeals to you.
Everyone needs to calm down and shop communally/locally aka buy nothing from corporations. They die and community springs back to life. Problem solved….if people would stop funding them!
The Supreme Court has been bought and paid for by the Koch brothers
9-11 was Trump's keyhole .....today and yesterday were the door knocks .....tomorrow the door will be shut ...US on the outside ....and it's very upsetting for us elders that know what's really happening
Stay safe people! 🤷♀️
The Peaceful Solution-Part 1
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country?
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, tell politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
We are running out of peaceful options. The legislature and Supreme Court are controlled by HRH. He controls the executive branch, including the Military, Justice Department, FBI, ICE, the IRS. He controls all levers of power.
We, the people, still have the power of the purse. No one can control our spending, or lack of spending. When all else fails we can go on a spending strike until the business community stops supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
Economic warfare is the only thing the oligarchs, the business community will understand and act on. Call it a Surreptitious General Strike (Quiet Quitting). Go to work, do as little as possible. Stop spending money except on essentials. Quit feeding the corporate beast that supports the HRH.
Stop participating. Nearly 70% of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending. All of us. Hobble the economy and the stock market. Mahatma Gandhi drove the British from India by peaceful civil disobedience and boycotts. We can stop the fascist takeover in the same way.
We can keep rehashing past and present atrocities until our access to the internet is taken away by the regime, or we can DO something!
Now is the time for this Peaceful Solution.
Sadly, the bystanders won’t come across this article, and if they did, they won’t read it.
The most difficult for the most of us will be to NOT USE AI, do not go on social media, do not by at online-stores, only use your smartphone to record the cruelty of the regime and to make phone calls. The tech brows need to be punished but will will we be able to make that sacrifice? Than you only need a strike of the truckers, public transport, airport workers , port workers, metal workers and farmers to have a total black-out
I've been doing it since Nov 5th 2024. And ain't going back . I'm proving my survival skills are beyond the scope . My own chickens ,eggs, garden .. gave up driving . No more ins ...registration for a few years or no smog .. I'll catch up after 2028 ...until then ...I'm just having fun going thru all my old and new pennies ..but spending nothing (which is easy. Cuz I ain't got it anyway) all grandmas old ways (rubber band balls and string balls as well as tin foil rolls) rollin up cardboard after it gets wet and turns into logs for burning . Blew out the furnace pilot , two years ago . And I get up with the sun and go to bed with it too . Guess what ...I'm happy 😊😁
Seems like I've boycotted just about everyplace now. I buy at thrift stores and independent Amazon refuse stores. It's not convenient and there's little fun in it because they are not the most pleasant places but I refuse to support Billionaires. We eat at a local Mexican restaurant a couple times a month. We buy groc. from Aldis and only go to Big groc. stores for our Rx. We spend alot of $ on our 5 rescue dogs - 3 of which have special needs. We exercise at our local community center 6-7 days a week. This is where we have found our tribe. I'm considering tearing up my credit cards but I just haven't yet - mostly because I am forgetful and am always afraid of misplacing my purse. We got out of the stock market as soon as trump took office.
This morning I find that I just can't deal with this any longer. I am 78 and never thought I would leave our world with the state it is in. I have lost hope in God, Country and mankind in general
Charlotte, I go thru these same ups and down. It feel like I'm on an emotional Rollercoaster. My family has been torn apart and someday, I have no more rage left to give. Then, I feel more courage and less loneliness when I get out and see or communicate with those who are like minded. Today was a good day. I'm proud to say that I participated in history by attending a well attended protest and feel rejuvenated. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but I know that I am on the right side of history. Keep the faith and get involved in the process.
Thanks. I did go to No Kings rally here in Chicago today. So helpful.. felt such a sense of peace there. Everyone was dead serious about what is happening in our Country but there was no shouting or nasty goings on. Just a lot of people rallying for a common cause. It helped!
There is a way to prevent a slide into autocracy. In your economic series, you described the wealth ownership contest between the Top 50% vs the Bottom 50%. A more useful perspective is viewing the contest as being as the ultrawealthy Top 1% vs the ordinary Americans in the Bottom 99%. This administration, the agent of the Top 1%, is shaping an economy and a political environment enabling the Top 1% to extract even more wealth from the Bottom 99%. Legislation originating in the House together with House member behavior is the key to shaping the economy.
In 2024, 94% of House seats were won by the candidate with a campaign spending advantage. Nearly all House incumbents intend to run for reelection in 2026. Members from both parties believe they need campaign funding from Top 1% donors to win. That belief allows the Top 1% to control House member behavior. Members won’t do anything that risks losing Top 1% funding support. GOP members are in lock-step support of Trump’s agenda, and Dem opposition is muted. The House checks-and-balances powers have been neutralized. There has been no effective response to the Administration’s assumption of powers the Constitution allocates to the Legislative Branch.
The Bottom 99% are 99% of the voters. Without our votes nobody can get elected. If we could leverage that power, we’d be invincible. However, as individual voters we’re powerless. We are divided by fundamental differences on a broad range of issues. As members of political parties and independents, we’re unable to cooperate. We’re too easily manipulated by campaign programs funded by the Top 1% into exchanging our votes for promises that are never fulfilled.
The Top 1% vs Bottom 99% perspective reveals a solution. There is one issue on which all Bottom 99% voters are in agreement: we want an economy that works for us ordinary Americans instead of the Top 1%. That makes the economy a nonpartisan issue.
Leveraging the Bottom 99% voting power requires a solution strictly limited to our shared economic goal that enables all Bottom 99% voters to participate without compromising their beliefs on other issues.
The key to getting an economy that works for ordinary Americans is getting a House majority committed to making decisions on economic issues that support achieving that goal. Creating influential nonpartisan House district voting blocs in as many districts as possible is the way to do it.
Here's how blocs work. Bloc members intend to vote exclusively for House candidates committed to prioritizing bloc economic interests. Each bloc member makes a political decision at election time by choosing which committed candidate to vote for.
To be eligible to get bloc votes, candidates sign a formal pledge and are held accountable by the bloc for their performance. Failure to perform loses eligibility to get bloc votes. Once blocs reach critical size, no uncommitted candidate can get enough votes to win regardless of how much Top 1% money they spend.
Building blocs can be fast. Bottom 99% voters are angry about being victimized by the current Top 1%-focused economic agenda. That anger should provide ample motivation to join a district bloc. We live in a digital age. Most states provide public access to district registered voter files, and there are commercial services that augment the basic data with voter demographic information. Today’s digital outreach tools make it easy to scale sending digital bloc-join invitations. Many voters can join their district’s bloc by replying “yes” to their invitation.
Once millions of Bottom 99% voters get a taste of the power they have in acting together, they will forcefully oppose any effort to limit that power.
Jim, there is one flaw in your thesis. The next election will be rigged or won't happen. MAGA will ensure that there is no chance of them losing control of either house. The option of voting this lot out of power is dead.
It won't happen! It's too late for that approach.
I want to say it now because too many of you are pinning your faith on future elections that just won't happen. You need more effective action now. A major slow down in spending is probably the best option.
Max, I appreciate your feedback, and I agree that relying on the 2026 elections is a poor strategy and that we “need more effective action now”. My comment was already too long so I didn’t go into the near-term impacts of district voting blocs.
There are dozens of GOP House members whose districts are full of voters dependent on federal program payments to make ends meet. They are beyond angry that their rep voted for Trump’s tax bill that includes huge cuts in those payments. A big voting bloc in such a district forces a GOP incumbent seeking reelection to make a decision.
To be reelected, they’ll have to be eligible to get bloc votes. They’ll have to commit now to serving bloc interests on economic issues and build a record of fulfilling that commitment. That means they’ll have to flip to opposing Trump’s economic agenda.
If they don’t commit, they risk being primaried by a challenger who will be eligible to get bloc votes or being identified as the “billionaire’s candidate” and losing in the general election. If only a few GOP incumbents flip, Trump will be faced with a multi-party House majority in opposition to his economic agenda within a few months.
It is certainly possible that Trump will try to cancel the 2026 elections. Millions of voters in nonpartisan district voting blocs would forcefully oppose any effort to nullify their power. Digital invitation and join processes enable blocs to reach influential levels quickly.
There will be 50 million Gen Zers who will be old enough to vote in 2026. Gen Z grew up using digital communication methods. Today their economic prospects are dismal. If they were aware that they had the power to improve their economic future, they could lead the effort to get district voting blocs in place.
[Hoping this Comments section is moderated]
Typo Alert
…allies would not pee on him if >her/ he<< were on fire...