One of the really weird ironies of politics these days is the huge divergence between what the US people actually want and what the radical right-wingers in Washington actually do.
You won’t hear this on “Fox So-Called News,” but right now the US people are as progressive as they ever have been.
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
Don’t believe me? Just check the polls.
The Progressive Change Institute recently asked likely 2016 voters about their views on a bunch of big issues, and it turns out that everyday citizens overwhelmingly support some of the most liberal policies around.
- 71 percent of the US public supports giving all students access to a debt-free college education.
- 70 percent support expanding Social Security.
- 71 percent support a massive infrastructure spending program aimed at rebuilding out broken roads and bridges and putting people back to work.
- 59 percent support raising taxes on the wealthy so that millionaires pay the same amount in taxes as they did during the Reagan administration.
- 77 percent support giving every US child free pre-K education.
And the list goes on.
- 58 percent of Americans support breaking up the big banks.
- 59 percent, meanwhile, support a basic guaranteed minimum income while a still higher percentage – 70 percent – support the creation of a “Green New Deal” that would see the government invest hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy.
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, support on Capitol Hill for the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ (CPC) annual budget, which would put into place many of these very same liberal policies, is growing.
A full 40 percent of House Democrats supported the CPC budget in 2012, 43 percent supported it in 2013, 44 percent supported it in 2014 and more than half – 51.5 percent – support it this year.
In other words, progressive values aren’t just popular with everyday citizens – they’re also popular, and increasingly more popular, with one of our two major parties, the Democratic one.
But all this begs the question: If more than half of congressional Democrats and way more than half of all citizens support doing things like expanding Social Security and making college free for all, why aren’t those policies becoming law?
Why, in our democracy, is the will of the people not being heard?
The answer is both simple and tragic – we no longer actually live in a democracy.
We live in an oligarchy.
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s long war against campaign finance law, the billionaires and economic royalists now have more control over our political system than they have in almost a century.
This isn’t opinion; it’s objective and quantifiable fact.
A study released last year by political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, for example, found the following:
A proposed policy change with low support among the US economic elite (one-out-of-five in favor) is adopted only about 18 percent of the time while a proposed change with high support (four-out-of-five in favor) is adopted about 45 percent of the time.
It really is all about money in politics.
Since billionaires like Charles and David Koch can now pretty much buy their own politicians, along with billions in advertising and PR, it’s their views that get heard in Congress, and it’s their views that become law.
And because real progressive policies so often cut into the power of the rich, they only very rarely become law in this “Brave New World” of ours.
The United States has and always will be a progressive nation, but if we don’t do something right now to reign in the corrupting influence of big money, it won’t matter whether 70 percent or 30 percent of citizens want to break up the big banks.
So go to Move to Amend right now to get money out of politics once and for all.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
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