Category Archives: Future Hope

Elections Reflections

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Yesterday’s election results are tremendously positive and hopeful for democratic socialists, progressives, liberals and just plain democracy lovers. The Trump regime was soundly defeated in important elections all across the country. The people made history!

I woke up this morning wanting to reflect on the issue of elections, not so much from the standpoint of winners and losers but as a cultural/political phenomenon, how important they are on both personal and societal levels.

As I’ve grown older I have been doing a lot of grassroots, person-to-person electoral work, door-knocking and talking to people for months leading up to and on election day. This year I did it exclusively in my town of Bloomfield, NJ, a small town of about 50,000 people, historically a white working-class suburb of Newark but now a very multi-racial, multi-cultural, mainly commuter town.

I saw many thousands of these sister/brother/sibling townspeople over the last five days at early voting and election day voting sites. I was outside on the street for about 30 hours observing and interacting with this beautiful mix of people of different colors, languages and ages, all taking part in the USA voting process, standing in line together, talking with one another, sometimes exchanging hugs and handshakes with those they knew. Some were MAGA supporters and others were very much on the opposite end of the political spectrum, but I didn’t see or hear of any major conflicts or fights as we all stood in line to vote or interacted on our way to and from the polls.

Then there were the parents bringing children, wonderful, energetic young children learning very experientally about democracy and election day, knowledge that will develop and deepen as long as this way, this special way of choosing government leaders, continues to be the USA norm.

There were the old and disabled making their way, some very slowly and carefully, to get into the voting site. I am always inspired as I see these folk putting themselves out because they clearly believe it is important for them to do so, important to take part in this ritual of democracy. Several people yesterday couldn’t walk, were in wheelchairs that had to be pushed by others. They were determined to get into that polling site and do their part on this one day to keep democracy alive and well.

As we know, the Trumpists want to destroy democracy, make the process of voting harder and harder especially for Black, Latino/a and Indigenous people, students and low-income people—the working-class majority. They want to take us back to the days before Black people had the right to vote in the South, before the Voting Rights Act. They want Brown and Black people to feel so afraid and intimidated by ICE and the Border Patrol and other agents of repression that they stay in their homes on election day.

I think they’re going to fail at that, overall. There are literally millions of us prepared to take risks to defend these sisters and brothers and to defend democracy. Over time, many of us understand that this democracy is in need of serious reform to become much more democratic through public financing of elections, ranked-choice voting, proportional representation and more.

In the meantime, as we work with the democracy we have, let’s draw strength from what happened yesterday, not just on the big, national macro level—Trump Must Go!—but on the very local levels where the US American people once again showed that we, the people, not the billionaires, not the fascists, not the would-be kings, ultimately are the ultimate deciders.

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.

The Supreme Court Is Not Above the Law Either

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“I think we can do a lot, if a critical mass of organizations steps forward and develops a plan to go public and visible calling out the undemocratic and dangerous reality of what the Supreme Court majority is doing, particularly these shadowy, opaque, undemocratic ‘emergency’ decisions. Just like we have had and will be having, on October 18, successful mass actions of millions in the streets around the country calling for No Kings, worker justice, women’s rights, climate justice, racial justice and more, it is time for such a nationally coordinated action sometime this fall focused on this issue.”

This is what I wrote in a column about a month ago about the Supreme Court. Now that the mass mobilization for October 18 is over, as will be the fall elections as of November 5, I think, at that time, there’s a need for a much closer look at what an activist strategy could be to call out the conservative/MAGA majority on the Supreme Court.

I am fully aware that it is very rare for progressives to do something like this. There is understandable concern that doing so could be seen as “inappropriate,” or “too risky,” or “bad strategy.” After all, in the US system of government, judges have a lot of power. To some extent they are seen as, and often are, above the fray of politics, something seen as often corrupt and dishonest by a lot of people, on the right, left and center.

Of course, “above the fray of politics” sure doesn’t apply to this usually-Trump-supporting Supreme Court.

Just in the last few months I have considered with others active in the climate movement whether we should publicly demonstrate calling for a key judicial body, not the Supreme Court, to do the right thing when it comes to a long-term campaign we are leading. We collectively decided it wasn’t the right thing to do.

But it’s different with this Supreme Court. First, there’s the fact that it was very much “politics” that is responsible for the 6-3 conservative majority. Two of the conservatives, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Conan Barrett, obtained their seats because of Republican Party political hypocrisy and raw power politics. Following Antonin Scalia’s death on February 13, 2016 and President Obama’s subsequent nomination of Merrick Garland to replace him, Senate Republicans refused to hold a hearing and vote on that nomination, saying it was too close to the upcoming Presidential election eight months later! This led to the seat being vacant for 14 months until Trump, in 2017, nominated Neil Gorsuch.

Conan Barrett was nominated only 40 days, not eight months, before the 2020 election to replace the deceased Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Republicans didn’t care then about it being “too close” to a Presidential election, and she was confirmed.

So what would be the objective of some kind of activist campaign, or even just a national day of action, focused on the Supreme Court?

One would be, for sure, to remind the country of how Gorsuch and Conan Barrett were nominated, the hypocrisy involved which has led to a court now “out of balance” when it comes to representing the differing views of US law as well as the reality of US public opinion.

Another would be to draw attention to proposals that have been made to address the fundamental unfairness of the present Supreme Court reality. The most broadly-supported proposal, the TRUST Act (Transparency and Responsibility in Upholding Standards in the Judiciary) was put forward this spring by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Hank Johnson. It is co-sponsored by 26 Senators and 10 House members.

When might a national day, or national week, of action happen? It’d be good if it happened soon, but there are plenty of current fights that need a lot of support, and then there are the holidays, so sometime in the new year seems more realistic.

How about this? March 8 and March 15 are the birthdays of two deceased but still important Supreme Court justices: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. on the 8th, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on March 15. March 8 is also International Women’s Day.

Ginsburg was the second woman in US history to serve on the Supreme Court, so there’s a definite connection there.

Here’s what the Wikipedia entry for Holmes summarizes as his main contributions legally: “Holmes is one of the most widely cited and influential Supreme Court justices in American history, noted for his long tenure on the Court and for his pithy opinions – particularly those on civil liberties and American constitutional democracy – and deference to the decisions of elected legislatures.” Wow, very timely for sure!

Just like Trump, the Supreme Court is not above the law!

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.

October 18, November 4: World Changing?

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Many millions on the streets this Saturday all over the country loudly proclaiming: No Kings! Yes to Democracy!–followed on November 4th by victories for Mamdani in NYC, Sherrill in NJ, Spanberger in Virginia, redistricting in California, and more–could this be truly “world changing?”

On one level, no. This is not a Presidential election year or a Congressional election year. It’s an off-year electorally.

But it’s not an off-year politically. The battle is fully joined between the forces of democracy and the forces of authoritarianism, between the resistance and blind Trumpism. And because of this, what happens over the next three weeks could be a decisive turning point, victories for the significant majority of US Americans who are saddened and outraged by the lying, divisive, destructive and dangerous Trump federal government and its billionaire co-conspirators.. .

Think about it: potentially the biggest mass demonstration  ever in the USA, in every single state and literally thousands of localities, organized by a broadly-based progressive/liberal/independent coalition of hundreds of organizations that is not going away. That alone is a huge thing at this challenging time for the US and the world.

A Zohran Mamdani victory in itself will be a huge deal, a non-sectarian, democratic socialist becoming the Mayor of the country’s largest city, the financial capitol, a melting pot of diverse peoples and nationalities and which often leads the country as far as political shifts.

Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger winning the Governor races in their states will not be the same thing. Neither are consistently progressive, definitely not socialists, but there’s no question that many people to their left support them over the Trump-supporting Republican opponents. Combined with October 18 and a Mamdani victory and continued progressive organizing at the grassroots, that will make a difference in how they govern.

If California comes through and neutralizes Texas’ brazen, Trump-pushed, Congressional redistricting plan to try to gain 5 more Republican House seats from Texas next November, that will be important both practically and politically.

There’s something else, less visible and obvious but critical, that must be said about why we are at this point, why the popular resistance movement for democracy, justice and our threatened ecosystems is at this historic moment: we have learned how to unite.

It’s not unity based on following one great individual, usually a man. It’s not unity concerned very little with the internal culture, the health, of the organizations that make it up–just the opposite, in general. A critical mass of us of all ages, nationalities, genders and classes have internalized positive values and ways of working together which are making a huge difference in how we have responded, and will keep responding, to the efforts to impose a form of 21st century fascism in the USA.

The Trumpists are in trouble, and they know it. That’s why, one week before No Kings! Day, House leader Mike Johnson and others began publicly attacking it, lying about who we are and what we are about, trying to scare people away from coming out that day.

It’s not going to happen! There ain’t no power like the power of the people, united and organized, and when we are, nothing and no one can defeat us. Si, se puede!

Jane Goodall: “Fight to the Very End”

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“I have no doubt that we have the tools to make the change, but do we have the will to make the change? It seems with some of the top politicians and corrupt corporations there’s no such will. We need to reach people’s hearts. If millions, billions of people do little things it makes big change. That’s the main message of Roots and Shoots.

“Above all, I want you to think about the fact that we are part—when we’re on Planet Earth—we are part of Mother Nature. We depend on Mother Nature for clean air, for water, for food, for clothing, for everything. And as we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow.

“You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up. There is a future for you. Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth.”

-Netflix interview: Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall’s death last week affected me emotionally in ways that surprised me. I’ve known of her, of course, for a very long time. I heard her speak many years ago at  Rutgers University and remember generally liking what I heard. But she hasn’t been someone I’ve worked with or even seen in places where I’ve been over my 22 years of activism on the deepening climate crisis.

However, watching the Netflix interview with her conducted six months ago a couple of days after she died was deeply affecting. Her decades-long dedication to the cause of preserving life on earth and fighting those—“top politicians and corrupt corporations [who are] destroying one ecosystem after another”—was unmistakable. She understood the importance of young people becoming active in large numbers, helping them do so through the Roots and Shoots program. Her deep wisdom and love for all life forms, informed by a similarly deep spirituality, shone clearly throughout. And she understood that the way social change comes about is through large numbers of people—“millions, billions”—taking action on a daily basis.

In the interview she also shared very wise words about how to interact with those who disagree with you. She spoke about the importance of not being either aggressive or overly intellectual, “from the brain,” but instead being empathetic to reach people’s hearts. She referenced how she had observed within chimpanzee societies in Africa that group leaders, always male it seemed, who became leaders because they were aggressive didn’t live as long as less aggressive, more sensitive and group-centered leaders.

It is sad to realize that Goodall will not be with us physically as we fight Trump and all the others who mis-lead through bombast, threats and environmentally and humanly destructive policies and actions. But she was very firm in the belief that after her physical death she would still be around, that her spirit, her consciousness, would not die.

My view of “life after death” is that each of us lives on—or not—in the hearts and minds of other people, based upon what we have done with our lives while on earth, what we have said and done, how we have given of our time and energies for others, how much we have lived by adherence to the principles of higher love. There is no question that Jane Goodall will live on in that way within people all over the world for a very long time, strengthening and prodding us.

Goodall didn’t pull any punches about our dire situation, but she was a fighter. Here’s how she put it in the interview:

“Even if this is the end of humanity as we know it, let’s fight to the very end. Let the children know that there is hope if they get together. It’s better to go on fighting to the end than to just give up. . . I have no doubt that we have the tools to make the change, but do we have the will to make the change?”

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.

Repression and Militarism: Great Distractions for a Weakening Regime

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The speeches by Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump today to 800 or so top US military leaders around the world, combined with the farcical indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and the promise of more of them, have accomplished one thing so far: pushing the Trump/Epstein relationship far down in the news. Is there any doubt that this is one of the prime motivations behind this repression and militarism initiative?

It’s similar with the deployment and threatened deployment of National Guard and US troops to cities run by Democratic mayors.

And though the racist campaign to criminalize and deport people of color without proper legal documents, a big majority with no criminal record, has been underway for many months, it also helps to deter Epstein/inflation/poor polling news coverage, as well as to provide “red meat” to the hardcore MAGA’s.

I just looked at a video of Hegseth and Trumps’ speeches, not every word but enough to get the basic gist of what they said and how they said it. My main takeaways:

-Hegseth was every bit the macho male; into projecting power and domination both personally and what he demanded the “War Department” get back to being, as distinct from the “woke,” “fat,” pro-DEI, concerned-about-climate-disruption organization he saw it as having become. He wants a war-fighting machine ready to go into action immediately on behalf of the Trump vision of a world dominated by him.

-Trump didn’t look so good. He looked tired. He rambled. As distinct from Hegseth’s toxic energy, he was distinctly low energy. He was no inspiring President, that’s for sure. Maybe in the back of his mind, somewhere in that twisted brain, he was haunted by how he had used his upper-class position and so-terrible bone spurs to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war, or the time he called those who died in war “suckers and losers.” He did not seem at ease.

Remember that one of Trump’s major issues during his Presidential campaign was that he would get the US out of the Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine wars, or end them, “on day one.” Make no mistake: some of those who voted for him are noticing that over his first eight months in office he is doing the exact opposite while now going full-militarist with a $70 billion or more increase from this year to next in the already-way-too-large US military budget.

As far as the Comey indictment, many analysts think it’s likely the weak and problematic case will be another defeat for Trump. We will see. But that won’t stop Dictator Don; it’s clear that the Trump/Vance/Miller/MAGA forces have every intention of trying to convict and imprison those considered the most responsible for his two impeachments and indictments/trials/convictions in the courts.

Meanwhile, as far as the latest polling, here is how Nate Silver put it today in the Silver Bulletin:

“This has been a bad week for Trump when it comes to the polls. He began the week with a net approval rating of -7.5 in the Silver Bulletin average. He’s sitting at -9.4 as of today, but his net approval fell all the way to -10.0 (essentially tied for his second term low) earlier in the week. Is this the beginning of a downward trend? . . .

“Whatever the reason, the share of Americans who strongly disapprove of the job Trump is doing is also back up to its second term high of 43.4 percent. For comparison, only 26.1 percent of Americans strongly approve of Trump.”

Repression and militarism: two sides of same coin, all about scaring and intimidating those seen as enemies. That’s how hate-filled and divisive Trump sees those of us who believe in democracy and justice and who are willing to fight against those who are trying to destroy them.

All out for No Kings! on October 18th!

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.

Supremely Courting Authoritarian Rule

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“Perhaps the degradation of our rule-of-law regime would happen anyway,” Jackson wrote. “But this Court’s complicity in the creation of a culture of disdain for lower courts, their rulings, and the law (as they interpret it) will surely hasten the downfall of our governing institutions, enabling our collective demise.”

-Supreme Court Justice Katanji Jackson, July 10, 2025

Eight months into Trumpist/MAGA rule, the broadly-based resistance to that rule is standing strong. There is no question that the Trumpist plan was to so overwhelm us within six or so months, “flooding the zone” with one attack and lie after the other, such that, by now, they would be well on their way to their objective of permanent, authoritarian rule of the USA with all that this would mean for the world.

Early in February I wrote a column which listed five areas of focused work which, together, could make it possible for us to successfully prevent this objective of the regime: street heat, local/state/federal government pressure, legal action/the courts, media and publicity and outreach. Overall, I think we’ve done well in all these areas. We are clearly still on the defensive and will be until at least the November, 2026 elections, but we have also clearly won a number of victories, among them the political fact that Trump’s polling numbers are way down. Much of what the MAGA’s are trying to do is very unpopular.

What about the legal challenges to Trump’s many (321) Executive Orders? Here’s what the Associated Press reports as of yesterday as far as what has happened to them: 321 have been filed. 138 have been partial or full victories for the democratic forces. 91 were losses; the EO’s were “left in effect.” And 92 are pending.

An optimist would look at these numbers and correctly say that 71.5% were either victories of some kind or still pending. A pessimist would say that 57% were either losses or still pending. But there’s a deeper issue that needs to be assessed: the shadow docket, where the Court majority makes “emergency” decisions without explaining publicly why they are doing so. 

An NBC article yesterday reported on the results of this deeply concerning—and un-American—way that this particular Supreme Court, dominated by MAGA supporters and conservatives, has been advancing the Trumpist agenda:

“So far, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on an emergency basis 28 times, according to an NBC News tally. It has lost only two. Four cases are pending, although the court issued temporary wins to the government in one of them while it decides the next steps to take. Three others resulted in no decision.

“The limited number of emergency requests compared with the total number of cases indicates the administration has been wary of rushing to the justices on issues where even a conservative majority receptive to some of its aggressive assertions of executive power may push back.”

Emergency requests and decisions have dramatically increased under the Roberts Supreme Court, and it is certain that there will be more going forward.

Katanji Jackson, in a 15 page dissent to an “emergency” decision on the issue of birthright citizenship, said this:

“The Court has cleared a path for the Executive to choose law-free action at this perilous moment for our Constitution—right when the Judiciary should be hunkering down to do all it can to preserve the law’s constraints.” she wrote. “I have no doubt that, if judges must allow the Executive to act unlawfully in some circumstances, as the Court concludes today, executive lawlessness will flourish.”

So what can the progressive resistance movement do about this?

I think we can do a lot, if a critical mass of organizations steps forward and develops a plan to go public and visible calling out the undemocratic and dangerous reality of what the Supreme Court majority is doing, particularly these shadowy, opaque, undemocratic “emergency” decisions. Just like we have had and will be having, on October 18, successful mass actions of millions in the streets around the country calling for No Kings, worker justice, women’s rights, climate justice, racial justice and more, it is time for such a nationally coordinated action sometime this fall focused on this issue.

Resistance activists and supporters in the mass media and social media should be all over this one. It’s fundamental to all that we are fighting for. Elected officials need to be speaking up. Every way that we have to educate and activate should be used.

It’s time to bring Supreme Court allowance of “executive lawlessness” out into the open as a major issue.

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.

Charlie Kirk

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I knew almost nothing about Charlie Kirk when he was killed on September 10th, other than that he was a leading organizer and thought leader for MAGA. One of the first things I saw in my email inbox about him after that misguided, violent act that took his life referenced the fact that he publicly supported dialogue between the Left and the Right. Here’s that quote, prominent on his website: “We heal our divides by talking to people we disagree with. . . You heal the country when you allow disagreement.”

I agree with these words. To what extent he acted upon these words I do not know.

I do know that he was a huge Trump backer and enabler, and Trump is all about division and hate. I wonder if Kirk ever said a word of criticism about this fact about the man he helped elect President and whose policies he advocated for until he died.

USA Today came out with an article after he died summarizing what can only be called his racist, sexist, homophobic views: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2025/09/11/what-did-charlie-kirk-believe/86101407007/.

It remains to be seen how many Trump/MAGA supporters follow what Kirk said about healing the country through allowing disagreement and talking to those we disagree with. The Republican Governor of Utah, where the killing took place, seems to have done so, to his credit.

For those of us on the political Left, the Kirk murder and Trump’s efforts to use it to ratchet up attacks on us, using a very broad, hysterical brush, should be just the latest lesson about the importance of nonviolent tactics as we continue to strengthen our resistance movement.

It appears as if Kirk’s alleged killer was not a Leftist. His family appears to be very Republican and pro-Trump. Perhaps as he went out on his own he was exposed to ideas and facts he had not known about before, but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have been exposed to the importance of nonviolence and dialogue in efforts to oppose what is seen as wrong.

I’m not a pacifist. I support people defending themselves, their family and their community as necessary against violence of any kind. But acts like those alleged to have been taken by Tyler Robinson are not self-defense; they are self-defeating and destructive.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed the way forward, with active and militant, mass nonviolence at the center of that way. In his famous “Beyond Vietnam” speech at Riverside Church in NYC in April, 1967, he said this: “We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Charlie Kirk did not like King. He said the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake. About King he reportedly said, “MLK was awful. He was not a good person.” I wish Kirk was still alive so that, perhaps, someday, through dialogue with people who disagreed with him, he would have changed his mind.

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.

Trump Down, and There Is Hope at the Grassroots

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How is Trump doing in the polls? Over the last week and a half, averaging polls done by CBS, NBC, The Economist, Reuters/Ipsos and Quinnipiac, he is doing terribly: an average approval rating of 41.6% and a disapproval rating of 55.4%. He is down 14 points.

As significant, however, are the results from the Quinnipiac poll as far as strength of support for Trump. Those polled were asked if they strongly approved, or strongly disapproved. Here the margin widened by a lot: only 28% approve of Trump, compared to 49% disapproving.

I was struck by these numbers when first hearing about them last week. I remembered back to the lowest point for Richard Nixon as the Watergate criminal conspiracy unraveled and Congress was moving toward impeachment. This led to Nixon’s ultimate resignation in August, 1974, 21 months after he had won re-election in a landslide, garnering 61% of the vote and winning 49 states.

What were Nixon’s approval numbers in July of 1974? 25%, just three points less than Trump’s “strong approval” numbers.

This is a big deal.

The Quinnipiac polling on issues was similar. By a 60 to 32 percent margin, those polled opposed US military aid to Israel. By a 55-37% margin, people disapproved of Trump’s handling of the job of President. By a large 62-37% margin, people disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. But the largest margin was on handling the Epstein files: 19% in support to 67% disapproving.

I was surprised by these margins when I learned about all of this last week, but it fits with my sense of what is going on in the country and my experiences interacting with other people, which I’ve just done a lot of. For eight weeks between mid-July and yesterday, I was either at a week of family reunions in Virginia, traveling in my 2018 Chevrolet Bolt electric car out to Montana to visit my son, daughter-in-law and 4 year old grandson, spending five weeks with them, or returning home to New Jersey over 2,300 miles in our car.

One of the reasons my wife and I decided to travel this way was to experience very directly areas of the country we had never been to or not been to for a long time. We hoped all would go well mechanically, as well as our interactions with people along the way as we stopped to charge the car, camp or stay overnight in motels, eat in restaurants, get food and drink during rest stops and then, in southwest Montana, interact with others for the five weeks we were there.

I returned with a lot more hope about this country than I had before this trip. In the 12 states we went through or spent time in, most of them “red” or “purple,” we saw and heard very few signs of much support for Trump and his authoritarian government. I would estimate that, in all those eight weeks and thousands of miles, we saw no more than a dozen Trump signs and even fewer Trump hats or t-shirts being worn. People overwhelmingly were polite to us, as we were to them. There was virtually no evidence from these very many brief encounters that the USA at the grassroots has become a nasty, brutish, mean place.

I am sure that if we had gotten into ideological/political discussions with the people we interacted with, most of them of European descent, that there would have been some disagreements and tensions, but my sense is if that, even when that were true, there would have been some points of agreement to be found.

Trump and his regime are in big trouble, and they know it. Our resistance movement is winning victories and putting up a strong fight on local, state and national levels. The US American people as a whole are clearly open to and supportive of our message. Let’s keep building and growing that movement, incorporating more and more people into it who have never been activists before. That is a central, continuing task if we are serious about truly revolutionary change, in the very best 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.

Thomas Paine, Working-Class Hero

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“In ‘Common Sense,’ Thomas Paine defines common sense as the fundamental ability of all people to reason and discern truth, regardless of social standing or education. He argues that this innate capacity, when applied to political matters, reveals the absurdity of hereditary monarchy and the necessity of self-governance based on the consent of the governed. Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ is a call to action, urging colonists to reject British rule and embrace republicanism, a system of government where power resides in the people.”      AI Overview 

Labor Day is almost here, and demonstrations against Trumpfascism and in support of the right to organize and join unions and collective bargaining are taking place all over the country. Given the reactionary attacks on workers and unions by the Trump regime, it would be fitting to remember at this time one of the heroes of the USA anti-colonial revolution that began 250 years ago: Thomas Paine.

Tom Paine, more than any other leader of that revolution, was a working-class hero. Unlike many of the other leading figures of that time, he wasn’t a landowner or a slaveholder or a man of wealth. Indeed, he was openly against slavery, and for much of  his life he struggled to make a decent income.

Paine’s primary occupation was as a writer. He is most well known for the writing of the short but popularly written, powerful book, “Common Sense,” in 1776, a book which inspired broadly-based support for the revolutionary cause at a time when it was badly needed.

But he was a very special kind of writer. He deliberately joined the Continental Army in Valley Forge, Pa. in the brutal winter of 1777-78 at a time when the odds against that army winning were very long. He did so to help keep up the army’s morale and, from that vantage point, wrote a series of essays published and widely distributed as The American Crisis. In the very first issue he wrote this stirring passage, still appropriate today:

 “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 by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

What was Paine’s specific vision for human society? Long after the successful defeat of British colonialism in “the colonies,” he wrote this passage in “Rights of Man, Part the Second”: “When it shall be said in any country in the world that my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness—when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and its government.”

One of the most comprehensive and well written books about Paine is a book, ‘Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution and the Birth of Modern Nations,’ by Craig Nelson, published in 2006. It explains Paine’s life within the times in which he lived, “enlightenment” times which had and continue to have very real impacts. He concludes the book with words that are almost painfully relevant to our situation in the USA in the year 2025:

“Anyone needing to be reminded of core Enlightenment beliefs—that government can only be empowered by its citizens; that such citizens are born with certain natural rights; that none are born superior to any other; that all will be treated equally before the law; and that the state has a duty to help the neediest of its people—reading Paine offers a political and spiritual inspiration, one that has driven men and women to achieve greatness across history. Of Paine’s many reasons for daring to publish work for which he could have been hanged or guillotined in the United Colonies, the United Kingdom, or France, this legacy is his glory.”

The US resistance movement fighting the Trump regime’s effort to destroy everything Thomas Paine stood for and fought for, and more, will be stronger if we raise him up more and more over the coming months as we approach the 250th anniversary on July 4th next year of the issuing of the Declaration of Independence. There’s no question which side he would be on if he was alive today.

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.

Self-Determination for Eastern Ukraine?

Future Hope, , , ,

Completely absent in any of the governmental efforts for the last three and a half years to end the war on Ukraine is the issue of self-determination as it relates concretely to where the on-the-ground war and the huge percentage of casualties are primarily happening.

The principle of nations having the right to make decisions about the form and nature of their governments goes back over 100 years and has long been upheld by the United Nations and most of the world’s governments.

When it comes to the Russia/Ukraine war this principle clearly applies to Ukraine’s efforts to defend its territory, economy and form of government from Russia’s 2022 military invasion, intended to extinguish Ukraine as a self-determining country.

But so far, from neither the United Nations nor any other country, has the concept of self-determination been applied to the reality that it is in eastern Ukraine, the four provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, where the path to a just and peaceful end to this terrible war lies. Following a ceasefire and other necessary steps to prepare for them, there should be binding referendums under United Nations supervision so that each of these four provinces can decide whether they want to be part of Russia or part of Ukraine.

It would be essential that these referendums be under the auspices of a neutral entity, which is why the United Nations is the logical choice.

Is this point of view pro-Ukrainian or pro-Russian? It seems to me it is neither. Neither side wants to risk losing territory it considers to be its own via a popular vote which would put the stamp of political legitimacy on the results. Of course, the alternative seems to be a continuation for years if not decades of destructive and dangerous military conflict, tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars wasted and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of additional deaths.

Would the implementation of such a deal set a precedent for situations elsewhere in the world where there is conflict over territory between more-or-less distinct peoples? It probably would, but is such a precedent a bad thing? In a world where democracy is under threat by fascists and authoritarians, a successful application of the democratic principle of self-determination would be a ray of light, a hopeful development.

Is there an alternative that is more just, more likely of success, more likely to end this brutal, destructive and dangerous war and allow for positive economic and social rebuilding? That must be the objective.

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.