Yes, the tech monopolies still have enormous power. But encouraging change is afoot. We just need a lot more of it.
Trump doesn't lie to convince us of a falsehood, but to assert his power over reality.
Successive High Court decisions have done more than enfranchise corporations at the expense of the rest of us. The same logic in the same cases now defines public corruption down: that a direct and palpable quid pro quo must be seen to operate. Absent that smoking gun, the financial elite has no limits on bankrolling campaigns whose candidates then vote their interests. To the nation's founders, that untrammeled influence was the essence of public corruption.
Reader Comments- Sports, NFL, Tax Subsidy; Unions Today; Domestic Worker Organizing; Students Against Sweatshops; Greece, Germany & the EU; TPP; Israel, Iran, Iraq; Keystone XL; Cuba; Ukraine; Selma; American Sniper;
Resource: Where Do We Go from Here? Mass Incarceration and the Struggle for Civil Rights;
After the Greek Elections New York forum- Feb 6 - new location
Hold the Date- Fighting Corruption in America and Abroad - Fordham Law School - New York - Mar 6
Reader Comments- Voter Suppression; Election Failure by Democrats; Progressive Victories You Didn't Hear About; Federal Judge Guts Nationwide Ban On Housing Discrimination; America Rigged for Massive Wealth Transfer to the Rich; Global Economic Divide; Cuban Five and Alan Gross; Fracking Banned in Denton, TX; Ferguson; Inner City Schools Function Like Prisons; A Good Movie Tip; Women's Labor Music
Announcements- Labor Notes Hiring; Events in Oakland and New York
"If we don’t have a responsive democracy, all the debates [on progressive issues we care about] aren’t real debates. When elections are not democratic, even the most populist discussions become superficial, disconnected from real power; they are theatre."
Reader Comments- People's Climate March - climate change, environmental activism, labor unions; Syria, Iraq, ISIS; public education; labor organizing; Zephyr Teachout - Working Families Party, Democratic Party, 2016 elections; Spain, Scotland, Cuba, Gaza, El Salvador; racial bias; worker cooperatives;
Announcements - Film Screening African Americans in Spanish Civil War; Mobilizing Against Inequality Book Launch; Southern Tenant Farmers Union celebrates 80th anniversary
The meaning of the Zephyr Teachout-Tim Wu 'victory' - not just for New York and New Yorkers - but for the whole country. This was a loud and clear message from the grassroots that says - "Enough, the people - all the people - come before profits." This was the message to the Democrats, especially to Hillary Clinton, and others - You better listen up. People are going to vote their values.
The Dean 2004 vet explains why she's running for NY governor -- and how the left can take over the Democratic Party. Teachout's run is as much a challenge to the fatalistic, anti-electoral politics left as to Cuomo. The Fordham Law professor says progressives shouldn't merely complain about the corporate takeover of the Democratic Party; they should fight for its soul.
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