We’re trying something new here at the Lowdown! We’ve been having a blast with our live talk show, so we’re... Read more...
Urgent alert to top Dem party poohbahs: Too many would-be Democratic voters are disillusioned by your tone-deaf, wishy-washy incrementalism! On... Read more...
It’s not the people who’ve “gone conservative,” it’s the Democratic establishment. Too many progressive organizations, especially larger Washington-based groups, have been too willing for too long to follow what in essence is the party’s business-as-usual corporate hierarchy. Read more...
When looking for a sign of the times, sometimes it might literally be on a sign. That was true in Lincoln, NE, on July 9, when the tall billboard in front of a Burger King boldly informed customers: "We all quit. Sorry for the inconvenience." The impetus for the workers' mass public resignation was the "We're not gonna take it anymore" rebellion that is sweeping across workaday America and fueling a rejuvenation of unionization. Read more...
Global trade deals are and always have been large-scale hustles, filled with hypocrisy, deceit, and greed. Promoted as fair and good for all, they're invariably rigged with profiteering schemes that lock into law advantages for corporations over the common good of consumers, the environment, labor, independent businesses, governments, and all other democratic forces. The USMCA is no different-- and is, in fact, worse. Read more...
A massive depression has been building for years across our vast rural expanse, but don't feel alone if you didn't know, for most of our media and political establishments have failed to notice, much less inform the general public. In America's power centers, farming is almost entirely ignored as something arcane and "out there"--and out of mind. Read more...
Time flies when you're having fun, so those of us who merrily pull together this little newsletter each month were surprised recently when it dawned on us that--Holy Moly!--we've reached a milestone of populist pamphleteering: The 20th anniversary of The Lowdown. This retrospective issue is meant to be a contemplation on the progressive movement itself--what it's up against and how far it has progressed in these two decades. Read more...
In 2018 progressive forces prioritized a very different kind of political beauty: genuine democratic populism. Read more...
Electing good candidates is not our only, or always our surest, route to the policies and laws we want. Here's another way: Have the people themselves make the laws. Read more...
Most voters want BIG populist changes in government policy that will lift up average Americans and hold down corporate greed and abuse. One major proposal to do just that is the 11-point Economic Agenda for America's Future drafted by a broad coalition of some 80 progressive thinkers and doers. This document is both a to-do list for restoring economic democracy and a rallying cry to move today's burgeoning democratic movement from mere resistance to insistence on a bold, percolate-up alternative to Republican/Democratic trickle-down economics. Read more...
What's been happening politically and culturally this year in Colorado's second largest city is astonishing, encouraging ... even inspiring. Progressive/populist activists who're organizing all across America have a radiant model of success in one of the least likely places. Read more...
A majority of the public almost always blesses new presidents with a honeymoon gift. In a gesture of patriotic fairness,... Read more...
Buckle up, friends. Most Americans are about to be detoured onto a rough and rocky back road called “Trump Way.”... Read more...
In years past, Hollywood produced many awful Cowboy & Indian movies depicting the Great White Father’s heroic conquest of the... Read more...
Being a muckraking political writer often makes me feel like a custodian in a horse barn, constantly shoveling manure. It’s... Read more...
What an amazing Democratic primary season it’s been, including this happy result: WE WON! “We” being the millions of young... Read more...
In November, I spoke to an overflow crowd gathered in Duke University’s Lilly Library for Larry Goodwyn’sunusual memorial service. Unusual? Well,... Read more...