Democracy
Navigating Another False Binary - ZNetwork
To my old fuzzy eyes and my old bent ears the two tasks at hand that I hope to aid a little in these troubling times are to Stop Trump and to Advance The Long March Toward A Truly Desirable Society. To my still I hope young mind, however, the two are not separate because to crown Trump would at best make the Long March much longer. So to Stop Trump and to Advance the Long March are really one task. But if they are one task then why the hell did I say “two tasks”?
The Only Antidote To Election Anxiety Is Training To Confront Trump’s Threat - ZNetwork
Whether he emerges a victor in November or a defeated candidate claiming he was robbed, movements for justice and peace need to offer something more specific than what they’re presently doing in order to take account of the deepening anxiety around how to deal with Trump.
While issue-based organizing campaigns need to continue, our climate, economic and racial justice work don’t sufficiently address this rising anxiety.
A deeply disturbing and truly dystopian story playing out in the US.
Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested - Raw Story
“This is a deadly serious report,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Raw Story. “A retired U.S. military officer has drawn up a ‘Deep State target list’ of public officials he considers traitors, along with our family members and staff. His hit list is a vigilante death warrant for hundreds of Americans and a clear and present danger to the survival of American democracy and freedom."
Don’t mourn, Organize! This is how it’s done.
Heather Cox Richardson Talks Project 2025 - YouTube
Now is the time for action, not distraction! Project 2025 threatens our democracy. While we know that Project 2025 will destroy civil rights, reproductive freedom and turn our country towards extremist Christian Nationalism – too many of our friends and family are completely unaware. But we can change that together! Join us to hear from Heather on what we can do together to win this battle in November. More Info & Resources: https://redwine.blue/project2025/
A brief video with Ari Berman on the constraints built into American “democracy”. From the very beginning US political institutions concentrated power in the hands of the elite, propertied white male minority. You know, white supremacy by design.
More than 200 years later, the series of compromises the founders made have increasingly vested the majority of political power in the hands of a minority of the population—a reactionary conservative white minority that is seeking to entrench and hold onto power through a wide variety of anti-democratic means.
CrimethInc. : Why Stop at Removing Biden? : The Center Cannot Hold
It would seem like a heavy-handed metaphor if it weren’t our actual reality. A doddering patriarch, representing the collapsing centrist political project, refuses to step aside even as it becomes certain that he faces defeat at the hands of an even more authoritarian autocrat. This encapsulates the global prospects for democracy today.
It’s not a particular politician that has grown senile, but an entire political system.
Sarah Kendzior: Last Chance, USA
Because Trump is widely loathed, beating him should have been easy — in the debate, and in the 2024 election. All Biden had to do was remain marginally coherent and not do something unforgivably sadistic, like abet a genocide of children, but no.
It is telling that bombing the debate instead of bombing the children of Gaza was the dealbreaker for Biden’s backers.
A well articulated, sobering assessment of the motivations of the Democratic and Republican parties in terms of the past 30-40 years and how it’s playing out in the current election.
Pearls and Irritations have an excellent post about The Invisible Doctrine by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison. The new book, a critique of neoliberalism as the ideological source of the myriad crises we now face.
The book argues passionately for urgent system change, away from the control currently exercised by profit makers, and the need to strengthen governance and how the economy operates, though expanded participatory democracy. This is a well written, quite brief book that deserves a wide readership by those of us concerned about the many crises that now threaten our human future.
The hard truth that needs to be confronted by America today: white nationalism is alive and thriving.. Erin Aubry Kaplan at the Los Angeles Times:
Here’s the hard truth of the last eight years: America leans at least as much toward white nationalism as it does toward democracy (and that’s being optimistic). Nobody says it out loud, on either side, which is obscuring the real shape of Showdown 2024.
The GOP cult is clearly racist and anti-equality but claims not to be, despite rapidly mounting evidence to the contrary.
How the 1990s broke politics - Vox
If you were to write the history of modern American conservatism, where would you start? Maybe somewhere in the 1930s just before WW2? Or maybe you begin with the Cold War and anti-communism?
Cases can be made for both of those entry points, but the early 1990s offer another fascinating moment in this history. While this wasn’t the beginning of any grand conservative movement, the period is, in retrospect, a revealing flashpoint. And if you’re looking for a precursor to the weird, scrambled politics of the present, it’s an excellent candidate.
Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
The Community Organizing Guide aims to empower people to become effective organizers in their communities.
Organizers bring people together and make it easier for people to take action and succeed. Organizers help people see how they can work together and make an impact. This happens at a group level (convening, facilitating, etc) and by supporting individuals to take on responsibilities and be more comfortable taking action for what they believe in. This guide provides information about some of the basics of organizing: the fundamental principles and the specifics of the most common skills.
Let’s talk about how we organize for the preservation and expansion of democracy
Democracy is our responsibility. Community organizing is something we can all do, right now. For those that don’t know how, it’s a learnable skill. Meet with people. Talk with people. Learn together. Take it on. Look online for community organizing resources. Do it today and don’t stop because democracy, freedom, social justice are things that don’t stop with elections. They need to be lifelong commitments. Democracy is you. You are the key.
Let's talk about how we organize for the preservation and expansion of democracy
I often post about my belief that Americans are too passive, too apathetic. That we refuse to take action when we should. That we have not taken on the responsibility of active citizenship.
It occurred to me today that it's also likely true that many, perhaps a large majority of my fellow citizens may have little idea of what it means to be an active citizen, no idea what it means to be an "activist". Much of what I see online is frustration, anger, bewilderment and the question: How did we get here? But other than the suggestion to vote, people have no idea what to do.
In fact, just this afternoon, as one example, this post by @revjeber
I sure am glad that so many people, myself included, are trying to inform the public about just how bad a second term for Donnie, posting apocalyptic scenarios that others can spread around. And yet, I'm waiting to see some concrete suggestions about what we can do about it. I confess, at this moment, I'm at a loss for an idea that would work in the face of a hostile Supreme Court. We can and should vote. But beyond that? Revolution?
So, let's talk about what activism looks like. Let's talk about the basics of what it means to organize. I'm going to illustrate with examples of actions and projects I've been a part of. I'm going to assume the reader has no experience organizing but perhaps has attended a protest or two.
Mother Jones was 83 years old when she confronted a militia alone in the coal fields of Ludlow Colorado. Theodore Roosevelt called her the most dangerous woman in America.
83 years old.
What are you willing to do for freedom? Democracy?
Liberals, Dems, whatcha gonna do about it? Yeah, that's what I thought. Nothing.
It's decades of apathy and fear of rocking the boat that have destroyed the US. It's a comforatble middle class that values itself and it's possesions that have eroded what little pretend democracy that may have existed.
Oh, well, if Biden's family thinks he's the best candidate, it makes perfect sense that they make that decision for the party and the country.
While his family was reportedly aware of how poorly he performed, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat Donald Trump.
The 2024 election is an opportunity for democracy
Following the first debate many Democrats are in a panic about Biden. Some are calling for him to step aside while others are doubling down on their support of him. But there's another option.
Now, I'll say up front I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I think the two party system and the political process in the US is fundamentally broken. It has been for a very long time and I think most of us agree it's broken. In the long term what's needed are deep, foundational changes to how we view and practice democracy, both elections and legislation. But I won't go there in this post. Let's stick to the 2024 election.
A year ago Jeremy described our current crisis very well:
In 2024, we face the likely prospect of two old men representing two dying ideologies competing for the presidency of the United States...
The only thing that unites these two groups is their absolute devotion to the capitalist imperative of continual economic growth.
Both of these ideologies are dying. They are dying because neither of them can or will face the actual future.