Category: article

Persuade to the Last Minute. Here’s How!

Elections are decided by people who just started paying attention.

By: Antonia Scatton
Source Link: https://reframingamerica.substack.com/p/persuade

Recommended by: Bruce R.

Elections are decided by people who are only just starting to pay attention. What we say now is critical. We have to set the agenda, lead with data centers, frame corruption as the cause of economic distress, convince voters we will stand up to monopoly power, avoid getting lured into “safety net” debates, and hold Republicans accountable for the Epstein files, Iran, tariffs, and the high price of gas, diesel, fertilizer and food.

Keep persuading.

We must, of course, get out the vote. But, like Republicans do,we should fight for every last voter until the polls close.Many swing voters simply have not been paying attention until now. In 2024, we lost “people who do not closely follow the news” by 19 points. We are doing brilliantly in the polls. I do not want to see a five-point reversion to the norm when the votes get counted. What we say now is critical.

Keep up with changing voters.

The American voter is evolving faster than we can keep up. Candidates must be nimble. They can’t just fall back on “tried and true” speeches and messages that tested well in January. We need to adapt to spiking opposition to data centers and a huge shift from “affordability” to “corruption.” Here is exactly what we need to say and do to win these undecided voters and bring this election home in the final stretch.

Set the agenda.

Do NOT let Republicans set the terms of the debate. There is an astounding numberof issues to choose from, but these are the ones that voters care about the most and where we have the greatest strategic advantage:

1)Data Center / A.I. / Flock Cameras
2) Corruption / Broken Economic System
3) Gas and Food Prices
4) The War in Iran
5) The Epstein Files

All of these issues can be tied back to corruption. Corruption covers a lot of ground. You can get as local or as specific as you want, as long as you talk about it in terms of corruption.

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Five Key Strategies

1. Flip voters by talking about data centers.

Opposition to data centers and flock cameras has spiked in just the last few months, and continues to climb. People in the field and terrific rural candidates like Allie Wolf (MN house district 26B), tell me that they are regularly flipping hard-core Republican voters on opposition to data centers alone, even if there are no data centers planned in their area. Apparently, Big Tech (outside elites) colluding in secret with local government officials to green-light massive projects that dump the costs on local communities and also install surveillance cameras to watch their every move, really, really pisses people off.

Why does A.I. in general hit such a nerve in rural America? It re-opens old wounds about NAFTA, in which politicians made major decisions over the objections of working people, citing “experts” who claimed that everyone would benefit. Those decisions closed tens of thousands of factories, threw millions out of work, and destroyed small towns. Pushing recklessly ahead on a technology the purpose of which is to replace workers is bad enough in itself, but it also feels like NAFTA all over again.

Do this: In rural areas and when talking to Republican voters, start the conversation with data centers. In small towns, try dropping the NAFTA reference and watch the reaction. Use data centers and flock cameras to lead into a bigger conversation about corruption.

2. Make everything about corruption, and frame corruption as the cause of economic distress.

According to new research from Indivisible and Lake and Associates, 73% of battleground voters are more likely to support a candidate who fights to lower costs and takes on corruption and special interests, compared with just 5% who prefer a candidate focused solely on lowering costs.

Here is where voters have made the most radical change. Voters used to believe in the American Dream and blamed themselves when they could not make ends meet. Then they realized that, while they were holding up their end of the deal by working hard, our economic system was failing to deliver on the wages and economic security that they were promised. This betrayal made them absolutely f-ing furious. But – they did not stop there! They concluded that the whole system is broken because big money is influencing those in our government to rig the entire economic system on their behalf. Note that voters believe that both parties are culpable for this. Do not try to defend past behavior by Democrats, just don’t bring it up. Instead, show that we got there in the end!

How to know you are getting it right: Are you only talking about helping people pay for things? Or are you talking about the system being fundamentally broken and using government to make the economy work the way people were promised it would work? People do not just want handouts. They want fairness. Make EVERYTHING about corruption and economic fairness.

3. Convince Voters We Will Stand Up to Monopoly Power

If money buys political power, who is doing the buying? The “Bigs” as in Big Donors and Big Money: Big Tech, Big Ag, Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Banks, as well as health insurance companies and private equity firms. Researchers have recently found that talking about “monopolies” tests better than terms like oligarchy or billionaires, and does not cause backlash. Everybody hates monopoly power.

Fighting monopoly power is directly related to reducing the cost of living. Companies used to have to compete for consumers by reducing prices, and compete for workers by raising wages. Now they can suppress wages and use A.I. to find our “pain points.” One example: Farmers and ranchers are being squeezed to death between supplier monopolies and buyer monopolies, who then gouge us at the grocery store.

What makes the term “monopoly” so effective is that most people in America have played the game of Monopoly at some point in their life. We know the point when one person pulls ahead, and all that’s left is for the winner to slowly bleed everyone else dry. That is how our economy feels right now. And voters are mad enough to flip over the game board.

In my focus groups this year, voters were very clear. They are sick and tired of listening to us fight with Republicans. They want to hear us fight for them. Josh Turek is not leading in Iowa because he has effectively attacked his opponent. It’s because he is taking “Big Ag” head on. Voters need to hear that we will stand up to monopoly power on their behalf.

Never debate anything Republicans actually want to talk about. It just allows them to expose more people to their attacks – creating neurological associations that are negative for us – and make the election about the issues where they are the strongest.

4. Don’t Take the “Safety-Net” Bait

When Trump makes gratuitous cuts to safety-net programs, we are tempted to jump all over it to point out their cruelty. Do not engage in any debate that involves a “safety-net” program. People perceive Democrats as being worse on the type of corruption they define as “wasting taxpayer money,” which is why our opponents are desperate to make this election about so-called wasteful spending, fraud and the “undeserving poor.” That whole debate lives in the past, where the economy does what it does, and we just argue over whether government should or should not clean up the damage after the fact.

Voters now overwhelmingly want government to intervene strongly to make markets work on our behalf, so that we don’t all end up needing safety nets. If you are only talking about helping people pay for things, voters think you either 1) don’t know that the entire economy is broken or 2) you do know, but lack the courage to stand up to Big Money. So don’t just talk about cuts to food stamps. Talk about forcing Amazon and Walmart to pay well enough that their employees don’t need food stamps. Don’t just talk about Obamacare subsidies. Make it clear that it’s time to kick greedy private health insurers out of the system altogether. Better yet, skip the “handout” part and go directly to “kicking private sector a**.”

Republicans would love for people to believe that all their economic woes are the result of high taxes caused by fraud in public aid programs. We need to make this election about: “Who will end the corruption? Who is more willing to stand up to monopoly power and make our economic system serve the needs of the American people.”

5. Hold Republicans Accountable for Trump’s Corruption

We need to make Republicans own Trump’s behavior. They are the ones on the ballot. Whatever Trump does, whether it is the Epstein files, Iran, tariffs, or the price of gas, diesel, fertilizer and food, we need to hold Republicans accountable for failing to use the power of Congress to stop him.

The War in Iran? It’s about corruption: Trump promised Big Oil favors in exchange for campaign donations, and now Big Oil is raking it in by screwing us at the pump. The Pentagon that can’t pass an audit yet wants another half trillion dollars to spend on fat military contracts for Big Tech firms and companies owned by Trump’s kids.

Trump’s $2.7 billion: It’s not just that Trump has increased his personal wealth. What governmental decisions did he sell to get that money and what price we are paying for those decisions? Which labor laws did he stop enforcing? Which child abusers and human traffickers is he protecting? Which anti-trust cases did he drop? Which fraud convictions did he pardon? Which food safety protections did he gut? Which national security secrets did he sell? Who paid Trump to kill the program to investigate and collect hundreds of billions of dollars in tax evasion by the rich, leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab? Who benefitted from Trump’s decisions to eliminate the programs that fight criminal money laundering and defend us against international cyber-attacks? And just who, in addition to himself, is he protecting in the Epstein files?

The key question for this election is: “Why did Republicans let Trump sell our government to the highest bidder for personal gain, costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, putting us in danger and enabling child abuse and rampant white-collar crime? Perhaps because they are lining their pockets too and because they are afraid to stand up to Trump.

Overcoming Citizens United

Getting corporate money out of politics

Report by: David S

Hawai’i:

Hawaii has enacted a law that prohibits corporations from spending money on political campaigns, effectively redefining the powers granted to corporations within the state. This legislation, signed by Governor Josh Green, is set to take effect on July 1, 2027, and positions Hawaii as the first state to limit corporate political spending in this manner, aiming to restore integrity in the electoral process.

Key Features of the Law

  • Prohibition on Corporate Spending: The law explicitly prohibits corporations from spending money on local, state, or federal political campaigns.
  • Effective Date: The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2027.
  • Legal Basis: The legislation is grounded in the principle that corporations derive their powers from state law, which allows Hawaii to redefine those powers, excluding political spending.

Montana:

The Transparent Election Initiative is a national organization that has sponsored two initiatives in Montana known as the Montana Plan.

“In Montana, we proposed both Constitutional & Statutory Initiatives that will sweep corporate and secret-donor money out of Montana’s local, state, and federal politics. It achieves this not by the state of Montana regulating corporate speech, but by the state of Montana simply declining to grant the corporations it creates the power to spend in politics. This is an authority every state possesses, but no state has used it in more than a century. As of March 2026, I-194, the Statutory Initiative, is certified for signature gathering and is underway across Montana through June 19, 2026. The constitutional initiative was found legally sufficient by the Montana Supreme Court. However, we await a decision on the proposed ballot statement. It is unlikely the proposed constitutional initiative will meet calendar deadlines for signature collection in 2026.”

Montana Initiative 194, Prohibit Entities from Contributing to State and Local Candidate and Ballot Measure Elections Initiative, will be on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot.

The initiative would prohibit artificial persons, as defined in the initiative, from contributing to campaigns, ballot measure elections, or political parties. Artificial persons would include nonprofits, trusts, partnerships, corporations, trade associations, or unincorporated associations, and all entities doing business in Montana. If an entity violates the initiative, it would be prohibited from doing business in Montana until it has certified compliance with the initiative.

California:

California Assembly Bill 1984 aims to redefine the powers of corporations by revoking their political spending power and limiting their activities to those specifically granted under state law. This bill emphasizes that all political power is inherent in the people, not in corporations.

Key Provisions

Revocation of Political Spending Power

  • The bill revokes the political spending power of corporations.
  • Corporations will only possess powers specifically granted under state law.

Legislative Intent

  • The legislation declares that all political power is inherent in the people.
  • It specifies that corporations are creations of statute and do not have natural rights to political activities.

LegiScan Summary

Introduced by Assembly Member Rogers
 Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Connolly, Elhawary, Garcia, Harabedian, Jackson, Lee, and Schiavo)

Principal coauthor: Senator McGuire
(Coauthors: Senators McNerney and Pérez)

Status: April 20, 2026 Re-referred to Com. on Banking and Finance with amendments from original filing on 2-13-2026.

Actions to Support

  1. Financial support for The Transparent Election Initiative
  2. Contact your CA Assemblymember and State Senator and ask them to co-sponsor and actively support AB 1984.
  3. Write a letter to the editor explaining the bill and why it’s important. Point out that Hawai’i has already done this in a bipartisan manner, and that Montana has ballot initiatives to do the same thing.
  4. Support the CA Fair Elections Act, which repeals the ban on public financing of campaigns. All cities and agencies could create their own public financing system if they choose to. Endorse the act and encourage your elected officials to support it as well.

Video: Hawaii Is Overturning Citizens United | Lever Time

This Is the Formula That Defeated Orban. It Would Defeat Trump, Too

By M. Gessen, an Opinion columnist, and Mr. Bartha reported from Budapest.

Publisher: The New York Times

Recommended by: Bob B. and Bruce R.

Starting early in the morning on the second Saturday of May, first hundreds and then thousands of people gathered in the square in front of Hungary’s majestic Parliament building to celebrate the start of a new political era. This was the square where tens of thousands gathered in 1956 and 1989 to demand an end to the Soviet occupation and in 2006 to protest a discredited government. It was the square on which Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s regime imposed a major redesign more than a decade ago — with traffic rerouted away, a large reflecting pool and raised beds installed, narrow pathways laid down — apparently to ensure that no such mass gathering could take place again. Today it was the square where Peter Magyar, a former Orban loyalist, would be sworn in, promising a rebirth of democracy and liberty after 16 years of autocratic control.

Squeezing into the available spaces and gradually filling up nearby cafes and streets, the crowd absorbed people of all ages: young people who didn’t remember a time before Orban and who had voted in unprecedented numbers; aging intellectuals who didn’t think they’d ever celebrate their country again; multigenerational families who had arrived by bus after seeing Magyar in their hometowns and villages. During his campaign, Magyar had traveled to an estimated 700 locations, turning many of them into “Tisza islands” — outposts of support for his party. By the end, Magyar was holding five or more rallies a day.

It had looked like an impossible quest. Orban and his cronies dominated the media, persecuted and smeared opposition politicians and changed election laws to benefit his party, Fidesz. Orban had seemed to achieve what the Hungarian sociologist and political theorist Balint Magyar (no relation) calls “autocratic breakthrough” — the point after which it’s impossible to unseat an autocrat using elections. Illiberal politicians from other countries made pilgrimages to Hungary to learn from Orban; CPAC, the gathering for American national conservatives, started staging an annual convention there; and Vice President JD Vance visited Budapest in advance of the election, in a show of support for Orban. And yet Hungarians handed Tisza not just a victory but a constitutional majority, enough power to reverse Orban’s changes to Hungarian laws and institutions. The triumph was stunning — unique in our era of democratic backsliding — and it holds clear lessons for the United States.

Summary of the 10 main points

  1. One obvious lesson of Peter Magyar’s success lies in the scale, reach and relentlessness of his organizing network. “They had 2,000 Tisza islands with between 30,000 and 50,000 volunteers,”
  2. Old-fashioned in-person politics can be a powerful antidote to media fearmongering.
  3. Third lesson: Don’t mince words. Peter Magyar… [borrowed] a term coined by Balint Magyar, he has called it a mafia state — a fundamentally criminal enterprise.
  4. Magyar’s credibility lay in the fact that he was not a member of the old opposition, whose policies had led to the discontent that made Orban’s rise possible and whose timidity had helped perpetuate Orban’s power.
  5. That’s a fifth lesson: Grass-roots organizations that have little or no connection to electoral politics — in the United States, that might be the networks formed by the No Kings rallies, ICE-resistance groups and so on — can matter as much as or more than those already focused on winning votes.
  6. Another lesson lies in the issues that motivated Magyar’s voters. Hungarians seemed to see the damage that Orbanism had done to the nation as more important than any harm they felt they had suffered as individuals. They were united by a sense of moral outrage
  7. In some U.S. coverage, Magyar has been labeled centrist or right-of-center. What his politics actually are — and this is another lesson of his victory — is pluralist.
  8. a child sexual abuse scandal and a cover-up also appear to have played a significant role. Perhaps this is because such stories can shed a particularly harsh light on networks of power, and the abuses of power.
  9. Everyone I interviewed in Hungary insisted that regime change would not be complete until a full accounting of the abuses of the Orban regime had occurred and those guilty of crimes were punished
  10. another lesson of Magyar’s victory: His politics are aspirational and inspirational, a tone that is an antidote to the cynicism and vulgarity of autocracy.

In Magyar’s address:

“…rediscover how to see ourselves as a community once again,” he said. “Therefore, I ask you to turn toward those compatriots who are disappointed today, who are afraid, or who experience this period as a loss. Do not try to defeat them; do not look down on them. Listen to them and talk to them. Tell them that this country belongs to them, too; that they are needed, just as everyone is needed; and that together, we will rebuild Hungary, because there is no left, there is no right — only Hungarians.”

Read the full article

If you don’t have a NYT account, you can get an archived PDF:

Get PDF Here

Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.

New research sheds light on how mediocre employees help would-be authoritarians maintain power.

By Amanda Taub

Recommended by: Bob B. and Bruce R.

Bob’s Comments

This article on authoritarianism and power shows why the broad topic of “civil discourse” has many dimensions. Which is why IPV has a “Books, Ideas, and Research Committee” to be on the lookout for significant and practical ideas useful for all of us in our democracy-building work.

This is in the NYT this morning, by Amanda Taub, “Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.” The subtitle is a quick summary of what the article covers: “New research sheds light on how mediocre employees help would-be authoritarians maintain power.”

One could add that the research sheds light, too, on how mediocre citizens can help would-be authoritarians maintain power. So while understanding civil discourse is important, it turns out also to require some understanding of power, what holds a community together, personal incentives, the moral foundations of democratic engagement, etc.

Bruce’s Comments

I think these are the most important parts of the article that point to solutions.

“Making a Career in Dictatorship,” a new book by two German political scientists, Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel, reads like what you might get if you crossed Hannah Arendt’s ideas about the “banality of evil” with a business school guide on how to get the most out of low performers.

And:

Mr. Glassel and Mr. Scharpf are concerned that President Trump’s planned expansion of ICE, in particular, could make it an ideal venue for “detouring” by ambitious underperformers who could be deployed for anti-democratic purposes. The worry is especially profound given the storming of the Capitol at the end of Mr. Trump’s first term, albeit by a less organized band of loyalists.

The playbook for a leader to create a loyal security service, they said, is to set up or repurpose an institution that can become a “second ladder” for career promotions, resource it generously and ensure that the barriers to getting hired there are low, signaling that it offers career opportunities to those who cannot find them elsewhere.

I’ve read Hannah Arendt’s ideas about the “banality of evil,” but I don’t recall her giving any solutions. This article gives some clues about how to prevent this banality with accountability for individuals. Some obvious preventions:

  1. Abolish ICE and any other organization (e.g., DOGE) that has no oversight or accountability by multiple people or laws.
  2. Make sure there is no “second ladder” shortcut to promotions. Being part of an unaccountable organization should hurt one’s career, not help.
Read the Article

This is an important article, so I archived a PDF copy. You can read it here:

PDF Archive

Swalwell/Why?

The Axis–“The battle isn’t about left versus right” by Darcy Burner burnery@substack.com Subscribe here for more

JoAnn Loulan’s additions in italics

Eric Swalwell got away with what he was doing for almost twenty years.

And was ahead in the race for Gov of California

A congressman, a prosecutor before that, a man who spent two decades in public life, with a staff, with donors, with reporters on his beat, with colleagues who saw him at every fundraiser and floor vote. For two decades, according to reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle, CNN and NBC, he was allegedly sexually harassing, assaulting, and in at least one case raping the women around him. How does a person (man) –do this for that long?

Everyone clucks because Katie Porter is “mean to her staff”–not that I think that’s ok, but seriously? Everyone talks about that, and Swalwell gets away with sexual assault for 20 years.

Not: how do they get away with it once. Not: how do they hide one bad night. How do they build a twenty-year career on top of it, rise through the ranks, chair committees, run for president, run for governor… with women in their twenties rotating through the office every cycle, each one a potential witness, each one a potential story, and none of it touching him until April of 2026? When brave women came forward and risked their careers…which are probably over in DC.

The reason women don’t come forward isn’t fear of being disbelieved, exactly. It’s the math. The system is not designed to weigh the evidence; it is designed to weigh the people, and you are not the heavier one.

I call this status-based reasoning

The high-status person is right because they are the high-status person. Arguments are window dressing. Evidence is decoration. The conclusion is fixed before anyone opens their mouth, and everything that follows is the retroactive assembly of a justification.

It’s why “believe women” became such a flashpoint. The slogan was never asking for women to be believed without evidence. It was asking for women’s evidence to be weighted the same as men’s.

The crazy-making quality of living inside this system, on the wrong side of the line, is that the argument is never actually about the argument.

In the 2024 race Donald Trump  tells the crowd that Kamala Harris “would get us into a World War III guaranteed because she is too grossly incompetent to do the job.” He is the high-status figure. She was the low-status one. He is right because he is the one who gets to be right. And everything he said she would do he has done (and she probably wouldn’t have )

This is what the Swalwell staffers lived inside. This is what Harris lived inside for the entirety of the 2024 campaign. This is what women, people of color and poor people live inside. This is what every woman who ever kept furniture between herself and a powerful man has lived inside her whole working life.

This is why electing a woman president of the United States will be very difficult….(19 million people voted for Biden in 2020 and DID NOT VOTE in 2024 ….and Harris lost by 6 million votes). You can say it’s her personality, Biden didn’t step down…on and on….the major cause was because our culture continues to see women (and a black and Asian woman to boot) as lower status than men…even wealthy women….it seems impossible to get retribution for the Epstein victims (one area I agree with Bondi–no Democratic DOJ supported Epstein victims either or released the Epstein files). 13 states have made abortion illegal, 8 have restricted birth control, 10% of Fortune 500 companies are run by women…and I can go on as to how sexism is a scourge in this country. Yet we worry about the psyche of young men.

Sexism, racism, classism and white nationalism need to be confronted–and all the “people who live inside this paradigm” need to be supported in fighting STATUS-BASED REASONING.

This is the ONLY way a Supreme Court Justice (Kavanaugh) could write in 2025 an agreement giving ICE unlimited power to detain people against their will because of: their accents, color of their skin and working low-status jobs. Think about that….and 81% of people arrested by ICE where courts have intervened have been released..because someone (a Judge) of higher status ruled they be released.

The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation

Our studies in civil resistance offer insight into the level of popular organizing needed to repel assaults on democracy.

by Mark Engler and Paul Engler

Publisher: The Guardian

Recommended by: Bob B.

In the wake of two horrifying killings of legal observers in Minnesota, on top of the abduction of countless immigrant community members, the country has reached a turning point. Backlash against ICE’s lawlessness and aggression has reverberated so loudly that even Trump has heard it. But the effects on ordinary Americans contemplating what they would do if they lived in Minneapolis or St Paul is perhaps even more profound.

The extraordinary level of grassroots solidarity and creative resistance in anti-ICE protests in Minnesota has given people a new appreciation for the power that mass non-cooperation can have in resisting the Trump administration’s drive toward authoritarianism. And it has created an awareness of why such action is clearly needed.

Read More

See also:

This Is an Uprising

Beyond MAGA

A Profile of the Trump Coalition

by: Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, PhD, Tim Dixon, and Jason Mangone

Publisher: More in Common US

Recommended by: Bob B.

A Coalition, Not a Cult

There is an image at the heart of American politics: a sea of
red-hat-wearing MAGA supporters at a Trump campaign rally,
representing the millions of Americans who voted for him over the past
three elections — 63 million in 2016, 74 million in 2020, and 77
million in 2024. Yet this image is misleading. President Trump has
built a coalition, not a cult. This coalition shares many common
concerns, from unregulated immigration to progressive overreach to
American decline. But it also contains groups with distinct
identities, competing priorities, and clashing worldviews. And while
there is a strong core of ardent Trump supporters whose identity is
wrapped up in the MAGA movement, they represent a minority: only 38
percent of Trump voters say that being MAGA is important to them.

The Four Types of Trump Voters

  • The Reluctant Right
  • MAGA Hardliners
  • Anti-Woke Conservatives
  • Mainline Republicans
See the full report

A community organizer’s guide to Signal group chats

Key privacy settings and best practices.

by Stevie Bonifield

Publisher: The Verge

Recommended by Bruce R and EFF

With ICE and CBP roaming the streets, united community action is more important than ever right now — from local mutual aid groups to school safety patrols. Known for its privacy features and end-to-end encryption, the Signal messaging app has become a popular platform for organizing these community groups.

Signal can be a great tool for private messaging, but it’s at its best if you know how to use all the privacy options. Not all of these options are automatic or even immediately obvious; there are also some best practices that are helpful for participating in and leading group chats.

Go to the Article

A timeline of Donald Trump’s many (alleged) crimes and convictions

Buckle up: there’s a lot to get through

By Jennifer Savin

Publisher: Cosmopolitan

Recommended by: Steve G.

It’s hard to believe that Donald Trump has only been back in office for a year, given the relentless news cycle he seems so obsessed with commanding (once a reality star, always a reality star?). From ordering especially high numbers of thuggish ICE agents into states that voted for his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, to belittling allies in Europe (much to the delight of Russia’s President Putin), Trump sadly shows no signs of ending the chaos that is impacting the lives of millions the world over.

So, what has Trump actually been accused – and convicted – of over the years? Here’s a timeline recapping the key cases…

(Note: As of early 2026, no further criminal trials involving Trump are scheduled to take place while he is president, although appeals and civil enforcement actions remain ongoing.)

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A Call to Freeze ICE

Suspend all ICE activities pending judicial review of their methods.

By: Antonia Scatton

Reframing America

Publisher: Reframing America

There are many, many demands we can make about ICE including reforming it, replacing it with something better, or at minimum, repealing the recent massive funding increases. But those take time. We need action now. We need to call for an immediate suspension of activities, an appropriately named “freeze,” to stop the harm right now. A temporary freeze is a good place to start. It is both drastic and reasonable.

WHAT: Our Demands

  • FREEZE OPERATIONS pending LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW: Immediately suspend ICE activities and have agents withdraw to their local base. All out-of-state agents conducting “surge” activities should be returned to their home states until further notice.
  • DETAINEE STATUS REPORT: No more “disappearing” people.
    • List and account for every person detained or arrested by ICE and where they are now (including whether those detained were/are U.S. Citizens, people following the legal immigration process, previous status as a humanitarian parolee, DREAMers, long term residents with no record of violent crime, etc.)
    • Every detained person must have the ability to contact their families and access legal representation and a fair and timely hearing.
    • Assess the conditions of all detention facilities and assure that all detainees are being held under humane and legal conditions.
  • INCIDENT REPORT: No more extrajudicial violence.
    • Immediate inventory of all incidents involving shootings, beatings, injury, death, use of chemical weapons, as well as confrontation, investigation and/or arrest of protesters, legal observers, or U.S. citizens.
    • Review the legality of above incidents and whether they violate constitutional rights, specifically the First, Fourth and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution.
    • All cases of illegal arrest and use of force and/or violation of Constitutional rights should be referred to appropriate jurisdictions for prosecution.
  • OPERATIONAL LIMITS:
    • ICE must only arrest specific persons using judicial warrants. No racial profiling. No arrests in schools, churches, or medical facilities. ICE must not enter private homes or businesses without search warrants.
    • ICE is not to conduct non-immigration-related law enforcement.
    • DHS/ICE must provide and commit to clear definitions as to who is eligible for arrest on immigration law violations and why, such as record of being convicted of a violent crime or having crossed the border outside legal border crossings and being ineligible for the asylum process. DHS/ICE must provide and commit to clear definition of who is not eligible for arrest.
    • DHS/ICE must agree to crystal clear terms of engagement and use of force: when agents are allowed to stop people, ask for identification, or draw and/or use weapons including vehicles, guns and chemical weapons.
    • All arrests must be carried out with respect for due process and the Constitutional rights of suspects.
    • Agents must not wear masks. Agents must identify themselves; with their name, department/division and badge number clearly visible. Vehicles must be clearly identified as ICE or DHS. Agents must use body cameras at all times.
  • ENFORCEMENT AND RIGHTS OF OBSERVERS:
    • DHS and ICE must agree to these terms before resuming operations. Concrete consequences of violating these terms must be laid out in advance and enforced.
    • Protesters and legal observers must be provided clear definitions of their rights and responsibilities. Constitutional rights to protest and observe must be respected. We need clear definitions of what does or does not constitute “interfering” with federal agents. Consequences of clearly unlawful interference should be clearly defined in advance and proportionate, not a free pass for extrajudicial violence or murder.
    • DHS/ICE must defer to and coordinate with state and local law enforcement. Agents should not operate without the approval of state leadership. Local law enforcement must be able to supervise activities and stop any violations. DHS and the FBI must share all evidence of incidents and work with state and local law enforcement on all investigations.
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Keep Your Guard Up

Know Your Rights

By ACLU

Last month, the Bay Area braced for a surge of National Guard soldiers and federal immigration agents. Although Trump ultimately called off the troops, in the short time Border Patrol officers were here, they fired flash-bang grenades at peaceful community members and shot a pastor in the face with a pepper ball. The unprovoked violence was a chilling glimpse of how future immigration raids could unfold here. That’s why we can’t become complacent.

Be prepared and know your rights in case federal agents show up anywhere in our region:

This is from the ACLU’s Know Your Rights page.

The Shadow President

How Russell Vought became Trump's Shadow President

by Andy Kroll

Publisher: ProPublica

From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.”

What Vought has done in the nine months since Trump took office goes much further than slashing foreign aid. Relying on an expansive theory of presidential power and a willingness to test the rule of law, he has frozen vast sums of federal spending, terminated tens of thousands of federal workers and, in a few cases, brought entire agencies to a standstill. In early October, after Senate Democrats refused to vote for a budget resolution without additional health care protections, effectively shutting down the government, Vought became the face of the White House’s response. On the second day of the closure, Trump shared an AI-generated video that depicted his budget director — who, by then, had threatened mass firings across the federal workforce and paused or canceled $26 billion in funding for infrastructure and clean-­energy projects in blue states — as the Grim Reaper of Washington, D.C. “We work for the president of the United States,” a senior agency official who regularly deals with the OMB told me. But right now “it feels like we work for Russ Vought. He has centralized decision-­making power to an extent that he is the commander in chief.”

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(Archive)

Watch: “We Want the Bureaucrats to Be Traumatically Affected”

How to Have Constructive Conversations

We must be willing to ‘talk about it’

Everyone in our democracy must be able to speak their minds about public issues. Speaking up needs to be safe, responsible, respectful and free.  This includes airing differences, supplying facts, and explaining opinions and options.   

Even in conversations with people with whom we seem to agree, it’s important to air differences. This can be challenging, yet it’s worth it because we can learn from each other. 

Conversations with others who have very different perspectives, or whose views seem to be underinformed or based on inaccurate information, or different values, can be much harder. 

Basic Guidelines:

  • Be curious and listen to understand.
  • Show respect and suspend judgment. 
  • Note any common ground as well as any differences. 
  • Be authentic and welcome that from others. 
  • Be purposeful and to the point. 
  • Own and guide the conversation. 

How can we effectively navigate these varied circumstances? Here are five suggestions:

  1. It’s good to have a goal. You might want to learn about others’ perspectives and how they came to them.  You might want to express your own views and be taken seriously. It’s best to be civil and constructive. If there’s a downward spiral, it’s OK to take a time out.
  2. Establish a personal connection. Tell stories from your life and ask about theirs; look for common themes.  Ask, “I wonder…?”  or “I’m curious about…”   Note opportunities to bond and connect over shared experiences and interests. You also show respect when you ask: “What am I missing on this topic?  How can I learn something more about this?”
  3. When something you disagree about comes up, you might ask: How did you develop that viewpoint? What is your source of information?  What experiences shape your opinion?  Focus on personal stories and look for areas you have in common.  You might discuss values (e.g., caring, fairness, freedom, equality before the law, honesty).  Or you might explore overlaps in specific situations.  In what circumstances might one value take precedence?  Why?  We have a lot to learn from each other.
  4. Another approach is to get down to brass tacks and ask about democracy. Taking a suggestion from the book, How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide, by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay, you might pose a simple poll to them: on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being “I have no concerns about American democracy at all” and 10 being “American democracy is at the most serious risk in its history,” what number would you choose?  Why?  What might cause you to change your mind?  There could be genuine curiosity about their explanations without having to agree with their viewpoints.
  5. Find ways to work together on a project of mutual interest.  Schools? Performing Arts? Open Space? Fire Safety? This can demonstrate that democracy (e.g., disagreeing respectfully, setting rules and establishing fair processes, listening actively, etc.) can help produce wiser, fairer, more lasting, and more efficient outcomes.

Don’t Coerce. Listen First!

Beyond Conflict Institute reports “people perceive that the other side disagrees with them far more than is actually the case.”

So let’s find the courage to

  • GET CURIOUS! 
  • ASK QUESTIONS! 
  • LISTEN TO LEARN!
  • LOOK FOR COMMON GROUND!
  • We can always agree to disagree. 
  • If things get heated, take a break!

Check out these articles for more: 

Are we really as divided as we think? How dark forces are attempting to alienate us from our neighbours, The Toronto Star, April 25, 2023, by Frank Giustra

Yes, It’s Possible to (Gracefully) Talk Politics at Work, Harvard Business Review, October 30, 2020, by Raina Brands

Keeping It Civil: How To Talk Politics Without Letting Things Turn Ugly, NPR, April 12, 2019, by Caroline Kelly

Actor and Zen priest, Peter Coyote, on protest tactics

by Peter Coyote

This Substack post was reformatted and posted on Facebook.

Summary

I’m watching the Los Angeles reaction to ICE raids with trepidation and regret.

Three years ago I taught a class at Harvard on the “theater of protest”— designed to help people understand why so many protests turn out to be Republican campaign videos working directly against the interests of the original protest.

Continue reading Actor and Zen priest, Peter Coyote, on protest tactics

How to Spot Deliberately Misleading -DISINFORMATION

by Indivisible PV

CHECK THE SOURCE

Use reputable sources such as established news organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies. Be wary of sources that are unfamiliar or have a history of spreading false information.

VERIFY THE INFORMATION

Before sharing information, check to see if it has been reported by multiple sources. If not, it may be false or misleading.

LOOK FOR EVIDENCE

Disinformation often lacks evidence or relies on weak or misleading evidence. Look for sources that provide strong evidence to support their claims.

BE SKEPTICAL OF EMOTIONAL APPEALS

Disinformation often uses emotional appeals to manipulate people. Be wary of information that tries to appeal to your emotions rather than your reason.

BE AWARE OF YOUR OWN BIASES

We all have biases that can affect how we interpret information. Be aware of your own biases and try to approach information with an open mind.

THINK CRITICALLY

Ask questions, look for evidence, and consider alternative explanations.

Check Facts @:

POLITFACT

THE TRUST PROJECT

FACT CHECK

SNOPES

BBC VERIFY

FACT CHECKER (Washington Post)

REUTERS FACT CHECK

DUKE REPORTERS LAB

White Rural Rage

The Threat to American Democracy

by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.

INTERVIEW: Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman talk to Matt Lewis Media

Washington Post – Review

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Thoughts on Aliens of Our Creation

Do they work for us, or for themselves?

By: Bruce Rafnel

Publisher: Substack, Authentic Community

Clearly, humans are causing climate change.

But we have more problems than warming the planet. Even if we control the temperature by reducing our CO2 emissions, there are many other ecological problems caused by humans: deforestation, desertification, disruption of water cycles, plastic pollution, insect decline, fishery collapses, and fuel resource depletion. The list goes on and on. “It is no accident that the ruins of the world’s oldest civilizations are mostly in deserts now. It wasn’t desert before that.”

Our human institutions are unwilling (or unable) to address these problems with real solutions. We created these institutions—corporations and governments, most notably—but we seem unable to control them. They have morphed into alien entities that now control us.

The smallest effective human-powered unit is a community, not an individual. However, tight, effective communities have been hobbled. It is time to relearn how to build communities, and then to do the work of taking back our government. At the same time, large organizations can be reformed or broken up, with non-violent actions, to remind them that they exist for humans, not themselves.

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Warren Reads 100 Acts of Trump Corruption Into Congressional Record To Mark 100 Days of the Trump Administration

“[I]nstead of following through on his promise [to lower costs], Trump and his administration have paved the way for the president, his top officials, and his billionaire buddies to personally feed at the trough of government corruption.”

“That’s 100 corrupt acts in 100 days. Americans deserve accountability. We need to fight back—all of us.”

by: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Washington, D.C. – On the 100th day of this Trump administration, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) read 100 reports of corruption from President Trump’s term so far into the Congressional record. 

Senator Warren pointed to all the ways President Trump, his family, and associates like Elon Musk have used the presidency to enrich themselves, give favors to donors, and made it more difficult to hold him accountable for corruption. 

Transcript: “One Hundred Days, One Hundred Acts of Corruption”
U.S. Senate Floor
April 29, 2025

As Prepared for Delivery

Senator Elizabeth Warren: So here we are: one hundred days; one hundred acts of corruption.

Today, I’m reading into the congressional record 100 reports of corruption from Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. When he ran for office, Trump promised repeatedly that he would lower costs “on day 1.”  But instead of following through on his promise, Trump and his administration have paved the way for the president, his top officials, and his billionaire buddies to personally feed at the trough of government corruption. 

So, count with me: In just one hundred days, Donald Trump, his family, and his Administration have:

See the List

In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change

Condoms for Gaza? Ukraine started the war with Russia? The president’s manipulations of the truth lay the groundwork for radical change.

by Peter Baker

Publisher: The New York Times

Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed “alternative facts” in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.

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Some Actions That Are Not Protesting or Voting

Some examples:

ANTI-CRIMINALIZATION

COMMUNITY DEFENSE/MIGRANT JUSTICE

Click Here for the Full List

(Archive Link)

This came from the Mutula Aid 101 course.

Mutual Aid 101: Solidarity, Survival, and Resistance

How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch

A plan to harness grassroots energy—and to hold Democratic leaders accountable.

by Ezra Levin, Leah Greenberg

Summary

Indivisible founders, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, wrote this inspiring article for The Nation. Reviewed by Rachael Maddow.

Continue reading How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch

Trump Administration Litigation Tracker

This project includes two tables that follow legal challenges to the actions from the Trump administration: the Lawfare Litigation Tracker and the Alien Enemies Act Proclamation: State of Play table.

Publisher: Lawfare

Recommended by: Bruce R.

The Litigation Tracker table tracks legal challenges to the Trump administration’s executive actions that deal with national security issues, as well as cases on behalf of the Trump administration to enforce them. You can sort the table by clicking the column titles and query keywords using the search box in the top left of the table. The table has the case name, what executive action is being challenged, the status of the case, and a summary of the litigation being brought. View an explanation of the statuses below.

The Alien Enemies Act Proclamation: State of Play table tracks the ongoing litigation challenging deportations under President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.

See the Table

The Lawfare Litigation Tracker Includes:

  • 239 active cases challenging Trump administration actions (this numbers consider a suit filed in district court and appeals that arise from the original suit as one case)
  • 21 suits by the Trump administration challenging state or local laws
  • 17 Supreme Court stays or orders to vacate lower court orders
  • 1 Supreme Court affirmation of a lower court order
  • 8 suits where judges ruled for the federal government in a summary judgment or by dismissing a suit
  • 9 suits where judges ruled against the federal government in a summary judgment or permanent injunction
  • 6 criminal prosecutions by the Department of Justice (Rep. McIver, former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Congressional candidate Katherine Abughazaleh)
Lawfare

Photographic Evidence is Dead

Fake Image, Fake NEWS, Fake Trust.

By: Turtle Engineer (AKA: Bruce Rafnel)

Publisher: Medium, Slow Engineering

We have now witnessed the death of almost 200 years of photographic (and other recorded) evidence. Images, videos, and audio recordings can now be easily faked or altered in ways that cannot be detected. Digital technology has made this happen. Analog media is continuous, so subtle modifications can be noticed. However, digital media has discrete bits that are not dependent on the bits around them.

It is time to relearn what was so obvious to our ancestors: the SOURCE is more important than the content. “Do you trust or believe the source?” This can be a personal choice, but we no longer have the convenience of “socially accepted” sources.

Some technologies can “help” build trust, but they can all be compromised. We should never again put unconditional trust in any medium or technology.

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Indivisible: A Practical Guide To Democracy On The Brink

If there’s one universally accepted truth in the modern age, it’s that sequels suck. And Trump 2.0 will be no exception. Trump, Vance, and their MAGA minions feel vindicated by the victory of their bigoted, fascistic clown show of a presidential campaign. Trump takes office with a plan to institute the worst parts of Project 2025. He’ll be enabled by a judiciary packed with right-wing ideologues and a congressional majority stacked with MAGA foot soldiers. And he’s assembled a bloc of corporations and billionaires eager to do his bidding in exchange for tax cuts and corrupt favors. But he has no mandate for the staggeringly harmful agenda he’s about to unleash on the country. And together, we have the power to fight back — and win.

Resource Guide – Archive

Is the press trying to help elect Trump?

Trump loses again, as Biden is cleared

By: L O L G O P

Frame Lab advises responding to the special council report of Biden’s classified documents investigation by pointing out that Biden was cleared while Trump is still facing indictments. 

“The best way for the media to sell newspapers and clicks is to give Republicans what they want to hear, which drives liberals to hate reading, hate sharing, and even hate subscribing.  By rebutting them, [we] spread and strengthen them. That’s how our brains work.” 

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Always ‘Reframe’ Republican Talking Points

NEVER REPEAT LANGUAGE REPUBLICANS USE

“Consider the phrase “tax relief.” The world “relief” frames the word “tax” as an affliction or form of suffering. We generally need “relief” from things that are painful or unpleasant…Another example: Consider the phrase “forced birth.” It frames abortion bans with a negative word, “forced,” which frames abortion bans as aggressively stripping women of their freedom.”  Moral Warfare 101: Frames and Your Brain, Frame Lab, February 5, 2024 

“…when environmental issues are reframed in terms of the conservative value of purity – emphasizing the importance of keeping our forests, drinking water, and skies pure – conservatives are much more likely to support this cause.  

The power of framing: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it

The Guardian, July 20, 2017

Climate change? Global warming?

“David Fenton, a longtime PR specialist for progressive causes…urges the climate community to speak of pollution – a word everyone gets – and to settle on the image of a ‘blanket of pollution trapping heat on Earth’. Every oil and gas emission makes that blanket thicker – and all that trapped heat helps cause floods and start fires, he says.” As heat records break, the climate movement has the right answers – but the words are all wrong The Guardian, July 14, 2023

Frame Lab explains:

“Much of politics is a struggle to define how certain key words are framed — words like ‘tax,’ ‘freedom,’ ‘rights’ and ‘truth.’ 

“If you oppose an issue, you must try to frame it in negative terms. If you support an issue, you must try to frame it positively.”

Cognitive scientist Dr. George Lakoff and journalist Gil Duran share their political messaging expertise at  

Frame Lab on Substack.

Visit Frame Lab

Latest Frame Lab Articles

  • Data Center Don: Trump’s AI Debacle is a Big Opportunity
    by L O L G O P
    AI. Crypto. Trump. All three are the same con with different wigs.
  • Truth Melt: Never Lead With the Lie
    by L O L G O P
    When the headline is all most people read, leading with a lie spreads it. The Truth Melt: lead with the truth, name the lie only to correct it.
  • “Cultural heroin.” JD Vance on Donald Trump
    by Gil Duran
    Ten years ago today, JD Vance published an essay that called Donald Trump “cultural heroin” and “an opioid of the masses”:During this election season, it appears that many Americans have reached for a new pain reliever. It too, promises a quick escape from life’
  • Wannabe Dictator Gets Scraped Off a Wall
    by Gil Duran
    Trump's name was scraped off the Kennedy Center wall by court order. Wannabe dictators put their names on things. The law said no.
  • The Nerd Reich Is Coming
    by Gil Duran
    Things have been a bit quiet here at FrameLab. That silence has a reason: I have been finishing a book.The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy will be published on August 18 by Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. You can pre-
  • MAGA Plans Fake Emergency To Rig Midterm Elections
    by Gil Duran
    Trump's MAGA movement is plotting to steal the midterm elections with a fake national emergency. Here's how to frame it—and what you can do.
  • Strongman, Weak President
    by L O L G O P
    Trump's approval hits 37% as his strongman psychology prevents him from fixing the economy he broke. The strict father model is now his trap.

Yes, Republicans really believe in starving kids

By: L O L G O P

Republican governors in 15 red states have refused to participate in this summer’s federal free lunch program, denying food to approximately 8 million kids. 

Frame Lab advises responding without mentioning welfare states or calling Republicans scrooges. Say instead,  “Tate Reeves [Republican Governor of Mississippi] doesn’t want these kids to succeed. He doesn’t want them to have the same freedom as his kids enjoy. This isn’t just about punishing poor kids for being poor. It’s about taking away their opportunities.”

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Biden Is Trying to Jolt Us Out of Learned Helplessness About Trump

NY Times, JANUARY 8, 2024

by Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist

“Whether or not it was savvy for Biden to center his first campaign speech of the year on the danger Trump poses to democracy, his words had the virtue of being true. ‘Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past,’ Biden said in the speech. ‘It’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s being straightforward. He’s not hiding the ball.’”

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A Warning About Donald Trump and 2024

by The Editorial Board (New York Times)

Summary

“Mr. Trump does not offer voters anything resembling a normal option of Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, big government or small. He confronts America with a far more fateful choice: between the continuance of the United States as a nation dedicated to “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and a man who has proudly shown open disdain for the law and the protections and ideals of the Constitution.”

Publisher: The New York Times

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Reframing America

Changing the way the American Left engages in the public debate.
By Antonia Scatton

Recommended by Bob.

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How to Know a Person

The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

by David Brooks

Summary

Recommended by Bob

Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, David Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.

Continue reading How to Know a Person

Thank You for Your Servitude

Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission
By Mark Leibovich
Publisher: Penguin Press

Recommended by Cindi

“This is a really funny book.” Kara Swisher. 

Mark Leibovich’s unflinching account of the moral rout of a major American political party, tracking the transformation of Rubio, Cruz, Graham, and their ilk into the administration’s chief enablers, and the swamp’s lesser lights into frantic chasers of the grift…isn’t another view from the Oval Office: it’s the view from the Trump Hotel. 

Review
Buy

The Art & Science of Persuasion Playbook

A Message from Galvanize Action about a huge block of persuadable voters!

“White women are the largest voting bloc in this country and will be for decades to come. They account for 38% of the national vote share and 43% of the vote share across Galvanize Action’s priority states. Within this voting bloc, we’ve identified 44,093,812 moderate women who are not ideologically entrenched, meaning they are open to new ideas and perspectives and movable on key issues such as reproductive freedom, healthcare, gender equity, climate, and the economy.”

Galvanize Action has a fabulous interactive messaging worksheet we can all use!

Galvanize Action says, “We’ll share with you exactly how to create a message that meets people at their values and how to turn those into an effective ad. Our interactive worksheet will guide you through the process with prompts about your target audience and the issue you want to move them on. You’ll walk away with customized advice!”

The Election Sabotage Scheme and How Congress Can Stop It

The Freedom to Vote Act can halt this growing antidemocratic threat.

by Will Wilder, Derek Tisler, Wendy R. Weiser

Publisher: Brennan Center for Justice

Essentially this article addresses laws and proposed legislation enabling partisan interference in election administration as part of a broader “election sabotage” or “election subversion” campaign, a national push to enable partisans to distort democratic outcomes.

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The Upswing

how America came together a century ago and how we can do it again

by Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

“An eminent political scientist’s brilliant synthesis of social and political trends over the past century that shows how we have gone from an individualistic society to a more communitarian society and then back again — and how we can use that experience to overcome once again the individualism that currently weakens our country”

We can’t go back to when things were “good.” But we can learn from when things ware “bad.” In the early 1900’s the Guilded Age of the robber barons, things were really bad for most US citizens; they feared for the end of democracy and the take-over by the oligarchs.

Buy

Interview: Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely

The 2023 Ithiel de Sola Pool Lecture by Robert D. Putnam
Sep 22, 2023

Join or Die — Trailer (2023)

The Documentary “Join or Die” (2023) is currently available on Netflix (2025-08-11)

It Was All a Lie

How The Republican Party Became Donald Trump

by Stuart Stevens

Publisher: Knopf

Recommended by: Cindi S. and Steve G.

Written by Republican political consultant Stuart Stevens, this is a tell-all book about how the party he’s stood with for years spiraled out of control and lost the moral and political standpoints that once made it great. Unlike other books about Donald Trump, Stevens presents the 45th president of the United States as the inevitable result of the Republican Party’s failings, not its instigator.

Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass.

This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else. Stevens shows how Trump is in fact the natural outcome of five decades of hypocrisy and self-delusion, dating all the way back to the civil rights legislation of the early 1960s. Stevens shows how racism has always lurked in the modern GOP’s DNA, from Goldwater’s opposition to desegregation to Ronald Reagan’s welfare queens and states’ rights rhetoric. He gives an insider’s account of the rank hypocrisy of the party’s claims to embody “family values,” and shows how the party’s vaunted commitment to fiscal responsibility has been a charade since the 1980s. When a party stands for nothing, he argues, it is only natural that it will be taken over by the loudest and angriest voices in the room.

It Was All a Lie is not just an indictment of the Republican Party, but a candid and often lacerating mea culpa. Stevens is not asking for pity or forgiveness; he is simply telling us what he has seen firsthand. He helped to create the modern party that kneels before a morally bankrupt con man and now he wants nothing more than to see what it has become burned to the ground.

Listen to Stuart Steven’s interview on NPR

Read Review

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The Hidden Tribes of America

A year-long project of More in Common launched in October 2018.

by: Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, Míriam Juan-Torres, and Tim Dixon

Publisher: More in Common US

Recommended by: Bob B.

The report was conducted by More in Common, a new international initiative to build societies and communities that are stronger, more united, and more resilient to the increasing threats of polarization and social division. We work in partnership with a wide range of civil society groups, as well as philanthropy, business, faith, education, media and government to connect people across the lines of division.

America has never felt so divided. Bitter debates that were once confined to Congressional hearings and cable TV have now found their way into every part of our lives, from our Facebook feeds to the family dinner table. But most Americans are tired of this “us-versus-them” mindset and are eager to find common ground. This is the message we’ve heard from more than 8,000 Americans in one of our country’s largest-ever studies of polarization: We hold dissimilar views on many issues. However, more than three in four Americans also believe that our differences aren’t so great that we can’t work together.

A range of major issues split the country

  • Immigration impact
  • White privilege
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Islamophobia
Read the full report

Strategizing For A Living Revolution

by George Lakey

Publisher: History As A Weapon

Recommended by: Bruce R.

This article is a comprehensive strategic framework for nonviolent revolution, combining historical case studies, practical organizing guidance, and theoretical insights about movement building.

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The Movement Action Plan

A Strategic Framework Describing The Eight Stages of Successful Social Movements

by Bill Moyer

Publisher: History Is A Weapon

Recommended by: BruceR

Within a few years after achieving the goals of “take-off”, every major social movement of the past twenty years has undergone a significant collapse, in which activists believed that their movements had failed, the power institutions were too powerful, and their own efforts were futile. This has happened even when movements were actually progressing reasonably well along the normal path taken by past successful movements!

The Movement Action Plan (MAP) was first published as the Fall 1986 edition of the Dandelion. Twelve-thousand copies were published and distributed. This is a revised edition of that article. People are invited to participate in the continuing development of MAP and help spread it to local groups.

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