
đ âThe Techno-Humanist Manifesto: A new philosophy of progress for the 21st century,â by Jason Crawford. Curious about the progress movement? This detailed 11-part manifesto by one of the movementâs leading lights and founder of the Roots of Progress Institute covers all the big issues the movement is trying to grapple withâand the vision of the future they want us to embrace. Highly recommended.
[W]e need an inspiring vision of the future to motivate the effort and strife that progress requires. Science, technology, and the economy require continual investment, and each new generation must receive and carry the torch. Inventors and entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution were motivated by the power of steam and all that it could be applied to; those of the late 19th century were enthralled by electricity; the scientists and engineers in the late 20th century who went to NASA had grown up on Star Trek. If we are to make progress today, it will be driven by technologists who are fascinated with the potential for technologies such as artificial intelligence or genetic engineering. We must believe in the future in order to build it.
Fear and skepticism of progress put us at risk of stagnation and decline. The defeatism that arose in the 20th century about the challenges of progress does not give us a way forward. We need a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century, and beyond.
The time for that philosophy is now. Stagnation and sclerosis have become too painful to ignore.
Key economic metrics such as GDP and total factor productivity have been slowing down for decades. Even though computing technology is still racing ahead, other fields are lagging behind. Manufacturing, construction, transportation, and energy have seen no new general-purpose technologies since the 1960sâcontrast with the period 1880â1940, which saw the invention of electrical power, synthetic plastics, the assembly line, the automobile and the airplane. Nuclear power was once on track to be the dominant source of world electricity; instead, it plateaued at about 10%. The Concorde was grounded, and the planes we fly today actually go a bit slower than the jets of the 1960s. The Apollo program was canceled; no human has left low-Earth orbit since 1972.
đ Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes, by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira. There are several recent reports and articles out about the Democratsâ malaise that we highly recommend. But as a gentle reminder, TLP had four years of posts leading up to the 2024 presidential election warning Democrats about the dangers of their party brand, their out-of-touch policy agenda, and their reliance on college-educated voters at the expense of the working class. Even better, John and Ruy laid out all of thisâalong with a path forward for Democratsâin superb detail in their book published one year before the election.
The America of today is vastly different from the America of the 1930s, but what the Democrats need today is a general approach to politics that is similar to that of the New Deal liberals. The New Deal liberals were liberal, progressive, and social democratic in their economic views, dedicated to creating a better balance of power between labor and business and security against poverty, unemployment, disease, and old age, but by todayâs standards, the New Deal Democrats were moderate and even small-c conservative in their social outlook. They extolled âthe American way of lifeâ (a term popularized in the 1930s); they used patriotic symbols like the âBlue Eagleâ to promote their programs. In 1940, Rooseveltâs official campaign song was Irving Berlinâs âGod Bless America.â Under Roosevelt, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day were made into federal holidays. Roosevelt turned the annual Christmas tree lighting into a national event. Rooseveltâs politics were those of âthe peopleâ (a term summed up in Carl Sandburgâs 1936 poem âThe People, Yesâ) and of the âforgotten American.â
The Democrats need to follow this example. They need to press economic reforms that benefit the working and middle classes. But to get a hearing on those promises, they must first declare a truce and find a middle ground in todayâs culture war between Democrats and Republicans so that they can once again become the party of the people.
Since Ruy and John are not ones to toot their own horn, weâll do it for themâbuy and read this book!
đ° âA Republic, but Can We Keep It?,â by Peggy Noonan. In her WSJ column, Ronald Reaganâs former speechwriter reflects on the events of this year, especially the past few months. And while she is not down on the future of the republic just yet, she suggests thereâs reason to âwonder and worryâ about it.
Ben Franklin, famously asked by a woman on the street in Philadelphia what sort of government the Constitutional Convention had wrought, is reported to have said, âA republic, if you can keep it.â The reply was wry and factual but also a warning: Republics are hard to maintain.
Are we maintaining ours?
Democrats worry about our democracy. Is that the area of greatest recent erosion? I doubt it. Donald Trump really won in 2016, you can trust those numbers, and he really lost in â20, and really won in â24. Your governor won, your congressmanâyou can pretty much trust the numbers even factoring in the mischief in any system built by man. When shocks happenââI just want to find 11,780 votesââthe system has still held. The state of Georgia told the president to take a hike in 2020. If youâve spent much of your adult life deriding the concept of statesâ rights, that moment would have complicated your view.
It isnât our democracy that I worry about, it is our republic. Thatâs where weâre seeing erosion, thatâs the thing we could loseâŚAre we maintaining our republic? Is our equilibrium holding? The last nine months a lot of lines seem to have been crossedâin the use of the military, in redirecting the Justice Department to target the presidentâs enemies, real and perceived. There are many areas in which youâve come to think: Isnât the executive assuming powers of the Congress here? Why is Congress allowing this?
đď¸ Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Biopics arenât for everyone. But if you like Bruce Springsteen, and especially if you like the stripped-down Boss on Nebraska, youâll enjoy this new movie. Jeremy Allen White of The Bear fame does a fantastic job playing a young Springsteen in the throes of dark times before he became a worldwide superstar with the release of Born in the U.S.A. in 1984. There are great shots of Asbury Park, and Whiteâs singing is top-notch. In conjunction with the movie release, thereâs also a fascinating four-record box set of Nebraska out featuring remastered tracks, live cuts, and the famous electric versions of the record that Bruce rejected in favor of his homespun approach.
đ¸ George Best, Bizarro, and Seamonsters, by The Wedding Present. This year marks the 40th anniversary of these rock legends from Leeds, fronted by mastermind David Gedge since 1985. The first three records represent their âwarp-speed take on jangly, bittersweet indie popâ quite well. As John Peel famously quipped, âThe boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the âRock ânâ Rollâ era. You may dispute this, but Iâm right and youâre wrong!â
âThe Weddoesâ are planning a 2026 North American tour you wonât want to miss. They are fantastic live.
In the meantime, enjoy the ripping guitar and wall of sound on one of our favorite tracks, âKennedy.â





Regarding â what the Democrats need today is a general approach to politics that is similar to that of the New Deal liberals.â
Say it preacher!
I donât think most people, particularly those under age 60, realize how much the Democratic party has changed in the last 60 years.
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/how-the-democrats-have-changed-since