Category Archives: Activism

The Party of the Working Class

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“Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time.” — Harry Truman

Pondering the wreckage of the 2024 election, Trump had about the same number of votes he had in 2020 – no growth in support. But our side lost millions of voters relative to 2020.

Why is that? Is it racism and/or misogyny? The war in Gaza? While those things are likely a factor, something more important has been overlooked.

After the 2020 primaries, Joe Biden’s people huddled with Bernie Sanders’ people to identify areas of agreement. Those were the issues Biden campaigned on and won.

In 2024, Kamala Harris shared the stage with Liz Cheney. She wasted her time groveling for Republican votes that never materialized, demoralizing Progressives into staying home in droves.

Why has the Party of FDR lost its way? 

When I was young, my father described the two major parties as Republicans standing for big business and rich people, and Democrats working for everyone else. 

This was a time when a high school education was enough to get a good union job in a local factory, where the wages would be enough to own a home, pay the bills, send kids to college, and have enough left over to occasionally buy nice things and do something fun. And the owner of the factory was usually a member of the community who sponsored Little League teams and sent their kids to the local public schools.

But starting with Reagan, a wave of union-busting and corporate consolidation redirected America’s prosperity to the very top. With unions decimated, Democrats turned to Big Money to fund their campaigns. 

We thought we elected Clinton to slam the brakes on Reaganism. But as a product of Big Money, all he did was to slightly ease off on the accelerator. We ended up with a series of trade deals that destroyed our industrial base and impoverished working people for decades.

Voters remember how things used to be. They recognize that they’re working harder than their parents did. But instead of getting ahead, they find themselves falling behind. 

These should be our voters, and it should be easy to win them over. But we seem to be so careful not to offend billionaires and the mythical moderate Republicans that we’ve forgotten how to win over our natural allies.

Meanwhile, an authoritarian narcissist and convicted felon just won the election by talking about working class grievances. Of course, he’s not serious. It’s all empty words to con and grift his impoverished voters. Ironically, they will be among the first victims of his regime.

What is supposed to be the party of working people has been abandoned by working people. To get those voters back, we need to stand up and fight for their interests. We must reclaim our party’s position as champions of the working class. 

It’s time to articulate an aggressive, inspiring and unapologetic vision of an America that shares its prosperity with all of us, includes a strong safety net and enables all people to grow to their full potential.

By realigning our party with Democratic values as articulated in FDR’s Second Bill of Rights and in Bernie Sanders’ platform (the two overlap a lot), we will not only win elections up and down the ballot nationwide, but we can also win the broad popular support to bring our vision to reality.

The Truth About Inflation

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It’s time to re-examine the myth that Republicans are “better on inflation”. Those who believe this seem to think that a president can wave a magic wand to instantly lower prices.

Presidents don’t set prices… they’re set by producers and retailers. Economics professors will invoke “supply and demand”, which is behind much of the inflation of the early 2020’s. The pandemic disrupted global supply chains, and people with time to kill and money to spend increased demand. Even though our inflation rate was high during this period, it was a problem everywhere. In fact, the US under Biden/Harris had one of the lowest inflation rates in the world. (See chart)

So instead of “blaming” Democrats for inflation, they should get credit for controlling it more effectively than their global peers.

Producers and retailers, motivated by profit, will set prices as high as they can get away with. When wages started rising after the pandemic, corporations used “inflation” as an excuse to raise prices. If wages rose 10%, they would raise prices 20%. This is documented as skyrocketing profit margins in their earnings reports. During their earnings calls, many corporate leaders bragged to their shareholders about raising prices (Guardian investigation, Jim Hightower column, Institute for Policy Studies analysis). They used obfuscatory terms like “increasing margins” to “add value for shareholders”.

This is price gouging, plain and simple. The president did not raise prices, they were raised by CEOs and high-level managers, and nearly all of those people are Republicans.

Before leaving this discussion of inflation, it’s important to understand how the word has different meanings depending on the context, and how it’s weaponized to deceive us.

The scholarly definition of inflation is a condition where rising prices leads to demand for higher wages, the increased wages lead to higher prices, and the cycle repeats itself.

Most of us think of inflation as higher prices we pay for essential commodities (gas, food, housing, etc.).

But when economic pundits on the business pages, or high-level bankers at congressional hearings, solemnly talk about “keeping inflation under control”, they are talking about keeping your wages from rising. Meanwhile, they know that the rest of us will politely nod in agreement about keeping inflation (prices) under control, even though their tight-fistedness with wages does not make them our friends.

So remember that when prices go up and wages don’t. It’s Republicans that are doing this to us.

“Good Copy” – Zendik Farm TV Coverage

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Most new visitors to this site come for this post on my experiences at Zendik Farm, an intentional community of artists and assorted craftspeople I was part of from 1978 until 1991. The farm presented itself as a living laboratory for a way of living based on a feeling of reverence for the Earth.

Part of our strategy was to get journalists’ attention by being “good copy”. So when we arrived in the San Diego area, local TV crews saw us as good copy and took turns doing stories on our unusual lifestyle.

Meanwhile, my family was a bit apprehensive about my living situation. Knowing that they watched a lot of TV news, I assembled our recent TV coverage onto a VHS tape and mailed it to them. (That’s how it was done in the late 1980’s.) They wrote back that it relieved a lot of their concerns.

On a recent visit to my family, I found that tape. 35 years greatly exceeds the life expectancy of a home VHS tape, so the picture quality is marginal and there are a lot of glitches. But it effectively documents where I was living and the cause I was pursuing during a significant period of my life.

Even though Zendik Farm disbanded in 2013, it continues to attract interest. So in an effort to preserve the historical record, I posted the videos to YouTube and you can view them here… Read on →

The Rhythm of History

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They say that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes.

I think of that as veterans are fighting to be taken care of for the sicknesses they’re suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits..

..just as earlier veterans had to fight to be taken care of for the sicknesses they suffered from exposure to depleted uranium..

..just as veterans of my generation had to fight to be taken care of for the sicknesses they suffered from exposure to Agent Orange..

..just as veterans of my parents’ generation had to fight to be taken care of for the sicknesses they suffered from exposure to nuclear bomb tests.

History is telling us that “Sign up and you’ll be taken care of” is an empty promise.

Defiance

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In the subways of Ukraine
People have come to sleep again
Because the bombing makes their buildings shake
The fear and stress are keeping them awake
But there’s hope in the clever tactics and persistence
Of the resistance
For they define defiance.

There is an island with a fort
Defending a strategic port
The Russian navy said “surrender now
“We’ll bomb you and take over anyhow”
The radio crackled, the reply said “Russian warship,
“Go fuck yourself.”
So says the voice of defiance.

And out in the public squares
The Russian soldiers everywhere
Face grandmas and old men who rant and curse
“This is our country, now go back to yours.”
“Put these seeds in your pocket so that sunflowers grow from your hide
“When you die”
Ominous words of defiance.

The local women can be seen
Filling bottles with gasoline.
So when the Russian tanks come rolling by
A rain of fire will fall from the sky
Till the tanks turn around and go back to from where they came
They’ll see the flames
From weapons of defiance

The Russian army look like fools
Stuck in the mud and out of fuel
Their tanks are wandering the highway
Looking for signs so they can find their way
But the signs said, “Go fuck yourself, go fuck yourself again, go fuck yourself..
..Back to Russia”
Reading the signs of defiance.

Wherever evil stalks the land
Defiant heroes make their stand
With such a paranoid pathetic clown
Taunting and mockery will bring him down
So let’s call that punk tyrant a repulsive piece of shit
And then let’s spit
Into his face with defiance.

Shutting Down is Shutting Out

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As our nation stumbles thru another primary election season, about half of the Democratic Party’s delegates have been pledged to one candidate or another, and (at this writing) Joe Biden has roughly a 55-45% lead over Bernie Sanders. Many pundits are characterizing this as “insurmountable” (I disagree, it’s only halftime).

But every time I see someone like James Carville saying, “it’s over,” or “we should shut this thing down,” I find myself angrily waving my middle finger at the teevee, and here’s why:

At this writing, there are 26 states and territories (representing 1532 delegates) still waiting their turn to vote. Let’s be generous and say that Joe wins 60% of the remaining delegates. That means Bernie would still get 613 delegates from the remaining states. If the primary were to be “shut down” today, all of those delegates would go to Joe.

So what Carville and his ilk are calling for is a convention without all of those pesky Bernie delegates. They want to shut us out, and to diminish our voice within the party. This is not only undemocratic, but it ignores some important realities.

There are down-ballot races where Democrats and other Progressives are counting on the big turnout that would be generated by a competitive primary. Here in Wisconsin, we have an important Supreme Court race. I’m sure other states and localities have their own races where turnout would vanish if we “shut this thing down.”

The biggest reality is that Bernie has won the battle of ideas. Exit polls confirm that vast majorities of voters favor things like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free post-secondary education, and other elements of Bernie’s platform; but they think Joe is more “electable”.

Bernie’s ideas will not be represented by Joe’s delegates. Our party and our nation needs to hear from the hard-working volunteers who have spent the past several years promoting the winning platform. Bernie’s supporters deserve to have their voices heard at the convention in Milwaukee.

So for everybody in a state or territory still waiting to vote: The only way to vote for Bernie’s ideas is to vote for Bernie himself. Every vote will help toward adding another voice to Bernie’s delegation.

We may be behind, but we can still win, and we will not be shut out.

If I Had a Time Machine…

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…I’d go to Palm Beach, Florida in the late summer of 2000. Somewhere in the county government complex will be a public hearing (or comment period) on the ballot design for the upcoming national election.

It’s probably one of those low-level meetings held in a small windowless meeting room with hard plastic chairs, hosted by a sub-committee or a board with jurisdiction over this tiny niche of government. The committee sits at a table in the front of the room facing the handful of citizens in attendance… a reporter or two, maybe some government geeks with nothing better to do.

When the ballot design comes up, I would politely approach the committee and address the flaws in the ballot design. I’d work with them to find an improvement on the design that would make the ballot much easier to read, and much harder for a voter to make a mistake.

Let’s assume the committee worked in good faith and made the change. We now know that Gore had a net loss of over 6600 votes in Palm Beach County due to bad ballot design. If the redesigned ballot recovers only 1000 of those votes for Gore, then he wins Florida and with it the presidency.

Let your mind run wild for a minute about how different the world would be with Al Gore in the White House in the early ’00’s instead of George W Bush. Would 9-11 have happened? What would the Supreme Court look like today? Would this insane series of wars have ever started? Would we have seriously responded to the climate crisis long ago?

All because somebody showed up and spoke up at an obscure county meeting.

I have no reason to believe that this hypothetical meeting ever really happened (it could have and should have). What’s important is what this story says about civic engagement.

Political and community activism can be tedious. It involves sitting thru hours of mundane meetings in the dusty back rooms of government buildings. It requires a high tolerance for boredom, and an ability to comprehend dense bureaucratic documents.

But once in a while you can make a difference. You never know which meeting you go to – or which issue you comment on, or which action you take – will change the course of history.

So pay attention, show up, speak up and help out, ’cause you never know when you might save the world.

Don’t Go To the Mall, Go To the Attic

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After seeing one too many ads for “Black Friday sales”, I feel compelled to say something about wasteful consumerism and what we can do about it.

Go to any dumpster, and you will find lots of stuff purchased as holiday gifts in years gone by. In many cases, this stuff never got used.. it sat dormant in a closet, basement, garage or attic until it was moved out to make room for the next round of new stuff. And then the new stuff sits unused until its time comes to get cleared out.

Think of all the material resources consumed to make all this stuff. Think of the human energy exerted to turn these raw materials into new things. Think of the fuel burned by the boats bringing that stuff from China and the trucks bringing it from the West Coast. All this energy is spent to produce and move stuff that may never get used before ending up in a landfill in a few years.

We don’t need more stuff. This country already has plenty of stuff. The stuff just needs to be relocated to where it can best be used and appreciated.

So at holiday time, rather than going to the malls or their electronic equivalent, we should find gifts in our attics and store rooms. Those toys your kids weren’t interested in.. maybe a friend’s kids would enjoy them. That dress that you hated might look good on your mother.. or your daughter. The stuffed animal you no longer have room for could delight the new toddler in your family.

I will briefly acknowledge the push-back that are sure to come. Some of it is related to kids’ obsession with the latest electronic gadget (let’s set that aside for another day); some of it is related to Americans’ prejudice against any gift that’s not new and shiny (get over it).

At the very least, my hope is that you consider a trip to the store room as one of your holiday shopping “stops”. So much has been consumed already, it helps when we don’t need to consume more.

 

Make America Decent Again

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That was part of the message delivered by a crowd of 300-500 people who came out in searing 95° heat in La Crosse today (Sat June 30, 2018). The march started at City Hall just before noon, and followed 7th Street to Burns Park at 7th and Main.

I forgot to bring a real camera, so images from my pocket computer will have to do (click on any image to embiggen)…

Who’s On Your Side?

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In a recent news report on the 2016 election, impoverished West Virginia coal miners were asked why they voted for Trump. They said “he seems to be on our side”. I believe they were gravely mistaken.

Trump and the Republican Party are not on the side of working people and they never will be. Republicans like Trump are manipulative con artists who fool people into believing empty promises that are instantly broken on inauguration day.

Whose side are Republicans on? Meet Don Blankenship, who owned a big coal mining company in West Virginia. He played fast and loose with safety regulations until his criminal negligence led to a massive explosion, killing 29 miners. Don briefly went to prison for this, but he’s back in West Virginia running for the US Senate as a Republican.

Republicans are on the side of mine owners like Blankenship. Democrats are on the side of the miners themselves, looking out for their safety and fair treatment.

If you work in a factory, it’s the Democrats who are on your side. Republicans are on the side of the corporate bosses who treat their workforce as a commodity to be overworked, underpaid and discarded.

Democrats are on the side of farmers – people who work the fields, tend livestock, and harvest and process our food. Republicans are on the side of the corporate food processors who underpay the farmers, overcharge their customers, and overpay themselves.

Republicans are on the side of those who poison our air and water, crush our wages, degrade our quality of life, and muffle our voices thru voter suppression and union busting.

So unless you’re a rich and greedy sociopath, it’s the Democrats who are on your side. Please remember that in November.