Thanks Jim, it's a great starting point. I agree. Feeling defeated and unable to make a difference is exactly what our fascist opponents hope that we do. I wanted to note that our counter intelligence seemed to be missing for some time now to allow these multiple and repeated failures to occur. I think an overhaul of the entire counter intelligence division of the FBI and perhaps even some other 3 letter agencies should be completely overhauled. They could be infested with double agents to get us where we are today. It's really a stunning counter intelligence failure if you think about their entire mission is to protect us from this happening. Nobody is talking about this. Another stunning failure, no warning of January 6th.
Further, I think ICE could be either eliminated entirely and a completely new organization formed to enforce immigration *evenly*, leadership positions completely re-organized, new charter, and non-political positions.
One of the deadliest errors we make is to look at Hitler's military blunders and reflexively assume "nazi" and "moron" are synonymous. No assumption could be more false -- nor more intentionally misleading. (Note not only von Braun et al, but the übermenschen of nurds that puppeteers the Trumpite cult from Silicon Valley.) Thus it's only logical to assume Musk's choice of an Original Nazi cogwheel is a clandestine message to today's nazi and Christonazi cognoscenti that all is well; that the conquest and destruction of the United States and its conversion to Auschwitz Nation is proceeding as planned.
Jim, your list is a great start, although I highly doubt democracy will have a voice by 2028 given the rapid rate personal freedoms are being dismantled.
If, and that's a big if, democracy prevails long enough for the people to start correcting the current broken system, there needs to be many changes, including taking corporate money out of elections, forbidding members of Congress from insider trading and limiting terms on all public servants, including judges.
I recently read that parliament in Wales was trying to introduce an anti bullshit law, which would require politicians to produce evidence of their often outlandishly false statements within 7 days, or be required to make a public statement correcting the record. We would would swamped with correction notices these days.
The more I research, the more I realize the degree of rot prevalent in politics, regardless of the party in question. The same is evident in the majority of the media, who seem more concerned with their own star status and future book deals, than informing the public of the facts.
All I know for sure is that the public needs to magnify its display of outrage ten fold, if there is any chance of halting the present goose-step towards total fascism.
Republicans have pushed the corruption over the line. Where exactly was the line and when did they cross it? Some democrats also have been corrupt, but probably nowhere near the same levels. Moral outrage should be and needs to be at all time highs. People are sleepwalking, their day to day lives made more difficult. They don't have time to ponder on larger issues, and some that do are liked to. Fox news lied to generations of Americans and some of them absolutely bought into it. Generations. The first thing to heal the divisions, IMHO, are to try to get back closer to a common shared truth among most Americans. If we can work on and solve that problem, the rest may come easier. Thus some of the themes I write about are disinformation, how it spreads, the scale of it, and promote educating youth to be more discerning in the digital world.
Educating the youth is a good starting point, as many of them voted without much knowledge of the past. They just know that it's impossible to pay rents, let alone ever buy a home.
Hopefully, the more the Republican regime's policies negatively effect Trump voters, the more their thinking will move towards the center.
In the scholarly context, it's called media literacy. Talking about it using these terms, it lowers people's guard for "politics" and focuses on the actual policy, as I wrote about the subject below.
We won't ever get all voters to change their minds. I think the goal is to get as many who are on the edge, in the middle, or unsure of what they see going on now that Trump is the president. We have to get *everyone possible* on our side with some kind of a unity coalition. The only commonality needs to be the will to restore democracy. The import of this transcends any other differences. They can all be set aside until the key fundamental issues of democracy are returned.
Love your list, may I suggest: Get big money out of politics should near the top of the legislative category (and limit how much any one person is entitled to, like maybe $550 million)! Also add a few more seats to the Supreme Court and put in progressives!
You had mentioned earlier the need for a new vision. (Several people have been talking about the need for a new vision. As always, more people talk about it than do something about it.) So, it's good to see your starter proposals. I have some, too.
The Bible does contain some wisdom about the necessity of vision:
Proverbs 29:18
"Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
I do wonder though - can the US Constitution be fixed? It does have a flawed beginning. It's been almost immutable for 236 years. There are only 27 amendments. The process to amend the Constitution was purposefully made difficult - too difficult in my opinion. Future needs were sacrificed to the goal of stability. However, the Ninth Amendment was strategically inserted; yet, legal minds argue over its "ambiguity". (Of course, it was going to be ambiguous because no one had a crystal ball.)
On the other hand, if people were to request a new constitution, there are right-wing entities that have already been working on trying to get a quorum of conventions of states in order to hard wire changes into Constitution. (They don't want to fight over federal and state legislation that can be changed.). Wealthy people with time and money on their hands are obviously in a better to position to dominate and domineer society in a multitude of ways.
Pete Hegseth was a recent, invited guest (prior to accepting DOD position)
How are the people (David) going to conquer Goliath? Either through amendments or by a new Constitution or by some other means?
Vision is crucial, but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got the ability to get executed. By what mechanism/s are the people to prevail with their vision once perfected?
In other words, vision is great; but how do we gain the power to execute that vision? By what mechanisms?
As a truly pivotal first step, I'd suggest anyone who genuinely favors the restoration of U.S. democracy set aside their (suicidal) opposition to the Second Amendment. Those who find the necessary rethinking too difficult should start their re-education by googling "Deacons for Defense," without the quotation marks, to rediscover a vital chapter of the Civil Rights Movement the pseudo-left has maliciously suppressed as part of its clandestine service to the ruling class. Which -- like all ruling classes throughout history -- is terrified by any ability of its victims to defend themselves against tyranny. (Disclosure: I added the text that follows "maliciously suppressed" as an edit; my apology for not including it in the original.)
I agree that 2nd Amendment is essential, since bad guys always arm up. Too bad our government and the NRA lobby have allowed some of the deadliest small arms ever invented to be carried around like in a video game. Thus leading to the need for a better armed police force, and enabling corrupt police unions and politicians to build a police state. However, our small arms will be useless if we are painting ourselves and our immediate surroundings with our smart phones. Like Nasrallah, this device will self-destruct in....
Would never see the pivotal first step as setting aside opposition to the Second Amendment...I would see naming and establishing more rights to and for the people as pivotal.
The second amendment was written to protect the Constitution and the new country. It was not written to give permission to people to defend themselves against the government or each other or to incite violence. It was written at a time when there the country was young and without a strong military defense. The Constitution itself forbade a standing army for a period of more than two years. Why? So the military wouldn't come to dominate society, civilian government and foreign policy as it does today. Groups that are upset with government or other groups don't need a second amendment as a permission slip to justify their actions.
One of the main problems with American society is their belief that a gun or weapons makes them secure. Look around: mass shootings becoming more and more frequent so that no one can feel safe in the streets, schools or public places. Guns are the leading cause of death for children. Guns do far more harm and good. They are not an effective political strategy for solving political problems.
Second amendment should have been revoked after a standing army and defense system was in place.
With all due respect, Ms. G, I urge you to read the Harry Turtledove short story entitled "The Last Article," the PDF of which is available free on Google. Though fiction, it describes perfectly the horror we face.
I also, again with respect, urge you delve deep enough into British history to recognize that while the Roman Empire had zero-tolerance weapons-control laws, it was their inability to disarm the Celto-Pictish tribes north of the Hadrian and Antonine walls that fostered the Occident's first and most enduring post-Roman resurrection of our species' quest for democracy.
Note too Stalin's order to open the arsenals and arm the entire Soviet population, this -- if I remember correctly -- on the third day of Hitler's invasion.
Apropos "naming and establishing more rights to and for the people" -- the cause in which I trust we here are united mind, heart and spirit -- that will require much more than words against the likes of Kaiser Elon, Führer Trump and their Christonazi/Neoconfederate rabble. Especially now that the military has proven itself naught but oath-breakers, refusing to do as their predecessors courageously did in 1861 and defend the Constitution against its domestic enemies.
Sounds like the Medieval French and English Estates General, or the three societal divisions of representation: Clerics, Nobles, and the Bourgeois (commoners).
This is an important (& urgent) idea. Let’s get it started. Maybe use some of your Sunday hour(s)?
Thanks Jim, it's a great starting point. I agree. Feeling defeated and unable to make a difference is exactly what our fascist opponents hope that we do. I wanted to note that our counter intelligence seemed to be missing for some time now to allow these multiple and repeated failures to occur. I think an overhaul of the entire counter intelligence division of the FBI and perhaps even some other 3 letter agencies should be completely overhauled. They could be infested with double agents to get us where we are today. It's really a stunning counter intelligence failure if you think about their entire mission is to protect us from this happening. Nobody is talking about this. Another stunning failure, no warning of January 6th.
Further, I think ICE could be either eliminated entirely and a completely new organization formed to enforce immigration *evenly*, leadership positions completely re-organized, new charter, and non-political positions.
And don't forget term limits for lobbists, and close the "revolving door". DD
One of the deadliest errors we make is to look at Hitler's military blunders and reflexively assume "nazi" and "moron" are synonymous. No assumption could be more false -- nor more intentionally misleading. (Note not only von Braun et al, but the übermenschen of nurds that puppeteers the Trumpite cult from Silicon Valley.) Thus it's only logical to assume Musk's choice of an Original Nazi cogwheel is a clandestine message to today's nazi and Christonazi cognoscenti that all is well; that the conquest and destruction of the United States and its conversion to Auschwitz Nation is proceeding as planned.
Jim, your list is a great start, although I highly doubt democracy will have a voice by 2028 given the rapid rate personal freedoms are being dismantled.
If, and that's a big if, democracy prevails long enough for the people to start correcting the current broken system, there needs to be many changes, including taking corporate money out of elections, forbidding members of Congress from insider trading and limiting terms on all public servants, including judges.
I recently read that parliament in Wales was trying to introduce an anti bullshit law, which would require politicians to produce evidence of their often outlandishly false statements within 7 days, or be required to make a public statement correcting the record. We would would swamped with correction notices these days.
The more I research, the more I realize the degree of rot prevalent in politics, regardless of the party in question. The same is evident in the majority of the media, who seem more concerned with their own star status and future book deals, than informing the public of the facts.
All I know for sure is that the public needs to magnify its display of outrage ten fold, if there is any chance of halting the present goose-step towards total fascism.
Republicans have pushed the corruption over the line. Where exactly was the line and when did they cross it? Some democrats also have been corrupt, but probably nowhere near the same levels. Moral outrage should be and needs to be at all time highs. People are sleepwalking, their day to day lives made more difficult. They don't have time to ponder on larger issues, and some that do are liked to. Fox news lied to generations of Americans and some of them absolutely bought into it. Generations. The first thing to heal the divisions, IMHO, are to try to get back closer to a common shared truth among most Americans. If we can work on and solve that problem, the rest may come easier. Thus some of the themes I write about are disinformation, how it spreads, the scale of it, and promote educating youth to be more discerning in the digital world.
Educating the youth is a good starting point, as many of them voted without much knowledge of the past. They just know that it's impossible to pay rents, let alone ever buy a home.
Hopefully, the more the Republican regime's policies negatively effect Trump voters, the more their thinking will move towards the center.
In the scholarly context, it's called media literacy. Talking about it using these terms, it lowers people's guard for "politics" and focuses on the actual policy, as I wrote about the subject below.
We won't ever get all voters to change their minds. I think the goal is to get as many who are on the edge, in the middle, or unsure of what they see going on now that Trump is the president. We have to get *everyone possible* on our side with some kind of a unity coalition. The only commonality needs to be the will to restore democracy. The import of this transcends any other differences. They can all be set aside until the key fundamental issues of democracy are returned.
https://exposed1.substack.com/p/empowering-iowans-against-disinformation
Thx
Love your list, may I suggest: Get big money out of politics should near the top of the legislative category (and limit how much any one person is entitled to, like maybe $550 million)! Also add a few more seats to the Supreme Court and put in progressives!
Further proof that Elon Musk and his followers are Nazis!
I'd like to add to the list two of my most urgent concerns:
Reverse Citizens United;
Get almost all private money out of politics.
Excellent title for the article!
You had mentioned earlier the need for a new vision. (Several people have been talking about the need for a new vision. As always, more people talk about it than do something about it.) So, it's good to see your starter proposals. I have some, too.
The Bible does contain some wisdom about the necessity of vision:
Proverbs 29:18
"Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
I do wonder though - can the US Constitution be fixed? It does have a flawed beginning. It's been almost immutable for 236 years. There are only 27 amendments. The process to amend the Constitution was purposefully made difficult - too difficult in my opinion. Future needs were sacrificed to the goal of stability. However, the Ninth Amendment was strategically inserted; yet, legal minds argue over its "ambiguity". (Of course, it was going to be ambiguous because no one had a crystal ball.)
On the other hand, if people were to request a new constitution, there are right-wing entities that have already been working on trying to get a quorum of conventions of states in order to hard wire changes into Constitution. (They don't want to fight over federal and state legislation that can be changed.). Wealthy people with time and money on their hands are obviously in a better to position to dominate and domineer society in a multitude of ways.
conventionofstates.com
Pete Hegseth was a recent, invited guest (prior to accepting DOD position)
How are the people (David) going to conquer Goliath? Either through amendments or by a new Constitution or by some other means?
Vision is crucial, but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got the ability to get executed. By what mechanism/s are the people to prevail with their vision once perfected?
In other words, vision is great; but how do we gain the power to execute that vision? By what mechanisms?
As a truly pivotal first step, I'd suggest anyone who genuinely favors the restoration of U.S. democracy set aside their (suicidal) opposition to the Second Amendment. Those who find the necessary rethinking too difficult should start their re-education by googling "Deacons for Defense," without the quotation marks, to rediscover a vital chapter of the Civil Rights Movement the pseudo-left has maliciously suppressed as part of its clandestine service to the ruling class. Which -- like all ruling classes throughout history -- is terrified by any ability of its victims to defend themselves against tyranny. (Disclosure: I added the text that follows "maliciously suppressed" as an edit; my apology for not including it in the original.)
I agree that 2nd Amendment is essential, since bad guys always arm up. Too bad our government and the NRA lobby have allowed some of the deadliest small arms ever invented to be carried around like in a video game. Thus leading to the need for a better armed police force, and enabling corrupt police unions and politicians to build a police state. However, our small arms will be useless if we are painting ourselves and our immediate surroundings with our smart phones. Like Nasrallah, this device will self-destruct in....
Would never see the pivotal first step as setting aside opposition to the Second Amendment...I would see naming and establishing more rights to and for the people as pivotal.
The second amendment was written to protect the Constitution and the new country. It was not written to give permission to people to defend themselves against the government or each other or to incite violence. It was written at a time when there the country was young and without a strong military defense. The Constitution itself forbade a standing army for a period of more than two years. Why? So the military wouldn't come to dominate society, civilian government and foreign policy as it does today. Groups that are upset with government or other groups don't need a second amendment as a permission slip to justify their actions.
One of the main problems with American society is their belief that a gun or weapons makes them secure. Look around: mass shootings becoming more and more frequent so that no one can feel safe in the streets, schools or public places. Guns are the leading cause of death for children. Guns do far more harm and good. They are not an effective political strategy for solving political problems.
Second amendment should have been revoked after a standing army and defense system was in place.
There should be NO militias.
There should be no Second Amendment.
With all due respect, Ms. G, I urge you to read the Harry Turtledove short story entitled "The Last Article," the PDF of which is available free on Google. Though fiction, it describes perfectly the horror we face.
I also, again with respect, urge you delve deep enough into British history to recognize that while the Roman Empire had zero-tolerance weapons-control laws, it was their inability to disarm the Celto-Pictish tribes north of the Hadrian and Antonine walls that fostered the Occident's first and most enduring post-Roman resurrection of our species' quest for democracy.
Note too Stalin's order to open the arsenals and arm the entire Soviet population, this -- if I remember correctly -- on the third day of Hitler's invasion.
Apropos "naming and establishing more rights to and for the people" -- the cause in which I trust we here are united mind, heart and spirit -- that will require much more than words against the likes of Kaiser Elon, Führer Trump and their Christonazi/Neoconfederate rabble. Especially now that the military has proven itself naught but oath-breakers, refusing to do as their predecessors courageously did in 1861 and defend the Constitution against its domestic enemies.
A name in 4 to 5 letters is needed.
A great start, Jim. I would suggest we make clear societal divisions like The Commons, The Government and The Private Sector.
Sounds like the Medieval French and English Estates General, or the three societal divisions of representation: Clerics, Nobles, and the Bourgeois (commoners).
💯🔥
and stunning that the cogwheel has the exact same number of cogs, not off by 1 or 2
it was literally lifted from nazilore