Category Archives: Future Hope

It’s the Corruption!

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“We who think about politics all the time rarely have a good handle on what’s going on in the lives and minds of those who do not. That’s what makes focus groups so fascinating. I usually see voters holding on to conventional thinking and subconsciously absorbed conservative talking points, and I have to figure out how to communicate with them in ways that open their minds to the possibility of bigger change. This year, I walked in hoping to find a little more awareness of the system-wide nature of our economic dysfunction, and not only were voters already there, they had continued on to the wholesale corruption of government. As a lifelong campaign finance reform advocate, I had resigned myself to the idea that voters weren’t ready to “go there” when it came to money in politics, but much to my absolute delight, they have arrived!”
          –Antonia Scatton, from “Voters are Leaving Politicos Behind,” Antonia Scatton | Substack, July 22, 2026

Until yesterday I had never heard of Antonia Scatton, who describes herself in this way at her Substack: “Antonia works with George and Lisa Greene of the Connections Lab on a mission to get the Democratic Party’s messaging back on the right track. They worked with DNC Chair Ken Martin when he was President of the Association of State Democratic Committees, to bring in-person messaging and framing workshops to state and local leadership, staff, candidates and others in key target states, along with video training and other supporting materials.”

I suppose if I had been a long-time activist in the Democratic Party, something I definitely am not, I would have heard of her long before now, but in this case, for sure, it’s undoubtedly “better late than never.” This brand-new column, published yesterday, is one that, imho, should be checked out and reflected on by all of us who are actively working to defeat the Trumpfascists at the polls on November 3.

Scatton may be someone “up there” in the higher levels of the Democratic Party, which honestly gives me some pause given my much more independent and progressive politics and personal history, but, hey, she clearly is an important part of the broadly-based movement for democracy and justice which has emerged since Trump was elected.

Here’s another important paragraph from her latest article:

“American voters’ feelings are evolving so fast that politicians and their advisors can’t keep up with them. They started at “prices are too high,” briefly alighted on “our economic system is broken” and leapt right ahead to “because our government is working for the mega-rich and not for us.” Candidates have been told that voters are mad about the cost of living and hate data centers. If they’re not talking about WHY, they risk getting caught pandering to public opinion (following) rather than articulating what voters are feeling but have not yet put into words (leading).”

And one more:

“When the voters in my focus groups talked about “corruption,” they defined it more broadly. They also meant that our economic system works for wealthy elites, not the American people, because our government is under the influence of, if not the control of, wealthy elites. Those who have accumulated extreme wealth have used it to “rig” the economy to their advantage. And my focus group voters were not alone. According to the same poll, while 97% of voters understand “corruption” in the usual sense of “officials using their position for personal gain,”94% also defined it more broadly as ‘prioritizing the interests of billionaires and big corporations over those of the public.’”

Obviously, this information should inform how all Democratic candidates, as well as Independents on more local levels, campaign in the next 100 days leading up to November 3rd, but some will not. Some have benefited personally from that rigged economy. Others, not so corrupted, are concerned about being attacked as socialists or communists by the Trumpists. But many, hopefully a growing number, will learn from what Scatton’s focus groups are exposing and then apply it on the ground where they are campaigning.

Then, after the House and the Senate are controlled by Democrats and a small number of Independents, we as a country can finally get down to the business of moving for real towards a truly democratic and justice-based society. It’s time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Independents and Pro-Socialists Rising in US

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I don’t let polls determine my beliefs or my actions, but when it comes to US elections my experience with polling is that, generally speaking, it is important to follow them. Although some polls are significantly non-objective with a decided tilt one way or the other, most of the ones that haven’t popped up during this Trump era, which are clearly Republican-leaning, are pretty objective.

What do recent polls say about macro political trends in the USA and what it looks like with about 3 ½ months until the November 3 Big Election Day?

Here are the main takeaways from my recent research. This information comes from polls done by Data for Progress, Quantas Insights, CNN, NBC and Economist/You Gov over the last month and a half.

-Bernie Sanders has a very high rating, probably the highest for any known politician nationally right now. AI Overview reports “46% viewing him favorably compared to 36% unfavorably. Trump’s net favorability is between minus 7 and minus 16, with job approval ratings dipping further.”

Given Bernie’s visibility and leadership nationally right now in support of progressive candidates and a massive voter turnout in November, this is hugely important.

-As far as what are considered “swing voters,” according to a recent Data for Progress poll, they are for Dems over Reps by 33-21%, with 46% undecided. That is a lot of “undecideds,” and underlines the importance of serious campaigning leading up to November 3.

-According to a CNN poll a month and a half ago, 47% of voters consider themselves “independent” or “no opinion.” D’s and R’s are virtually tied, 26% for R’s and 27% for D’s. However, a recent NBC poll reported that independents want Democrats to control Congress by a 46-34% margin. Also, an Economist/You Gov poll at the end of June reported that D’s have a net favorability rating of 33%, nine points higher than R’s 24%.

-Finally, a July 7 article in the Christian Science Monitor has reported that: “A recent YouGov poll found 71% of Republicans viewed socialism unfavorably. Among independents, though, just 34% held unfavorable views of socialism, while 30% were favorable. Asked whether they would ever vote for a democratic socialist candidate, 24% of independents said they would, compared with 3% of Republicans and 62% of Democrats.”

Clearly, all of this data indicates that the political project of the Trumpfascists is failing. Their extreme, racist and regressive positions and actions on issue after issue have led to falling poll numbers and a very real possibility that they will lose control of not just the House of Representatives but the Senate this fall, if the pro-democracy movement keeps at it and does what we are called to do.

That is why the Trump regime is upping their repressive moves on a number of fronts. They clearly have every intention of doing what they think will intimidate Democrat, Independent and progressive voters, but every indication is they are doing just the opposite. And, significantly, they are losing a lot more in the courts, particularly but not only at local levels, than they are winning when it comes to election challenges.

Who knows what they will try to pull off in the next 100 or so days. Whatever it is, I believe that they will fail. I believe that we will win, and not just these November elections. The political trends in the USA are clearly away from repressive and pro-billionaire domination and towards something very different, something which will give our children and grandchildren hope for a better future. Each of us individually has to keep at it and keep rising to resist, whatever they try to do.

It is only our resistance, many millions of us, in all kinds of ways, who have prevented a fascist takeover so far. There is now a clear light at the end of this tunnel because of it. Si, se puede!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Communism: To Each According to Their Needs–Really?

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“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Acts 2:44-45, New Oxford Annotated Bible

“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. . . There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.” Acts 4: 32, 34-35

“’From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,’ is a foundational communist maxim. It describes a stateless, classless society where people contribute to the community based on what they do best, and receive resources based on what they genuinely need to live a dignified life.”  AI Overview

Do Trump and the Republicans know about these quotations from the book of Acts in the Bible about this core belief and practice of the early Christian church just years after the death of Jesus? Some church-going ones probably do, although I’d bet that it is rare indeed that these verses have been quoted in church on Sunday in the modern era.

The “according to their needs” phrase is more well-known, an idea that has been around for a long time, popularized in 1875 by Karl Marx in his Critique of the Gotha Program.

The Trump/Republican attempt to brand the democratic resistance as “communist” opens up possibilities for us around the country to talk with others, including MAGA others, about all of this. So many people in the USA have been propagandized to believe that “communism” is what Russia turned into after Stalin became the top leader of the USSR in the late 1920’s.

The USSR in the 20’s was struggling with the devastation of World War I, the efforts for three years by the capitalist countries and supporters of the former Czar to overthrow the new revolutionary government, and an overwhelmingly peasant society with not much industry and a small industrial working class. It would have been a miracle of the highest order if they had been able to build anything close to the early Christian and early Marxist visions referenced above.

Stalin’s ascension to power and the brutal and destructive ways that he used it, as well as the USSR’s political dominance over communist parties around the world for the next 30 years, made it much easier for rich capitalists and powerful corporate leaders in Europe and the USA to paint not just the USSR but the very idea of communism as an evil thing.

The progressive/independent/socialist/pro-democracy/justice movement of tens of millions in the USA is nothing at all like the Trumpfascists and their apologists in the media are painting it. The overwhelming majority of those part of it are truly defenders of democracy, democracy of, by and for the people, not the billionaire oligarchs. We believe that, yes, the obscene riches they have gained off of the labor of others should be taxed and redistributed, so that poverty, hunger and homelessness are eradicated and we give leadership together with others in the world who believe in the same things for their countries. We want a world whose ecological systems are not dying, literally dying, because of the dominance of the polluting oil, coal and gas companies over the US government and too many other compromised government leaders.

As we keep building this movement in the US, through electoral action (especially right now) grassroots organizing around issues in workplaces and communities, and nonviolent demonstrations and direct action to press forward with our peace, justice, democracy and climate action agenda, we can be certain the oligarchs and their hatchet men will say and do many outrageous things, many hurtful things. But I can’t see them defeating what is now rising in the USA. Many of us have learned from our past mistakes, our internal fights among one another, the white racism and male sexism and elitist classism that have kept us back. We are advancing.

So let them sling around their “communist” epithets and all the other ridiculous words to try to throw us off. We have proved over the past year and a half that the power of an organized and unified people’s movement is so much stronger and hopeful than anything they can concoct.

Four months. Four months to talk with people all over about the issues, to be prepared to combat Trumpfascist election disruption efforts, to win expected and unexpected victories so that, as brother Bernie Sanders has put forward, come January of 2027, with the Republicans defeated in both the House and Senate, our peoples’ freedom movement just keeps going forward.Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Tom Paine: Revolutionary, Abolitionist, Indigenous Ally

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“There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of the American Revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.”   1787, Benjamin Rush
     -the beginning of the book, Citizen Tom Paine, by Howard Fast, 1943

The writings below are primarily from a column I published on July 5, 2020. It was a review of the book, Citizen Tom Paine. I am writing this updated version of it again now in connection with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the 1776 USA Declaration of Independence.

Are there going to be any July 4th events later this week anywhere in the USA that raise up the name and the importance of Tom Paine? Perhaps, but probably a very small number. This will be the case even though, without Tom Paine, it is likely that the war of independence against British colonialism that forged what became the United States of America never would have succeeded. That is how important this poor, struggling, working-class, English immigrant was to the revolutionary cause. This was a person who made a difference.

It is rare, from my experience, that the name Tom Paine is voiced among those in 21st century USA who see themselves as revolutionaries or on the political Left. I understand why this is the case, but I think there are very good reasons why we should be raising up his name as we continue to build our growing, 21st century, revolutionary movement for “liberty and justice for all.” A very big one is because he is one of the few well-known leaders of that popular uprising who was not a landowner, who was one of the “common people,” and who opposed both the enslavement of African people and the horrific treatment of the Indigenous nations of the lands which became the USA.

Howard Fast’s book is not a biography of Paine; it’s a work of historical fiction. But it presents the truth about the man, from his very real personal weaknesses and warts to his brilliance as a writer, speaker and organizer, his commitment to the causes of overthrowing tyranny of all kinds, “a way for children to smile, some freedom, liberty, and hope for the future, men with rights, decent courts, decent laws, men not afraid of poverty and women not afraid of childbirth.” (p. 77)

Paine saw himself as a revolutionist. This was his life’s work. In a fictional exchange with fellow revolutionist and doctor Benjamin Rush, in a discussion about revolution, Rush articulates what was historically new about what was happening in the American colonies in the 1770’s: “The strength of many is revolution, but curiously enough mankind has gone through several thousand years of slavery without realizing that fact. But here we have a nation of armed men who know how to use their arms; we have a Protestant tradition of discussion as opposed to autocracy; we have some notion of the dignity of man [mainly white men]. . . but now we must learn technique, we must learn it well. . .Six months ago you were rolled in the dirt [assaulted] because people knew what you were writing; two weeks ago a man in New York was almost tarred and feathered because he planned to publish an answer to [Paine’s] Common Sense. That’s not morality; that’s strength, the same kind of strength the tyrants used, only a thousand times more powerful. Now we must learn how to use that strength, how to control it. We need leaders, a program, a purpose, but above all we need revolutionists.” (pps. 116-117)

Paine was a particular kind of writer, one who was immersed in the cause of independence, on the front lines of deadly battles, spending time in the bitter winter encampments of the nascent continental army, organizing, encouraging men to stick with it, inspiring them and pointing out how important what they were doing was. “This was all Paine had ever thought of or dreamed of, the common men of the world marching together, shoulder to shoulder, guns in their hands, love in their hearts.” (p. 124)

Fast paints a picture of Paine writing the first issue of The Crisis, a newspaper published during the war to present facts and strengthen morale: “The men gathered around him. They read as he wrote: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. . . If there be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. . . Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.” (p. 145)

That’s a good last line, relevant for us right now. Let the city, the suburbs and the rural areas come forth this November 3rd to meet and repulse our common Trump/MAGA danger, this decade’s King George III and the Redcoats, and, after their defeat at the polls, let’s keep going to replace the unjust, destructive system which spawned them with something very, very different. It’s just common sense.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Revolutions 250 Years Ago and Today

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“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy— a thin veil to cover up crimes.”
–speech by Frederick Douglas, July 5, 1852, Rochester, NY

“[The 1775-1787 US revolution] led to the expansion of European American settlement across the continent in the decades afterwards, a process which nearly wiped out the Indigenous peoples who have lived here for many thousands of years. Estimates are that 90% or more were killed either by disease or violent military action to force the survivors onto reservations so that the Europeans could take the land and the resources underneath it.

“Like so much else about this country, this 250th anniversary of the beginnings of what became the United States is a decidedly mixed bag.

“On balance, though, I see value to connecting the political uprising against the Trumpfascists with the uprising by revolutionary European Americans 250 years ago. Not by coincidence, the success of this revolution was followed by the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Bolivar-led South American Revolution and eventually, in the USA, the Civil War that led to the end of the legal enslavement of African people. It led to the success of the women’s suffrage movement over 100 years ago, the rise of industrial unionism, the Black Freedom movement in the 60’s which forced an end to Jim Crow segregation, anti-colonial revolutions throughout the world, the rise of Indigenous resistance and societal leadership, the LGBTQ+ movement, an environmental protection movement and more.”
–Revolution?, a March 22, 2025 Future Hope column

Is it right to connect what happened 250-plus years ago with what is happening right now, in 2026, as a broad cross-section of US society resists the Trumpfascist efforts to impose repressive dictatorial rule? Yes, there are many similarities. Indeed, the US pro-democracy forces, if successful, will have much more immediate impacts worldwide.

The world is seeing that we in the USA are alive and well and rapidly becoming a mass movement that has the potential to bring about major, internationally-welcomed, desperately-needed changes in the USA at this turning point moment for human societies and all life forms on earth.

Some who are participating in this movement do not see themselves as “revolutionaries.” More accurate for them would be something like, “patriots” or “democracy lovers.” And some are involved primarily because of the personal and family impacts of Trump regime policies which have made their lives materially more difficult.

But IMHO, the word “revolutionary” best describes what this pro-democracy movement is developing into, in part because it has been building for many years–it is not a “flash in the pan”–and in part because the Trumpists are so destructive in their efforts to turn the clock back to the 1950’s or even further that many millions of us have risen up in a whole variety of ways.

The changes needed are clearly systemic, not some reforms here and there that have little effect on who runs the country today: the “billionaire class”, the “Epstein class,” the “corporate elite,” the “ruling class,” etc.

It’s very simple, actually. What this revolutionary movement is about is the creation of a US government and society truly “of the people, by the people and for the people.” In such a society we would be about racial and gender justice and equal rights; for the right to organize and unionize on the job; against militarism and for a justice-based peace; for detoxification and protection of our natural environment and a rapid shift from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels and nukes to clean, renewable energy sources; for immigrant rights, reproductive rights and an end to mass incarceration; for a Green New Deal; for quality medical care for all no matter what their age; for a true living wage for work done; for tuition-free public higher education and student debt cancellation; for substantive taxes on the billionaires and multi-multi-millionaires and major cuts in the US military budget with conversion of war industry production to peaceful purposes; and more.

Love, that’s the word. We need a government and society which makes love for the earth and its peoples central. That is what this 250th anniversary of the USA has to be about for those of us in the pro-democracy movement. Not should be about, but has to be about. This is our time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Election Protection, Movement-Style, on November 3

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All objective analyses and data point to the Democrats numerically defeating the Republicans on November 3 in at least the House of Representatives and possibly the US Senate. It is a realistic possibility that on November 4th we will wake up to learn that one or both houses of Congress will no longer be under Republican control come early January.

Without a doubt, IMHO, this is the most important issue before progressives and decent-minded people in the USA right now and up until November 3.

The Trumpfascists are making efforts to reverse their massive unpopularity, not by changing their policies but by using a variety of tactics. They lie about who the Democratic candidates really are and what they stand for. They go all-in on the “culture war” approach. They do all they can to both suppress the vote, particularly the votes of Black and Brown and Indigenous people, and/or to create such confusion and division over the way that elections are conducted that they can then somehow parlay that into maintaining control of at least the Senate. We know they will again try to enlist the support of a majority of the US Supreme Court for their nefarious and regressive purposes.

And of course they are clearly enlisting most of the billionaire class and their filthy money in this endeavor.

Arrayed against these regressive, backwards-looking political and financial forces are 1) public opinion, which is strongly opposed to most Trumpist policies and 2) the efforts of both independently organized groups all over the country in every state and the Democratic Party.

As has been true for decades, there are important “election protection” efforts to frustrate the anti-democracy and un-American groups’ efforts. Common Cause is probably the most well-known. Another one is https://protectthevote.net. Here is how they summarize their efforts:

“Every election year, we recruit, train, and deploy thousands of Election Protection volunteers across the nation. These trained, nonpartisan volunteers serve as voters’ first line of defense against confusing voting rules, outdated infrastructure, rampant misinformation, and needless obstacles to the ballot box.

“With misinformation running rampant on social media and thousands of proposed new anti-voter restrictions, we need our programs to match or exceed that effort in every election this year. This is simply an unprecedented time for our elections, and that’s why we’re asking for your help today.”

Two other important initiatives are https://goodtroubleliveson.org and https://blackpowerwarroom.com/freedom-summer.

Even more is needed this time. This time, the democracy mass movement which brought out over 8 million people in 3,300 localities in all 50 states on March 28 must be prepared to come out into the streets, specifically outside polling places, with our phones and cameras and info about who to call if and when the anti-democracy, racist groups attempt to suppress the vote.

Almost all of these groups will be made up of backwards-looking white people, predominantly white men. At least one government agency, ICE, could also be involved. These anti-democrats will likely be particularly at polling places where the forces of reaction determine they have the most chance of winning hotly-contested election campaigns for the US House and/or Senate, primarily in “red states.”

Perhaps I will be wrong about ICE’s involvement. Perhaps voting rights lawyers will be able to enjoin their direct and overt, or any other, involvement; I hope so. But we must get prepared, appreciate that the power of the people, organized, connected through social media and signal groups and with links to objective mass media sources, must visibly, intelligently and nonviolently show itself as needed at early voting and election day polling sights in late October and on November 3. Truly, the people, organized, must not be defeated this time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Agreeing to Love, Agreeing to Struggle

Future Hope,

“At the center of the universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds.”              Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.”                   Che Guevera

I was moved to look up these famous quotes by two 20th century visionaries and societal leaders as I read, not for the first time, the short book, The Four Agreements by, Don Miguel Ruiz. I was moved to read it again after seeing it recently recommended in a national magazine.

What are the four agreements?

“-BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS: Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

Ruiz explains in much fuller detail in his book that this philosophy was developed thousands of years ago in what is now southern Mexico by the Toltec people, “scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient ones.” He explains how European colonization led to this ancestral wisdom going underground, existing “in obscurity.”

Since being published in 1997, the book has sold over 15 million copies in the United States and an estimated 12 to 16 million copies worldwide. It has been published in 52 languages.

There is a great deal of wisdom in this book, with a very specific focus on how individuals who have been emotionally wounded and hurt by friends, parents, teachers, bosses or whomever can recover, “choose to follow your heart always. . . When you transform your whole dream, magic just happens in your life. What you need comes to you easily because spirit moves freely through you. This is the mastery of intent, the mastery of the spirit, the mastery of love, the mastery of gratitude, and the mastery of love. This is the goal of the Toltec. This is the path to personal freedom.”

This sure sounds good. Who wouldn’t want to be on this path? But the weakness of the book is that there was virtually nothing about the need for organized social transformation of the institutions of society so that these values can be spread far and wide, particularly the most important value of love.

Today, organized social change, revolutionary change, is needed because in so many ways the natural world, human society and all forms of life are in such deep danger. That is where Guevera’s words and Ruiz’ words connect, both calling for love, “a deep feeling of love,” as an essential both for needed personal transformation and societal transformation. Ruiz writes of “walking in the world with your heart completely open, and not be afraid to be hurt.”

Maxim Gorky in his stirring book, MOTHER, first published in 1906, envisioned in Chapter 16 what a new world could become:

“There will come a time, I know, when people will take delight in one another, when each will be like a star to the other, and when each will listen to his fellow as to music. The free people will walk upon the earth, people great in their freedom. They will walk with open hearts, and the heart of each will be pure of envy and greed, and therefore all humankind will be without malice, and there will be nothing to divorce the heart from reason. Then life will be one great service to one another! Our figures will be raised to lofty heights—for to free humankind all heights are attainable. Then we shall live in truth and freedom and in beauty, and those will be accounted the best who will the most widely embrace the world with their hearts, and whose love of it will be the profoundest; those will be the best who will be the freest; for in them is the greatest beauty. Then will life be great, and the people will be great who live that life.”

So what does all of this mean for us right now? Most immediately it has to mean all-hands-on-deck to mobilize a massive vote all over the country on November 3 to win back the House and Senate from Republican control. Then, with conditions more favorable for us at the beginning of 2027, we just keep developing, coming together, fighting on issues and exposing the Trumpfascists and their billionaire buddies for the corrupt and greedy thieves that they are. History is calling.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Not Left vs. Right but Top vs. Bottom?

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“There’s something broken in America. Our economy is broken. Our politics are broken. Even our relationships with each other feel broken. That’s because the most powerful people in the world want it that way. The biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right. It’s top vs. bottom. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them. The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and power. So their cable news networks and their social media algorithms tear us apart. They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion so we don’t notice they’re defunding our schools, gutting our healthcare, and cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It’s the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer.” 

Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico, https://jamestalarico.com/why-im-running/

I recently finished writing 10 of these columns about “21st Century Common Sense,” a relatively short overview of how I see our human realities in 2026 and what we can do about them. In so many ways, what Talarico says above is just “common sense.”

But there’s more that needs to be said about this.

As I thought about writing this column over the last few days I kept remembering an experience in Washington, DC in the early 1980s that I had as a young, progressive activist and organizer. I was there as part of a couple of days of rallying and lobbying around issues of racial justice organized by the National Anti-Klan Network, led by long time African American leader Rev. CT Vivian. Vivian began his anti-segregation, anti-racist activism in 1947 at the age of 23. He worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 50s and 60s. He passed on at the age of 95 in 2020.

I remember sitting at a table with him and others at one point, and I said something essentially consistent with what Talarico said, that we need to bring together black and white working people in order to bring about needed change.

Vivian responded, saying that the problem with looking at it that way is the reality of virulent racist ideas and actions of too many white working-class people. We need to work with other white people, he implied, who may be more middle- or higher-class but who get it on the need to speak out and take action on racism.

Today, 45 or so years later, it is very clear that the problems of racism, sexism and heterosexism have not been solved. The fact that Donald Trump is President, alone, underlines that fact.

But it’s also true there is a much more extensive network, a larger number of people, tens of millions of us, who get it on these issues and are willing to take action on them. The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in June of 2020 led to upwards of 25 million people taking action in the streets all over the country. And the fact that an African-American man was elected President twice in 2008 and 2012 is another big example.

Obama’s election victories, while welcome given the Republican alternatives, helped somewhat to strengthen this anti-racist trend in US life, but it is questionable how much it helped to do what Talarico, and many others, myself included, believe in and are working for. The fact that he was no Bernie Sanders when it came to his administration’s economic policies and programs led to significant loss of support from white workers over the course of his eight years in office. A Gallup poll report in 2014, for example, put it this way:

“President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among white non-college graduates is at 27% so far in 2014, 14 percentage points lower than among white college graduates. This is the largest yearly gap between these two groups since Obama took office. These data underscore the magnitude of the Democratic Party’s problem with working-class whites, among whom Obama lost in the 2012 presidential election, and among whom Democratic House candidates lost in the 2014 U.S. House voting by 30 points.”

Talarico and all of us who see ourselves as progressives need to be about a different “top vs. bottom” in this third decade of the 21st century. On the one hand, we do need to emphasize this point as we go about our work, actively emphasizing that working people or all colors, cultures and nationalities must consciously join forces against the billionaire class and do so with urgency. At the same time, we need to unite in a way which takes into account the very real issues which have kept us divided and fighting each other.

As I put it in one of my 21st Century Common Sense columns:

 “The major divisions keeping the working class separated are racism, sexism and heterosexism. As a popular alliance emerges that unites the movements of people of color, the women’s movement, the lgbtq+ movement, the climate and environmental movement, young people, and the progressive elements of the labor movement and community-based working-class based movements, there is an arena for popular education on these and other divisive and backwards-looking ideologies. In the process of working together around commonly felt issues of concern, people grow and change. This can only benefit the working class.”

What we need is an alliance where we all do our best to be good listeners, to respect and learn from one another so we can consciously unite “the bottom.”

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Racist Redistricting Response: Historic Voter Turnout November 3

Future Hope, , , ,

The election redistricting decisions made last week by the Virginia Supreme Court, by a 4-3 margin, and the US Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, have outraged, depressed and/or confused millions of US American voters, while temporarily, at least, energizing racists and Trump supporters. But there’s been no substantive change in the polling numbers for Trump. Averaging out the latest polls reported on this week by CNN, The Economist, Reuters and Financial Times, Trump is disapproved by 59% and supported by only 38%.

As important is the issue of who is most motivated to vote. A poll several months ago reported that those leaning Democratic are more motivated to vote compared to those learning Republican by an almost 2-1 margin, something like 49% to 27%. This is not a small thing.

It is important to keep these facts in mind as we continue forward toward the historic November 3 election day. But what happens on that day is too important not to take seriously this redistricting challenge.

It is possible that legal challenges to these court decisions will have some impact in lessening their impact, but we can in no way depend on that happening. The odds aren’t good.

The most important thing radicals, progressives, liberals and other people who support democracy can do is to get involved with voter outreach and communication efforts all over the country. This means doing phone-calling. It means “getting on the doors,” knocking on them and talking to as many people as possible about how important this election is.

Sometimes this will mean relating to those alienated from the system as a whole, for very good reasons, but explaining why the Trumpfascists are such a threat to so many of us that they should vote against Republican House and Senate candidates even if they’re skeptical it will change things or don’t like the Democrats.

Sometimes it will mean talking for 5-10 or more minutes if people aren’t sure what to do because they’ve voted for Trump in the past. We need to have the patience and the discipline to listen, take what they are saying seriously, and do our best to make them feel not dissed but supported in their efforts to rectify past mistakes. People can change!

White anti-racist activists have a particular role to play. In those southern states where much of the hurried efforts are taking place to redraw House of Representatives lines to try to eliminate Black members as much as possible, we need to take on those who are doing this and those who are supporting it. We need to combine our belief, on the one hand, in the need for continued steps to be taken, electorally and non-electorally, to improve the lives of Black, Brown and Indigenous people, those historically disenfranchised and most oppressed, with support for government policies that benefit working-class and low-income people of all colors, cultures and nationalities.

We won’t reach white people influenced by historic racism by making them feel guilty. We’ll do so only by doing our best to get them to see that solidarity is the way forward for all of us, for all working people against the billionaire and multi-multi-millionaire class.

And turnout is key! Orban in Hungary was defeated and his opposition big winners last month because close to 80% of the eligible voting population turned out to do so. If that same thing, or close to it, happened in the USA on, or in early voting before, November 3, the results would likely be similar. The Dems would control both the House and the Senate, almost certainly, with a strengthened progressive wing. The political playing field would be very different than it has been for the last year and a half. Trump and the Republicans would be seriously weakened; not fully defeated but much less able to do the things they are now doing.

Less than six months to go! It won’t be the revolution, but it will be immensely empowering and hopeful for people everywhere. Let’s defeat the Trumpfascists!

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Revolutionary Social Change That Lasts — or, 21st Century Common Sense #10 and Conclusion

Future Hope, , , ,

“It is not enough to be against Donald Trump and MAGA, or against the control of both major parties in the USA by destructive corporate power, or even to be committed to hard work for the next eight and a half [now 6] months here in the USA to defeat the billionaire-supporting, would-be dictator Donald Trump. Our problems are too deep to accept this essential next step as the ultimate goal. Short-term, essential goal yes, but looking at things historically, it can only be the first major step in a fundamental, revolutionary process that over time not just saves the planet and its people but, at long last, matches our desires as a species with the way that we organize ourselves, economically, politically, culturally and socially.” 

21st Century Common Sense, Part 1, February 2026

I believe, I really do believe, that it is (still) possible that this world can be turned upside down, in the way Jesus of Nazareth meant in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, among other things, in Luke 20-21: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. . . Woe to you who are rich. . . for you will mourn and weep.”

Why do I believe this?

My reading of history, in all its positive and negative aspects, inclines me toward feeling hopeful, just as I am fully aware that we have many rivers to cross and mountains to climb and descend until human society becomes, worldwide, finally, what it can become.

Orban in Hungary being defeated is hopeful. The changes brought about in US society because of the Black Freedom movement of the 50s, 60s and beyond make me hopeful. The changes brought about by the women’s movement in so many ways in so many places in the world make me hopeful. The MAGA Republicans being overwhelmingly defeated in various local and state and special elections all over the country since Trump was elected in 2024: this is very important for us to remember and internalize.

I am encouraged when I read in the April, 2026 issue of Scientific American an article based on research entitled, “The Kids Are All Right,” that “youth are more empathetic and less narcissistic than in the past, as well as more open-minded and inclusive. Drug use is down, youth violence has dropped and teen pregnancies have declined. IQs have gone up, and kids exhibit more self-restraint and patience than they did 50 years ago.” And then there are youth organizations like the Sunrise Movement which have shown real staying power and organizing ability over the last 10 years.

There are the tens of millions of people of all colors and cultures in thousands of localities who took to the streets in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by local police in Minneapolis. There are the successive wave of nationally coordinated actions of resistance to Trumpfascism beginning the day before he took office and continuing ever since up to the latest No Kings action on March 28, with over 8 million people coming out in 3300 localities.

But the ultimate reason why I believe that we have a fighting chance to truly bring into being a very different, much more just and democratic world is the fact that, for the first time ever, our earth, this wonderful third planet from this solar system’s sun, is facing a common enemy that can only be defeated by our peoples joining together: the worldwide climate crisis, caused primarily by the coal, oil and gas industries and their blind supporters in government, like Trump.

Most people get it on the existential seriousness of this crisis. According to a public opinion survey conducted in 2024: “Four out of five people around the world (80 percent) want more climate action from their country. They also seek global unity in responding to the crisis, with 86 percent agreeing that their countries should set aside geopolitical differences, such as those regarding trade and security, and work together on climate change. There is a clear expectation that governments need to lead and strengthen their commitments to address climate change, with a resounding 89 percent of people wanting to see more climate action from their governments.”

These opinions, combined with the many positive reasons to get off fossil fuels and onto renewables—like saving money, reducing air, water and land pollution, job creation—have been translating into worldwide action for many years. Here’s what the International Energy Agency reports:

“Global energy investment in 2025 is set to reach a record $3.3 trillion, with over $2.2 trillion directed toward clean energy—including renewables, grids, storage, and efficiency—which is double the $1.1 trillion invested in fossil fuels. Solar photovoltaics (PV) lead all energy sources in investment, while total energy transition investment reached a record $2.3 trillion.”

And check this out, from an AI Overview: “The 2026 war in the Middle East, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has severely disrupted global energy markets and catalyzed an urgent shift to renewable energy, transforming energy security into a, if not the, top policy priority. With nearly 20 million barrels of oil stalled daily, countries are moving beyond short-term energy rationing to accelerate long-term investments in solar, wind, and battery storage to gain independence from volatile chokepoints.”

Would a successful “urgent shift to renewable energy” mean that the USA and the world have become the much more just and democratic societies that we can become? No, it would not, but such a successful energy revolution, taking place in major part because of the demand of masses of people from below, will empower all of us, literally allow us to breathe better. It should stimulate a continuation of other world-changing actions to eliminate hunger, reverse the destruction of animal and plant species, provide adequate homes and worthwhile jobs, free and good healthcare for all and so many other positive things. A huge weight will be lifted from us, the weight of so many of us afraid to have children or afraid for the world our children and grandchildren and the seven generations after us will inherit.

I really do believe all of this is possible. I believe that we can win.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.