Tag Archives: elections

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.

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!

Trump’s Second Big Defeat

Future Hope, , ,

Almost exactly a month ago President-Elect Trump suffered his first major political defeat when Ultra-MAGA Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name after Trump nominated him to be US Attorney-General. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s opposition to that nomination was a primary reason Gaetz had to do this. In a column I wrote then, I said:

“Would-be dictators actually become dictators in part because they are able to project strength and virility, making it much easier to impose their will on anybody they determine is standing in their way. But as Republican Senator Mitch McConnell surprisingly revealed, Trump’s victory clearly has its limits. When it is Republican Senators, not Democrats, not progressives, not leftists, who are the ones standing up to him, that has positive political impacts.”

Just two days ago we saw the same thing, with two differences: it was 38 Republican House members who rejected Trump’s ultimatum for them to vote for a piece of legislation he considered important; and Trump looked weak as obscenely rich billionaire Elon Musk first made that demand, after which Trump followed.

Could it be that Trump’s age and infirmities are catching up with him? Has he been thrown off his game? Or is it, maybe, that Trump’s primary reason for running for office was not necessarily to be a dictatorial President (though he’d clearly like it to be) but because only by winning would he be certain that he avoid trials and prison time for his criminal activities?

Is it possible that as problematic as it is that this vile human being is the most powerful person in the USA, his second four year term in the White House is going to be primarily another time of political chaos?

One reason this is likely is the fact that Trump will take office as the President with the lowest poll numbers of any newly-elected President going back decades. Five national polls since December 5 measuring how people feel about Trump in this transitional period before taking office have him at an average 51% rating. The numbers for Biden four years ago were in the high 50s. This guy in no way has a popular mandate.

Other reasons include: the very visible divisions within the Republican Party in the House; the nearly even number of Democratic House members as Republicans; and Senate Republicans seven votes short of the 60 they need for anything that isn’t budget related or confirmations of executive and judicial appointments.

Will all of this scale back the amount of damage Trump and the MAGA’s can do?

Damage there will be, without question. On many fronts—climate, immigrant rights, health care, social security, education, housing, labor rights, voting and civil rights, abortion and womens’ rights, transgender rights, and more—the progressive and liberal forces who almost got Kamala Harris elected will have our hands very full. That reality could be mitigated somewhat with big victories for Democrats (and progressive independents?) in the House and Senate in November of 2026, but until at least then we need to do all we can to defend the many gains we have made in the USA since the CIO uprising of workers in the 1930s.

Lots of tactics are needed to mount those defenses, but there’s one that, right now, needs to take priority: as massive as possible a showing in the streets of opposition to the Trump/MAGA agenda. This is why the Women’s March January 18th in Washington, DC, as well as the many other local demonstrations happening on that date, are so important. Personally, I’m very involved in organizing a Black-led “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March of Resistance” in Newark, NJ. Many thousands are expected, with almost 200 organizational endorsers as of this writing.

It is critical that the mass media and social media narrative about Trump’s inauguration on January 20th not be one which makes it seem like our progressive movements of movements has been cowed, silenced, seriously set back. We haven’t been, I know it from my observations and interactions since November 5, and we need to make that visible from the git-go of this next four-year period of oppression and righteous resistance.

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.

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Time to Hit the Streets

Future Hope, , ,

The day before the big election I said to my wife that, if Trump ended up winning, it was important that a very broad, massive coalition to oppose him had been created by Kamala Harris and her supporters. As terrible as it is that, as I write, the MAGA’s will control the Senate and the White House, hopefully not the House, a potentially strong counterforce exists to continue the fight to move forward, not backwards.

Then, last night, lying in bed thinking about this so-serious situation we are now faced with in not just the USA but the world because of the MAGA victory, I remembered a very similar feeling after the November, 1972 runaway Presidential victory of Trump-similar Richard Nixon over George McGovern. 21 months later Nixon was gone from DC, resigning in disgrace before he was impeached.

What was Nixon’s vote total compared to Trump’s?

Nixon had a 23% margin of victory in the popular vote and won every state except Massachusetts and DC. As far as Trump, when all the votes are counted It looks like he’ll either be ahead by a couple percent or pretty much tied. And Harris will have won a lot more states than Massachusetts and DC.

Trump’s victory is really bad for the Palestinians; 2 ½ months from now Netanyahu and his allies will have an active enabler in the White House of their planned takeover of all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. It is terrible for our disrupted climate; a climate denier will be President one of whose main promises during his campaign was that if he won, the US would “drill, baby, drill.” Undocumented immigrants, including the dreamers, people brought to the US as children by family members looking for a better life, are facing a planned mass deportation of millions. Women’s right to abortion will continue to be in jeopardy as the movement against that right will be strengthened by Trump’s victory. The labor movement can expect to see anti-union replacements at the National Labor Relations Board. The list of MAGA’s neo-fascist plans, enumerated in the Project 2025 document, is a very long one.

It’s pretty overwhelming to appreciate what we are now facing. But it would be wrong to give up hope, for many reasons, among them:

-History sometimes develops in unexpected ways. Who would ever have thought after Nixon’s overwhelming landslide victory in 1972 that he would be disgraced and gone from the White House 21 months later?

-There are literally millions of us who have been active as part of the effort to defeat Trump. To the extent to which that movement refuses to give in and demonstrates visibly, in the streets and in other ways, that if will fight the MAGA’s, this can have an impact.

-Seven of the 10 ballot initiatives upholding the abortion rights of women, the right to control their reproductive health care, were successful, including several in states Trump won.

-Trump doesn’t control the courts. And even though the Supreme Court is what it is, there is no question that state courts, US District Courts and Courts of Appeal will play a major role slowing, at least, as well as more than that in some cases, the attempted MAGA coup.

Ultimately, what is most important right now is for progressives to resolve individually, on a personal level, that we refuse to give up. The Harris supporters who are demoralized by the election results need to see us continuing to take visible action. That is why “taking it to the streets,” in creative and massive and determined ways, is what now has to rise to the top of our tactical agenda.

 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.

Coalition Building in MAGA Times

Future Hope, ,

Over the years since I became a progressive activist and organizer in 1968 I’ve been part of an awful lot of coalitions on an awful lot of issues: the Vietnam war, impeaching Nixon, Puerto Rican independence, tenants’ rights, the Rainbow Coalition, independent politics, fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure, supporting solar energy, racial justice, Palestinian freedom and more. I’ve done this coalition work because it is a fundamental fact of successful organizing that in order to win victories, or stave off big defeats, people and groups who ordinarily don’t interact have to do so.

Victories aren’t won by small groups of people with a narrow social base. They’re won by lots of people joining together and using whatever tactics make sense to achieve a common objective.

Over the last three months a very surprising coalition has come together united behind the Presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris—“from Bernie and AOC to Liz and Dick Cheney.” Who would have thought such a coalition could ever happen?

Very broad coalitions happen because there is a major threat to lots of people. The impacts of the threat may be different, with some more negatively impacted than others, but all can see that they will be impacted.

Trump, a “fascist to the core” according to Trump’s former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is such a major threat that this very strange, right-to-left, short-term coalition has come together behind the Democratic Party ticket of Harris and Walz.

Some leftists who are outraged, for good reason, by the Biden administration’s refusal to cut off military aid to Israel as it continues its genocidal war on Gaza have decided that, as a result, they can’t support Harris/Walz. They are willing to overlook Trump’s fascism and the certainty that a Trump Presidency will be even worse for the cause of Palestinian freedom.

As someone who has been demonstrating every week in northern New Jersey in support of a ceasefire, I fully understand why people have these feelings.

The anger and anguish I’ve felt since October 7th has been similar to the way I felt as a young person about the US government’s war in Vietnam in support of successive repressive regimes in what was then South Vietnam. Those feelings led me to turn in my draft card, burn an induction notice I received in response, and then take part in five Catholic Left actions nonviolently destroying Selective Service draft files and disabling bomb casings intended for use in Indochina. I ended up spending 11 months in prison in 1970-1971 for these actions.

While in prison I had time to read and reflect on what I had done and what was needed if the war was to be ended and US society fundamentally transformed away from war and racism to a truly peaceful and just society. Studying history, I came to realize that though the actions I had undertaken were good ones, appropriate because of the urgency, there was also a need for a broadly-based, massive movement demonstrating in the streets and taking action in other ways.

When I came out, this led to my eventual involvement in one of the major national coalitions working for an end to the war, the People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice. Ever since, whatever issue I have worked on, I was always willing to join together in coalition to increase the chances of winning.

My belief in the urgent importance of defeating fascist Trump has led me to do something I’ve never done before—work for Democratic Party candidates, from the Pennsylvania State House to the Presidency, within an official Democratic Party organizational structure. This Saturday and for a week or more after I’m going to be doing so in the Allentown, Pa. area, knocking on many hundreds of doors to help get out the Harris/Walz vote and hopefully persuade some undecideds to do the same.

It really is an all-hands-on-deck moment to preserve US democracy, a flawed democracy to be sure but one which up to now has made it possible for mass movements for progressive social change to win victories. Given the political strength of the MAGA forces and the existential danger they represent, I have no doubt that I and many of us around the country doing similar work are doing the right thing. The fascist threat, Trump, must be defeated on November 5th.

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.

Presidential Polling Anyone?

Future Hope, , , , ,

I was surprised recently when a good friend and sister progressive activist commented in the course of a discussion about the US Presidential campaign that polls were essentially useless. I was surprised by her statement and explained to her why I disagreed.

I have found that, historically, polling done by reputable, non-partisan companies is a good way to get the general lay of the land at particular moments in time for a competitive election race. However, I never go by any one poll, even one with a good reputation. It is important to look at a mix of them to get a pretty reliable understanding of the state of play.

Here’s a current example. Five days ago a NY Times/Sienna poll reported that the race between Harris and Trump was tied at 47-47. Two days ago a CBS poll had Harris ahead, 52-48, and an NBC poll had her ahead 49-44.

This reminded me of another NY Times poll which came out the day after Biden dropped out of the race July 21. That one had Trump ahead 49-43. Other polls had Biden down but more like by 3 or so points.

So it may be that the NY Times polls are somewhat of an outlier, too negative, for whatever reason.

And that is why it is necessary to look at more than one poll to get the most accurate view of the state of play.

Here’s where things are right now, using that methodology: averaging five reputable polls over the last week, done by CBS, NBC, NY Times, Economist and Forbes, Harris is ahead by about 3 ½ percentage points, 50-46 ½.

Of course, the winner of the national popular vote isn’t who becomes President. If we had that system Trump would never have been President. But he won in 2016 because of the anachronistic Electoral College. It is whoever wins the most of those votes who becomes the winner. That is why, this year, it’s the results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada that will determine who wins. How do the national polls relate to that?

My understanding is that Harris would need to win the national popular vote by at least 2% to have a chance at winning enough of the battleground states to then win the election. So a 3 ½% margin with six weeks out is good, but not good enough. There’s clearly a need for all of us who get it on the great danger Trump represents to pitch in and do all we can until November 5.

What about the third party candidates?

There have been five polls over the last week and a half that have included Kennedy (still on some ballots despite his [outrageous] support of Trump), Stein, Oliver (Libertarian) and West. Averaging those polls, Kennedy is close to zero, Stein is at 1.2%, Oliver is at ½% and West is at 1.4%.

How is all of this helpful to progressive voters and activists?

One way it’s helpful is that, instead of being demobilized by understandable worry, it can give us hope of defeating Trump, which should then translate into postcard writing, phone calling and door knocking to encourage undecided voters to vote the right way and to increase those numbers. This is important because the race is still much closer than it should be. It is also important because the larger the vote for Harris, the more votes there will be down ballot for US Senate, the House and state and local elections. And progressive candidates almost always benefit from a large voter turnout.

In addition, the bigger the percentage for Harris, the more that will deflate Trump supporters and undercut MAGA’s efforts to disrupt the process leading toward a Harris inauguration on January 20.

Finally, for those whose anger at what US-supported Israel is doing in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon make it hard to vote for Harris, a recent analysis by long-time labor and Black activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. really should be read and considered.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer 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

Living to Fight Another Day

Future Hope, , , ,

“UE rarely makes endorsements within the two-party system, and we are not endorsing Biden. Instead, our hope for the future lies in a politically independent labor movement, and in those politicians in Congress and at the state and local level who are willing to put the working class first, not the Democratic Party. We encourage working people not to be completely distracted by the Presidential horse-race, and to pay close attention to their Congressional and state races.

“Nonetheless, we have to be honest about the dilemma that faces labor and working people in the short term. The issue that makes Biden the lesser evil for us is the fact that the labor movement, and especially UE, has been making some real gains in organizing new workers under Biden’s economic policies and NLRB. A second Trump presidency would make it far more difficult to organize — and to build the labor party we need and deserve.

“Given who will be on the ballot in November, we urge all working people to hold their nose and vote for Biden, in order to live to fight another day — the cost of re-electing Trump would be too high.”

-from “The Stakes of the 2024 Election,” issued by the United Electrical Workers Union: https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2024/the-stakes-of-the-2024-election


Way back in the 70’s when I first became involved in organized efforts to form an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans, I had many meetings in the headquarters of the national UE. At the time, before their move to Pittsburgh, those headquarters were in midtown Manhattan, right across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in a building that, I believe, used to be owned by the Vanderbilt family.

The UE describes itself as “the USA’s only national, independent, membership-run union (since 1936), representing thousands of workers in the private and public sectors.” As is true today, back in the 70’s they believed that working people in the USA need an alternative to the Dems and Reps, which then and now they describe as a “labor party.”

I had this privilege of meeting in their building because their General Counsel was Bob Lewis, and Bob was a leader of a group initiated by civil rights lawyer Arthur Kinoy in 1974, the Mass Party Organizing Committee. When I became involved with MPOC in 1975 and moved to NYC to work in its national office, we would often have evening meetings in Bob’s office.

So when I saw the UE’s statement on the Presidential elections a few days ago, I read it closely, respecting them as I do.

I pretty much agree with their conclusion, quoted above, that all working people should vote for Biden and also pay close attention to Congressional and state races. At the same time, given that it is the electoral college which determines who wins the Presidency, I think it is strategically key to emphasize the absolute importance of this happening in the battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. In the vast majority of the other states, the likely winner is pretty much known based on past voting history.

The UE statement criticizes Biden for his unwillingness to take on corporations, for not doing enough “to rein in the power of the oil and gas industry,” for not taking action “to address the broken criminal justice system,” for not dealing with the underlying causes of immigration, the “failed economic and military policies toward Latin America,” and his failure to halt “Israel’s attack on the Palestinian people”  and the “stoking of a ‘new cold war” with Russia and China.

They go on to critique Trump, not a hard thing to do, referring to “his rhetoric taking on an increasingly fascist tone” and using the language of “vermin,” “human scum” and “poisoning the blood of our country” as far as immigrants.

I liked the phrase they used to conclude their statement: “vote for Biden in order to live to fight another day.”

Political dynamics in a country, definitely in the USA, are not stagnant. There is a rise and fall as far as movements around issues and movements for major political change. One current example is the difference between this Presidential election and the ones in 2016 and 2020. In both those years there were strong and visible progressive challenges via the Bernie Sanders, and then Sanders and Warren, campaigns. Sanders got 15 million votes in the 2016 Democratic primary, helping to generate a progressive political upsurge that has not gone away, even if there is no mass-based challenger to corporatist Biden this year either from within the Democratic Party or from a “third party.”

On the issues I agree much more with Presidential candidates like Jill Stein and Cornell West, but they are stuck in the very low single digits in all polls. The biggest impact they could have on the Presidential race is to help elect Trump. True!

What will happen after November 5 if Biden/Harris win? Almost certainly, the independent progressive forces will feel strengthened and revitalized, in a position to build upon that victory going forward.

But first things first: the defeat of Trump by voting for Biden. He’s a lesser evil, but he’s not a racist, misogynist, narcissistic fascist. Trump and MAGA Must Be Defeated.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer 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.