Trump's incompetence is revealing a broken country — and none of the leaders Democrat or Republican have proposed the kind of systemic change it will take to rebuild it.
"The people in charge don't know how deep the hole is. And if you don't see how deep the hole is, you can't understand the scale of the solution. We need to replace these people. Almost all of them. Not with different brands of the same cowardice, but with people who understand that the United States can't just be a market. It has to be a country. That means reclaiming public power, rebuilding industrial strength, dismantling the extraction economy, and erecting something that serves human beings. Not a slogan. Not a tweak. A political revolution. Because if we don't, we're not just looking at decline. We're looking at collapse."
Reminds me of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, after it struck the iceberg, and was halfway underwater. This was in 1912. Five years later, in 1917 during the horrors of WW1, there was the Bolshevik Revolution in Czarist Russia. An American version of something like that is (unfortunately) required. A possible future? Listen, or better yet attend, the Fight Oligarchy Tour that Bernie Sanders and AOC are currently doing. These two, and other Progressives like them, are what we need.
Bernie Sanders and AOC are mouth pieces of disinformation. It is their job to appeal to progressives and get them all excited about the changes that are going to come and then step back at the last minute and let Hillary have the nomination, leaving progressives without any choice but the "Cackeler".
Look at Bernie's (and AOC) top contributors and tell me that you seriously believes what (s)he preaches:
The reason most people supported Bernie in 2016 was because they saw what was happening. In fact, remember Obama got the Nobel Peace prize and he won because people knew even then that what is happening today was happening then. Hell, I remember why I supported Ross Perot and tried to help found his Reform party.
Every single time, we were betrayed by members who actually represent the Oligarchy but needed to dilute our influence in the vote.
By now, I sure hope people realize that your vote is meaningless when it is counted by a machine manufactured by a company that is owned by an Oligarch.
Every vote since 2000 (and probably earlier) was won by the organization that cheated best.
Bernie and AOC are symbols. Bernie was ripped off of the Dem nomination in 2016 as it had been promised to Hillary by the Dem political machine. This was done to appease the Clinton's for Hillary's loss for Obama in 2008. Bernie is now 84 years old and has a heart condition. AOC is young and strong. She is the logical person to pass Bernies's torch to. My question is, if not them, then who?
and repeal of citizens united. US politics isn’t just the scene of grey corruption it’s the flow of money determining political realities. the founding fathers were élitists and sought to mitigate against the democratic urges of the populous. in their time only property owning men got to vote. (and slave owning property owners got extra voting power). the entire edifice is built on the notion of white, elitist privilege, no wonder there’s been issues!
I could not agree with you more, Susan. If we had a direct popular vote elect the POTUS and VPOTUS, then the last truly elected Republican would have been Ronald Reagan way back in 1984, which is 45 years ago. There would have been NO Bush Senior, Bush Junior, or Trump administrations. Trump would not have run last year if he had been defeated by Hillary (or maybe even Bernie) in 2016. What a different and better world it would have been, especially today.
We already have a Vladimir Putin and/or Xi Jinping as POTUS now. Trump just loves his authoritarian brethren. What would you recommend? From the left we could use maybe a Vladimir Lenin or a Joseph Stalin? From the right, how about maybe an Adolf Hitler or a King George III of England? We fought a revolution in 1776 to get out from under King George. Now we have King Donald. AIPAC? Trump is letting Benjamin Netanyahu perform mass genocide. Bernie and AOC are a far superior selection in my view.
This statement shows me your ignorance, and negates all of your arguments in the thread. Biden's unilateral support for Israel, which I did NOT agree with, is what caused Trump's win last year. Harris made two BIG mistakes in her campaign. One, was not selecting Josh Shapiro, the Dem Governor of Pennsylvania, as her running mate. He would have carried Pennsylvania for her. Maybe because he is Jewish? Two, was continuing Biden's approach with Israel. If she had broken with Biden, and demanded a full ceasefire for Gaza, she would be POTUS now. Trump is actually encouraging Netanyahu, as Biden was trying to somewhat hold Netanyahu back. Trump wants to turn Gaza into a beach resort for the rich, displacing the Palestinians to who-knows-where. Bernie, who is also Jewish, by the way, wants to stop all weapons shipments to Netanyahu and demand that a real ceasefire be implemented. AOC is the same.
Thanks for your thoughts, which are not far off target in my view. The thing is, we cannot elect the representatives we need until we reform our electoral system.
That is what Democrats, Independents, and well-meaning Republicans need to advocate: end Citizens United-driven buying of elections; fair House districting and end to winner-take-all in Presidential elections, ranked choice voting, and fair Voter ID--with all citizens receiving tamper-proof 21st-century digital ID's with the capability of changing registration location as people relocate. Puerto Rico and Washington DC Senate seats would be the last piece.
Then democracy--rule by the people--would be possible.
If alienating us from trade partners and military allies as well as deliberately tanking the economy and defying the Supreme Court isn't being a domestic enemy (he swore to defend the United States Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic) and a treasonous agent, I don't know what is. Grow a set of balls and impeach him, 25th Amendment his ass, throw him in prison. But DO something.
Okay. You realize that Harris, Biden, AOC, Sanders, Omar, Tlaib, and many more are all theists? Discounting someone and insulting them for their faith is the only thing that’s stupid. Don’t believe me? Go ask a philosophy major.
Religion digs itself into healthy society like a tumor into flesh. There is no clear delineation, the insanity is on a gradient. Lots of people have social indoctrination. People who literally believe their religion are demented.
If you actually believe in those stories you are beyond help.
You literally only believe in one less god than atheists do. Do you believe in Zeus?
The social construct of religion is often misused, just as governments are. Or sports teams, or the entertainment industry. The problem is not inherent in the organization itself, but with a lack of safeguards to prevent predators and the power hungry from abusing it.
I am not going to argue my faith with you, because unlike you, I don't feel the need to force others to believe what I believe. I certainly don't go around insulting them over it. goodbye.
Right and left are 2 sides of a wooden nickle. Worthless regardless of which side you land. One side wants to burn, the other wants to capitulate and act angry about it, but not angry enough to lose corpo sponsorship.
We need to undo the billionaire welfare system and then arrest them all for crimes against humanity. Rebuild what they're destroying using the money they grifted from the people.
I would have been more impressed with jeremaid, if the lamentations had include specific instances, e.g., (1) a Congress which exempts itself itself from insider trading rules and Senator Mark Kelly can’t get anyone to help him change it while one of his colleagues attempts to call out Trump for telling people to “buy” during his trade tariff market churn and (2) a Sioreme Court which gave us corporations are persons too, Citizens United vs FEC, and unborn children aren’t. So an assertion without unambiguous examples is a well-voiced oracle of doom, with which the zeitgeist is replete. Thank you…but no thank you,
This particular piece was about the lack of clarity among political and Business Leaders and the specific examples that I used to back up the charge was their quotes if I were riding a piece on insider trading or money and politics then I would definitely have gone with different examples but that wasn't what this piece was about it's about American capacity and the inability of folks that are supposed to be at the helm acknowledging that it's in Decline
Advanced age in Congress is a huge problem. Pelosi did her job for many years. Time to vacate! Grassley was once a real conservative who worked across the aisles. He is like what… 91 years old? Needs to be put out to pasture. Schumer is not that old but he is useless now and has to recognize that no one has confidence in his leadership and that goes for Durbin too. All of them are white. Younger members such as Maxwell Frost, AOC , Greg Casar, Sarah McBride on the Dem side are great examples for encouraging people to vote. Anna Luna on the Repub side has been nutso in my opinion. I do not know of the others but you are right, things have got to change and soon. We cannot wait and I say that as 73 year old white woman who has been fighting against injustices for over 54 years.
I couldn't agree more with all you said in your article. Just like, I do believe we need some radical changes in the system because patches won't do it. Therefore I wrote a book showing my ideas what that radical solution could be.
My book MORNING AFTER: Dreaming of People's Interests Party is available at www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore for all that may be interested in reading it.
MORNING AFTER is a political fiction set in the 2036 US election year where People's Interests Party or PIP as I call it in the book is to win second term in the WH and huge majority in Congress. The book's main theme are economic injustices that are the core of our socio-economic system and breed all social injustices.
The story is told through conversation of three friends that got together for a day, and a good part of the night to talk. PIP works within the existing political and economic system and it captures trust of the people that voted them in all levels of power by their clarity and transparency when explaining causation of the problems and solutions they were implementing. PIP does accept that creating a surplus of wealth, that is, profit, is essential for functioning of the economy but they disagree with the idea that only very few decide how wealth is created and, most importantly, how it is used. Their solution is based on transferring means of production and capital from employers to employees and empowering new owners with all elements and mechanisms of ownership that previous owners were enjoying. All businesses were evaluated and the agreed value of each was then repaid to previous owners over time from the results of running the business by new owners. The role of the government is kept as the major supporter and enforcer of the economy that the government has always been but now it is done in such a way so it truly becomes the government of, by and for the people. In the book, I tried to answer in detail all questions that could be asked but I'm sure there will be much more still to answer and input and comments would be very much appreciated.
The main reason I wrote this book is because of the divisiveness growing in our country that I now see as being on par with the divisiveness I saw and partly lived through in my old country (former YUgoslavia). That divisiveness demands action. Not just patches to push solutions down the road but actions that would guarantee continuation of our civilized life. Discourse about problems growing here and in the world does exist and it is clear to all, I think, they are serious and not easy to solve. Good working solutions must be found, sooner the better. Ideas that I present in the book are just one way of doing it based on my belief that since all socio-economic systems in the history of mankind were designed and implemented by humans, we can also design and implement a new one that would favor more people rather than just a very few as was the case throughout our history. Such a system where more people are directly involved in and benefitting from the creation of wealth is a new level of social order for which, I believe, the conditions exist, social and technological as well. Our country is still leading the world but we shouldn't allow the short-term interests of the very few to diminish that position by trying to keep it by force and coercion. The US earned world leadership position not only by the power of our money or military but, I'd say, also, maybe even more, by how pragmatic our solutions were and how open to changes we were and, most of all, how we kept our people free and included in the system. Unfortunately, that aspect of who we are is being surrendered to actions that are not attractive to many around the world, elites as well as peoples. I'm sure that all countries we consider as adversaries are not our enemies. They just want to protect their interests just like we want to protect ours. Our problem accepting that is because that was not the case in the past forgetting that then they were much weaker than now so they realistically couldn't resist much of anything we asked them to do for us. Now, it seems they can. At the same time, I am sure, they're still looking up at what we do and how we solve problems so I am sure that our changes if in a positive direction would be followed by most of the world thus keeping our position on the top. On the other hand, I'm afraid that if we keep on trying imposing our solutions on the world to follow, we will not succeed.
Solutions that I offer in my book address these issues.
"That means reclaiming public power, rebuilding industrial strength, dismantling the extraction economy, and erecting something that serves human beings."
"The people in charge don't know how deep the hole is. And if you don't see how deep the hole is, you can't understand the scale of the solution. We need to replace these people. Almost all of them. Not with different brands of the same cowardice, but with people who understand that the United States can't just be a market. It has to be a country. That means reclaiming public power, rebuilding industrial strength, dismantling the extraction economy, and erecting something that serves human beings. Not a slogan. Not a tweak. A political revolution. Because if we don't, we're not just looking at decline. We're looking at collapse."
Reminds me of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, after it struck the iceberg, and was halfway underwater. This was in 1912. Five years later, in 1917 during the horrors of WW1, there was the Bolshevik Revolution in Czarist Russia. An American version of something like that is (unfortunately) required. A possible future? Listen, or better yet attend, the Fight Oligarchy Tour that Bernie Sanders and AOC are currently doing. These two, and other Progressives like them, are what we need.
Bernie Sanders and AOC are mouth pieces of disinformation. It is their job to appeal to progressives and get them all excited about the changes that are going to come and then step back at the last minute and let Hillary have the nomination, leaving progressives without any choice but the "Cackeler".
Look at Bernie's (and AOC) top contributors and tell me that you seriously believes what (s)he preaches:
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/bernie-sanders/summary?cid=N00000528
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/summary?cid=N00041162
The reason most people supported Bernie in 2016 was because they saw what was happening. In fact, remember Obama got the Nobel Peace prize and he won because people knew even then that what is happening today was happening then. Hell, I remember why I supported Ross Perot and tried to help found his Reform party.
Every single time, we were betrayed by members who actually represent the Oligarchy but needed to dilute our influence in the vote.
By now, I sure hope people realize that your vote is meaningless when it is counted by a machine manufactured by a company that is owned by an Oligarch.
Every vote since 2000 (and probably earlier) was won by the organization that cheated best.
Bernie and AOC are symbols. Bernie was ripped off of the Dem nomination in 2016 as it had been promised to Hillary by the Dem political machine. This was done to appease the Clinton's for Hillary's loss for Obama in 2008. Bernie is now 84 years old and has a heart condition. AOC is young and strong. She is the logical person to pass Bernies's torch to. My question is, if not them, then who?
Personally, I believe the first thing that has to go is the electoral college. It prevents democracy.
and repeal of citizens united. US politics isn’t just the scene of grey corruption it’s the flow of money determining political realities. the founding fathers were élitists and sought to mitigate against the democratic urges of the populous. in their time only property owning men got to vote. (and slave owning property owners got extra voting power). the entire edifice is built on the notion of white, elitist privilege, no wonder there’s been issues!
I could not agree with you more, Susan. If we had a direct popular vote elect the POTUS and VPOTUS, then the last truly elected Republican would have been Ronald Reagan way back in 1984, which is 45 years ago. There would have been NO Bush Senior, Bush Junior, or Trump administrations. Trump would not have run last year if he had been defeated by Hillary (or maybe even Bernie) in 2016. What a different and better world it would have been, especially today.
Don't make excuses for Bernie. He knew what he was doing.
AOC knows what she's doing as well. "Sheep herding".
Who should take their place? A Vladimir Putin doppelgänger would be my first choice followed closely by Xi Jinping.
Any politician you know who is in the American MSM is being "sold to you like soap", and (s)he probably has an AIPAC minder.
We already have a Vladimir Putin and/or Xi Jinping as POTUS now. Trump just loves his authoritarian brethren. What would you recommend? From the left we could use maybe a Vladimir Lenin or a Joseph Stalin? From the right, how about maybe an Adolf Hitler or a King George III of England? We fought a revolution in 1776 to get out from under King George. Now we have King Donald. AIPAC? Trump is letting Benjamin Netanyahu perform mass genocide. Bernie and AOC are a far superior selection in my view.
What is Trump doing with Netanyahu that Biden wasn't?
Sanders and Cortez will do the same.
Kissing his ass.
This statement shows me your ignorance, and negates all of your arguments in the thread. Biden's unilateral support for Israel, which I did NOT agree with, is what caused Trump's win last year. Harris made two BIG mistakes in her campaign. One, was not selecting Josh Shapiro, the Dem Governor of Pennsylvania, as her running mate. He would have carried Pennsylvania for her. Maybe because he is Jewish? Two, was continuing Biden's approach with Israel. If she had broken with Biden, and demanded a full ceasefire for Gaza, she would be POTUS now. Trump is actually encouraging Netanyahu, as Biden was trying to somewhat hold Netanyahu back. Trump wants to turn Gaza into a beach resort for the rich, displacing the Palestinians to who-knows-where. Bernie, who is also Jewish, by the way, wants to stop all weapons shipments to Netanyahu and demand that a real ceasefire be implemented. AOC is the same.
I hope you get your wish...in Russia
Another mediocre white man here to lie to you to cover up how people like him are always the problem 👆
About an ugly man who couldn't make the grade?
The news was rather sad.
They say he blew his mind out with a fart.
I saw the photographs. 😵💫
Thanks for your thoughts, which are not far off target in my view. The thing is, we cannot elect the representatives we need until we reform our electoral system.
That is what Democrats, Independents, and well-meaning Republicans need to advocate: end Citizens United-driven buying of elections; fair House districting and end to winner-take-all in Presidential elections, ranked choice voting, and fair Voter ID--with all citizens receiving tamper-proof 21st-century digital ID's with the capability of changing registration location as people relocate. Puerto Rico and Washington DC Senate seats would be the last piece.
Then democracy--rule by the people--would be possible.
If alienating us from trade partners and military allies as well as deliberately tanking the economy and defying the Supreme Court isn't being a domestic enemy (he swore to defend the United States Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic) and a treasonous agent, I don't know what is. Grow a set of balls and impeach him, 25th Amendment his ass, throw him in prison. But DO something.
Now that’s tell’n it like it is brother.
This was outstanding.
Thanks so much Corbin! I write similar pieces but feel relieved of the responsibility today, as this really cuts to the core
This is exactly why corporate democrats tanked the build back better plan. They don’t want a functioning system.
They want exploitation and total control, even if they have to destroy everything to get it.
You have religious scripture in your profile, you're too stupid to be listened to.
But sure, dont blame the folks actively attacking democracy.
Okay. You realize that Harris, Biden, AOC, Sanders, Omar, Tlaib, and many more are all theists? Discounting someone and insulting them for their faith is the only thing that’s stupid. Don’t believe me? Go ask a philosophy major.
Religion digs itself into healthy society like a tumor into flesh. There is no clear delineation, the insanity is on a gradient. Lots of people have social indoctrination. People who literally believe their religion are demented.
If you actually believe in those stories you are beyond help.
You literally only believe in one less god than atheists do. Do you believe in Zeus?
The social construct of religion is often misused, just as governments are. Or sports teams, or the entertainment industry. The problem is not inherent in the organization itself, but with a lack of safeguards to prevent predators and the power hungry from abusing it.
I am not going to argue my faith with you, because unlike you, I don't feel the need to force others to believe what I believe. I certainly don't go around insulting them over it. goodbye.
Right and left are 2 sides of a wooden nickle. Worthless regardless of which side you land. One side wants to burn, the other wants to capitulate and act angry about it, but not angry enough to lose corpo sponsorship.
We need to undo the billionaire welfare system and then arrest them all for crimes against humanity. Rebuild what they're destroying using the money they grifted from the people.
Best summation of the current situation I have read. And I read a lot. Thank you.
Bernie's top donors appear to have been pharmaceutical company employees...
How many times does he have to do aLucy tricks Charlie Brown with the football before people wake up...he is nothing but a relief valve
I would have been more impressed with jeremaid, if the lamentations had include specific instances, e.g., (1) a Congress which exempts itself itself from insider trading rules and Senator Mark Kelly can’t get anyone to help him change it while one of his colleagues attempts to call out Trump for telling people to “buy” during his trade tariff market churn and (2) a Sioreme Court which gave us corporations are persons too, Citizens United vs FEC, and unborn children aren’t. So an assertion without unambiguous examples is a well-voiced oracle of doom, with which the zeitgeist is replete. Thank you…but no thank you,
This particular piece was about the lack of clarity among political and Business Leaders and the specific examples that I used to back up the charge was their quotes if I were riding a piece on insider trading or money and politics then I would definitely have gone with different examples but that wasn't what this piece was about it's about American capacity and the inability of folks that are supposed to be at the helm acknowledging that it's in Decline
Advanced age in Congress is a huge problem. Pelosi did her job for many years. Time to vacate! Grassley was once a real conservative who worked across the aisles. He is like what… 91 years old? Needs to be put out to pasture. Schumer is not that old but he is useless now and has to recognize that no one has confidence in his leadership and that goes for Durbin too. All of them are white. Younger members such as Maxwell Frost, AOC , Greg Casar, Sarah McBride on the Dem side are great examples for encouraging people to vote. Anna Luna on the Repub side has been nutso in my opinion. I do not know of the others but you are right, things have got to change and soon. We cannot wait and I say that as 73 year old white woman who has been fighting against injustices for over 54 years.
Very worth reading and then sharing widely.
What an eye opening commentary!! Thank You and I pray we can get the powers on board.
I couldn't agree more with all you said in your article. Just like, I do believe we need some radical changes in the system because patches won't do it. Therefore I wrote a book showing my ideas what that radical solution could be.
My book MORNING AFTER: Dreaming of People's Interests Party is available at www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore for all that may be interested in reading it.
MORNING AFTER is a political fiction set in the 2036 US election year where People's Interests Party or PIP as I call it in the book is to win second term in the WH and huge majority in Congress. The book's main theme are economic injustices that are the core of our socio-economic system and breed all social injustices.
The story is told through conversation of three friends that got together for a day, and a good part of the night to talk. PIP works within the existing political and economic system and it captures trust of the people that voted them in all levels of power by their clarity and transparency when explaining causation of the problems and solutions they were implementing. PIP does accept that creating a surplus of wealth, that is, profit, is essential for functioning of the economy but they disagree with the idea that only very few decide how wealth is created and, most importantly, how it is used. Their solution is based on transferring means of production and capital from employers to employees and empowering new owners with all elements and mechanisms of ownership that previous owners were enjoying. All businesses were evaluated and the agreed value of each was then repaid to previous owners over time from the results of running the business by new owners. The role of the government is kept as the major supporter and enforcer of the economy that the government has always been but now it is done in such a way so it truly becomes the government of, by and for the people. In the book, I tried to answer in detail all questions that could be asked but I'm sure there will be much more still to answer and input and comments would be very much appreciated.
The main reason I wrote this book is because of the divisiveness growing in our country that I now see as being on par with the divisiveness I saw and partly lived through in my old country (former YUgoslavia). That divisiveness demands action. Not just patches to push solutions down the road but actions that would guarantee continuation of our civilized life. Discourse about problems growing here and in the world does exist and it is clear to all, I think, they are serious and not easy to solve. Good working solutions must be found, sooner the better. Ideas that I present in the book are just one way of doing it based on my belief that since all socio-economic systems in the history of mankind were designed and implemented by humans, we can also design and implement a new one that would favor more people rather than just a very few as was the case throughout our history. Such a system where more people are directly involved in and benefitting from the creation of wealth is a new level of social order for which, I believe, the conditions exist, social and technological as well. Our country is still leading the world but we shouldn't allow the short-term interests of the very few to diminish that position by trying to keep it by force and coercion. The US earned world leadership position not only by the power of our money or military but, I'd say, also, maybe even more, by how pragmatic our solutions were and how open to changes we were and, most of all, how we kept our people free and included in the system. Unfortunately, that aspect of who we are is being surrendered to actions that are not attractive to many around the world, elites as well as peoples. I'm sure that all countries we consider as adversaries are not our enemies. They just want to protect their interests just like we want to protect ours. Our problem accepting that is because that was not the case in the past forgetting that then they were much weaker than now so they realistically couldn't resist much of anything we asked them to do for us. Now, it seems they can. At the same time, I am sure, they're still looking up at what we do and how we solve problems so I am sure that our changes if in a positive direction would be followed by most of the world thus keeping our position on the top. On the other hand, I'm afraid that if we keep on trying imposing our solutions on the world to follow, we will not succeed.
Solutions that I offer in my book address these issues.
"That means reclaiming public power, rebuilding industrial strength, dismantling the extraction economy, and erecting something that serves human beings."
Exactly.
Well said.
J.