Congratulations to you and your family. In an interview (lunch with the FT) former diplomat and CIA director William Burns is “optimistic about the country’s long-term future. He paraphrases the 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote that America’s greatness lies not in being enlightened, but in its ability to correct its faults.” You have set out a strong foundation on which to build for the future.
Congratulations! Where there's life there's hope. You are so right that change must come. Hopefully living through the worst regime the US has ever experienced will give us the gumption to stand up and make meaningful changes (the Electoral College and money men need to be eliminated from our politics). Then maybe we can actually compete with other countries to make life better for all of our people and not just for the rich.
First things first, congratulations on the new baby! Your life is about to become infinitely richer ... and scarier. This piece is brilliant and I hope it goes viral. I recently posted something that now reads like a companion piece to this one. It offers a "to do" list for rebuilding America after Trump. I call it America's "undoing" project (https://sjgenco.substack.com/p/americas-undoing-project). It's a long list.
There's an old organizational change management maxim: Every organization is perfectly designed to produce the outcomes it produces. You have shown exactly how this works in today's USA. I feel the Republicans and Trump are doing their part to "prepare the ground" for radical change, just as Hoover did. But so far the incumbent leaders of the Dem Party have failed spectacularly to step up. Heaven forbid they should embrace something as simple as "Disband ICE". If they were somehow transported into Hitler's Nazi Germany, this would be equivalent to saying "we don't need to disband the Gestapo, we just need to make sure they only go after the worst criminals". Democrats are in desperate need of a generational transition.
It is more than ironic that the rest of the democratic world that emerged out of WWII seems to have embraced FDR's 1944 Economic Bill of Rights, while his own country has done everything in its power to make sure it never happens here. It can, and should, and must, but we must ask the obvious questions: Where is our Francis Perkins? Where is our FDR?
Thanks for the link. And I completely agree Dems are in need of a generational transition. In fact, to get to "after Trump", we need that transition NOW. The Dems have to win the House. If they don't, there will be no "after Trump." I think Schumer and Jeffries and the DNC Chair should step down from their leadership positions. They are NOT meeting the moment.
Bro. You did the impossible here. You delivered optimism from the center of a black hole. Appreciate you.
Yes. Just so.
Incredibly inspiring! Thanks so much for your briefs; I look forward to their resumption after your parental leave!
This needs to be repeated again and again! The US is NOT the greatest country in the world. It is one of the least developed wealthy nations.
And, for the life of me, I can't comprehend why Republicans want the US to be a mediocre nation.
Congratulations to you and your family. In an interview (lunch with the FT) former diplomat and CIA director William Burns is “optimistic about the country’s long-term future. He paraphrases the 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote that America’s greatness lies not in being enlightened, but in its ability to correct its faults.” You have set out a strong foundation on which to build for the future.
Congratulations! Where there's life there's hope. You are so right that change must come. Hopefully living through the worst regime the US has ever experienced will give us the gumption to stand up and make meaningful changes (the Electoral College and money men need to be eliminated from our politics). Then maybe we can actually compete with other countries to make life better for all of our people and not just for the rich.
Great read, Adam!
Thank you for your research, your clarity and your bravery to say what no one else will.
And wishing you the best as you embark on your own radical optimism.
First things first, congratulations on the new baby! Your life is about to become infinitely richer ... and scarier. This piece is brilliant and I hope it goes viral. I recently posted something that now reads like a companion piece to this one. It offers a "to do" list for rebuilding America after Trump. I call it America's "undoing" project (https://sjgenco.substack.com/p/americas-undoing-project). It's a long list.
There's an old organizational change management maxim: Every organization is perfectly designed to produce the outcomes it produces. You have shown exactly how this works in today's USA. I feel the Republicans and Trump are doing their part to "prepare the ground" for radical change, just as Hoover did. But so far the incumbent leaders of the Dem Party have failed spectacularly to step up. Heaven forbid they should embrace something as simple as "Disband ICE". If they were somehow transported into Hitler's Nazi Germany, this would be equivalent to saying "we don't need to disband the Gestapo, we just need to make sure they only go after the worst criminals". Democrats are in desperate need of a generational transition.
It is more than ironic that the rest of the democratic world that emerged out of WWII seems to have embraced FDR's 1944 Economic Bill of Rights, while his own country has done everything in its power to make sure it never happens here. It can, and should, and must, but we must ask the obvious questions: Where is our Francis Perkins? Where is our FDR?
Thanks for the link. And I completely agree Dems are in need of a generational transition. In fact, to get to "after Trump", we need that transition NOW. The Dems have to win the House. If they don't, there will be no "after Trump." I think Schumer and Jeffries and the DNC Chair should step down from their leadership positions. They are NOT meeting the moment.
I was living in London when the wall fell. We were overwhelmed with joy.
I'm german (21 yrs old) and one of my fav things is asking "older" people where they were when the wall fell :)
This seems like wishful thinking rather than a strategy to win the Senate 10 months from now.
Agree. It presupposes a Dem trifecta in 2028 to implement these reforms.
By all accounts, the Dems will take the House. Is there a strategy to take the Senate?
Incredible piece, Adam. Thank you for leaving us with this before your parental leave. Sending all the best and look forward to your return.
Also for anyone interested in regime collapse, recommend Mary Elise Sarotte’s The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall.
This is great.
What can simple, everyday Americans do to move this forward?
I’m down
The Dems MUST win the House in November. If they don't, there's nothing more to do. Get active. Start here: swingleft.org.
Minoritarian is the perfect word.
https://open.substack.com/pub/morfmorford/p/what-became-of-american-exceptionalism?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
This is an excellent piece of inspiration.
You would have made Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer proud.
Thank you, and bless you.
Fantastic