It’s good to enter the new year with MAGA divided, Trump down in the polls and forced to pull the National Guard out of Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago, a huge win for the resistance in those cities, the Epstein issue still very much out there, and more. This is a very different New Year’s Day than the one in 2025 when many of us felt dread, anxiety and fear about what the new year was going to bring.

Without question many people have been hurt, many killed, because of Trump/MAGA domination of government. They have every intention of using that power to keep trying to turn our imperfect democracy into a Trump-run autocracy. The need for organized resistance on issue after issue, locally, statewide and nationally, is as great as it was a year ago. But this New Year’s Day we know that we can win victories against these macho bullies because we’ve already done so and learned along the way. And Trump and MAGA are struggling.

November 3rd is a decisive date this year. It’s when a new House of Representatives will be elected and 1/3 of US Senate seats will be contested. It is essential that Republican control of the House be ended, and it would be a very big deal if the same thing happened in the Senate. These victories will not end control of the White House by the Trumpists or control of the Supreme Court by a majority of conservatives, at least three of them essentially MAGA people, but it will be a major roadblock for them politically and legislatively.

As far as the Democratic Party, this year offers a big opportunity for the progressive wing to win more seats in the House and maybe the Senate, as well as on state and local levels. Perhaps at those lower levels some progressives running as independents will win, not just run to raise issues and get a small vote but actually win political office. That would be a good thing.

But from all that I can see the major action electorally will be within the Democratic Party. Building the strength of the progressive wing within it through support to progressives running in Democratic primaries is absolutely what’s needed in 2026. We need to defeat the efforts to impose 21^st century fascism via Republican dominance in Washington, DC and that requires the Democratic Party to win at least the House of Representatives.

Another big day for us in the USA this year will be July 4^th. Like November 3rd, it’s not just the date but the build-up to it. As happened in 1992, the 500^th anniversary of Columbus and his men being found in the Caribbean, this 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will be preceded by some nauseating rhetoric from the political Right and also too many liberals, acting as if widespread slavery for close to another century after 1776 and war against Indigenous nations into the late 1800’s, and continuing racism, was not that big a deal.

Progressives can’t do that. We have to recognize that the American revolution against British colonialism and the adoption of a Constitution which included the Bill of Rights was historic and important but it had this other side. We need to be forthright in saying that the USA we are defending and working for, one that is the only hope for forward progress and defeat of the billionaire class that is the enemy of humankind and all life forms on earth, is a multi-racial democracy with full rights for workers, women, people of color, lgbtq+ people and all people.

This is a critical ideological battle that we must win. Because of the historical significance of July 4^th, 2026, we can make progress in that battle this year.

Finally, there is a smaller, if important, reason why July 4^th is important for those of us who get it on the importance of action on the climate crisis and are working for as rapid a shift as possible off of coal, oil, gas and new nukes and onto a comprehensive wind, solar, battery storage and energy efficiency path. July 4^th is the last day for renewable energy projects to have begun construction to be eligible for a 30% tax credit from the federal government.

The Trumpists tried in their “one big beautiful bill” last summer to completely eliminate all federal support for renewables, but there were enough Republican Senators who refused to vote for the bill unless that was changed to lead to a compromise leaving that support in place for one more year.

I’m very aware of this reality because in my hometown of Bloomfield, NJ, I and others have been working for years to get our school board and town government to put solar panels on their buildings and over parking lots. Right now we have a chance of getting the school board to move forward on this, to take the steps necessary to enable a solar company to begin work by July 4^th. I’m actually going on a 72-hour, water-only hunger strike outside of the school board administrative building which is across the street from the high school, vigiling there for about 10 hours each day, next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to press them to do this. I explain more about my reasons for doing so in an interview conducted last week.

I hope other localities are working or will begin to work to take advantage of this concrete way to advance the shift from fossil fuels to renewables.

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