The Democrats held both chambers of Congress under Obama, creating a real opportunity for single-payer healthcare—yet he and they refused to pursue it. Had they established that system, Americans would now be in the streets defending it fiercely. Instead, we got a government shutdown over the modest goal of more affordable premiums. The dysfunction is staggering.
For years now, the Democratic Party’s core message has been little more than “we’re not Trump.” That’s a hollow pitch unless you’re offering genuine change that prioritizes working people over financial interests. Right now, the status quo serves finance capital, not labor.
There’s an unspoken class war happening in New York City. The Mamdani campaign exemplifies this struggle, but it’s operating without the institutional support it needs. We lack formal structures for waging class-based political battles, largely because our elected officials typically belong to the very class we’re challenging.
This article gets it right: we need both organizational infrastructure and a clear vision for change.
Corbin, I think the conversation you are having is happening across a number of platforms in the free media biosphere. We need candidates and advocates who can articulate a vision of economic democracy with a large helping of social and climate justice. Because of the trauma we are experiencing as a nation, a mass movement is evolving across a broad spectrum of people, that share the desire for the kind of profound change this vision entails. Our moment of a Third Reconstruction is emerging and we need to keep articulating in as specific ways as possible what that will look like. Thank you for your profound and plain spoken articulation. I would love to see you, Joy Reid, the guys from Wolves and Sheep and Mike Nellis all get together for a public forum on what comes next and how do we get there. I am sure there are plenty of others as well. Right now The Lever has a brilliant podcast on how Montana folk are conspiring to overturn Citizens United by changing the rules of what corporations can do in their state. We are living under the worst threat to freedom in our lifetime, yet we are also living in the best time to bring about the world we want to leave to our grandchildren.
We are missing an opportunity in America. Look at who is at the No Kings March. Retired people like me. I was a quality professional with decades of experience discovering and promoting visions and best practices. Yet, I am not employable to do this work. No one will hire me or use my experience. I talk to people daily who want to use their experience and expertise to make things work again. The resignation in their eyes tell me they do not see a path. A woman told me yesterday: I used to be important to the organization i worked in. I have so much left to give. No one will even approve me to volunteer. I am 75.
Your vision is perfect. I know the institution that broke us but it’s so hard for others to know unless you’ve spent your life deep inside it, which most haven’t. It’s our schools. They are rotten to the core and people don’t get it because fascist-like administrators took them over four decades ago and teachers live in fear of telling you this. The few of us who aren’t afraid have been crying out at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org since 2002, but people don’t get it. This country is like a bag of groceries with a rotten lemon it doesn’t know about slowly ruining everything in the bag. Trust me. It’s our schools. They’re our country’s upbringing. We’re being raised by wolves. Read my book A Graver Danger and you’ll know what we need to do to turn this ship around.
I get it seems simplistic-not an issue that merits our attention. But it won’t after you read what’s going on. Our called-to-teach teachers used to be the soul of this nation. Now that we’ve been exiled, we’re a nation without a soul.
I will read your book. When I was still teaching, I was constantly frustrated that just as I was learning how to implement the “next new thing,” they would change it. Things that were non-negotiables (They HAD to be done) one year were taboo the next. Having taught in four states over the course of nearly forty years, I watched education become something I no longer understood and no longer wanted to be a part of.
Thanks for letting me know. Education is a lonely, very hard to understand world that I’m shining light on so we can fix the institution designed to produce vibrant, caring citizens. The fact it produced Trump lovers should be enough to know it’s why democracy fell apart, but it isn’t because people do not know education like those of us who were in it. I welcome your feedback after you read it—and need reviews to help the algorithm. What you described is the subtle surface dysfunction. My book goes into the root cause of the dysfunction. Also look at the stories at EndTeacherAbuse.org. You will relate.
Also our education system produced the other half who are not MAGA. But I don’t disagree about the need for change and what happens in schools. I’m glad you are energized to make change.
I taught Freshman Composition and Research on the University level for almost 35 years. I watched the decline for most of that time. Lower standards. Encouragement to pass students who clearly weren't willing to do the work. And--after ChatGPT and other methods of cheating became popular--basically turned into a cheating cop. Once things went online (another joke), and I had no in-class writing to compare their major work to, I continued to go to the Composition Department for guidance. I spent hours writing books on the assignments I received from students. I was told to "use rubrics; they don't read comments." I finally gave up and retired at the age of 70.
That vision has NOT changed in spite of ALL the pretense by the operatives and their partisan stooge flying monkeys to the contrary. When a sure-to-pass bill was scheduled to go on the floor to establish single payer health care in CA, the operatives of that party and probably their governor, Newsom, had it pulled from the floor before it could be heard.
The two parties are one cartel in perpetuating the "your money or your life" flow of working class wealth into the pockets of a small wealthy ruling class. It is the most efficient method of looting the citizens of the country ever devised, and has been placed on steroids by enabling private equity to own the doctors and nurses too. The ruling class owning the corporations, including hospitals and clinics, know that control over workers' and their families' health care is the ultimate scepter which they can wave to rule their workers. Threat of loss of health care keeps workers working under exploitive and abusive conditions.
The shameless partisan political pretense is the opposite of what the American people know they need, and the parties' operatives have absolutely no intention of meeting that need. That's a reason for the unending flow of Mothership Vortex nuisance texts and emails invading our privacy and homes, soliciting money for a party that can never tell us what this party has COMMMITTED to be FOR. As long as this lack of vision brings in the money, and prattled "platforms" are never enacted, there is zero incentive to provide leadership and provide actual intentional governance.
The job of the partisan stooges is to try to shame the citizen voters from holding the operatives of their own party accountable in their support of what is actually a murderous system of health care. Every time you hear "False equivalence!!" and "The other party is much worse!" that is coming from a partisan stooge virtue signaling us to get in line, NOT hold our own party accountable, and continue to support a murderous system. It has worked for the stooges for decades.
After decades of passively murdering their own citizens through such a health care system for profit, it is not surprising that these same parties' operatives are the ones figuring they can pound the tub to successfully herd their rank and file into cheer-leading for a for-profit genocide as well.
Ive seen too much evidence to suggest the Clintons still control the Democratic Party. Until this changes, nothing we've seen in the last 40+ years will either.
They seem to be shadow operatives, along with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who were very instrumental in ending the real Democratic Party and converting it into the Republican Lite Corporate Auxiliary. Biden fell all over himself trying to jump fast enough and high enough when Netanyahu ordered him to crush the first amendment rights of protesters and take away academic freedom from American universities. NOT ONE Democratic-elected stood to tell Netanyahu no one elected him to govern Americans or run American universities. Independent Bernie Sanders did.
Bernie has always told it like it is. He'd have won in 2016, but the DNC decided it was "Hillary's turn." Bernie even campaigned for her after they screwed him. He's a man on a mission, and we don't always agree with him, but he might be the last man standing!
What was he supposed to do? Had he gone off, he’d have been written off as demented and silenced. He has, instead, continued to speak the truth and give us hope.
Gone off(instead of written off) to become the Green party candidate would have been a far more "productive" option than endorsing a member of someone so deep in the kabal that it results in the continuity of what we have, Bernie speaks, but he does not act, as Corbin has mentioned often here. He has been co-opted. We need far more now than a character who offers verbal "hope".
What an indictment of our country for her to admit, on the one hand, that this country would eventually demand single-payer healthcare and then turn around and say we will never have it because the moneyed interests won’t allow it.
Bernie Sanders was educating the people at the time of her quote about how America's "health care" system was a lone aberration in a world of developed nations. I interpreted Clinton's comment as loyalty signaling to the monied interests bribing her party not to allow a real health health care system to replace the for-profit lucrative looting system the parties protected. The message communicated: "Your looting is safe with me."
That healthcare in this country is the way it is is no accident. The overlords want us to die when we're no longer of use to them. They want (and have) an enslaved underclass to do the tasks they still need humans for, and when we are too old or sick to do those tasks they want us gone (leaving THOSE bills for our next generations, to keep them enslaved to the overlords).
Excellent ideas. The vision thing is unfortunately also a meme that pops up to be thrown around. But what you have argued for is the outline of a Plan. The New Deal was a plan, first in outline then in specifics. You have the ability to make a plan as do many others. The Democrat elite did not want a plan. It used the language of identity politics to cover their submission to Republican politics based on starving government. The lack of plan was deliberate as you point out. But I believe the elements for a plan for another New Deal are in your head (and other people’s). Where and how to put this —in an organized effective way—into the actual struggle in the DP? That is the question.
Want some answers to these dilemmas? Talk to Bernie, the progenitor of Medicare for All. Talk to the California nurses, the Oregon and Maine advocates who had worked thru the nuts and bolts of changing the mission -- people not profits, ie., fuck capitalism and private equity investment; to people like me and my comrades in NY who struggled to get the NY Health Act thru the Legislature only to be betrayed by the politician leaders who launched the effort to make NY Health the law of the state. They knuckled under to the Dem leadership who preferred Obamacare expansion, with its enormous insurance company sub- sidies; which, in turn, produced generous campaign contributions.
We know how to do this - just got to get the sellout politicians to go home and shut up.
Dear Corbin, I totally agree, we need a new game, New Rules, these could and should be a New Constitution, because the system we have is designed to protect the powerful. We need a fully democratic Constitution.
Please join our meeting,at least for one hour, because this effort requires visionaries like you and your readers.
Subject: The Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call, Nov 19, 10 A.M. PST
Dear ______ ,
This is your invitation to the Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call.
This ongoing series offers a unique space to learn, connect, and organize around the question of how Americans can renew and strengthen our democracy. It’s an open, nonpartisan, and collaborative forum for anyone who recognizes that constitutional reform is essential to building a just and sustainable future. Progressives in particular need to be ready. As America’s Christian right pushes for an Article V States Convention, we must ensure that a genuine grassroots, pro-democracy movement is equally prepared to shape the nation’s constitutional future.
Our next call — the fifth in the series — will take place on November 19th at 10 A.M PST, and will feature author Daniel Lazare, who will discuss his landmark book The Frozen Republic and share his latest reflections on American constitutionalism. We’ll open the floor for Q&A at 10:30 a.m.
Please share this invitation with your friends and network. All are welcome!
Together, we can imagine — and help design — a truly democratic constitution for the United States.
In solidarity,
John
Topic: The November Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call with Daniel Lazare
Time: Nov 19, 2025, 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
yOur commentary is spot on, powerful and, in the end, hopeful, which is always nice.
However if you wish to get to the root of the rot, Follow The Benjamins,Baby!
Since Reagan berated Big Government and railed against regulations, and Clinton re-centered the Dems to Republican-lite and passed NAFTA, that Big Sucking Sound warned about by Perot, where the good paying jobs lost to Romney’s financialization cronies( Corporations are people too-codified by the SCOTUS in Citizens United) have stripped money from the once strong middle class and sent formerly robust industrial companies overseas. Today we have to buy TNT from Ukraine to have bombs made.
And additionally the tech bro billionaires are preparing to take over banking with block chain and hubris. “We’re going to Mars"(no we’re not), “Brain chips will set you free”( no they’ll enslave you to your betters-the billionaires”.
Politics have become eyewash for the masses, something to entertain them as AI takes their jobs and man made viruses reduce the population, particularly the elderly and immuno -compromised who are taking up space and monies with their endless health needs.
It is a Brave New World we have entered, with corporate greed being the daily mantra.
And what better way to reduce the population while enriching the ungodly rich than a lovely war. Or wars, if you will.
Beware the Ides of March. Ukraine, and its millions in war profits, beckons.
All the arguments and ideas expressed in your articles and interviews make perfect sense and are, probably, shared by the majority of our population that firmly believes that "fair" capitalism is possible, that some modifications, adjustments, corrections, etc. in the form of a new (Green) New Deal, a Third Reconstruction or whatever can make America a "dream land". Unfortunately, this utopia that actively and in most cases sincerely promoted by a number of liberal left, such as Sanders, AOC, many DSA members, and, apparently, Corbin Trent, is caused exactly by 'the vision vacuum' or some misunderstanding of the capitalist economic system in general and its current, relatively benign (neo)liberal or social-democratic period in particular. This comment will try to bring some clarity to this subject.
First of all, the current period of liberal capitalism as we know it in the developed Western countries (with working middle class, etc.) is rather an exception than the rule in the history of capitalism. It started after (essentially due to) the World War II because of very specific economic, social, and political situation that was significantly influenced by the existence of the Soviet Union. The New Deal was not some humanitarian act, but a successful attempt to stabilize the capitalist system in this country, which was under a threat of a mass popular revolt. It was essentially a concession won by the American working class. And after the WWII American corporations enjoyed exorbitant profits, which could be shared (grudgingly) to avoid possible social unrest.
The current (and developing) social, political, and economic situation in this country (and in the Western world in general) is fundamentally different and its analysis indicates that this situation is absolutely critical. Of course, there are many dimensions to this critical situation (climate disaster, possibility of a global nuclear conflict, etc.), but the main reason is simple – profitability. Preservation of the status quo in this country, and all developed countries in general, is becoming increasingly difficult economically by using liberal-democratic methods. Growing economic austerity and political reaction is a chosen solution that requires a "strong man" politically and ideologically. Therefore, the rise of the radical Right and attempt to install authoritarian (or worse) government simply because this is the most convenient form of power for the ruling elite(s) in the current social, political, and economic situation. The period of liberal capitalism is coming to an end. Right now, the only hope (illusive and unsubstantiated so far) to restore profitability using civilized means (without a major war or another disaster) is related to AI, which can fundamentally change economic and social relations. In any case, it's very unlikely to expect that it will produce something like a Star Trek society.
We should neither hope nor guess about the nature of the Democratic party and its role in preservation of the status quo in this country. The powers behind both parties are fundamentally identical with possibly different personal views and preferences. This doesn't mean that we should not support the Democratic party electorally in 2026 and 2028, but this support has to be both critical and discriminating. We should make every reasonable effort to elect more progressive Democrats, such as DSA members, without being deluded that their speeches, such as progressive and "socialist" rhetoric of one of the best recruiters in the history of the Democratic party Bernie Sanders, activities, such as electoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani, and even electoral victories could change the nature of the U.S. political system. Nevertheless, it can temporarily affect the style of governance and simplify the task of consolidation of the left forces in a more liberal environment. Unfortunately, the only current alternative to the Republicans is the Democrats. One of the long-term goals of the united Left in this country should be to become another alternative, whether by joining/taking over the Greens or another way.
While "the Trumpian tyranny" (of course, Trump is just an incidental historic character, but very suitable for an autocratic regime) has not solidified and even not clearly materialized, the most urgent organizational task of the Left is to create a united front for social progress, democracy and anti-authoritarianism. This initiative and follow-up actions are crucially important and urgent at the present time for these left forces to become visible and relevant political players and, hopefully, change or at least oppose the current social, economic and political tendencies. Even though this seems to be gradually realized by increasing number of left activists and mentioned in increasing number of speeches and articles, practical realization of such ideas is not noticeable. The time for civilized resolution of a looming social, economic, and even environmental/ecological crisis is running out, and a broad popular left front is the most (if not the only) viable option for various left oriented organizations, organized working class, and all progressive forces in general not only to remain politically and socially relevant, but maybe even contribute to the preservation of human species.
IMO, the first problem for the Dems is that they have problems that both have to be solved first - who do we represent and what are we trying to accomplish.
I don’t think the Dens are going to survive as a party. I expect some elements of the Socialists to break away from the Social Justice crowd. The new party will have to have a clear vision of a Socialist America and it will have to win the fight for control of the party infrastructure. The Social Justice crowd cannot lead a national party to victory.
The Socialist either take control or the Dems blow away in the winds of history. Either way, the Democratic party that the Clintons raised up has run its course.
Corbin is on the money again. The following by Corbin, is the theme of The Candidate a 1972 Robert Redford film:
"It sounds good. Find people who believe in the mission and put them in charge. Groups like Run for Something, Justice Democrats, and others do important work recruiting and supporting candidates. Yet this approach has a fundamental problem: What mission? What values? Without a coherent vision, there’s nothing for voters to rally behind. There’s no way to gauge success other than political wins—did we win the election or not?--winning an election to do what, exactly?"
Corbin...how do we get you elected chair of the Democratic Party? It needs you badly!
There WERE four candidates for chair of Dems!
Jon Stewart interviewed two of them. Ben Wikler on his Daily Show early on and Ken Martin on his podcast.
I was very impressed by Ben Wikler - not at all by Ken Martin (the "winner").
Both were really good interviews.
Ben Wikler has done great work. Corbin + Ben should tag-team. Would love to see them chat! Maybe some productive ideas would come forth.
As you surely know, the absurdity of that possibility is exactly why Democrats are as large a problem as the either party is.
The Democrats held both chambers of Congress under Obama, creating a real opportunity for single-payer healthcare—yet he and they refused to pursue it. Had they established that system, Americans would now be in the streets defending it fiercely. Instead, we got a government shutdown over the modest goal of more affordable premiums. The dysfunction is staggering.
For years now, the Democratic Party’s core message has been little more than “we’re not Trump.” That’s a hollow pitch unless you’re offering genuine change that prioritizes working people over financial interests. Right now, the status quo serves finance capital, not labor.
There’s an unspoken class war happening in New York City. The Mamdani campaign exemplifies this struggle, but it’s operating without the institutional support it needs. We lack formal structures for waging class-based political battles, largely because our elected officials typically belong to the very class we’re challenging.
This article gets it right: we need both organizational infrastructure and a clear vision for change.
Corbin, I think the conversation you are having is happening across a number of platforms in the free media biosphere. We need candidates and advocates who can articulate a vision of economic democracy with a large helping of social and climate justice. Because of the trauma we are experiencing as a nation, a mass movement is evolving across a broad spectrum of people, that share the desire for the kind of profound change this vision entails. Our moment of a Third Reconstruction is emerging and we need to keep articulating in as specific ways as possible what that will look like. Thank you for your profound and plain spoken articulation. I would love to see you, Joy Reid, the guys from Wolves and Sheep and Mike Nellis all get together for a public forum on what comes next and how do we get there. I am sure there are plenty of others as well. Right now The Lever has a brilliant podcast on how Montana folk are conspiring to overturn Citizens United by changing the rules of what corporations can do in their state. We are living under the worst threat to freedom in our lifetime, yet we are also living in the best time to bring about the world we want to leave to our grandchildren.
I think that is what Corbin is saying is that movements are happening all around f but it's got to get cohesive or it wont impact the way it needs to.
We are missing an opportunity in America. Look at who is at the No Kings March. Retired people like me. I was a quality professional with decades of experience discovering and promoting visions and best practices. Yet, I am not employable to do this work. No one will hire me or use my experience. I talk to people daily who want to use their experience and expertise to make things work again. The resignation in their eyes tell me they do not see a path. A woman told me yesterday: I used to be important to the organization i worked in. I have so much left to give. No one will even approve me to volunteer. I am 75.
Corbin posted a volunteer link in an article earlier this week:
https://bit.ly/AU_volunteers
Your vision is perfect. I know the institution that broke us but it’s so hard for others to know unless you’ve spent your life deep inside it, which most haven’t. It’s our schools. They are rotten to the core and people don’t get it because fascist-like administrators took them over four decades ago and teachers live in fear of telling you this. The few of us who aren’t afraid have been crying out at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org since 2002, but people don’t get it. This country is like a bag of groceries with a rotten lemon it doesn’t know about slowly ruining everything in the bag. Trust me. It’s our schools. They’re our country’s upbringing. We’re being raised by wolves. Read my book A Graver Danger and you’ll know what we need to do to turn this ship around.
I get it seems simplistic-not an issue that merits our attention. But it won’t after you read what’s going on. Our called-to-teach teachers used to be the soul of this nation. Now that we’ve been exiled, we’re a nation without a soul.
Please read my book. You can request a free PDF at EndTeacherAbuse.org.
I will read your book. When I was still teaching, I was constantly frustrated that just as I was learning how to implement the “next new thing,” they would change it. Things that were non-negotiables (They HAD to be done) one year were taboo the next. Having taught in four states over the course of nearly forty years, I watched education become something I no longer understood and no longer wanted to be a part of.
Thanks for letting me know. Education is a lonely, very hard to understand world that I’m shining light on so we can fix the institution designed to produce vibrant, caring citizens. The fact it produced Trump lovers should be enough to know it’s why democracy fell apart, but it isn’t because people do not know education like those of us who were in it. I welcome your feedback after you read it—and need reviews to help the algorithm. What you described is the subtle surface dysfunction. My book goes into the root cause of the dysfunction. Also look at the stories at EndTeacherAbuse.org. You will relate.
Education didn't produce MAGA. The lack of it did.
Also our education system produced the other half who are not MAGA. But I don’t disagree about the need for change and what happens in schools. I’m glad you are energized to make change.
I taught Freshman Composition and Research on the University level for almost 35 years. I watched the decline for most of that time. Lower standards. Encouragement to pass students who clearly weren't willing to do the work. And--after ChatGPT and other methods of cheating became popular--basically turned into a cheating cop. Once things went online (another joke), and I had no in-class writing to compare their major work to, I continued to go to the Composition Department for guidance. I spent hours writing books on the assignments I received from students. I was told to "use rubrics; they don't read comments." I finally gave up and retired at the age of 70.
Exactly!
Hillary Clinton clearly gave the actual Democratic Party operatives' vision: "America will NEVER EVER" have single payer healthcare."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-single-payer-health-care-will-never-ever-happen/
That vision has NOT changed in spite of ALL the pretense by the operatives and their partisan stooge flying monkeys to the contrary. When a sure-to-pass bill was scheduled to go on the floor to establish single payer health care in CA, the operatives of that party and probably their governor, Newsom, had it pulled from the floor before it could be heard.
The two parties are one cartel in perpetuating the "your money or your life" flow of working class wealth into the pockets of a small wealthy ruling class. It is the most efficient method of looting the citizens of the country ever devised, and has been placed on steroids by enabling private equity to own the doctors and nurses too. The ruling class owning the corporations, including hospitals and clinics, know that control over workers' and their families' health care is the ultimate scepter which they can wave to rule their workers. Threat of loss of health care keeps workers working under exploitive and abusive conditions.
The shameless partisan political pretense is the opposite of what the American people know they need, and the parties' operatives have absolutely no intention of meeting that need. That's a reason for the unending flow of Mothership Vortex nuisance texts and emails invading our privacy and homes, soliciting money for a party that can never tell us what this party has COMMMITTED to be FOR. As long as this lack of vision brings in the money, and prattled "platforms" are never enacted, there is zero incentive to provide leadership and provide actual intentional governance.
The job of the partisan stooges is to try to shame the citizen voters from holding the operatives of their own party accountable in their support of what is actually a murderous system of health care. Every time you hear "False equivalence!!" and "The other party is much worse!" that is coming from a partisan stooge virtue signaling us to get in line, NOT hold our own party accountable, and continue to support a murderous system. It has worked for the stooges for decades.
After decades of passively murdering their own citizens through such a health care system for profit, it is not surprising that these same parties' operatives are the ones figuring they can pound the tub to successfully herd their rank and file into cheer-leading for a for-profit genocide as well.
Ive seen too much evidence to suggest the Clintons still control the Democratic Party. Until this changes, nothing we've seen in the last 40+ years will either.
They seem to be shadow operatives, along with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who were very instrumental in ending the real Democratic Party and converting it into the Republican Lite Corporate Auxiliary. Biden fell all over himself trying to jump fast enough and high enough when Netanyahu ordered him to crush the first amendment rights of protesters and take away academic freedom from American universities. NOT ONE Democratic-elected stood to tell Netanyahu no one elected him to govern Americans or run American universities. Independent Bernie Sanders did.
Bernie has always told it like it is. He'd have won in 2016, but the DNC decided it was "Hillary's turn." Bernie even campaigned for her after they screwed him. He's a man on a mission, and we don't always agree with him, but he might be the last man standing!
In actuality however, Bernie sold out and continues to do so, despite his relentless seductive rhetoric without substance.
What was he supposed to do? Had he gone off, he’d have been written off as demented and silenced. He has, instead, continued to speak the truth and give us hope.
Gone off(instead of written off) to become the Green party candidate would have been a far more "productive" option than endorsing a member of someone so deep in the kabal that it results in the continuity of what we have, Bernie speaks, but he does not act, as Corbin has mentioned often here. He has been co-opted. We need far more now than a character who offers verbal "hope".
What an indictment of our country for her to admit, on the one hand, that this country would eventually demand single-payer healthcare and then turn around and say we will never have it because the moneyed interests won’t allow it.
Bernie Sanders was educating the people at the time of her quote about how America's "health care" system was a lone aberration in a world of developed nations. I interpreted Clinton's comment as loyalty signaling to the monied interests bribing her party not to allow a real health health care system to replace the for-profit lucrative looting system the parties protected. The message communicated: "Your looting is safe with me."
That healthcare in this country is the way it is is no accident. The overlords want us to die when we're no longer of use to them. They want (and have) an enslaved underclass to do the tasks they still need humans for, and when we are too old or sick to do those tasks they want us gone (leaving THOSE bills for our next generations, to keep them enslaved to the overlords).
Yay, Amerikkka is Great!
Excellent ideas. The vision thing is unfortunately also a meme that pops up to be thrown around. But what you have argued for is the outline of a Plan. The New Deal was a plan, first in outline then in specifics. You have the ability to make a plan as do many others. The Democrat elite did not want a plan. It used the language of identity politics to cover their submission to Republican politics based on starving government. The lack of plan was deliberate as you point out. But I believe the elements for a plan for another New Deal are in your head (and other people’s). Where and how to put this —in an organized effective way—into the actual struggle in the DP? That is the question.
Everyone's question. I suppose there is encouragement in the fact that the question is the same even if there is no answer, yet.
Want some answers to these dilemmas? Talk to Bernie, the progenitor of Medicare for All. Talk to the California nurses, the Oregon and Maine advocates who had worked thru the nuts and bolts of changing the mission -- people not profits, ie., fuck capitalism and private equity investment; to people like me and my comrades in NY who struggled to get the NY Health Act thru the Legislature only to be betrayed by the politician leaders who launched the effort to make NY Health the law of the state. They knuckled under to the Dem leadership who preferred Obamacare expansion, with its enormous insurance company sub- sidies; which, in turn, produced generous campaign contributions.
We know how to do this - just got to get the sellout politicians to go home and shut up.
Jack Carney
Www.paddlingupstream.org
How about THE NEW NEW DEAL
This is great and IMO 100% on the mark. A couple of questions:
Does it take a charismatic leader to be the reference point for the vision?
Which of the new organizations springing up are headed in the right direction?
I know of Run for Something, Justice Democrats, Sunrise, DSA, Voters of Tomorrow, More Perfect Union. Are there others?
Dear Corbin, I totally agree, we need a new game, New Rules, these could and should be a New Constitution, because the system we have is designed to protect the powerful. We need a fully democratic Constitution.
Please join our meeting,at least for one hour, because this effort requires visionaries like you and your readers.
Thanks, I hope to see you there.
Chris Wheeler
See below:
From: John Mulkins <johnmulkins@gmail.com>
Subject: The Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call, Nov 19, 10 A.M. PST
Dear ______ ,
This is your invitation to the Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call.
This ongoing series offers a unique space to learn, connect, and organize around the question of how Americans can renew and strengthen our democracy. It’s an open, nonpartisan, and collaborative forum for anyone who recognizes that constitutional reform is essential to building a just and sustainable future. Progressives in particular need to be ready. As America’s Christian right pushes for an Article V States Convention, we must ensure that a genuine grassroots, pro-democracy movement is equally prepared to shape the nation’s constitutional future.
Our next call — the fifth in the series — will take place on November 19th at 10 A.M PST, and will feature author Daniel Lazare, who will discuss his landmark book The Frozen Republic and share his latest reflections on American constitutionalism. We’ll open the floor for Q&A at 10:30 a.m.
Please share this invitation with your friends and network. All are welcome!
Together, we can imagine — and help design — a truly democratic constitution for the United States.
In solidarity,
John
Topic: The November Democratic Constitution Forum Zoom Call with Daniel Lazare
Time: Nov 19, 2025, 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83538812133?pwd=GxUQJnuaEUp6Nx6qjTE1EqcjSVlyWM.1
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John Mulkins
Host and Producer of the Peaceful Political Revolution in America Podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peaceful-political-revolution-in-america/id1592429626
yOur commentary is spot on, powerful and, in the end, hopeful, which is always nice.
However if you wish to get to the root of the rot, Follow The Benjamins,Baby!
Since Reagan berated Big Government and railed against regulations, and Clinton re-centered the Dems to Republican-lite and passed NAFTA, that Big Sucking Sound warned about by Perot, where the good paying jobs lost to Romney’s financialization cronies( Corporations are people too-codified by the SCOTUS in Citizens United) have stripped money from the once strong middle class and sent formerly robust industrial companies overseas. Today we have to buy TNT from Ukraine to have bombs made.
And additionally the tech bro billionaires are preparing to take over banking with block chain and hubris. “We’re going to Mars"(no we’re not), “Brain chips will set you free”( no they’ll enslave you to your betters-the billionaires”.
Politics have become eyewash for the masses, something to entertain them as AI takes their jobs and man made viruses reduce the population, particularly the elderly and immuno -compromised who are taking up space and monies with their endless health needs.
It is a Brave New World we have entered, with corporate greed being the daily mantra.
And what better way to reduce the population while enriching the ungodly rich than a lovely war. Or wars, if you will.
Beware the Ides of March. Ukraine, and its millions in war profits, beckons.
Dear Corbin,
All the arguments and ideas expressed in your articles and interviews make perfect sense and are, probably, shared by the majority of our population that firmly believes that "fair" capitalism is possible, that some modifications, adjustments, corrections, etc. in the form of a new (Green) New Deal, a Third Reconstruction or whatever can make America a "dream land". Unfortunately, this utopia that actively and in most cases sincerely promoted by a number of liberal left, such as Sanders, AOC, many DSA members, and, apparently, Corbin Trent, is caused exactly by 'the vision vacuum' or some misunderstanding of the capitalist economic system in general and its current, relatively benign (neo)liberal or social-democratic period in particular. This comment will try to bring some clarity to this subject.
First of all, the current period of liberal capitalism as we know it in the developed Western countries (with working middle class, etc.) is rather an exception than the rule in the history of capitalism. It started after (essentially due to) the World War II because of very specific economic, social, and political situation that was significantly influenced by the existence of the Soviet Union. The New Deal was not some humanitarian act, but a successful attempt to stabilize the capitalist system in this country, which was under a threat of a mass popular revolt. It was essentially a concession won by the American working class. And after the WWII American corporations enjoyed exorbitant profits, which could be shared (grudgingly) to avoid possible social unrest.
The current (and developing) social, political, and economic situation in this country (and in the Western world in general) is fundamentally different and its analysis indicates that this situation is absolutely critical. Of course, there are many dimensions to this critical situation (climate disaster, possibility of a global nuclear conflict, etc.), but the main reason is simple – profitability. Preservation of the status quo in this country, and all developed countries in general, is becoming increasingly difficult economically by using liberal-democratic methods. Growing economic austerity and political reaction is a chosen solution that requires a "strong man" politically and ideologically. Therefore, the rise of the radical Right and attempt to install authoritarian (or worse) government simply because this is the most convenient form of power for the ruling elite(s) in the current social, political, and economic situation. The period of liberal capitalism is coming to an end. Right now, the only hope (illusive and unsubstantiated so far) to restore profitability using civilized means (without a major war or another disaster) is related to AI, which can fundamentally change economic and social relations. In any case, it's very unlikely to expect that it will produce something like a Star Trek society.
We should neither hope nor guess about the nature of the Democratic party and its role in preservation of the status quo in this country. The powers behind both parties are fundamentally identical with possibly different personal views and preferences. This doesn't mean that we should not support the Democratic party electorally in 2026 and 2028, but this support has to be both critical and discriminating. We should make every reasonable effort to elect more progressive Democrats, such as DSA members, without being deluded that their speeches, such as progressive and "socialist" rhetoric of one of the best recruiters in the history of the Democratic party Bernie Sanders, activities, such as electoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani, and even electoral victories could change the nature of the U.S. political system. Nevertheless, it can temporarily affect the style of governance and simplify the task of consolidation of the left forces in a more liberal environment. Unfortunately, the only current alternative to the Republicans is the Democrats. One of the long-term goals of the united Left in this country should be to become another alternative, whether by joining/taking over the Greens or another way.
While "the Trumpian tyranny" (of course, Trump is just an incidental historic character, but very suitable for an autocratic regime) has not solidified and even not clearly materialized, the most urgent organizational task of the Left is to create a united front for social progress, democracy and anti-authoritarianism. This initiative and follow-up actions are crucially important and urgent at the present time for these left forces to become visible and relevant political players and, hopefully, change or at least oppose the current social, economic and political tendencies. Even though this seems to be gradually realized by increasing number of left activists and mentioned in increasing number of speeches and articles, practical realization of such ideas is not noticeable. The time for civilized resolution of a looming social, economic, and even environmental/ecological crisis is running out, and a broad popular left front is the most (if not the only) viable option for various left oriented organizations, organized working class, and all progressive forces in general not only to remain politically and socially relevant, but maybe even contribute to the preservation of human species.
IMO, the first problem for the Dems is that they have problems that both have to be solved first - who do we represent and what are we trying to accomplish.
I don’t think the Dens are going to survive as a party. I expect some elements of the Socialists to break away from the Social Justice crowd. The new party will have to have a clear vision of a Socialist America and it will have to win the fight for control of the party infrastructure. The Social Justice crowd cannot lead a national party to victory.
The Socialist either take control or the Dems blow away in the winds of history. Either way, the Democratic party that the Clintons raised up has run its course.
From your keyboard to Dog's ear.
Corbin is on the money again. The following by Corbin, is the theme of The Candidate a 1972 Robert Redford film:
"It sounds good. Find people who believe in the mission and put them in charge. Groups like Run for Something, Justice Democrats, and others do important work recruiting and supporting candidates. Yet this approach has a fundamental problem: What mission? What values? Without a coherent vision, there’s nothing for voters to rally behind. There’s no way to gauge success other than political wins—did we win the election or not?--winning an election to do what, exactly?"