It's not just about changing people, but also the rules. Politicians live under a different set of rules than commoners. No more inside trading. Make term limits. They must pay to use standard Medicare (it's not free to retirees either) when in office, and no bennies when out, after a max of 2 terms. Then, get a job and pay for the private health insurance scam the rest do. These are the most obvious and would be a good start.
She beat me to the punch. I believe the single, most important task that must be taken if we are ever going to fix Congress in the long run is the comment by Jeanne Elliot. Serving in Congress has become a career that offers more benefits than any other job that I am aware of. No term limits, free healthcare, free insurance, unbelievable retirement salary for as little as a two year term served, a generous office budget, a generous expense budget, the opportunity for free travel. This can all be witnessed if people payed attention to the Supreme Court Justices and how they have enriched themselves by accepting gifts and donations for favorable decisions and one has the nerve to challange the practices. This also includes the practice of allowing corporations under "Citizens United" to spend unlimited funds in elections.
See above. People do see what is going on. Fixing it may need to start with electing people to serve who are not in it for the PERKS but ot be of assistance to people and Planet. There are lots of people like that around and some of them even IN Congress. Oregon has people like that in Congress. I personally do not care if they get rich or are "rewarded" as long as they work against corruption, for the people and Planet.
Thank you so much for this column. I agree with you. What about Maxwell Frost? and Rep.Stansbury? Jasmine Crockett? Thanks again, ps I am an 83year old Quaker grandmother, member of FCNL, (Friends Com. on Nat'l Legislation) and phone my reps every day, sometimes twice a day.
Would you really want term limits on Crockett, Frost, AOL, we don’t need term limits we need voters with brains why toss someone out that is doing their job and doing it well, we the voters decide every election. Now if you want a change have a no confidence vote where the people can decide if someone isn’t doing their job we can toss them immediately not at the end of their stealing spree
Election reform could eliminate the need for term limits. Switching to rank choice voting and place strict limits on money in elections would even the playing field for newcomers to challenge incumbents.
I’m not a big fan of ranked choice anything is better than this fiasco we now have with two parties of elites running the show. Money is the main problem. If corporations are people then I would like to see a DA file murder charges on a CEO that “kills” a corporation, I know it would get tossed but pick him/her up on a late Friday and hold them til Monday see if the Supreme Court still thinks corporations are people
As great as they are, they need to move around the govt. to share their talents in other aspects. Term limits, absolutely, for everybody, and fairly short terms at that. The only NO NO is no Revolving Doors into capitalist corporate 'murka in ANY capacity. You want to know the real world, spend the majority of your time in it, working and living. No massive golden parachutes. Elitism is a toxic cancer that kills intelligent life.
Would you apply for at your place of employment if going in you knew you only had 6 or 12 years then you were gone especially knowing there are no other jobs out there like yours? Or would you become a lobbyist and show your replacement how to set themselves up for a lifetime of bleeding the system for a price of course?
If I was a half-assed, self-centered climber with only one skill I might never apply. Join the real world and become versatile and grow a little. If you are worth a shit at the first job, why would you worry about not being able to do another one? Any sub-ordinate is on their own, because I would encourage them to be independent in their thinking and work for the highest good whatever they need to do.
Good luck finding that better job once past your future employers version of past your prime. It isn’t the same as you inflated version you have of yourself
You talk like a child. I am a nobody, but I can do anything I set my mind and heart to. You have no concept of what I am. I am not important. The tasks of living a dignified life of service are what are important. I already am way past the expectations of some suit. I do not and never have lived my life inside someone else's mind.
Crockett is a code-switching grifter. She has an education but she switched to sassy black momma who’s about to throw stuff at the cashier because they’re out of the menu item she wants.
If you want to engage any member of the working-class who isn’t already a black democrat, she’s the wrong horse to bet on, because people who are struggling right now have a lot of fatigue for her racial grievance bullshit.
What unproductive government bloat has she tried to add?
And the things she adds to the Congress is intelligence, care for the average American, on that I refer to her opposition to the crap the orange ass is trying to shove down Americas throat. Permanent tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of Medicaid, food for kids, insurance subsidies,
And unlike the wimps in the GOP is not afraid to stand up to tRump who cower in fear if he gives them felon picture look .
Now maybe you can provide us with the problems you have with her, Please be specific not that normal regurgitated garbage tRump spews
2. Report to the Congressional Record any suspicion with evidence of any legislator or member of the government for taking bribes or gifts or contributions from donors, foreign or domestic
3. Post listings of these donations on social media and on state and national websites for state and county gov. and City government websites.
4. Call to Re establish and rehire Federal Inspector Generals who have recently been fired and do not allow them to be fired when there is a change in leadership. They will be the ones who find and identify wrongdoers and gather evidence, they can only be dismissed for dereliction of duty
5. Move to apply a Writ of Mandamas when Judges and other officials do not perform their duties, Judges' job is to enforce written laws with censure, penalties, detention or other actions. ( Court orders for the guilty parties to pay for ads in the local and national newspapers to publicise their illigal actions to inform voters might be such an order by a court.) Criminal charges may be a waste of time. Publicising wrong doing is whaat is needed.
Uhm, rehiring government workers who didn’t inspect anything while the federal government ran wild with wasteful programs isn’t a winning electoral move.
You need normies, and normies aren’t very sympathetic to federal and NGO employees who made good money not doing anything that normal people would consider valuable work.
I paid close attention to the goals, actions , planning and coordination with States, outreach and reporting to the public of several government Departments under the Biden Administration. From what I saw, employees seemed highly compatent, were working on needed projects ( like the USDH and USDA Food For Health Program as one example, use of Federal funds in the Brownfields program of the EPA and Urban Development, for another, expansion of Clean Energy Public Transport Plans, with Cities and States, yet another). Just to include community and workers as well as city and state planners, to identify what needs to be done and a variety of best ways to meet needs, is a work that takes time and focus. I saw this as valuable WORK even if some would not recognize it as work. The continum of focus from needs of people, lands, planet has changed now, for the worse. WE are now focused on reducing needed programs to give more money and business opportunities to the wealthy, devising new scams to access consumer data, which can be sold, and to draw investors into new, unregulated ponzi schemes. No thanks.
People making money off the government usually feel strongly that whatever they’re working on is deeply important. This is not a slam on you. I work in marketing and know that my job is meaningless, but the numbers show that I produce high ROI for the company. I work with people who truly believe the soulless work we do is important.
If the final results of those programs are not empirically provable as beneficial to citizens for the amount of money it costs to run those programs, then they need to get better.
That’s my main argument: the federal government is riddled with incredibly inefficient programs in almost every agency and department, and in my experience they place little to no value on measuring whether they’re spending taxpayer money wisely.
I believe the government has a duty to provide services to the citizens, particularly citizens in the middle-class and below who fight uphill battles against a system (government) that works very hard for the end outcomes that benefit the wealthy rent-seeking classes.
I just want those services delivered with efficiency so that we can do more with the money we are spending.
In fact all businesses take money from consumers for the work they do or what they produce. Should government employees with good ideas and efficient strategies be running every departments to do this a well as possible? YES. Should agencies they work for operate for the public good ( not required by private industry) be held to higher standards that private corporations? I think not. Nothing even stops private industry from killing us and the Planet with what they do. Maybe the "Do No Harm" should start with private industry and government actions equally.. Leave money and efficiency, out of the reconning. If they appear to provide help, support and even peace and peace of mind to anyone, all the better. There are plenty of more imporatant things to judge than cost and efficiency. Wars are the most inefficient use of human effort ever devised. Let's start by stopping them.
People give money to businesses in exchange for goods and services. It’s optional. Outside of a few areas like water utilities, if the service or product sucks, people choose something else.
You are saying it doesn’t matter if the government service sucks as long as it makes some people happy. The happy people being the government employees and NGO employees, I’m guessing.
No one gets to say no to having their pockets picked so the government can chug along, bloated and unaccountable.
You make many good points, but I am 100% positive about two objections to what you say: 1) You are totally wrong about Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and if you check her record on things like her creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I know you will agree; 2) You are wrong to imply that educated people are deadheads, because I know that my own good education gives me the critical ability to see the dictatorial path the Republicans are on, which will certainly undo the U.S. Please don't invalidate your case by over-simplifying.
Elizabeth Warren is a nice person. Her focus has always tended to those kinds of financial consumer protections. BUT she has always been a staunch supporter of the Democratic establishment, the DNC machine that, for decades, has consistently supported legislation that favors corporations and the rich over working people. She endorsed Hillary in the 2016 presidential primary over Bernie, her neighbor to the north, when she could have, should have remained silent and allowed the people of Massachusetts to form their own opinion. Anything she does now, is too little too late. And it really has been too little.
Hate to disagree about your education giving you the ability to see the path to the destruction, hell it doesn’t require any form of higher education it requires common sense
The D party is a fascist, right-wing party that engages in genocide. It vociferously resists even the slightest challenge from the left. It rigs primaries to prevent reform time and time and time again—I know this, you know this, we all know this, because we have all seen it happen. How many times do they have to do this before progressives gain some self-respect and accept that they don’t want you in their right-wing party? It’s a dead end. It must be destroyed and replaced by a new party. Anything short of that is pathetic and whitewashes D party support of apartheid.
You took the words out of my mouth. How can the D party move forward after committing the crime of crimes? They shouldn't be given any semblance of legitimacy ever again!
The upper echelons of Democrats have always demonstrated a willingness to sell our asses down the river whenever any new trade laws are discussed; look at Clinton sealing the deal with NAFTA or Obama's campaign to sign us up for the Trans Pacific Partnership, which would have stripped us of even more our of our sovereignty and rights. More recently, I recall grinding my teeth with rage at Joe Biden's willfully-blind support of Israel's extermination of the Palestinian people, that defied the moral outrage of most of the world and especially we, who'd elected him out of our trust for his purported human decency.
Lastly, I wholeheartedly agree with this writer, Corbin Trent, that the raft of chuckleheads that Trump steered into Washington do occasionally get it right, even if they don't mean to, as demonstrated by their withdrawal of us from the clutches of the masses of unelected functionaries at the World Health Organization, they who bow to the also-unelected will of the Emperor of NGO's, Bill Gates and rule by decree the health choices of billions, but now, not us!
The most shameful example of a rigged primary, and there are so many, was in 2016 when the DNC engineered the primary and the convention to make sure that Bernie didn’t win the nomination. They had already decided that DNC royalty Hillary was to be their candidate. Bernie would have beaten Trump and the trajectory of history would have been changed. We would never have gotten to where we are today. Let’s not forget the DNC efforts to unseat Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman in 2024.
Richard Wolff recommends, and I agree, the "reforms" are necessary, and so is "revolution" to maintain the reforms...otherwise, they will just be negated over time (like the New Deal in the 30s). We need Laws that provide a $20 minimum wage, a UBI for everybody, and free schooling through University levels, and Medicare for all. That's revolutionary.
The admittedly limited analysis I have seen favors a federal jobs guarantee over UBI, mostly having do with it being less susceptible to monied interest/corporate influence.
Agree with the rest, though I’d like a higher minimum wage.
I agree with you. But, first, David Hogg, young and a rising star, is dead wrong to start internecine warfare, IMO. The worst Democrat is still better than the best Republican. Focus on defeating Republicans.
We're all in this together. No one makes it on his/her own. No man or woman or child is an island into himself, herself or itself. Each is a part of the main, a piece of the whole. We all are entitled to an education, health care, employment, housing, etc. This isn't the prescription for Socialism, it is, instead, Pragmatic Capitalism.
There is nothing pragmatic about incremental solutions to catastrophic problems, nor to capitalism, which, just like the American Empire, has begun its inevitable decline.
That the worst D is better than the best R, which is debatable depending on the specific issue (see endless war, censorship, etc), is largely irrelevant when both parties are bought and paid for.
We need the prescription for democratic socialism; it’s the only thing that will save us now.
One could argue that the DNC, the Democratic Party establishment, is the biggest villain here. We know the Republicans are ruthless, cruel would-be slave masters who demonstrate an absence of empathy and compassion for working people. But the Democrats portray themselves, peddle their brand as one that cares about working Americans, that is our protector and champion. That is certainly not true. If it were, we would never have gotten to this point in history when President DT was elected. Due to their unwillingness to fight or their ineptitude, Democrats are an obstacle to true resistance. They occupy the seat of power where true resistance should sit. Until they are replaced by young progressive people, the resistance lacks the power it needs to push back. Sadly, there may never be another fair election in this country. And that will be the fault of Democrats as well. For not protecting us from the predators the Republicans have clearly shown themselves to be since 2016.
Wallace supported the Russian and French Revolutions. I don't there is one democratic Socialist politician in america today who would defend the French and Russian Revolutions.
This doesn’t apply to all devices, but you can hit the three dots at the top right of your post to edit it.
As to defending revolution, one has to separate, imo, the necessity of it vs. the way in which it was carried out, and the aftermath.
One could argue that the American revolution was an abomination, as it led to the institution of slavery and the creation of a particular form of racism from which we have yet to recover. Not to mention the millions of dead and mayhem created as we pursued global hegemony post-WWII.
Many American socialists and communists supported the
Russian revolution before the horrors committed by a paranoid Stalin came to light. Many American liberals and conservatives still support Israel, despite the current genocide.
Hard to say if democratic socialism is the only thing that will "save us." The Scandinavian countries do pretty well with Pragmatic Capitalism. We are close to being on the same page. I subscribe to Frances Perkins' theory of government:
"The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to facilitate the means by which all the people under its jurisdiction can access the best possible life." Ms. Perkins was FDR's Sec. of Labor and the person responsible for Social Security, Workers' Comp., etc.
I think that her thinking makes sense. In the U.S., 900,000 people have a net worth of $10 million or more and 902 are billionaires. If our population were only 3.4 million people, there wouldn't be any billionaires and few multi-millionaires. But because we are 340 million people, we have multi-millionaires and billionaires. Without us they wouldn't have that much wealth. It should be shared so that all of us can have health care, housing, employment, and education, and more. That can be done through a system of pragmatic capitalism. The state doesn't need to own or control the means of production as in Socialism.
It’s not about the state controlling the means of production, it’s about the state forcing companies, private and public, to allow workers a strong voice in both how companies are run, and where profit goes.
There is no such thing as pragmatic capitalism. The profit addiction is real, and will always obliterate any guardrails put in place. Sweden is on a downward path due to the influence of pragmatic capitalists, as are the social safety nets in the UK and Germany.
I know who Perkins was. She and Henry Wallace were both socialists, just couldn’t openly admit it in a country obsessed with Russia phobia post-1917; a stupid condition we have yet to rid ourselves of.
What you just described in your reply: It’s not about the state controlling the means of production, it’s about the state forcing companies, private and public, to allow workers a strong voice in both how companies are run, and where profit goes.
I was a little alarmed that this generally correct piece would promote the public option instead of Medicare for All. Is there a reason why? That is our very best left issue imo.
Corbin, your article was just the article I was looking for! You wrote a similar article yesterday, but you didn't describe your "Mission for America." Clearly, based on your experience with AOC and other congresspeople, you understand that America's politics are broken, and that the Democratic Party is broken. It's time for the old guard (Pelosi, Schumer, etc.) to retire and let new blood transform the party!
" . . . power where it belongs." We need to get rid of the DNC people (not the ones trying to change things), Act Blue who takes a snag from every donation to any non-Republican, and the dinosaurs who are more than happy to campaign on, "Look what the Republicans are doing now!" As a die-hard hippie who didn't ever change just because I was one of the lucky people who could support my kids on one salary (MINE), I have watched everything erode: healthcare, the environment, education, food (full of additives and addictive sugar in everything), and foreign relations (Joe could have stopped the war in Gaza thousands of lives ago), human rights and the nuclear family. We expect Republicans to trash these institutions, but we got here because DEMOCRATS trashed them (complcitly and quietly) and abandoned working Americans and those who want to become Americans.
2- No revolving door. After you're no longer a member of Congree, no lobbying, no working for companies with government contracts for seven years.
3- No financial trading--at all by you or any member of your immediate family while you're in office. If this is to much of a sacrifice for you, then public service isn't for you.
4- You eat your own cooking with healthcare and education. Your kids have to go to public schools and public universities, you get the same healthcare plan as anyone on Medicare.
Your Substack is fantastic. It is one of the few that I find hits on the grassroots side of politics, the basic everyday cause and effect perspective. I find your perspective currently lacking in discussions of how we got where we are and of how to fix things. I believe David Hogg has the right idea; we have a lot of Democratic dead wood in congress who are too used to that corporate money that does need to be primaried out. However, your points are valid as well. What is needed is a partnership. Could you reach out to David Hogg, because like him or not, he is smart, motivated and he has an audience and discuss with him what you just wrote here. Make him see what you see and build a coalition with him to get smart grassroots people running for offices? I don't believe he in anyway is elitist, he is just doing the best he can to change the system that killed his friends in the only ways he knows how. He is young and willing to learn.
We need to form the greatest coalition of progressive left organizations ever assembled. Pool resources and launch a unified, coordinated campaign, from local to national, to unseat every Republican and corporate Democrat. A unified slate that presents itself as such to American voters: Vote for the whole party and we will change this nation, this government and society to work on behalf of regular people, for healthy and vibrant communities. New Democrats. Veterans, teachers, union and community organizers, regular people.
Well-written thoughts! As for the lawmakers you (and probably me, too) deem dead wood; if those seats can be upgraded, well and good. But those seats in the halls of power deliver chairmanships and Leadership of chambers. They'll be needed for at least the next couple of election cycles.
“… everything broken about today’s Democratic Party: careerist, lawyerly, performative, elite, and aimless.”
Also corrupt as f***.
Bill Clinton and the DLC’s innovation was to move the national (at least) party hard right in order to bring in the big bucks available from Republican contributors aka special interests.
In the first instance, that severely limits what the Democrats can do policy-wise. You’re not going to see anything significant done to address over forty years of an upward transfer of wealth, for one thing. So we get talk and empty promises with far too few exceptions to matter.
And with that goes the benefit for successful fundraisers to keep leftover contributions on retirement. (Before retirement, per Pelosi’s, insider trading is an acceptable way to boost one’s earnings.)
So *that* is and has been the Democratic Party — and it’s been as a result complicit in the Republicans (not just Trump) tearing down the nation.
Damn right it’s gotta go — assuming it’s not too late.
Defeating MAGA requires destroying the Democratic Party first and replacing it with an actual populist party, which would include many disillusioned MAGA people.
Fixed it for you, but I don't think you want it fixed, given your history. I think you're nothing but a sheepdog to herd the beginnings of any working class movement into the Democratic Party so it can be safely euthanized.
We're not talking about a "political party" AT ALL anymore; the Clinton wrecking-crew abducted the former party of FDR over 30 years ago, murdered it, and wrapped its skin around a pure MLM scam.
You're saying the right things, but you're trying to do what Sanders, Gabbard, a freaking Kennedy, and countless others have tried - and spectacularly failed - to do.
Can you please explain to me why this time will be different, why entering this roach-motel yet again is even worth contemplating?
For the sake of comparison, consider the story of Mexico's MORENA Party: They had the gumption to go the way of Nader, declared Mexico's own Duopoly beyond redemption, and in so doing, have managed to break its back.
I don't suppose I think necessarily that this time will be different, or that the next time will be different. I just retain hope that sometime, at some point, will be different.
I wonder what the argument would be that this time would be different for a third party, or for an independent run, or for anything for that matter. I think revolutions or movements percolate at moments, I mean for decades before the moment they burst, and I think whatever vehicle exists when the will for change arises is the vehicle that ultimately takes the energy of that movement into itself.
Now, can the Democratic Party be changed? I think there's evidence recently that a party can be changed. The Republican Party has certainly been transformed by Donald Trump. It is now the party of Trump and the party of MAGA, and it's completely detached from what it had been at one point. So there is that evidence that an American party can be altered significantly.
I also think that there are barriers that are unique to the Democratic Party that do not exist in the Republican Party, whether they're closed primary states or stringent ballot access laws, or things of that nature. But at the same time, I feel like the ability to take over the Democratic Party strikes me as likely as the ability to start up a third party. The argument against it would be that there is just so much bias against the Democratic Party's national brand, and a new idea would not have that baggage, but I don't know.
TYVM for the considered reply! Can't say you didn't earn some points right there.
What you say is mostly fair, but one thing stands out:
"The Republican Party has certainly been transformed by Donald Trump. It is now the party of Trump and the party of MAGA, and it's completely detached from what it had been at one point."
Has it? That's certainly the claim on their part, and if true would be an endorsement for THEM - however, I'm not so sure it is true; it may even be an expansion of Obama-style "politics of illusion" ( https://archive.org/details/hopelessbarackob0000unse) . Is Trump really a leader, or just a mascot for familiar financiers like the Adelsons and the singularly vile Eric Prince? Musk is a vast improvement by comparison who has frankly done some good (no excuse for DOGE attacking the national parks tail-tucking it away from the Pentagon, of course), but he and Trump are ADHD poster-boys, and that's showing its limitations in the face of Obsessive-Compulsives who can and have been grinding axes for decades (also my own wheelhouse, unfortunate to say; nasty to think some of the folks I most loathe in the world might have such a connection, yet also much too believable).
"The argument against it would be that there is just so much bias against the Democratic Party's national brand, and a new idea would not have that baggage, but I don't know."
Well, have they lost the <40 set? Seems like it to me.
"...I feel like the ability to take over the Democratic Party strikes me as likely as the ability to start up a third party."
Well, you're presently the one specifically stumping for the former position, so what's your plan for succeeding where others failed? I'm one of the people who SHOULD'VE received a payday from that fraud-suit against the DNC, I can't afford to invest in anymore 'Charlie-Browns'.
A large part of the problem is the "No child left behind." program put in by Bush. I've listened to journalists and professionals who can't speak well, can't spell and the worst part is that they think that's fine. Language defines how a person thinks and if you have a deficit in language you have a difficulty thinking, speaking and if you have those problems you are less likely to get out there and run for office or believe in yourself. It's elementary school and we need to back off on algebra and algorithms in 3rd grade.
It's not just about changing people, but also the rules. Politicians live under a different set of rules than commoners. No more inside trading. Make term limits. They must pay to use standard Medicare (it's not free to retirees either) when in office, and no bennies when out, after a max of 2 terms. Then, get a job and pay for the private health insurance scam the rest do. These are the most obvious and would be a good start.
She beat me to the punch. I believe the single, most important task that must be taken if we are ever going to fix Congress in the long run is the comment by Jeanne Elliot. Serving in Congress has become a career that offers more benefits than any other job that I am aware of. No term limits, free healthcare, free insurance, unbelievable retirement salary for as little as a two year term served, a generous office budget, a generous expense budget, the opportunity for free travel. This can all be witnessed if people payed attention to the Supreme Court Justices and how they have enriched themselves by accepting gifts and donations for favorable decisions and one has the nerve to challange the practices. This also includes the practice of allowing corporations under "Citizens United" to spend unlimited funds in elections.
See above. People do see what is going on. Fixing it may need to start with electing people to serve who are not in it for the PERKS but ot be of assistance to people and Planet. There are lots of people like that around and some of them even IN Congress. Oregon has people like that in Congress. I personally do not care if they get rich or are "rewarded" as long as they work against corruption, for the people and Planet.
Thank you so much for this column. I agree with you. What about Maxwell Frost? and Rep.Stansbury? Jasmine Crockett? Thanks again, ps I am an 83year old Quaker grandmother, member of FCNL, (Friends Com. on Nat'l Legislation) and phone my reps every day, sometimes twice a day.
Would you really want term limits on Crockett, Frost, AOL, we don’t need term limits we need voters with brains why toss someone out that is doing their job and doing it well, we the voters decide every election. Now if you want a change have a no confidence vote where the people can decide if someone isn’t doing their job we can toss them immediately not at the end of their stealing spree
Election reform could eliminate the need for term limits. Switching to rank choice voting and place strict limits on money in elections would even the playing field for newcomers to challenge incumbents.
I’m not a big fan of ranked choice anything is better than this fiasco we now have with two parties of elites running the show. Money is the main problem. If corporations are people then I would like to see a DA file murder charges on a CEO that “kills” a corporation, I know it would get tossed but pick him/her up on a late Friday and hold them til Monday see if the Supreme Court still thinks corporations are people
As great as they are, they need to move around the govt. to share their talents in other aspects. Term limits, absolutely, for everybody, and fairly short terms at that. The only NO NO is no Revolving Doors into capitalist corporate 'murka in ANY capacity. You want to know the real world, spend the majority of your time in it, working and living. No massive golden parachutes. Elitism is a toxic cancer that kills intelligent life.
Would you apply for at your place of employment if going in you knew you only had 6 or 12 years then you were gone especially knowing there are no other jobs out there like yours? Or would you become a lobbyist and show your replacement how to set themselves up for a lifetime of bleeding the system for a price of course?
If I was a half-assed, self-centered climber with only one skill I might never apply. Join the real world and become versatile and grow a little. If you are worth a shit at the first job, why would you worry about not being able to do another one? Any sub-ordinate is on their own, because I would encourage them to be independent in their thinking and work for the highest good whatever they need to do.
Good luck finding that better job once past your future employers version of past your prime. It isn’t the same as you inflated version you have of yourself
You talk like a child. I am a nobody, but I can do anything I set my mind and heart to. You have no concept of what I am. I am not important. The tasks of living a dignified life of service are what are important. I already am way past the expectations of some suit. I do not and never have lived my life inside someone else's mind.
Crockett is a code-switching grifter. She has an education but she switched to sassy black momma who’s about to throw stuff at the cashier because they’re out of the menu item she wants.
If you want to engage any member of the working-class who isn’t already a black democrat, she’s the wrong horse to bet on, because people who are struggling right now have a lot of fatigue for her racial grievance bullshit.
Like it or not she is the FUTURE of America assuming your choice of a Hitler wannabe leaves an America with a future
What value does she promise to add to the future, besides more unproductive government bloat and control?
She doesn’t care about the working-class, middle-class, or opportunities for small businesses.
What unproductive government bloat has she tried to add?
And the things she adds to the Congress is intelligence, care for the average American, on that I refer to her opposition to the crap the orange ass is trying to shove down Americas throat. Permanent tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of Medicaid, food for kids, insurance subsidies,
And unlike the wimps in the GOP is not afraid to stand up to tRump who cower in fear if he gives them felon picture look .
Now maybe you can provide us with the problems you have with her, Please be specific not that normal regurgitated garbage tRump spews
You started this conversation with a know it all attitude and that no one but yours counts . And I don’t drink except for a beer on a hot day
The Democrats need a simple five point plan. There will still be a country left after MAGA. The status quo won’t cut it.
1; Impeach Trump and Vance too, for collusion.
2. Report to the Congressional Record any suspicion with evidence of any legislator or member of the government for taking bribes or gifts or contributions from donors, foreign or domestic
3. Post listings of these donations on social media and on state and national websites for state and county gov. and City government websites.
4. Call to Re establish and rehire Federal Inspector Generals who have recently been fired and do not allow them to be fired when there is a change in leadership. They will be the ones who find and identify wrongdoers and gather evidence, they can only be dismissed for dereliction of duty
5. Move to apply a Writ of Mandamas when Judges and other officials do not perform their duties, Judges' job is to enforce written laws with censure, penalties, detention or other actions. ( Court orders for the guilty parties to pay for ads in the local and national newspapers to publicise their illigal actions to inform voters might be such an order by a court.) Criminal charges may be a waste of time. Publicising wrong doing is whaat is needed.
Uhm, rehiring government workers who didn’t inspect anything while the federal government ran wild with wasteful programs isn’t a winning electoral move.
You need normies, and normies aren’t very sympathetic to federal and NGO employees who made good money not doing anything that normal people would consider valuable work.
I paid close attention to the goals, actions , planning and coordination with States, outreach and reporting to the public of several government Departments under the Biden Administration. From what I saw, employees seemed highly compatent, were working on needed projects ( like the USDH and USDA Food For Health Program as one example, use of Federal funds in the Brownfields program of the EPA and Urban Development, for another, expansion of Clean Energy Public Transport Plans, with Cities and States, yet another). Just to include community and workers as well as city and state planners, to identify what needs to be done and a variety of best ways to meet needs, is a work that takes time and focus. I saw this as valuable WORK even if some would not recognize it as work. The continum of focus from needs of people, lands, planet has changed now, for the worse. WE are now focused on reducing needed programs to give more money and business opportunities to the wealthy, devising new scams to access consumer data, which can be sold, and to draw investors into new, unregulated ponzi schemes. No thanks.
People making money off the government usually feel strongly that whatever they’re working on is deeply important. This is not a slam on you. I work in marketing and know that my job is meaningless, but the numbers show that I produce high ROI for the company. I work with people who truly believe the soulless work we do is important.
If the final results of those programs are not empirically provable as beneficial to citizens for the amount of money it costs to run those programs, then they need to get better.
That’s my main argument: the federal government is riddled with incredibly inefficient programs in almost every agency and department, and in my experience they place little to no value on measuring whether they’re spending taxpayer money wisely.
I believe the government has a duty to provide services to the citizens, particularly citizens in the middle-class and below who fight uphill battles against a system (government) that works very hard for the end outcomes that benefit the wealthy rent-seeking classes.
I just want those services delivered with efficiency so that we can do more with the money we are spending.
In fact all businesses take money from consumers for the work they do or what they produce. Should government employees with good ideas and efficient strategies be running every departments to do this a well as possible? YES. Should agencies they work for operate for the public good ( not required by private industry) be held to higher standards that private corporations? I think not. Nothing even stops private industry from killing us and the Planet with what they do. Maybe the "Do No Harm" should start with private industry and government actions equally.. Leave money and efficiency, out of the reconning. If they appear to provide help, support and even peace and peace of mind to anyone, all the better. There are plenty of more imporatant things to judge than cost and efficiency. Wars are the most inefficient use of human effort ever devised. Let's start by stopping them.
People give money to businesses in exchange for goods and services. It’s optional. Outside of a few areas like water utilities, if the service or product sucks, people choose something else.
You are saying it doesn’t matter if the government service sucks as long as it makes some people happy. The happy people being the government employees and NGO employees, I’m guessing.
No one gets to say no to having their pockets picked so the government can chug along, bloated and unaccountable.
We live in different worlds.
You make many good points, but I am 100% positive about two objections to what you say: 1) You are totally wrong about Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and if you check her record on things like her creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I know you will agree; 2) You are wrong to imply that educated people are deadheads, because I know that my own good education gives me the critical ability to see the dictatorial path the Republicans are on, which will certainly undo the U.S. Please don't invalidate your case by over-simplifying.
Elizabeth Warren is a nice person. Her focus has always tended to those kinds of financial consumer protections. BUT she has always been a staunch supporter of the Democratic establishment, the DNC machine that, for decades, has consistently supported legislation that favors corporations and the rich over working people. She endorsed Hillary in the 2016 presidential primary over Bernie, her neighbor to the north, when she could have, should have remained silent and allowed the people of Massachusetts to form their own opinion. Anything she does now, is too little too late. And it really has been too little.
Hate to disagree about your education giving you the ability to see the path to the destruction, hell it doesn’t require any form of higher education it requires common sense
The D party is a fascist, right-wing party that engages in genocide. It vociferously resists even the slightest challenge from the left. It rigs primaries to prevent reform time and time and time again—I know this, you know this, we all know this, because we have all seen it happen. How many times do they have to do this before progressives gain some self-respect and accept that they don’t want you in their right-wing party? It’s a dead end. It must be destroyed and replaced by a new party. Anything short of that is pathetic and whitewashes D party support of apartheid.
You took the words out of my mouth. How can the D party move forward after committing the crime of crimes? They shouldn't be given any semblance of legitimacy ever again!
The upper echelons of Democrats have always demonstrated a willingness to sell our asses down the river whenever any new trade laws are discussed; look at Clinton sealing the deal with NAFTA or Obama's campaign to sign us up for the Trans Pacific Partnership, which would have stripped us of even more our of our sovereignty and rights. More recently, I recall grinding my teeth with rage at Joe Biden's willfully-blind support of Israel's extermination of the Palestinian people, that defied the moral outrage of most of the world and especially we, who'd elected him out of our trust for his purported human decency.
Lastly, I wholeheartedly agree with this writer, Corbin Trent, that the raft of chuckleheads that Trump steered into Washington do occasionally get it right, even if they don't mean to, as demonstrated by their withdrawal of us from the clutches of the masses of unelected functionaries at the World Health Organization, they who bow to the also-unelected will of the Emperor of NGO's, Bill Gates and rule by decree the health choices of billions, but now, not us!
The most shameful example of a rigged primary, and there are so many, was in 2016 when the DNC engineered the primary and the convention to make sure that Bernie didn’t win the nomination. They had already decided that DNC royalty Hillary was to be their candidate. Bernie would have beaten Trump and the trajectory of history would have been changed. We would never have gotten to where we are today. Let’s not forget the DNC efforts to unseat Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman in 2024.
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertclyman/p/unseat-every-republican-and-corporate?r=293xws&utm_medium=ios
Richard Wolff recommends, and I agree, the "reforms" are necessary, and so is "revolution" to maintain the reforms...otherwise, they will just be negated over time (like the New Deal in the 30s). We need Laws that provide a $20 minimum wage, a UBI for everybody, and free schooling through University levels, and Medicare for all. That's revolutionary.
The admittedly limited analysis I have seen favors a federal jobs guarantee over UBI, mostly having do with it being less susceptible to monied interest/corporate influence.
Agree with the rest, though I’d like a higher minimum wage.
I agree with you. But, first, David Hogg, young and a rising star, is dead wrong to start internecine warfare, IMO. The worst Democrat is still better than the best Republican. Focus on defeating Republicans.
We're all in this together. No one makes it on his/her own. No man or woman or child is an island into himself, herself or itself. Each is a part of the main, a piece of the whole. We all are entitled to an education, health care, employment, housing, etc. This isn't the prescription for Socialism, it is, instead, Pragmatic Capitalism.
There is nothing pragmatic about incremental solutions to catastrophic problems, nor to capitalism, which, just like the American Empire, has begun its inevitable decline.
That the worst D is better than the best R, which is debatable depending on the specific issue (see endless war, censorship, etc), is largely irrelevant when both parties are bought and paid for.
We need the prescription for democratic socialism; it’s the only thing that will save us now.
The DNC, the Democratic Party establishment
One could argue that the DNC, the Democratic Party establishment, is the biggest villain here. We know the Republicans are ruthless, cruel would-be slave masters who demonstrate an absence of empathy and compassion for working people. But the Democrats portray themselves, peddle their brand as one that cares about working Americans, that is our protector and champion. That is certainly not true. If it were, we would never have gotten to this point in history when President DT was elected. Due to their unwillingness to fight or their ineptitude, Democrats are an obstacle to true resistance. They occupy the seat of power where true resistance should sit. Until they are replaced by young progressive people, the resistance lacks the power it needs to push back. Sadly, there may never be another fair election in this country. And that will be the fault of Democrats as well. For not protecting us from the predators the Republicans have clearly shown themselves to be since 2016.
Wallace supported the Russian and French Revolutions. I don't there is one democratic Socialist politician in america today who would defend the French and Russian Revolutions.
I don't think there*
This doesn’t apply to all devices, but you can hit the three dots at the top right of your post to edit it.
As to defending revolution, one has to separate, imo, the necessity of it vs. the way in which it was carried out, and the aftermath.
One could argue that the American revolution was an abomination, as it led to the institution of slavery and the creation of a particular form of racism from which we have yet to recover. Not to mention the millions of dead and mayhem created as we pursued global hegemony post-WWII.
Many American socialists and communists supported the
Russian revolution before the horrors committed by a paranoid Stalin came to light. Many American liberals and conservatives still support Israel, despite the current genocide.
Hard to say if democratic socialism is the only thing that will "save us." The Scandinavian countries do pretty well with Pragmatic Capitalism. We are close to being on the same page. I subscribe to Frances Perkins' theory of government:
"The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to facilitate the means by which all the people under its jurisdiction can access the best possible life." Ms. Perkins was FDR's Sec. of Labor and the person responsible for Social Security, Workers' Comp., etc.
I think that her thinking makes sense. In the U.S., 900,000 people have a net worth of $10 million or more and 902 are billionaires. If our population were only 3.4 million people, there wouldn't be any billionaires and few multi-millionaires. But because we are 340 million people, we have multi-millionaires and billionaires. Without us they wouldn't have that much wealth. It should be shared so that all of us can have health care, housing, employment, and education, and more. That can be done through a system of pragmatic capitalism. The state doesn't need to own or control the means of production as in Socialism.
It’s not about the state controlling the means of production, it’s about the state forcing companies, private and public, to allow workers a strong voice in both how companies are run, and where profit goes.
There is no such thing as pragmatic capitalism. The profit addiction is real, and will always obliterate any guardrails put in place. Sweden is on a downward path due to the influence of pragmatic capitalists, as are the social safety nets in the UK and Germany.
I know who Perkins was. She and Henry Wallace were both socialists, just couldn’t openly admit it in a country obsessed with Russia phobia post-1917; a stupid condition we have yet to rid ourselves of.
What you just described in your reply: It’s not about the state controlling the means of production, it’s about the state forcing companies, private and public, to allow workers a strong voice in both how companies are run, and where profit goes.
THAT, is Pragmatic Capitalism.
No, it’s not. But your persistent digging amuses me, so by all means, carry on.
I was a little alarmed that this generally correct piece would promote the public option instead of Medicare for All. Is there a reason why? That is our very best left issue imo.
Corbin, your article was just the article I was looking for! You wrote a similar article yesterday, but you didn't describe your "Mission for America." Clearly, based on your experience with AOC and other congresspeople, you understand that America's politics are broken, and that the Democratic Party is broken. It's time for the old guard (Pelosi, Schumer, etc.) to retire and let new blood transform the party!
" . . . power where it belongs." We need to get rid of the DNC people (not the ones trying to change things), Act Blue who takes a snag from every donation to any non-Republican, and the dinosaurs who are more than happy to campaign on, "Look what the Republicans are doing now!" As a die-hard hippie who didn't ever change just because I was one of the lucky people who could support my kids on one salary (MINE), I have watched everything erode: healthcare, the environment, education, food (full of additives and addictive sugar in everything), and foreign relations (Joe could have stopped the war in Gaza thousands of lives ago), human rights and the nuclear family. We expect Republicans to trash these institutions, but we got here because DEMOCRATS trashed them (complcitly and quietly) and abandoned working Americans and those who want to become Americans.
1- Term limits.
2- No revolving door. After you're no longer a member of Congree, no lobbying, no working for companies with government contracts for seven years.
3- No financial trading--at all by you or any member of your immediate family while you're in office. If this is to much of a sacrifice for you, then public service isn't for you.
4- You eat your own cooking with healthcare and education. Your kids have to go to public schools and public universities, you get the same healthcare plan as anyone on Medicare.
This agenda will not give healthcare to anybody. It is, therefore, not good.
Your Substack is fantastic. It is one of the few that I find hits on the grassroots side of politics, the basic everyday cause and effect perspective. I find your perspective currently lacking in discussions of how we got where we are and of how to fix things. I believe David Hogg has the right idea; we have a lot of Democratic dead wood in congress who are too used to that corporate money that does need to be primaried out. However, your points are valid as well. What is needed is a partnership. Could you reach out to David Hogg, because like him or not, he is smart, motivated and he has an audience and discuss with him what you just wrote here. Make him see what you see and build a coalition with him to get smart grassroots people running for offices? I don't believe he in anyway is elitist, he is just doing the best he can to change the system that killed his friends in the only ways he knows how. He is young and willing to learn.
We need to form the greatest coalition of progressive left organizations ever assembled. Pool resources and launch a unified, coordinated campaign, from local to national, to unseat every Republican and corporate Democrat. A unified slate that presents itself as such to American voters: Vote for the whole party and we will change this nation, this government and society to work on behalf of regular people, for healthy and vibrant communities. New Democrats. Veterans, teachers, union and community organizers, regular people.
Well-written thoughts! As for the lawmakers you (and probably me, too) deem dead wood; if those seats can be upgraded, well and good. But those seats in the halls of power deliver chairmanships and Leadership of chambers. They'll be needed for at least the next couple of election cycles.
If your goal is “power” you have no goal at all.
The goal is a just society where the people have the power to stop it's government from supporting a genocide, as an example.
“… everything broken about today’s Democratic Party: careerist, lawyerly, performative, elite, and aimless.”
Also corrupt as f***.
Bill Clinton and the DLC’s innovation was to move the national (at least) party hard right in order to bring in the big bucks available from Republican contributors aka special interests.
In the first instance, that severely limits what the Democrats can do policy-wise. You’re not going to see anything significant done to address over forty years of an upward transfer of wealth, for one thing. So we get talk and empty promises with far too few exceptions to matter.
And with that goes the benefit for successful fundraisers to keep leftover contributions on retirement. (Before retirement, per Pelosi’s, insider trading is an acceptable way to boost one’s earnings.)
So *that* is and has been the Democratic Party — and it’s been as a result complicit in the Republicans (not just Trump) tearing down the nation.
Damn right it’s gotta go — assuming it’s not too late.
Defeating MAGA requires destroying the Democratic Party first and replacing it with an actual populist party, which would include many disillusioned MAGA people.
Fixed it for you, but I don't think you want it fixed, given your history. I think you're nothing but a sheepdog to herd the beginnings of any working class movement into the Democratic Party so it can be safely euthanized.
Corbin, have you ever seen this? This, to me, says it all about what the party you're trying to resuscitate has become:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-much-of-the-harris-campaign-was-a-scam
We're not talking about a "political party" AT ALL anymore; the Clinton wrecking-crew abducted the former party of FDR over 30 years ago, murdered it, and wrapped its skin around a pure MLM scam.
You're saying the right things, but you're trying to do what Sanders, Gabbard, a freaking Kennedy, and countless others have tried - and spectacularly failed - to do.
Can you please explain to me why this time will be different, why entering this roach-motel yet again is even worth contemplating?
For the sake of comparison, consider the story of Mexico's MORENA Party: They had the gumption to go the way of Nader, declared Mexico's own Duopoly beyond redemption, and in so doing, have managed to break its back.
I don't suppose I think necessarily that this time will be different, or that the next time will be different. I just retain hope that sometime, at some point, will be different.
I wonder what the argument would be that this time would be different for a third party, or for an independent run, or for anything for that matter. I think revolutions or movements percolate at moments, I mean for decades before the moment they burst, and I think whatever vehicle exists when the will for change arises is the vehicle that ultimately takes the energy of that movement into itself.
Now, can the Democratic Party be changed? I think there's evidence recently that a party can be changed. The Republican Party has certainly been transformed by Donald Trump. It is now the party of Trump and the party of MAGA, and it's completely detached from what it had been at one point. So there is that evidence that an American party can be altered significantly.
I also think that there are barriers that are unique to the Democratic Party that do not exist in the Republican Party, whether they're closed primary states or stringent ballot access laws, or things of that nature. But at the same time, I feel like the ability to take over the Democratic Party strikes me as likely as the ability to start up a third party. The argument against it would be that there is just so much bias against the Democratic Party's national brand, and a new idea would not have that baggage, but I don't know.
TYVM for the considered reply! Can't say you didn't earn some points right there.
What you say is mostly fair, but one thing stands out:
"The Republican Party has certainly been transformed by Donald Trump. It is now the party of Trump and the party of MAGA, and it's completely detached from what it had been at one point."
Has it? That's certainly the claim on their part, and if true would be an endorsement for THEM - however, I'm not so sure it is true; it may even be an expansion of Obama-style "politics of illusion" ( https://archive.org/details/hopelessbarackob0000unse) . Is Trump really a leader, or just a mascot for familiar financiers like the Adelsons and the singularly vile Eric Prince? Musk is a vast improvement by comparison who has frankly done some good (no excuse for DOGE attacking the national parks tail-tucking it away from the Pentagon, of course), but he and Trump are ADHD poster-boys, and that's showing its limitations in the face of Obsessive-Compulsives who can and have been grinding axes for decades (also my own wheelhouse, unfortunate to say; nasty to think some of the folks I most loathe in the world might have such a connection, yet also much too believable).
"The argument against it would be that there is just so much bias against the Democratic Party's national brand, and a new idea would not have that baggage, but I don't know."
Well, have they lost the <40 set? Seems like it to me.
"...I feel like the ability to take over the Democratic Party strikes me as likely as the ability to start up a third party."
Well, you're presently the one specifically stumping for the former position, so what's your plan for succeeding where others failed? I'm one of the people who SHOULD'VE received a payday from that fraud-suit against the DNC, I can't afford to invest in anymore 'Charlie-Browns'.
A large part of the problem is the "No child left behind." program put in by Bush. I've listened to journalists and professionals who can't speak well, can't spell and the worst part is that they think that's fine. Language defines how a person thinks and if you have a deficit in language you have a difficulty thinking, speaking and if you have those problems you are less likely to get out there and run for office or believe in yourself. It's elementary school and we need to back off on algebra and algorithms in 3rd grade.
aka: "....no child left untested...." But with what benefit?