Trump's tariff chaos isn't economic policy—it's a calculated mafia-style market raid. While we worship failed market gods, China races ahead with hypersonic missiles, AI breakthroughs, and flying taxis. Our decline isn't destiny; it's a choice we can reverse.
I’m in agreement with your analysis. But to find answers that matter most, it’s important to boil our circumstances down to their essence: What makes a great society is one that loves - and I do mean loves - to work and learn, preferably at the same time, toward a more beneficial and fair future that solves more problems than it creates.
And, when we boil down the problems that are common between both rich and poor, you will find that our troubles begin when we don’t revel in education and work, but indulge in playtime the likes of the lost boys and girls in Pinocchio - and it’s not a fairy tale, it’s a legit warning that to play all the time is to become a jackass. Same is true when we don’t act with integrity with each other, bar none.
Quite frankly, we must commit to educating the spoiled rotten out of ourselves, while working together to design and build a future that is healthy and sustainable for one and all. No more hatred between business owners and workers, Democrats and Republicans, teachers and students, parents and children, rich and poor, black and white, etc. These are complementary opposites that need each other, very much, and they only work when we choose to work together with respect and integrity. Right now, it’s not happy cooperation between opposites, but abuse on a physio-psycho-emotional scale.
A job that doesn’t pay a living wage is slavery. A school that doesn’t teach people to think for themselves and expand their learning beyond what is taught over a lifetime, has created slaves for abusive masters. The same is true in homes where children are there to serve abusive caregivers instead of being taught to be well-rounded, respectful citizens.
Maybe none of this is well said, as wording things right doesn’t come easy for me, but it has been well thought out and would take only a little effort to see the truth of it. We need, but do not have, a small set of common core values that will insure we stay creatures of integrity no matter how much we change our environment as time goes by. Nature knows how to program itself so that diversity flourishes while still keeping invasive species in check. Humanity has yet to learn how to keep its invasive traits in check. Now is the time to fix that. The Founders of our Constitution understood it, which is why they built a system of checks and balances. We can never allow the destruction of the checks and balances that keep us on an even keel, able to navigate the challenges of life.
Yes! The so called leaders of American corporations haven’t the slightest interest in rebuilding the American economy. They want profits for themselves and their class. The government is not strong enough to impose taxes on them. Weak legal barriers allow dangerous activities like crypto. Only a true uprising has a chance to capture the power of government.
Something in our makeup as humans seems draw us to seek someone to blame whenever something goes wrong. And sometimes there is someone in particular to blame; but often our problems are caused by gradual decay of our institutional structures and misguided habits of thought.
Changing our institutional structures is difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as changing misguided individuals, much less all of them. I have to question whether there is much value in simply trying to place blame on individuals or on groups of individuals. That is not likely to lead to solutions and solutions are what we should be seeking.
‘Something in our makeup as humans seems draw us to seek someone to blame whenever something goes wrong.’
Guy Ritchie made a movie called Revolver with Jason Statham that answers that thought perfectly. He phrases it in the equation of a con and a mark (how appropriate for our current situation) positing that once the mark realizes he’s being conned he assists the conman because to do otherwise is to allow his own intelligence to be questioned. (How could I fall for that?) A direct quote…’no one can accept that, not even to themselves’.
Ironically, the movie was widely panned by critics, even though Mr. Ritchie’s research included the work of such heavy hitters as Deepak Chopra and David Hawkins. I believe the reason for that is also contained in the aforementioned quote.
Agree fully. I'm just back from Zambia where the Chinese have been building roads, airports, and supplying solar panels (at less than 30% of the cost of US modules, with similar or better performance), batteries and power electronics that form the backbone of an emerging new electricity infrastructure. In February I was in Bangkok where on the street at any given moment you can see a Chinese electric vehicle driving by. And the city has more than 5,000 electric municipal buses with Chinese drivetrains. Last year, in Laos on the Chinese-built Lao high-speed railway, that zips from Vientiane to Luang Prabang to the border with Yunnan and then China's vast high-speed rail network.
We need to be a nation that knows how to build again. I'm excited to read Ezra Klein + Derek Thompson's new book Abundance, which addresses this.
I'm so glad I found you! You are speaking my truth! " . . . viewed through the lens of sheer greed and market manipulation, Trump’s move suddenly makes chilling sense." Always has, and anyone who thinks/thought he would help them? As Trump would say, "Losers!" The same propaganda (leftovers from the Cold War) that makes Americans grab their guns at the mention of Russia or China needs revision, too. Instead of spending a trillion a year on defense (I know the world hates us and don't wonder why), we'd be smart to spend it on building relationships, i.e. diplomacy, the first rule of working with "adversaries."
Any rebuilding of this country has to recognize and respond to the fact that our education system hasn’t failed us. We have failed our education system. We need to put the PUBLIC back into public education. What I mean is the public belief in, and support of, public education. The continuing false and unquestioned narrative that public education is a failure has led to decreasing support for public
education in the minds and hearts of the American people. We can’t build America back without a strong, well supported system of public schooling.
I absolutely agree—public education hasn’t failed us; we’ve failed public education. That goes hand-in-hand with my broader point: whether it’s education, workers’ rights, energy production, racial equity, reproductive rights, or stopping our complicity in atrocities like what’s happening in Gaza right now, changing anything meaningful requires a complete break from the status quo.
You’re spot-on that rebuilding America can’t happen without strong, deeply supported public education. But beyond just funding schools, our educational system itself needs reimagining. We have shortages of engineers, primary care doctors, electricians, builders, and so many essential tradespeople. We’re hyper-focused on accumulating capital, but we’ve neglected building the human capital—the actual people—that can sustain and strengthen our country in the long run.
It shouldn’t take a decade to become a doctor. Other countries train healthcare providers faster and more efficiently. Doctors, lawyers, and professionals are skilled tradespeople, just like master electricians. The artificial barriers and bottlenecks that keep people from quickly learning these skills need to be dismantled.
To truly reinvest in education, we need a political movement capable of challenging entrenched interests who benefit from keeping things exactly as they are. Most of our leaders—even progressives—won’t move without pressure from below. It’s our job to organize, apply that pressure, and demand change.
Thanks for highlighting education—it’s foundational to everything else we’re trying to fix.
I loved reading this. I resonate with the idea of looking to ways to reconfigure our relationship with problem-solving as a society. So often we try to put our own individual solutions forward, and then battle it out. Instead, I think it could be profoundly useful to come together in a spirit of relationship building first. Without having a clear sense of who we actually are as a collective body, we run the risk of putting forward solutions that either a) are insufficient to the real nature of the problem , or b) would not be able to get off the ground politically.
This article proposes the next step that focuses on learning, relating, and creating over being trained, being wary, and being reactive.
Finally, it strikes me that playfulness is profoundly important, and that it simply be engaged not as an escape or diversion from reality, but in the context of a more thoughtful and enjoyable approach to creating a better future.
Daniel, thanks so much—I really loved your point about prioritizing relationships and unity first. One of the central things I’m getting at is exactly what you described: we need a mission, something bigger to unite us and remind us we’re more than isolated individuals competing for scraps.
People crave meaningful work, not just labor for survival. You’re spot on—playfulness and creativity matter deeply, especially when harnessed toward building a better future, rather than simply escaping the present. Coal miners, despite their hardships, knew they were powering a nation—they had a purpose. That collective sense of purpose matters profoundly. But as you said, this can’t just be blind sacrifice; equity and genuine care for each other must underpin it.
Ultimately, markets alone won’t save us, nor will corporations. We have to define a shared mission worth striving for—a goal we might always fall short of, yet always find worthwhile. Thanks again for engaging so thoughtfully; your comment added clarity to my thinking.
I am over 70 years old and I first voted in the 1972 general election in which Nixon trounced McGovern taking all the states except one. I went on believing in the promises of the Democratic Party nevertheless until just two election cycles ago. Since then I've been voting for a Third Party or writing in a candidate of my choice. Not the ones that are selected for me but someone I choose for myself.
I have come to the realization that the Democratic Party is just as vile as any other. They are supporting the genocide in Gaza as well as the eastward expansion of NATO into the Russian Federation's front yard, by backing unconditionally a Ukraine ruled by Neo-Nazi's who shoot Russian prisoners and post the video's on You Tube. They also murdered Russian civilians in their short-lived Kursk excursion; the bodies were left where they were killed, didn't even bother to get rid of the evidence. Now they are all getting us hyped up for a war against China in the near future, because the Chinese have beaten everyone in the economic sphere through plain old fashioned hard work. Something that I remember once existed in the United States.
So I'm completely done with your political parties. New faces and new names aren't going to change their true nature.
The country is run by billionaires who seek to enrich their class even further as they support mass murder overseas. Adios muchachos.
The two-party duopoly, in my mind at least, is at the root of what is spoiling our democracy. With only one alternative to turn to, voters often are faced with choosing between what seems to be a choice between two poor choices. And the propaganda battle, financed by big business finds it all too easy to step in, both to choose the two candidates and then to misinform the voters about how awful the opposition to their first choice (generally the Republican) happens to be.
Do you have any reliable news media sources to back up your Ukraine accusations? I 1st heard some of these accusations 10 years ago from a Russian working in the U.S. who loved Putin. You may be rpeating old Putin propaganda.
"Do you have any reliable news sources to back up your Ukraine accusations."
I don't expect you to find my sources "reliable" but here goes anyway. There are numerous You Tube channels you can get news on any part of the world. For the war by the USA and it's Western allies against the Russian Federation: Daniel Davis/Deep Dive, The Grayzone, Useful Idiots, Breakthrough News, Alexander Mercouris, Scott Ritter, Novara Media, Dialogue Works, Glenn Diesen, Judge Napolitano/Judging Freedom, Katie Halper, The LaRouche Organization, Janta Ka Reporter, Times of India, Danny Haiphong, Sabby Sabs, Double Down News, Hindustan Times, Patrick Lancaster. For the Middle East and the war by Israel/USA/Germany et. al. against the Arabs: Middle East Eye, The Electronic Intifada, Al Mayadeen Español, The La Rouche Organization, Janta Ka Reporter, Times of India, Al Jazeerah English, Middle Nation, Sabby Sabs, Double Down News, Tales of the American Empire, UN Human Rights Council, Dialogue Works, Mahmood OD, Glenn Diesen, Asia Society HK, TRT World.
As for Telegram channels: Foreign Agent Intel, Chay Bowes The Irishman, UKR LEAKS_esp, Los Sombreros Blancos, Irina, Military Wave, InfoDefenseEnglish, Two Majors-English Channel, Fearless John_@European_Dissident, Russian MFA, Eva Karene Bartlett, The Cradle, Press TV. On Substack for the Ukraine fiasco look at Simplicious the Thinker. For the Ukrainian state sponsored "kill list," go to myrotvorets.center. Tucker Carson was added to the list after he went to Moscow and interviewed President Putin. There are even children on the list targeted for assassination. For the Israeli/Zionist version see canary mission.org. This is not a kill list, just a ban/fire/deportation list.
Patrick Lancaster has a You Tube video entitled;"Kursk Frontline:Massacred Civilians Found as Ukraine Soldiers Retreat" which is about two months old. It was around this time that the first reports of murdered Russian civilians, mostly elderly, started appearing on Telegram channels also. I didn't make a list of these: I just watched and/or read them and moved on. I happened to remember his in particular. There's also a video report by ET Now on You Tube; "Russia alleges Ukrainian Troops killed 22 Civilians in Kursk Basement." There was a video by the You Tube channel, Oneindia News, from August 13, 2024, when the Kursk operation was launched by Ukraine, "Russia's Shocking Claims: Ukrainian Soldiers Ordered to Shoot and Kill Civilians in Kursk." As the Ukrainians have lost towns and villages in Kursk, more bodies are being found.
The Democratic Party doesn’t need breakup; it needs dissolution. It’s material assets, membership lists and leaders must be seized. The assets go toward rebuilding what it destroyed, the members banned for life from civic participation, and its leaders put on trial and prosecuted for crimes against humanity, crimes of war against peace, and for genocide.
Precisely the same ending is needed for the GOP.
The ‘figures’ you name are not wealth builders but wealth extractors and expropriators.
The United States Republic has fallen. It doesn’t exist. Its constitution no longer serves as the legal basis of the regime.
The US is ruled by fiat.
You are on the path to global war. Unless averted by the direct intervention of a united, global proletariat, it will end in a sixth, great extinction event.
I think that’s a big part of what I’m advocating for, although I’d probably say it differently than you did here. I don’t know that I’d phrase things exactly the same way. But I do think that for the people of this country to reclaim leadership of our government—to make it work again for everyday people and move toward something bold and beautiful—we have to gain control of one of our political parties.
Personally, I think it’s easier to take over an existing party than to build a new one from scratch. Obviously, that’s debatable. Plenty of folks disagree. But Trump proved it was possible to seize the GOP. On the Democratic side, the party structure is actually less democratic, ironically, with primaries often more tightly controlled. Even in Republican states, despite all their voter ID laws, their primaries can be easier to participate in. But that doesn’t mean I see the Republican Party as a viable path for progressive change. Not at all. I’m just pointing out a structural difference I’ve observed.
I remain hopeful, though, that if enough people genuinely see the crisis we’re in—clearly, without illusions—they’ll start voting differently. Back in 2015 and 2016, a lot of voters were scared to support Bernie because they were playing armchair quarterback, worried he was “too radical” for other voters, even if they personally agreed with him. And of course, some voters are fully bought into neoliberal, globalized economics and don’t want the kind of changes we’re talking about here.
Anyway, thanks for your perspective—it’s always helpful to clarify these points.
When I find such replies, I first reread what I wrote to see what where my language was unclear or incorrect.
Calling for the dissolution of the Party, the seizure of its assets, membership lists and leaders, is not a reformist line. Calling for prosecution of Party leaders for the crimes that led the Nuremberg Tribunal to send Nazi war criminals to the gallows in ‘46 is not a reformist line.
Calling for the same for both Parties puts it beyond all contestation that this position is in the best sense of the word, ‘revolutionary.’
Moreover, I wrote that the US Republic has fallen, that the basis of constitutional law is defunct, and that global war and the extinction of humanity is at stake.
Yet, I read …
‘…I think it’s easier to take over an existing party than to build a new one from scratch.’
These are not semantic differences, and your writing displays sufficient intellect to know this. To the one statement I quote …
‘Reformism’ is a proven failure. The ‘push the Party left’ is a fraud. Any meaningful assessment must identify the ‘theoretical possibility’ of ‘taking the party’ as a trap that redirects the disaffected back into the service of the party.
What you propose won’t be. Nor have you the luxury of time to waste. Everyone jumps on Trump’s tariff madness [which it is]. No one points out the role of tariffs in uniting the nation behind nationalism and war.
No one points out the role of tariffs in uniting other nations behind the US’ present drive for war with China. These plans are very far advanced, and the US Fuhrer now moves directly into the opening, operational stage.
Herr Trump also discusses annexations. In March ‘36, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland. In March ‘38, Hitler annexed Austria. In September of that year, the Munich agreement allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland [without Czech consent]. In March ‘39, Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia, and established control over Bohemia and Moravia. Sept. 1, ‘39, Germany invaded Poland.
What do you think it means that our glorious leader plans to annex Panama, the United Mexican States, Canada and Greenland?
Do you truly believe you have time to ‘push Democrats ‘left’ in order to do whatever it is that they pretend will resolve our crisis?
Be reminded, Corbin, that it was in the watch of the Democratic Party that Trump’s fascist minions were allowed to rise.
When the then world be Fuhrer was ejected, what did the Biden regime do to inoculate us against a repeat performance?
Did it establish a permanent education campaign? Did it reach out to reengage those most vulnerable to fascistic manipulation? Did it establish any standards for democratizing civic participation? Were there any initiatives to explain democracy? Were efforts made to direct public education to teach the practices of democracy? Was anything published? Were offices opened in any communities to offer leadership in practical democracy?
Like it or not, the Democratic Party offers zero constituency for democracy. It is not an American institution in the way that the GOP is not an American institution. Now, the working class, which is the sole power on earth capable of opposing fascism, is robbed of a government.
Government is of the oligarchy, by the oligarchy, and for the oligarchy.
You must learn to do rigorous analysis now. War and global war are upon us. Soon enough, it will be nuclear annihilation.
Do you truly believe you have time to ‘push the Party left?’
Since joining Bernie’s first campaign in 2015, co-founding Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, and working with AOC, I’ve believed the solution involves mass political mobilization. The plan is to unite around a clear, shared mission to genuinely rebuild this country—our democracy, infrastructure, industrial base, healthcare, education, and more.
This can’t be done by tweaking at the edges. We need deep reforms: ending gerrymandering, overturning Citizens United, ranked-choice voting—structural changes. We need leaders brave enough to challenge incumbents who’ve spent decades creating and defending the broken systems we live under.
That’s why people like Saikat Chakrabarti stepping up against Nancy Pelosi matter so much. We need more candidates like him willing to challenge entrenched power.
As for concrete steps: Support candidates committed to systemic change, amplify and support independent media voices speaking truth (Ryan Grim, Grace Blakeley, Jeremy Scahill, among others), and make sure more of us understand just how far we’ve fallen so the scale of the solutions make sense.
Join the fight seat by seat, election by election. We’re not stuck with decline—we can reclaim America’s strength and dignity.
This part of your essay sounds a lot like Biden's Infrastructure and Chips & Science Acts.
"We must rebuild our rusted industrial parks, resurrect our decayed mill towns, repair our bridges, roads, and trains. We need citizens ready to engineer, innovate, and doctor our way back to prosperity."
I agree that initiatives like the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) share objectives with the vision of rebuilding our industrial and infrastructural capacities. However, there are significant differences in execution and control that merit attention.
Currently, industry stakeholders wield considerable influence over the legislation, deployment, and implementation of these initiatives. This often leads to a focus on activities that are more profitable or less challenging, such as consultations, feasibility studies, and prolonged planning phases, rather than on-the-ground development. For instance, the broadband expansion efforts under the BIL have encountered obstacles due to complex participation requirements, which some argue are influenced by telecommunications companies aiming to limit competition. 
Moreover, certain states have laws that restrict or prohibit municipal broadband initiatives, further complicating efforts to expand internet access. These legal barriers often stem from lobbying by major telecom companies to maintain market dominance. 
To address these challenges, it’s crucial to recalibrate the power dynamics in favor of more direct governmental oversight and involvement. Historically, significant projects like rural electrification and the construction of the Hoover Dam saw the government taking an active role, not merely as a financier but as a central player in execution and management. This approach ensured that projects aligned with public interests and were completed efficiently.
In contrast, many of today’s initiatives rely heavily on private industry for execution, which can lead to misaligned priorities and inefficiencies. Reestablishing robust governmental oversight and reducing undue industry influence could enhance the effectiveness of these programs, ensuring they serve the broader public good rather than narrow corporate interests.
My thoughts exactly. Few people bothered to learn what the Biden Administration was achieving. That includes the press. They noticed he was old. However there is some activity on the part of Democrats such as Governor Walz. Senator Murphy, Bernie Sanders, and AOC who are trying to develop a positive message for Democrats. New DNC Chairman Ken Martin announced this will be a path for more Democratic Lawmakers, to publicly speak out in places Republicans refuse to meet Constituents. The 2008 Recession and Covid made clear that it was in the national interest of the US to reshore critical industries. I agree with those who support a more robust educational system.
Well said, we want a revolution and we want it NOW! Stop feeding the military beast, stop aiding Israel and Ukraine, STOP! Start acting like a govt of the people for the people join with the world to combat climate change!
You are definitely onto something here. Thank you for going deeper than what we are used to seeing (skimming the surface and placing blame on one or two issues). It’s a very complex problem with complex solutions.
We're set up politically as zero-sum. One side wins and one side loses in what we've evolved to as hostile forces. A leading mediator I work with, looking beyond our two-party system, said, "I can see a future in which those who run the country on behalf of we-the-people are dedicated to problem-solving rather than promoting their own dogmas. This is the Cooperative Problem Solving Party - the CPS - whose participants may come from any political background or none, but who make a commitment to the fundamental principle that they will work collaboratively with others to arrive at decisions...the priority is solutions, not sides." This would be a coalition, not a political party.
I’m in agreement with your analysis. But to find answers that matter most, it’s important to boil our circumstances down to their essence: What makes a great society is one that loves - and I do mean loves - to work and learn, preferably at the same time, toward a more beneficial and fair future that solves more problems than it creates.
And, when we boil down the problems that are common between both rich and poor, you will find that our troubles begin when we don’t revel in education and work, but indulge in playtime the likes of the lost boys and girls in Pinocchio - and it’s not a fairy tale, it’s a legit warning that to play all the time is to become a jackass. Same is true when we don’t act with integrity with each other, bar none.
Quite frankly, we must commit to educating the spoiled rotten out of ourselves, while working together to design and build a future that is healthy and sustainable for one and all. No more hatred between business owners and workers, Democrats and Republicans, teachers and students, parents and children, rich and poor, black and white, etc. These are complementary opposites that need each other, very much, and they only work when we choose to work together with respect and integrity. Right now, it’s not happy cooperation between opposites, but abuse on a physio-psycho-emotional scale.
A job that doesn’t pay a living wage is slavery. A school that doesn’t teach people to think for themselves and expand their learning beyond what is taught over a lifetime, has created slaves for abusive masters. The same is true in homes where children are there to serve abusive caregivers instead of being taught to be well-rounded, respectful citizens.
Maybe none of this is well said, as wording things right doesn’t come easy for me, but it has been well thought out and would take only a little effort to see the truth of it. We need, but do not have, a small set of common core values that will insure we stay creatures of integrity no matter how much we change our environment as time goes by. Nature knows how to program itself so that diversity flourishes while still keeping invasive species in check. Humanity has yet to learn how to keep its invasive traits in check. Now is the time to fix that. The Founders of our Constitution understood it, which is why they built a system of checks and balances. We can never allow the destruction of the checks and balances that keep us on an even keel, able to navigate the challenges of life.
Beautifully put!!
Well said!
Yes! The so called leaders of American corporations haven’t the slightest interest in rebuilding the American economy. They want profits for themselves and their class. The government is not strong enough to impose taxes on them. Weak legal barriers allow dangerous activities like crypto. Only a true uprising has a chance to capture the power of government.
Something in our makeup as humans seems draw us to seek someone to blame whenever something goes wrong. And sometimes there is someone in particular to blame; but often our problems are caused by gradual decay of our institutional structures and misguided habits of thought.
Changing our institutional structures is difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as changing misguided individuals, much less all of them. I have to question whether there is much value in simply trying to place blame on individuals or on groups of individuals. That is not likely to lead to solutions and solutions are what we should be seeking.
‘Something in our makeup as humans seems draw us to seek someone to blame whenever something goes wrong.’
Guy Ritchie made a movie called Revolver with Jason Statham that answers that thought perfectly. He phrases it in the equation of a con and a mark (how appropriate for our current situation) positing that once the mark realizes he’s being conned he assists the conman because to do otherwise is to allow his own intelligence to be questioned. (How could I fall for that?) A direct quote…’no one can accept that, not even to themselves’.
Ironically, the movie was widely panned by critics, even though Mr. Ritchie’s research included the work of such heavy hitters as Deepak Chopra and David Hawkins. I believe the reason for that is also contained in the aforementioned quote.
Agree fully. I'm just back from Zambia where the Chinese have been building roads, airports, and supplying solar panels (at less than 30% of the cost of US modules, with similar or better performance), batteries and power electronics that form the backbone of an emerging new electricity infrastructure. In February I was in Bangkok where on the street at any given moment you can see a Chinese electric vehicle driving by. And the city has more than 5,000 electric municipal buses with Chinese drivetrains. Last year, in Laos on the Chinese-built Lao high-speed railway, that zips from Vientiane to Luang Prabang to the border with Yunnan and then China's vast high-speed rail network.
We need to be a nation that knows how to build again. I'm excited to read Ezra Klein + Derek Thompson's new book Abundance, which addresses this.
I'm so glad I found you! You are speaking my truth! " . . . viewed through the lens of sheer greed and market manipulation, Trump’s move suddenly makes chilling sense." Always has, and anyone who thinks/thought he would help them? As Trump would say, "Losers!" The same propaganda (leftovers from the Cold War) that makes Americans grab their guns at the mention of Russia or China needs revision, too. Instead of spending a trillion a year on defense (I know the world hates us and don't wonder why), we'd be smart to spend it on building relationships, i.e. diplomacy, the first rule of working with "adversaries."
Any rebuilding of this country has to recognize and respond to the fact that our education system hasn’t failed us. We have failed our education system. We need to put the PUBLIC back into public education. What I mean is the public belief in, and support of, public education. The continuing false and unquestioned narrative that public education is a failure has led to decreasing support for public
education in the minds and hearts of the American people. We can’t build America back without a strong, well supported system of public schooling.
I absolutely agree—public education hasn’t failed us; we’ve failed public education. That goes hand-in-hand with my broader point: whether it’s education, workers’ rights, energy production, racial equity, reproductive rights, or stopping our complicity in atrocities like what’s happening in Gaza right now, changing anything meaningful requires a complete break from the status quo.
You’re spot-on that rebuilding America can’t happen without strong, deeply supported public education. But beyond just funding schools, our educational system itself needs reimagining. We have shortages of engineers, primary care doctors, electricians, builders, and so many essential tradespeople. We’re hyper-focused on accumulating capital, but we’ve neglected building the human capital—the actual people—that can sustain and strengthen our country in the long run.
It shouldn’t take a decade to become a doctor. Other countries train healthcare providers faster and more efficiently. Doctors, lawyers, and professionals are skilled tradespeople, just like master electricians. The artificial barriers and bottlenecks that keep people from quickly learning these skills need to be dismantled.
To truly reinvest in education, we need a political movement capable of challenging entrenched interests who benefit from keeping things exactly as they are. Most of our leaders—even progressives—won’t move without pressure from below. It’s our job to organize, apply that pressure, and demand change.
Thanks for highlighting education—it’s foundational to everything else we’re trying to fix.
I loved reading this. I resonate with the idea of looking to ways to reconfigure our relationship with problem-solving as a society. So often we try to put our own individual solutions forward, and then battle it out. Instead, I think it could be profoundly useful to come together in a spirit of relationship building first. Without having a clear sense of who we actually are as a collective body, we run the risk of putting forward solutions that either a) are insufficient to the real nature of the problem , or b) would not be able to get off the ground politically.
This article proposes the next step that focuses on learning, relating, and creating over being trained, being wary, and being reactive.
Finally, it strikes me that playfulness is profoundly important, and that it simply be engaged not as an escape or diversion from reality, but in the context of a more thoughtful and enjoyable approach to creating a better future.
Daniel, thanks so much—I really loved your point about prioritizing relationships and unity first. One of the central things I’m getting at is exactly what you described: we need a mission, something bigger to unite us and remind us we’re more than isolated individuals competing for scraps.
People crave meaningful work, not just labor for survival. You’re spot on—playfulness and creativity matter deeply, especially when harnessed toward building a better future, rather than simply escaping the present. Coal miners, despite their hardships, knew they were powering a nation—they had a purpose. That collective sense of purpose matters profoundly. But as you said, this can’t just be blind sacrifice; equity and genuine care for each other must underpin it.
Ultimately, markets alone won’t save us, nor will corporations. We have to define a shared mission worth striving for—a goal we might always fall short of, yet always find worthwhile. Thanks again for engaging so thoughtfully; your comment added clarity to my thinking.
EXCEPTIONAL!!!
Kudos Corbin!
I am over 70 years old and I first voted in the 1972 general election in which Nixon trounced McGovern taking all the states except one. I went on believing in the promises of the Democratic Party nevertheless until just two election cycles ago. Since then I've been voting for a Third Party or writing in a candidate of my choice. Not the ones that are selected for me but someone I choose for myself.
I have come to the realization that the Democratic Party is just as vile as any other. They are supporting the genocide in Gaza as well as the eastward expansion of NATO into the Russian Federation's front yard, by backing unconditionally a Ukraine ruled by Neo-Nazi's who shoot Russian prisoners and post the video's on You Tube. They also murdered Russian civilians in their short-lived Kursk excursion; the bodies were left where they were killed, didn't even bother to get rid of the evidence. Now they are all getting us hyped up for a war against China in the near future, because the Chinese have beaten everyone in the economic sphere through plain old fashioned hard work. Something that I remember once existed in the United States.
So I'm completely done with your political parties. New faces and new names aren't going to change their true nature.
The country is run by billionaires who seek to enrich their class even further as they support mass murder overseas. Adios muchachos.
The two-party duopoly, in my mind at least, is at the root of what is spoiling our democracy. With only one alternative to turn to, voters often are faced with choosing between what seems to be a choice between two poor choices. And the propaganda battle, financed by big business finds it all too easy to step in, both to choose the two candidates and then to misinform the voters about how awful the opposition to their first choice (generally the Republican) happens to be.
Do you have any reliable news media sources to back up your Ukraine accusations? I 1st heard some of these accusations 10 years ago from a Russian working in the U.S. who loved Putin. You may be rpeating old Putin propaganda.
"Do you have any reliable news sources to back up your Ukraine accusations."
I don't expect you to find my sources "reliable" but here goes anyway. There are numerous You Tube channels you can get news on any part of the world. For the war by the USA and it's Western allies against the Russian Federation: Daniel Davis/Deep Dive, The Grayzone, Useful Idiots, Breakthrough News, Alexander Mercouris, Scott Ritter, Novara Media, Dialogue Works, Glenn Diesen, Judge Napolitano/Judging Freedom, Katie Halper, The LaRouche Organization, Janta Ka Reporter, Times of India, Danny Haiphong, Sabby Sabs, Double Down News, Hindustan Times, Patrick Lancaster. For the Middle East and the war by Israel/USA/Germany et. al. against the Arabs: Middle East Eye, The Electronic Intifada, Al Mayadeen Español, The La Rouche Organization, Janta Ka Reporter, Times of India, Al Jazeerah English, Middle Nation, Sabby Sabs, Double Down News, Tales of the American Empire, UN Human Rights Council, Dialogue Works, Mahmood OD, Glenn Diesen, Asia Society HK, TRT World.
As for Telegram channels: Foreign Agent Intel, Chay Bowes The Irishman, UKR LEAKS_esp, Los Sombreros Blancos, Irina, Military Wave, InfoDefenseEnglish, Two Majors-English Channel, Fearless John_@European_Dissident, Russian MFA, Eva Karene Bartlett, The Cradle, Press TV. On Substack for the Ukraine fiasco look at Simplicious the Thinker. For the Ukrainian state sponsored "kill list," go to myrotvorets.center. Tucker Carson was added to the list after he went to Moscow and interviewed President Putin. There are even children on the list targeted for assassination. For the Israeli/Zionist version see canary mission.org. This is not a kill list, just a ban/fire/deportation list.
Patrick Lancaster has a You Tube video entitled;"Kursk Frontline:Massacred Civilians Found as Ukraine Soldiers Retreat" which is about two months old. It was around this time that the first reports of murdered Russian civilians, mostly elderly, started appearing on Telegram channels also. I didn't make a list of these: I just watched and/or read them and moved on. I happened to remember his in particular. There's also a video report by ET Now on You Tube; "Russia alleges Ukrainian Troops killed 22 Civilians in Kursk Basement." There was a video by the You Tube channel, Oneindia News, from August 13, 2024, when the Kursk operation was launched by Ukraine, "Russia's Shocking Claims: Ukrainian Soldiers Ordered to Shoot and Kill Civilians in Kursk." As the Ukrainians have lost towns and villages in Kursk, more bodies are being found.
I hope this has been responsive to your request.
This is not a post to inform. It's a fucking campaign advertisement. Nope.
I’m not running.
The Democratic Party doesn’t need breakup; it needs dissolution. It’s material assets, membership lists and leaders must be seized. The assets go toward rebuilding what it destroyed, the members banned for life from civic participation, and its leaders put on trial and prosecuted for crimes against humanity, crimes of war against peace, and for genocide.
Precisely the same ending is needed for the GOP.
The ‘figures’ you name are not wealth builders but wealth extractors and expropriators.
The United States Republic has fallen. It doesn’t exist. Its constitution no longer serves as the legal basis of the regime.
The US is ruled by fiat.
You are on the path to global war. Unless averted by the direct intervention of a united, global proletariat, it will end in a sixth, great extinction event.
Consider your ways.
wsws.org
I think that’s a big part of what I’m advocating for, although I’d probably say it differently than you did here. I don’t know that I’d phrase things exactly the same way. But I do think that for the people of this country to reclaim leadership of our government—to make it work again for everyday people and move toward something bold and beautiful—we have to gain control of one of our political parties.
Personally, I think it’s easier to take over an existing party than to build a new one from scratch. Obviously, that’s debatable. Plenty of folks disagree. But Trump proved it was possible to seize the GOP. On the Democratic side, the party structure is actually less democratic, ironically, with primaries often more tightly controlled. Even in Republican states, despite all their voter ID laws, their primaries can be easier to participate in. But that doesn’t mean I see the Republican Party as a viable path for progressive change. Not at all. I’m just pointing out a structural difference I’ve observed.
I remain hopeful, though, that if enough people genuinely see the crisis we’re in—clearly, without illusions—they’ll start voting differently. Back in 2015 and 2016, a lot of voters were scared to support Bernie because they were playing armchair quarterback, worried he was “too radical” for other voters, even if they personally agreed with him. And of course, some voters are fully bought into neoliberal, globalized economics and don’t want the kind of changes we’re talking about here.
Anyway, thanks for your perspective—it’s always helpful to clarify these points.
Dear Corbin Trent:
When I find such replies, I first reread what I wrote to see what where my language was unclear or incorrect.
Calling for the dissolution of the Party, the seizure of its assets, membership lists and leaders, is not a reformist line. Calling for prosecution of Party leaders for the crimes that led the Nuremberg Tribunal to send Nazi war criminals to the gallows in ‘46 is not a reformist line.
Calling for the same for both Parties puts it beyond all contestation that this position is in the best sense of the word, ‘revolutionary.’
Moreover, I wrote that the US Republic has fallen, that the basis of constitutional law is defunct, and that global war and the extinction of humanity is at stake.
Yet, I read …
‘…I think it’s easier to take over an existing party than to build a new one from scratch.’
These are not semantic differences, and your writing displays sufficient intellect to know this. To the one statement I quote …
I reply:
1] There is no ‘easier’ path.
2] The Party won’t be made from scratch; it exists already. https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/home.html
3] If you seek an easier path, you won’t find admittance there. It isn’t the party for you.
4] If you read the Historical Foundations [at the link in 2] and the Statement of Principles at https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/principles.html — and find yourself in agreement, applications can be considered.
‘Reformism’ is a proven failure. The ‘push the Party left’ is a fraud. Any meaningful assessment must identify the ‘theoretical possibility’ of ‘taking the party’ as a trap that redirects the disaffected back into the service of the party.
What you propose won’t be. Nor have you the luxury of time to waste. Everyone jumps on Trump’s tariff madness [which it is]. No one points out the role of tariffs in uniting the nation behind nationalism and war.
No one points out the role of tariffs in uniting other nations behind the US’ present drive for war with China. These plans are very far advanced, and the US Fuhrer now moves directly into the opening, operational stage.
Herr Trump also discusses annexations. In March ‘36, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland. In March ‘38, Hitler annexed Austria. In September of that year, the Munich agreement allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland [without Czech consent]. In March ‘39, Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia, and established control over Bohemia and Moravia. Sept. 1, ‘39, Germany invaded Poland.
What do you think it means that our glorious leader plans to annex Panama, the United Mexican States, Canada and Greenland?
Do you truly believe you have time to ‘push Democrats ‘left’ in order to do whatever it is that they pretend will resolve our crisis?
Be reminded, Corbin, that it was in the watch of the Democratic Party that Trump’s fascist minions were allowed to rise.
When the then world be Fuhrer was ejected, what did the Biden regime do to inoculate us against a repeat performance?
Did it establish a permanent education campaign? Did it reach out to reengage those most vulnerable to fascistic manipulation? Did it establish any standards for democratizing civic participation? Were there any initiatives to explain democracy? Were efforts made to direct public education to teach the practices of democracy? Was anything published? Were offices opened in any communities to offer leadership in practical democracy?
Like it or not, the Democratic Party offers zero constituency for democracy. It is not an American institution in the way that the GOP is not an American institution. Now, the working class, which is the sole power on earth capable of opposing fascism, is robbed of a government.
Government is of the oligarchy, by the oligarchy, and for the oligarchy.
You must learn to do rigorous analysis now. War and global war are upon us. Soon enough, it will be nuclear annihilation.
Do you truly believe you have time to ‘push the Party left?’
Sounds good. Great idea. Plans??? Steps??? New creative Organizations??? What nation wide support systems that already exist???
Great question—what’s next, exactly?
Since joining Bernie’s first campaign in 2015, co-founding Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, and working with AOC, I’ve believed the solution involves mass political mobilization. The plan is to unite around a clear, shared mission to genuinely rebuild this country—our democracy, infrastructure, industrial base, healthcare, education, and more.
This can’t be done by tweaking at the edges. We need deep reforms: ending gerrymandering, overturning Citizens United, ranked-choice voting—structural changes. We need leaders brave enough to challenge incumbents who’ve spent decades creating and defending the broken systems we live under.
That’s why people like Saikat Chakrabarti stepping up against Nancy Pelosi matter so much. We need more candidates like him willing to challenge entrenched power.
He is asking for people to run along side him: https://www.saikat.us/en/nominate
As for concrete steps: Support candidates committed to systemic change, amplify and support independent media voices speaking truth (Ryan Grim, Grace Blakeley, Jeremy Scahill, among others), and make sure more of us understand just how far we’ve fallen so the scale of the solutions make sense.
Join the fight seat by seat, election by election. We’re not stuck with decline—we can reclaim America’s strength and dignity.
Awesome!!
This part of your essay sounds a lot like Biden's Infrastructure and Chips & Science Acts.
"We must rebuild our rusted industrial parks, resurrect our decayed mill towns, repair our bridges, roads, and trains. We need citizens ready to engineer, innovate, and doctor our way back to prosperity."
I agree that initiatives like the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) share objectives with the vision of rebuilding our industrial and infrastructural capacities. However, there are significant differences in execution and control that merit attention.
Currently, industry stakeholders wield considerable influence over the legislation, deployment, and implementation of these initiatives. This often leads to a focus on activities that are more profitable or less challenging, such as consultations, feasibility studies, and prolonged planning phases, rather than on-the-ground development. For instance, the broadband expansion efforts under the BIL have encountered obstacles due to complex participation requirements, which some argue are influenced by telecommunications companies aiming to limit competition. 
Moreover, certain states have laws that restrict or prohibit municipal broadband initiatives, further complicating efforts to expand internet access. These legal barriers often stem from lobbying by major telecom companies to maintain market dominance. 
To address these challenges, it’s crucial to recalibrate the power dynamics in favor of more direct governmental oversight and involvement. Historically, significant projects like rural electrification and the construction of the Hoover Dam saw the government taking an active role, not merely as a financier but as a central player in execution and management. This approach ensured that projects aligned with public interests and were completed efficiently.
In contrast, many of today’s initiatives rely heavily on private industry for execution, which can lead to misaligned priorities and inefficiencies. Reestablishing robust governmental oversight and reducing undue industry influence could enhance the effectiveness of these programs, ensuring they serve the broader public good rather than narrow corporate interests.
My thoughts exactly. Few people bothered to learn what the Biden Administration was achieving. That includes the press. They noticed he was old. However there is some activity on the part of Democrats such as Governor Walz. Senator Murphy, Bernie Sanders, and AOC who are trying to develop a positive message for Democrats. New DNC Chairman Ken Martin announced this will be a path for more Democratic Lawmakers, to publicly speak out in places Republicans refuse to meet Constituents. The 2008 Recession and Covid made clear that it was in the national interest of the US to reshore critical industries. I agree with those who support a more robust educational system.
Well said, we want a revolution and we want it NOW! Stop feeding the military beast, stop aiding Israel and Ukraine, STOP! Start acting like a govt of the people for the people join with the world to combat climate change!
You are definitely onto something here. Thank you for going deeper than what we are used to seeing (skimming the surface and placing blame on one or two issues). It’s a very complex problem with complex solutions.
Thank you for this response.
Wow, thank you for breaking this down into digestible bite sized pieces. Excellent article.
We're set up politically as zero-sum. One side wins and one side loses in what we've evolved to as hostile forces. A leading mediator I work with, looking beyond our two-party system, said, "I can see a future in which those who run the country on behalf of we-the-people are dedicated to problem-solving rather than promoting their own dogmas. This is the Cooperative Problem Solving Party - the CPS - whose participants may come from any political background or none, but who make a commitment to the fundamental principle that they will work collaboratively with others to arrive at decisions...the priority is solutions, not sides." This would be a coalition, not a political party.