HCRs recent "Politics Chat" emphasisized the bottom up idea.
Example. Francis Perkins emerged from local then state responsibilities to become the longest serving Sec of Labor...and was the driving force behind establishing Social Security.
From teacher to social worker to advocate of workers rights (the horror of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire) to state and the federal leadership.
We all could consider doing something, anything local now - just to feel like we are making one small difference.
The Clown Car is now so crazy, so diabolical and fucked up that it will self destruct.
Of course, millions of people will suffer or die before our gullible fools wake up.
But the pendulum will swing back to sanity. Hope I live long enough to see it.
I don't yet have solutions, but I know that any movement must be bottom-up.
The days of blinding trusting DC Democrats is well and truly over.
The days of "savior syndrome" are over (Obama-Biden-Mueller-Garland-Smith-Pelosi-Harris, etc)..
The most powerful movements are always bottom up...a true leader comes later.
Stop watching the news/reading legacy media...it will neither inform nor inspire.
Invest in alternative media that provides honest assessments, not hopium.
Limit time on social media. Start really building communities. Greta Thunberg ignited a worldwide movement as a 16-year-old. She didn't succeed, but she planted seeds.
Do not donate to the DNC, invest in groups like "Run For Something" and "States Project" who are building out down ballot candidates because they understand the bottom up strategy.
This is a marathon, don't believe anyone who tells you 2026 will magically fall to Democrats or that Gavin Newsom will "save us" in 2028 (see Savior Syndrome above)
There is infrastructure we can build on: Reverend Barber, for example.
Don't believe anyone who pretends that we'll win if we move to a mythical center.
Rev Barber and the movement aka "The Poor People's Campaign" has been meaningfully reported on by Wikipedia, Democracy Now in numerous interviews with Amy Goodman and Nermeen Sheikh along with remote reports covering activism.
That's enough for a primer briefing. For what it's worth I will cut my doomscrolling when I feel deep immobilizing Depression setting in as I search online. Checking in with Rev. Barber and the activists within the Poor Peoples' Campaign always acts as a psychological tonic and helps me get my rear back in gear.....
Excellent article, Pen. Your ideas are thoughtful and well expressed.
An idea has floated into my head unbidden several times since the election. Could it have been fixed in some subtle ways? I had not a speck of evidence, but DJT was a candidate and that automatically leaves an opening for doubt. None of my reading even mentioned the possibility until today when I read your commentary. We are probably constrained to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but at least there are two of us with doubts.
Since the election Trump has displayed an almost manic desire to dominate every news cycle with, for lack of a better term, “Fuck you” announcements. My greatest fear is that this is his drug and the announcements will have to become more inflammatory in order to sate him. This bodes terribly, even worse than I had imagined, for the country.
Thank you for the comment, Eric. Trump is as vile and petty as any human being I have ever encountered, and that says a lot since I have been traveling the world my entire life. Things are going to get very bad. Stay safe.
If he cheated, which I believe is likely, I do not think anyone is going to do anything about it for the near term. He has and continues to get away with being a piece of shit human.
HCRs recent "Politics Chat" emphasisized the bottom up idea.
Example. Francis Perkins emerged from local then state responsibilities to become the longest serving Sec of Labor...and was the driving force behind establishing Social Security.
From teacher to social worker to advocate of workers rights (the horror of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire) to state and the federal leadership.
We all could consider doing something, anything local now - just to feel like we are making one small difference.
The Clown Car is now so crazy, so diabolical and fucked up that it will self destruct.
Of course, millions of people will suffer or die before our gullible fools wake up.
But the pendulum will swing back to sanity. Hope I live long enough to see it.
Here is to your health, Bill!
I don't yet have solutions, but I know that any movement must be bottom-up.
The days of blinding trusting DC Democrats is well and truly over.
The days of "savior syndrome" are over (Obama-Biden-Mueller-Garland-Smith-Pelosi-Harris, etc)..
The most powerful movements are always bottom up...a true leader comes later.
Stop watching the news/reading legacy media...it will neither inform nor inspire.
Invest in alternative media that provides honest assessments, not hopium.
Limit time on social media. Start really building communities. Greta Thunberg ignited a worldwide movement as a 16-year-old. She didn't succeed, but she planted seeds.
Do not donate to the DNC, invest in groups like "Run For Something" and "States Project" who are building out down ballot candidates because they understand the bottom up strategy.
This is a marathon, don't believe anyone who tells you 2026 will magically fall to Democrats or that Gavin Newsom will "save us" in 2028 (see Savior Syndrome above)
There is infrastructure we can build on: Reverend Barber, for example.
Don't believe anyone who pretends that we'll win if we move to a mythical center.
That's all I have for now.
Tell me more about Reverend Barber?
He started “The Poor People's Campaign”, and effort to build a bottom up movement to help the vulnerable and working-class.
Naturally, the Democratic party ignored him (except at election time).
He has a movement, credibility, and a platform.
GenZ can be mobilized, just not with “incrementalism”.
Build on what we have, no group is perfect.
Rev Barber and the movement aka "The Poor People's Campaign" has been meaningfully reported on by Wikipedia, Democracy Now in numerous interviews with Amy Goodman and Nermeen Sheikh along with remote reports covering activism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign:_A_National_Call_for_a_Moral_Revival
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/8/william_barber_trump_economic_policy_project2025
"Democrats Deserted Working Poor: Bishop William Barber on Healthcare, Living Wages, Voting Rights
StoryNovember 08, 2024"
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537289-4/william-barber-poverty-united-states
That's enough for a primer briefing. For what it's worth I will cut my doomscrolling when I feel deep immobilizing Depression setting in as I search online. Checking in with Rev. Barber and the activists within the Poor Peoples' Campaign always acts as a psychological tonic and helps me get my rear back in gear.....
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Excellent article, Pen. Your ideas are thoughtful and well expressed.
An idea has floated into my head unbidden several times since the election. Could it have been fixed in some subtle ways? I had not a speck of evidence, but DJT was a candidate and that automatically leaves an opening for doubt. None of my reading even mentioned the possibility until today when I read your commentary. We are probably constrained to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but at least there are two of us with doubts.
Since the election Trump has displayed an almost manic desire to dominate every news cycle with, for lack of a better term, “Fuck you” announcements. My greatest fear is that this is his drug and the announcements will have to become more inflammatory in order to sate him. This bodes terribly, even worse than I had imagined, for the country.
Thank you for the comment, Eric. Trump is as vile and petty as any human being I have ever encountered, and that says a lot since I have been traveling the world my entire life. Things are going to get very bad. Stay safe.
If he cheated, which I believe is likely, I do not think anyone is going to do anything about it for the near term. He has and continues to get away with being a piece of shit human.