Tag Archives: democracy

Elections Reflections

Future Hope, , , ,

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

Future Hope, , , ,

“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.

Repression and Militarism: Great Distractions for a Weakening Regime

Future Hope, , , ,

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.

Trump Must Go!

Future Hope, , , ,

“Millions” and “2.3 million”—these are the numbers I am seeing from national organizers of the historic April 5 Hands Off demonstrations yesterday in 1300 or more localities around the country, with some in other countries. What a stirring, hopeful, powerful day!!!

It’s time to raise our sights. It’s time for an explicit movement calling for Trump to go.

Soon after the November elections I wrote about how difficult the next two years were going to be, with Republican control of the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. My vision was that by the time of the off-year Congressional elections Trump his co-conspirators would have exposed themselves as the frauds and liars that they are and they would lose at least the House. But the incredibly historic political uprising that we have seen in our country since January 20th, in just 75 days, HAS TO move us to set our sights higher.

We need a multi-faceted, multi-tactical, pro-democracy movement which leads with a demand that Donald Trump must be removed. He must resign or be impeached, for the third time.

How realistic is this? It’s certainly a long shot that either of those two things will happen, but the odds are a lot better today than two months, or even two weeks, ago.

The last two weeks have been brutal for the Trumpfascists: Signalgate, the double-digit loss in the Wisconsin judges race, the Wall Street and world reaction to Trump’s asinine tariffs-uber-alles actions, and then yesterday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll has his disapproval over approval numbers at 53-43%. Politically, this guy is on the ropes.

So what should come next? What’s the next big thing for this movement?

How about a general strike on May 1st?

All throughout these last 75 days and before there have been calls for and organizing for such a thing. Over 318,000 people have signed up in support of the idea at the website https://generalstrikeus.com.

I don’t believe there has never been an organized, national general strike in the USA. It is not part of our history, as it is for many other countries around the world. That’s a reason why a call for such a thing must be seriously considered by the wide range of organizations making up our massive people’s movement for democracy and by others, particularly labor unions.

On the other hand, given that history, maybe this tactic should be seen differently, as something short of a one day shutdown of most economic life in the USA but with significant, visible participation in many localities, interconnected together. Such an action would be important in and of itself while being a stepping stone, a test run, toward something much bigger a little further along.

Why May 1st?

One reason is that this will be the 100th day of the Trump Presidency. That’s a significant milestone for any President, one that the mass media will increasingly be focused on as the April days go by.

Another is that for millions of US Americans, including immigrants to the US, May 1st is appreciated as a day, historically, when working class people have stood up and taken action for their rights.

And it’s also pretty far away.

In the absence of the democracy mass movement which showed itself yesterday, I would NOT say that 25 days from now is “pretty far away,” but when the political ground is shifting the way that it now is, when the national mass media is amplifying what we do and say because we are newsworthy, we are historic, we are the ones fighting for our democracy and our country—then, things can happen much faster than usual.

History is calling for us to continue to be bold and strong. We are literally fighting not just for our children’s and grandchildren’s future but for our own, and this year. It’s time to keep thinking big and act accordingly.

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.

Fascist to the Core

Future Hope, , , ,

This is how Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump from October of 2019 on, described the essence of Trump. This was revealed in an interview by Bob Woodward in a new book, War, published three weeks ago. Way to go, Mark Milley.

Before I left New Jersey five days ago to come to Allentown, Pa. to do eight days of door-to-door canvassing for Kamala Harris and the Dems, I had the thought that I would use Milley’s quote when appropriate talking to people at their front doors. I’ve done it some over these last five days, but today was the day that my front door experiences, or maybe Trump’s Madison Square Garden racist/sexist debacle, led me to do so.

I spoke to probably 35 or 40 people today, people who answered when I knocked on their door/rang their bell. A decent percentage, probably close to a majority, said they were voting for Harris/Walz. A smaller number didn’t really interact and closed the door. Then there were those who told me that they were either going to vote for Trump or they weren’t certain what they were going to do.

For those in that third category, eight or nine people in total, I would say something like this:

“Just one more thing. Did you know that John Kelly, four-star Marine general and chief of staff under Trump, and Mark Miller, top military officer under Trump, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have both described Trump as a ‘fascist,’ their words. Milley said he was ‘fascist to the core.’”

I don’t remember any of them acknowledging that they had heard of this. None of them had anything to say back to me in response contesting its truthfulness. My sense was that for most of them I was giving them something new to think about. They may well have once heard it but then been overwhelmed with everything else in their lives or that they’ve heard from whichever media sources they listen to.

There are lots of things to say about Trump for those who say they are undecided about who they’re voting for, or that they might change their mind, about 10% of likely voters according to a very recent poll. But it seems to me that, in general, this “fascist to the core” fact is at the top of the list of most effective arguments to try to get people to vote against fascism/Trump and for Harris, especially in the battleground states.

I encourage others to consider doing so wherever it makes sense in these last five days until November 5.

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. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.