Dems do not seem to have many new policies, patriotism or otherwise, other than waiting for Trump to implode. The budget is an abomination, but already 1/3 of medical practices do not accept Medicaid. Many poor, must already receive their healthcare in ERs. Polling shows most Americans consider 20 hours a week of employment or volunteering as a condition of enrollment, reasonable.
Also, it is probably not a coincidence Medicaid spending rose 60% from 2019, just as 10 million mostly impoverished Biden migrants entered the US. It seems unlikely, those arriving with only the clothes on their backs, all now enjoy employer provided health insurance, or are paying their own bills. In any event, it's not as if migrants removed from Medicaid rolls, can register their displeasure at the polls.
Generally speaking, Dems lost the election on inflation, immigration and child social engineering. Inflation is now out of their control. The only change in Dem immigration policy, has been the support of violent criminal deportation. Dems insist everyone else remain. While some Dems may now mutter child transitions, might have been a bad idea, the Party and most Blue States still whole heartedly endorse the idea, along with trans girls in school sports.
Finally, Dems do themselves no favors, by repeatedly referencing Scandinavia. It is not remotely applicable. Scandinavian countries, until recently, were nearly as homogeneous as Japan and Korea. They are also tiny. Norway has 5 million people sitting atop a sea of oil.
Moreover, along with shared ethnicity, Scandinavians share a Protestant work ethic that remains deeply engrained, even if most no longer attend Church. "Idle hands are the Devil's Workshop" might as well be tattooed across their foreheads. Dems seem unlikely to morph 330 million Americans from 180 countries around the world, into Oslo Lutherans, anytime soon.
I often cite Scandinavian countries as examples of where a combination of regulated markets combined with a high level of government services has produced a high and largely sustainable quality of life that is widely shared. I agree with your observation that these countries have demographic advantages relative to the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn some things from their experience— including how to enjoy a high standard of living with modest energy consumption.
If so, it is the result of their bonanza of undersea oil production that won’t last forever even if they avoid a blowout like that of BP’s rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
I stop reading or listening to anyone making Big Lie reference to "Medicaid cuts." Slowing the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending by ferreting out the fraudsters illegally obtaining it -- either because they are able-bodied parasites or Democratic enabled illegal aliens -- achieves the critical end of saving, not ending, this vital program to those for whom it was intended.
My son is out of work right now and is a single man living in Texas. Texas has never given Medicaid to able bodied young men. But you know what? There are health clinic in Texas - including rural Texas - where they charge patients based on ability to pay.
My son gets far better FREE healthcare at Baylor Scott and White than he could get if he were on Medicaid (which most doctors won't take).
Why not give tax breaks to Medical clinics who see patients based on ability to pay, rather than offering people a low caste form of medical insurance?
Good RX also makes his prescriptions totally affordable.
Many clinics are subsidized already by Medicaid. They might well go under, but probably in 2027. Oren Cass the conservative economist suggested those clinics a much less expensive route to medical care. Why pay a hospital for an emergency room visit for a toothache.
Good point. Indiana, like Texas another conservative state, has long had a system of county-run public health department medical clinics with services offered on an ability-to-pay basis, which means free for those without resources.
I would question your suggestion that "most doctors won't take" Medicaid. But Medicare has become a federal program too big, too bloated and too wasteful and, as such,is an easy target for fraudsters, cheaters and political opportunists.
It can be very difficult to get Medicaid while working. Or it was 10 years ago. For one thing wait times on the phone are often over an hour and during the workday when people are.... working. Administered by the states in my state it is set up to accept applications from county administrators and people already on food stamps, welfare, etc. You can apply, and qualify, but it's hard to get on and stay on if you aren't already plugged into the entitlement system. The program is intended to provide medical care for low income people, and low income now includes many people who work.
The ironic thing is that Trump's trade policies would have resonated with old-school New Deal liberals like John Glenn or Fritz Hollings.
The other thing is that the base of the Democratic Party is liberal white women who have completely different priorities - abortion, DEI, increased welfare spending, and prosecuting the Cultural Revolution.
None of those things will resonate remotely with white working class men.
And vastly increasing immigrarion, legal or not! Biden set a record on this, many millions in the last couple years. Trump's base want's and has a true material interest in the opposite. Mass immigration has really harmed American workers in construction and many other industries, in the housing market etc etc. Yet most Democrats refuse to even aknowledge mass immigration as a potential problem or a real issue, and doing so is now largely viewed as racist, but even worse then that!
Oppocite views on immigration, and a refusal to engage on the issue, is frankly the sort of stuff that wars have often been made of... with a federal Judge recently ordering Trump to full on resume Bidens open border asylum policy within two weeks(!) and Republicans pressing ahead with their anti-Birthright citizenship crusade, whith potentisl to ruin a great many people's lives, this may get very interesting in the very near future....
Today's "left" is a left of the upper class and educated, there is no place for the working class. While it's true the latest legislation rolled back health and food programs for the poor after the midterms and gave large tax breaks for this year, is it that much different than forgiving loans for college grads or subsidising Teslas for the upper middle class? I didn't hear much from my party complaining about the increased SALT deduction.
Jobs and a paycheck aren't as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of politics. One's job is the place the GOP has gained an edge in competing for the support of the multi racial multi ethnic working class voter. Our party, the Democratic Party imported millions of low wage workers over four years. Doing so decreased inflation and ended upward pressure on wages and working conditions.
If you are a flatworker, sheetrocker, roofer, form setter, or one of hundreds of other blue collar workers who have lost in many cases an entire job category having a job and a paycheck is many times more important than rich people fighting over which ones will get the biggest kickback with the change in administration.
If one is in any kind of semi-skilled construction labor, landscaping, tree trimming, wharehouse work etc etc. Biden's immigration policy was a disaster and many are greatful for Trump's crackdown. It now seems that for both Democrats and the left on the whole, any serious attempt at immigration or border enforcement or any suggestion that we should not (of course!) have vastly increased legal immigration and mass amnesty and allow basically unlimmited asylum seekimg has become unthinkable...
Now, trigger warning, the rest of this might seem over the top (And hey, I sure hope it is, and none of this plays out!!!).
However..., a federal judge has just ordered Trump to basically resume Biden's immigration policies within two weeks. If it is upheld, Trump will have interesting choises to make, all of which seem untenable. One is to resume Biden's policy (seemingly unthinkable for him or his base, does this judge really think he can just order that back into existance?). Another is to defy the judge outright, and continue enforcement, and be unable to pretend otherwise. Maybe Trump would find some way to claim that he would be legally required to defy the judge, because the Judge was 'ordering him to comit a crime so he 'has no choise', perhaps then threaten to prosecute the judge etc etc...
But with things as they are now, it seems like the only way the latter defiance could continue for long, given that SCOTUS is out of session, is for basicslly some form of martial law and/or an ACTUAL (affectively) dictatorship from Trump or at least Republicans to take hold, and basicslly all pretences of rule of law would then be gone, at least from the perspective of outside the Republican party.... (edit, even though SCOTUS is out, they could also still end up staying this over the summer as part of their 'shadow docket").
If this happens OR if mass migration sudenly resumes and Trump appears to actually be thwarted by the judiciary and you add all the anger on both sides over this issue as well as the repercusions of Trump and Republican's own insanity on Birthright Citizenship and other matters, and I could see this triggering an actual violent conflict between apposing government forces at some point, or a leval of violent protest leading to actual martial law. And in the near future I mean.
While I very much hope I am wrong about all this, I also believe that it is deeply foolish to downplay just how serious this has become... I will say that I am now very glad that I refused to vote for either Trump or Harrris!
Not to excuse the Republicans from the parade of horribles but this is an essay about fixing the Democratic Party. The problem is that important elements of the Democratic base are bought into the decline. We can start with the oligarchs/monopolists who are mostly the donor class of the party. (There may be a bit of a shift in the 2024 time frame but it is too soon to tell. They appeared to be spooked by something the Democrats or perhaps the EU were doing.) Disinvestment and stagnant wages are definitely connected to the oligarchs and the latter is definitely related to the surge of immigrants. Failing schools are intimately related to the teacher unions. Unaffordable housing and decaying infrastructure are owned by the environmentalists. The abundance agenda doesn't seem to have a hold on much of the party. The rising inequality that we all see isn't a divide between rich and poor but between the superrich (and their credentialed minions) and the middle and working classes. Democrats are not going to get anywhere worrying about Medicaid and SNAP especially when so many of the current recipients aren't even eligible nor is anyone with a reasonably paid job going to care. Democrats seem to be anti-civil rights and pro-war these days. I am old enough to remember when things were different but Gen Z wasn't born yet.
Democrats are still running against Romney and Ryan but MAGA is different. The only new tax break for the rich in the latest bill was the increase in the SALT deduction. All the focus in the struggle about that was the about the handful of (Romney-Ryan) Republicans who were going to torpedo the deal if they didn't get their way. If the Democrats actually cared, they could have shut this down instantly but they were an automatic no on everything. Something Trump actually championed was the no tax on tips which is hardly a source of income for the rich. Dredging up the old talking points from a generation ago, isn't going to fuel a left populist revival. Might I suggest that there is room for cooperation with the right populists on selected issues if the issue is policy rather than partisanship.
FFS, the anti-Americanism of the allegedly progressive left is a feature, not a bug. Modern progressivism is identitarian, a luxury belief of the elite educated, better off. It isn’t about substance of what policies they believe in, but who they hate, which is most Americans, and in particular white, Asian and Jewish Americans.
Look at big DSA socialist ‘success’ Mamdani. That man’s whole existence is online memes hating Americans, especially white and Jewish Americans. His doesn’t care about restoring America, it’s about mimicking Soviet era stupidity. And he’s who ‘progressive’ sociopaths want the entire party to take after.
They’d much rather keep losing to the GOP than be patriotic.
“What left-behind Americans have not yet heard is a concrete, persuasive, and consistent message about national redevelopment and restoring the American dream.” Really? Seventy five millions voters heard a concrete, persuasive and consistent message about restoring the American Dream. Why is patriotism so hard for the left? No idea, maybe they are the just viewing our nation through a glass that appears half empty.
We remember Trump’s track record, “In 2019, unemployment hit historic lows across nearly all racial groups,” based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percent of workers actually working increased from 2017 to 2019 from 62.9% to 63.1%, reversing a long term downward trend. There was a strong labor market, real wages were increasing, and more prime age workers (age 25 - 54) found jobs.
And now: “Since President Trump took office in January, blue-collar wages have increased 1.7%. This represents the largest increase in working-class wages to start a presidency in more than 50 years. For comparison, working-class wages decreased during the same period under every single president since Richard Nixon with only one exception—President Trump in his first term.”, according to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
During my Democratic days (40 years worth), I made a point of flying the flag. It wasn't just for wingnuts, and still isn't. Things have changed. I think today's "progressives" despise this country for electing Trump. They make no distinctions. Remember "nuance?" That's long gone, along with many other "principles" once espoused by Democrats. If they don't apply universally, "principles" are nothing more than ephemeral talking points. What principles does the Democratic Party actually have?
Democrats definitely believe in the use of progressive taxes and extensive domestic government programs to equalize income and wealth. I support roughly the current level of that, but am opposed to the sort of government control of economic and social affairs that have proven so disastrous under Communism even in relatively advanced countries such as the former East Germany and Poland.
The Dermocratic Party does always want higher taxes, but where I live (WA State) they LOVE sticking it to the working middle class. Here, they are definitely on the side of the rich.
I’m familiar with Washington culture and politics since living there in the 1970s and being active in the moderate Republican politics that existed there at that time. Since then, the part west of the Cascades has become relatively more populated and also has switched from blue collar economic liberalism to intellectual elite woke progressivism. But curiously, Washington still has no state income tax, and thus needs to be financed by other taxes that are generally more regressive and in my opinion less “fair” to lower income people.
WA State Democrats routinely lie about those taxes. Latest example is their "climate commitment" law, which taxes my propane at 20%. (Democrats Against Heating Your House.) They told everyone that the money would be spent on "climate" projects, whatever those are, but in fact it goes into the general fund.
Democrats are outrageous liars here, and totally smug about it.
Congratulations to Justin, whom I knew decades ago [I'm Zach's father]. I've seen versions of this argument -- more and more recently -- but this is the best. As a matter of fact, the first version I'm aware of was by me in Here, the People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto [1994] and in my writings and congressional testimony [1994-2007] advocating the Flag Amendment, to overturn a Supreme Court decision and authorize Congress to protect the American flag against "physical desecration". We ultimately lost by one vote in the Senate but have not given up. The amendment has been re-introduced this year. Will Democrats -- who defeated it over and over with clouds of disdain and scorn -- turn around and support it this time? If interested, contact the Citizens Flag Alliance [of which I'm still Chair]. Richard Parker.
I oppose you on that. Let them burn the flag and thereby identify themselves. Too many people fail to recognize a key strength of free expression. It is a marvelous tool for the identification of fools and frauds. No matter how obnoxious a person or idea is, we should give it the freest rein so we can all see just how ridiculous it is.
Look, if someone were to burn one in my presence, the only reason they wouldn't end up with a busted jaw would be if I were outnumbered or the flag burner was bigger or stronger. I just don't think it ought to be illegal. I realize that I'm somewhat contradictory, but life is somewhat contradictory. lol
Three examples of why the "left populists" cannot embrace patriotism. First, you raise the issue of attacking the 1%, yet when one of the preeminent attackERS, Bernie Sanders, had a chance, he accepted a THIRD HOME in return for supporting Hillary. Not very patriotic. Second, you have this yo-yo radical running for mayor of NYC, and his prof father likened Hitler to Abe Lincoln (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/P), then third no sooner does Jason Kelce celebrate America's independence than he is slammed on social media for being "patriotic." (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/). All of that is bad enough, but to throw in shots at Trump's economic plan, which is taking off with falling unemployment, jobs numbers that EXCEED expectations, a massive tax cut for the middle class, cuts on SS taxes, and no taxes on tips and Democrats ATTACK this; tariff revenues at such a level that we can actually think about repealing the Income Tax; and some $16 trillion pledged in just six months of new investments in the USA . . . no. This is a silly line of attack but as an R I rejoice. You continue to show that even here, on Liberal Patriot, the most commonsense of Democrat platforms, many still don't get it.
Even if some left-wingers understand the importance of patriotism, they’ll have to remember that love of country doesn’t always translate into love of the national government. In today’s America, it certainly doesn’t. Democrats can at least partly address this by fighting to simplify things Washington does: consolidate social programs, simplify the tax code. Some of the abundance agenda meshes with this: streamline regulations, speed up building. There’s potential for a union-YIMBY alliance on issues like infrastructure building.
This particular author seems to be a typical leftist who is clueless about the vital economic function of private investment in capital by people who have demonstrated an ability to do so in a way that satisfies consumer demands and provides extensive employment and considerable tax revenue to government. I differ from most Republicans in my general support for higher taxes on people who can best afford to pay them, and am critical of in-your-face conspicuous consumption by the super rich. Nevertheless, I recognize that most wealthy people already pay the bulk of taxes at least at the federal level, and that we are about at the point where enough is enough.
As a recipient of Social Security, I recognize that it is somewhat means tested in that payments to people with higher incomes pay tax on up to 85% of those payments. As one means of funding the program I would raise that to 100% for the highest total incomes.
We still have much to do to gain the attention and trust of ‘middle America.’ I think there’s at least one ‘line of attack’ that can help:
Donald Trump just really, really hates America.
America values honesty, fair play, integrity. As a pathological liar and con man, Trump has never been able to command the ‘respect,’ power, and regal status he craves. He now feels these to be within his reach.
Trump is not out to make America great again. He’s out to make America grovel at his feet.
Americans need to know this. America needs to understand that this is the entirety of Trump’s motivation and his self-dealing end game so that America can stop him.
Aside from the merits of any of that, there's a much bigger problem with your idea: It is narrowly focused on Trump, who you hate so much that you can't think of anything or anyone else, and it is negative and pessimistic. This is not the way to win people over, including those of us who are not exactly fond of the Rodeo Clown from Queens.
~ "Left's past embrace of patriotism"? "Patriotism was integral to the Union’s victory over the Confederacy and the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments"? It was the Democrats who championed slavery & secession, and the Republicans formed to combat them. And the repubs passed the Amendments overwhelmingly while the vast majority of dems voted against. don't forget about Jim Crow & KKK either- both dem projects. ~
The issue I think is that we are now actually in US civil war two but this time it is a (mostly) cold war, -but Democrats are largely in deep denial. This article starts out well, but then ignores a key way that Trump is materially benifitting many working class Americans and where most Democrats have gone completely off the rails do to ideology, group political and social afiliations and loyalties, and (often) their own economic interests: namely, Immigration.
Mass immigration, especially illegal immigration or temporary migration, asylum claiments etc, really harms much of the existing working US born working class, by driving up housing costs, decreasing wages and reducing job availability for a large segment of American workers.
Immigration is one of the core MATERIAL issues for the majority of (even potentially Republican voting) working class voters. Even as someone who has never voted for Trump myself and whom is appaled by more then a few of his actions as president, your statement about Trump not doing anything tangeble for the working class is simply not true. Trump is actually doing something tangeble about this and working americans do not want to go back to the untenable (and unstable) former status quo! They will not vote for someone like Biden who wants to destroy them (us) with de-facto open borders under guize of asylum or anything else. Since judges are now trying to force this issue and Trump is unequily defiant on this, I can easily see why so many working people voted for him!
Dems do not seem to have many new policies, patriotism or otherwise, other than waiting for Trump to implode. The budget is an abomination, but already 1/3 of medical practices do not accept Medicaid. Many poor, must already receive their healthcare in ERs. Polling shows most Americans consider 20 hours a week of employment or volunteering as a condition of enrollment, reasonable.
Also, it is probably not a coincidence Medicaid spending rose 60% from 2019, just as 10 million mostly impoverished Biden migrants entered the US. It seems unlikely, those arriving with only the clothes on their backs, all now enjoy employer provided health insurance, or are paying their own bills. In any event, it's not as if migrants removed from Medicaid rolls, can register their displeasure at the polls.
Generally speaking, Dems lost the election on inflation, immigration and child social engineering. Inflation is now out of their control. The only change in Dem immigration policy, has been the support of violent criminal deportation. Dems insist everyone else remain. While some Dems may now mutter child transitions, might have been a bad idea, the Party and most Blue States still whole heartedly endorse the idea, along with trans girls in school sports.
Finally, Dems do themselves no favors, by repeatedly referencing Scandinavia. It is not remotely applicable. Scandinavian countries, until recently, were nearly as homogeneous as Japan and Korea. They are also tiny. Norway has 5 million people sitting atop a sea of oil.
Moreover, along with shared ethnicity, Scandinavians share a Protestant work ethic that remains deeply engrained, even if most no longer attend Church. "Idle hands are the Devil's Workshop" might as well be tattooed across their foreheads. Dems seem unlikely to morph 330 million Americans from 180 countries around the world, into Oslo Lutherans, anytime soon.
I often cite Scandinavian countries as examples of where a combination of regulated markets combined with a high level of government services has produced a high and largely sustainable quality of life that is widely shared. I agree with your observation that these countries have demographic advantages relative to the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn some things from their experience— including how to enjoy a high standard of living with modest energy consumption.
Norway’s “modest energy consumption”per capital is roughly equal to the United States’s.
If so, it is the result of their bonanza of undersea oil production that won’t last forever even if they avoid a blowout like that of BP’s rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
No, it’s because of their cold climate, their use of electricity for heating and their vast hydropower reserves.
I stop reading or listening to anyone making Big Lie reference to "Medicaid cuts." Slowing the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending by ferreting out the fraudsters illegally obtaining it -- either because they are able-bodied parasites or Democratic enabled illegal aliens -- achieves the critical end of saving, not ending, this vital program to those for whom it was intended.
My son is out of work right now and is a single man living in Texas. Texas has never given Medicaid to able bodied young men. But you know what? There are health clinic in Texas - including rural Texas - where they charge patients based on ability to pay.
My son gets far better FREE healthcare at Baylor Scott and White than he could get if he were on Medicaid (which most doctors won't take).
Why not give tax breaks to Medical clinics who see patients based on ability to pay, rather than offering people a low caste form of medical insurance?
Good RX also makes his prescriptions totally affordable.
Many clinics are subsidized already by Medicaid. They might well go under, but probably in 2027. Oren Cass the conservative economist suggested those clinics a much less expensive route to medical care. Why pay a hospital for an emergency room visit for a toothache.
Good point. Indiana, like Texas another conservative state, has long had a system of county-run public health department medical clinics with services offered on an ability-to-pay basis, which means free for those without resources.
I would question your suggestion that "most doctors won't take" Medicaid. But Medicare has become a federal program too big, too bloated and too wasteful and, as such,is an easy target for fraudsters, cheaters and political opportunists.
It can be very difficult to get Medicaid while working. Or it was 10 years ago. For one thing wait times on the phone are often over an hour and during the workday when people are.... working. Administered by the states in my state it is set up to accept applications from county administrators and people already on food stamps, welfare, etc. You can apply, and qualify, but it's hard to get on and stay on if you aren't already plugged into the entitlement system. The program is intended to provide medical care for low income people, and low income now includes many people who work.
The ironic thing is that Trump's trade policies would have resonated with old-school New Deal liberals like John Glenn or Fritz Hollings.
The other thing is that the base of the Democratic Party is liberal white women who have completely different priorities - abortion, DEI, increased welfare spending, and prosecuting the Cultural Revolution.
None of those things will resonate remotely with white working class men.
These things don't resonate with white working class women either.
And vastly increasing immigrarion, legal or not! Biden set a record on this, many millions in the last couple years. Trump's base want's and has a true material interest in the opposite. Mass immigration has really harmed American workers in construction and many other industries, in the housing market etc etc. Yet most Democrats refuse to even aknowledge mass immigration as a potential problem or a real issue, and doing so is now largely viewed as racist, but even worse then that!
Oppocite views on immigration, and a refusal to engage on the issue, is frankly the sort of stuff that wars have often been made of... with a federal Judge recently ordering Trump to full on resume Bidens open border asylum policy within two weeks(!) and Republicans pressing ahead with their anti-Birthright citizenship crusade, whith potentisl to ruin a great many people's lives, this may get very interesting in the very near future....
Today's "left" is a left of the upper class and educated, there is no place for the working class. While it's true the latest legislation rolled back health and food programs for the poor after the midterms and gave large tax breaks for this year, is it that much different than forgiving loans for college grads or subsidising Teslas for the upper middle class? I didn't hear much from my party complaining about the increased SALT deduction.
Jobs and a paycheck aren't as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of politics. One's job is the place the GOP has gained an edge in competing for the support of the multi racial multi ethnic working class voter. Our party, the Democratic Party imported millions of low wage workers over four years. Doing so decreased inflation and ended upward pressure on wages and working conditions.
If you are a flatworker, sheetrocker, roofer, form setter, or one of hundreds of other blue collar workers who have lost in many cases an entire job category having a job and a paycheck is many times more important than rich people fighting over which ones will get the biggest kickback with the change in administration.
If one is in any kind of semi-skilled construction labor, landscaping, tree trimming, wharehouse work etc etc. Biden's immigration policy was a disaster and many are greatful for Trump's crackdown. It now seems that for both Democrats and the left on the whole, any serious attempt at immigration or border enforcement or any suggestion that we should not (of course!) have vastly increased legal immigration and mass amnesty and allow basically unlimmited asylum seekimg has become unthinkable...
Now, trigger warning, the rest of this might seem over the top (And hey, I sure hope it is, and none of this plays out!!!).
However..., a federal judge has just ordered Trump to basically resume Biden's immigration policies within two weeks. If it is upheld, Trump will have interesting choises to make, all of which seem untenable. One is to resume Biden's policy (seemingly unthinkable for him or his base, does this judge really think he can just order that back into existance?). Another is to defy the judge outright, and continue enforcement, and be unable to pretend otherwise. Maybe Trump would find some way to claim that he would be legally required to defy the judge, because the Judge was 'ordering him to comit a crime so he 'has no choise', perhaps then threaten to prosecute the judge etc etc...
But with things as they are now, it seems like the only way the latter defiance could continue for long, given that SCOTUS is out of session, is for basicslly some form of martial law and/or an ACTUAL (affectively) dictatorship from Trump or at least Republicans to take hold, and basicslly all pretences of rule of law would then be gone, at least from the perspective of outside the Republican party.... (edit, even though SCOTUS is out, they could also still end up staying this over the summer as part of their 'shadow docket").
If this happens OR if mass migration sudenly resumes and Trump appears to actually be thwarted by the judiciary and you add all the anger on both sides over this issue as well as the repercusions of Trump and Republican's own insanity on Birthright Citizenship and other matters, and I could see this triggering an actual violent conflict between apposing government forces at some point, or a leval of violent protest leading to actual martial law. And in the near future I mean.
While I very much hope I am wrong about all this, I also believe that it is deeply foolish to downplay just how serious this has become... I will say that I am now very glad that I refused to vote for either Trump or Harrris!
Not to excuse the Republicans from the parade of horribles but this is an essay about fixing the Democratic Party. The problem is that important elements of the Democratic base are bought into the decline. We can start with the oligarchs/monopolists who are mostly the donor class of the party. (There may be a bit of a shift in the 2024 time frame but it is too soon to tell. They appeared to be spooked by something the Democrats or perhaps the EU were doing.) Disinvestment and stagnant wages are definitely connected to the oligarchs and the latter is definitely related to the surge of immigrants. Failing schools are intimately related to the teacher unions. Unaffordable housing and decaying infrastructure are owned by the environmentalists. The abundance agenda doesn't seem to have a hold on much of the party. The rising inequality that we all see isn't a divide between rich and poor but between the superrich (and their credentialed minions) and the middle and working classes. Democrats are not going to get anywhere worrying about Medicaid and SNAP especially when so many of the current recipients aren't even eligible nor is anyone with a reasonably paid job going to care. Democrats seem to be anti-civil rights and pro-war these days. I am old enough to remember when things were different but Gen Z wasn't born yet.
Democrats are still running against Romney and Ryan but MAGA is different. The only new tax break for the rich in the latest bill was the increase in the SALT deduction. All the focus in the struggle about that was the about the handful of (Romney-Ryan) Republicans who were going to torpedo the deal if they didn't get their way. If the Democrats actually cared, they could have shut this down instantly but they were an automatic no on everything. Something Trump actually championed was the no tax on tips which is hardly a source of income for the rich. Dredging up the old talking points from a generation ago, isn't going to fuel a left populist revival. Might I suggest that there is room for cooperation with the right populists on selected issues if the issue is policy rather than partisanship.
The people who control the Democratic Party LOVE the SALT deduction, which rewards the coastal rich.
Indeed. Makes the rhetoric about tax cuts for the rich seem insincere. Also ineffective since it is aimed at yesterday's Republicans.
FFS, the anti-Americanism of the allegedly progressive left is a feature, not a bug. Modern progressivism is identitarian, a luxury belief of the elite educated, better off. It isn’t about substance of what policies they believe in, but who they hate, which is most Americans, and in particular white, Asian and Jewish Americans.
Look at big DSA socialist ‘success’ Mamdani. That man’s whole existence is online memes hating Americans, especially white and Jewish Americans. His doesn’t care about restoring America, it’s about mimicking Soviet era stupidity. And he’s who ‘progressive’ sociopaths want the entire party to take after.
They’d much rather keep losing to the GOP than be patriotic.
“What left-behind Americans have not yet heard is a concrete, persuasive, and consistent message about national redevelopment and restoring the American dream.” Really? Seventy five millions voters heard a concrete, persuasive and consistent message about restoring the American Dream. Why is patriotism so hard for the left? No idea, maybe they are the just viewing our nation through a glass that appears half empty.
We remember Trump’s track record, “In 2019, unemployment hit historic lows across nearly all racial groups,” based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percent of workers actually working increased from 2017 to 2019 from 62.9% to 63.1%, reversing a long term downward trend. There was a strong labor market, real wages were increasing, and more prime age workers (age 25 - 54) found jobs.
And now: “Since President Trump took office in January, blue-collar wages have increased 1.7%. This represents the largest increase in working-class wages to start a presidency in more than 50 years. For comparison, working-class wages decreased during the same period under every single president since Richard Nixon with only one exception—President Trump in his first term.”, according to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
During my Democratic days (40 years worth), I made a point of flying the flag. It wasn't just for wingnuts, and still isn't. Things have changed. I think today's "progressives" despise this country for electing Trump. They make no distinctions. Remember "nuance?" That's long gone, along with many other "principles" once espoused by Democrats. If they don't apply universally, "principles" are nothing more than ephemeral talking points. What principles does the Democratic Party actually have?
Democrats definitely believe in the use of progressive taxes and extensive domestic government programs to equalize income and wealth. I support roughly the current level of that, but am opposed to the sort of government control of economic and social affairs that have proven so disastrous under Communism even in relatively advanced countries such as the former East Germany and Poland.
The Dermocratic Party does always want higher taxes, but where I live (WA State) they LOVE sticking it to the working middle class. Here, they are definitely on the side of the rich.
I’m familiar with Washington culture and politics since living there in the 1970s and being active in the moderate Republican politics that existed there at that time. Since then, the part west of the Cascades has become relatively more populated and also has switched from blue collar economic liberalism to intellectual elite woke progressivism. But curiously, Washington still has no state income tax, and thus needs to be financed by other taxes that are generally more regressive and in my opinion less “fair” to lower income people.
WA State Democrats routinely lie about those taxes. Latest example is their "climate commitment" law, which taxes my propane at 20%. (Democrats Against Heating Your House.) They told everyone that the money would be spent on "climate" projects, whatever those are, but in fact it goes into the general fund.
Democrats are outrageous liars here, and totally smug about it.
Congratulations to Justin, whom I knew decades ago [I'm Zach's father]. I've seen versions of this argument -- more and more recently -- but this is the best. As a matter of fact, the first version I'm aware of was by me in Here, the People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto [1994] and in my writings and congressional testimony [1994-2007] advocating the Flag Amendment, to overturn a Supreme Court decision and authorize Congress to protect the American flag against "physical desecration". We ultimately lost by one vote in the Senate but have not given up. The amendment has been re-introduced this year. Will Democrats -- who defeated it over and over with clouds of disdain and scorn -- turn around and support it this time? If interested, contact the Citizens Flag Alliance [of which I'm still Chair]. Richard Parker.
I oppose you on that. Let them burn the flag and thereby identify themselves. Too many people fail to recognize a key strength of free expression. It is a marvelous tool for the identification of fools and frauds. No matter how obnoxious a person or idea is, we should give it the freest rein so we can all see just how ridiculous it is.
Although I hate to see the flag burned, your argument against outlawing it is one of the best I’ve seen.
Look, if someone were to burn one in my presence, the only reason they wouldn't end up with a busted jaw would be if I were outnumbered or the flag burner was bigger or stronger. I just don't think it ought to be illegal. I realize that I'm somewhat contradictory, but life is somewhat contradictory. lol
Three examples of why the "left populists" cannot embrace patriotism. First, you raise the issue of attacking the 1%, yet when one of the preeminent attackERS, Bernie Sanders, had a chance, he accepted a THIRD HOME in return for supporting Hillary. Not very patriotic. Second, you have this yo-yo radical running for mayor of NYC, and his prof father likened Hitler to Abe Lincoln (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/P), then third no sooner does Jason Kelce celebrate America's independence than he is slammed on social media for being "patriotic." (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/). All of that is bad enough, but to throw in shots at Trump's economic plan, which is taking off with falling unemployment, jobs numbers that EXCEED expectations, a massive tax cut for the middle class, cuts on SS taxes, and no taxes on tips and Democrats ATTACK this; tariff revenues at such a level that we can actually think about repealing the Income Tax; and some $16 trillion pledged in just six months of new investments in the USA . . . no. This is a silly line of attack but as an R I rejoice. You continue to show that even here, on Liberal Patriot, the most commonsense of Democrat platforms, many still don't get it.
If you think Mamdani is cuckoo, take a listen to Bernie's interview on Joe Rogan. Truly unbelievable.
Oh, and to my comment's point, look at the utter crazed responses to Democrats in town hall meetings, saying they needed to be "indicted" or "get shot" or "get violent" and get rid of the "norms of decorum." Say what? Since when did Democrats have norms of decorum. The article is chilling, and these people are terrorists. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/there-needs-to-be-blood-democrats-voters-tell-them-to-get-shot-in-trump-resistance-push/ar-AA1I6yMa?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=575e3f104ebf46f398be6922d21e8b3b&ei=20
It's exactly the OPPOSITE of what our authors here are calling for.
Yes, I heard that. Now it's coming out that Zohran put himself down as black on his college entrance forms.
Even if some left-wingers understand the importance of patriotism, they’ll have to remember that love of country doesn’t always translate into love of the national government. In today’s America, it certainly doesn’t. Democrats can at least partly address this by fighting to simplify things Washington does: consolidate social programs, simplify the tax code. Some of the abundance agenda meshes with this: streamline regulations, speed up building. There’s potential for a union-YIMBY alliance on issues like infrastructure building.
Democrats need to distinguish between private sector unions and public sector unions like FDR did.
Yep.
Well said.
This particular author seems to be a typical leftist who is clueless about the vital economic function of private investment in capital by people who have demonstrated an ability to do so in a way that satisfies consumer demands and provides extensive employment and considerable tax revenue to government. I differ from most Republicans in my general support for higher taxes on people who can best afford to pay them, and am critical of in-your-face conspicuous consumption by the super rich. Nevertheless, I recognize that most wealthy people already pay the bulk of taxes at least at the federal level, and that we are about at the point where enough is enough.
As a recipient of Social Security, I recognize that it is somewhat means tested in that payments to people with higher incomes pay tax on up to 85% of those payments. As one means of funding the program I would raise that to 100% for the highest total incomes.
We still have much to do to gain the attention and trust of ‘middle America.’ I think there’s at least one ‘line of attack’ that can help:
Donald Trump just really, really hates America.
America values honesty, fair play, integrity. As a pathological liar and con man, Trump has never been able to command the ‘respect,’ power, and regal status he craves. He now feels these to be within his reach.
Trump is not out to make America great again. He’s out to make America grovel at his feet.
Americans need to know this. America needs to understand that this is the entirety of Trump’s motivation and his self-dealing end game so that America can stop him.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jonthinks/p/donald-trump-hates-america?r=mrvx1&utm_medium=ios
Yes, that line of attack has been so successful <sarc>
Riding the bomb down
Aside from the merits of any of that, there's a much bigger problem with your idea: It is narrowly focused on Trump, who you hate so much that you can't think of anything or anyone else, and it is negative and pessimistic. This is not the way to win people over, including those of us who are not exactly fond of the Rodeo Clown from Queens.
~ "Left's past embrace of patriotism"? "Patriotism was integral to the Union’s victory over the Confederacy and the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments"? It was the Democrats who championed slavery & secession, and the Republicans formed to combat them. And the repubs passed the Amendments overwhelmingly while the vast majority of dems voted against. don't forget about Jim Crow & KKK either- both dem projects. ~
The issue I think is that we are now actually in US civil war two but this time it is a (mostly) cold war, -but Democrats are largely in deep denial. This article starts out well, but then ignores a key way that Trump is materially benifitting many working class Americans and where most Democrats have gone completely off the rails do to ideology, group political and social afiliations and loyalties, and (often) their own economic interests: namely, Immigration.
Mass immigration, especially illegal immigration or temporary migration, asylum claiments etc, really harms much of the existing working US born working class, by driving up housing costs, decreasing wages and reducing job availability for a large segment of American workers.
Immigration is one of the core MATERIAL issues for the majority of (even potentially Republican voting) working class voters. Even as someone who has never voted for Trump myself and whom is appaled by more then a few of his actions as president, your statement about Trump not doing anything tangeble for the working class is simply not true. Trump is actually doing something tangeble about this and working americans do not want to go back to the untenable (and unstable) former status quo! They will not vote for someone like Biden who wants to destroy them (us) with de-facto open borders under guize of asylum or anything else. Since judges are now trying to force this issue and Trump is unequily defiant on this, I can easily see why so many working people voted for him!