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Roots of socialism in America

The roots of socialism in America can be traced to the arrival of German immigrants in the 1850s when Marxian socialist unions began, such as the National Typographic Union in 1852, United Hatters of 1856, and Iron Moulders` Union of North America in 1859. Theodore H. White, author of Fire in the Ashes: Europe in Mid-Century (1953) wrote, "Socialism is the belief and the hope that by proper use of government power, men can be rescued from their helplessness in the wild cycling cruelty of depression and boom."

Progress of socialism

The Socialist Party in America was born and grew dramatically between 1900 and 1912. Under the charismatic leadership of Eugene V. Debs in 1912, 160 councilmen, 145 aldermen, one congressman, and 56 mayors, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Berkeley, California, and Schenectady, New York, were elected as Socialists. At the time, Socialists published 300 newspapers, including the Appeal of Reason, which was a Kansas-based publication with 700,000 subscribers. Membership in the Socialist Party totaled 125,000.

Debs converted to socialism while serving jail time for his part in the Pullman Strike in 1897, and began to edit the Appeal to Reason publication. From 1900 to 1920, he ran for president on the Socialist ticket while increasing membership to the Socialist Party tenfold. Although Debs insisted he was a Marxist, he spoke more about poverty and injustice than typical socialist concerns about the class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat (Marx).

In 1912, Debs received 900,000 votes, which was six percent of the presidential votes cast that year, principally for his stand against America`s involvement in World War I. Debs appealed to blue collar workers hungry for improved working conditions and higher wages, but also such intellectuals as authors Jack London and Upton Sinclair.

Prominently with President Theodore Roosevelt and through the 20th century`s first years, the Progressive Movement came into view with its belief in the perfectability of man, and in an open society where mankind was neither chained to the past nor condemned to a deterministic future; one which people were capable of changing their condition for better or worse."

The Socialist Party was included within the Progressive Movement. The party dealt with American problems in an American manner. Unlike the Communist Party, the Socialist Party at that time felt no obligation to adhere to an international party line. For example, socialists and other progressives campaigned at the local level for municipal ownership of waterworks, gas and electric plants, and made good progress in such endeavors. In 1911, there were 18 Socialist candidates for mayor, and they nearly won the Cleveland, Ohio, and Los Angeles, California, mayoral races.

In 1905, Upton Sinclair founded the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, which soon had chapters in the leading universities. Lively young men and women discussed the New Gospel according to St. Marx." Universities were considered to be favorable ground for progressive thought.

Following the election of 1912, Socialist Party membership began to decline as some members cast their vote for Woodrow Wilson. Others were expelled, such as the Industrial Workers of the World, of which Debs and labor organizer "Mother" Mary Harris Jones had once been members. The IWW had been organized in 1905, grew into a radical, direct-action wing of American socialism by 1910, and had up to 100,000 workers by 1915.

By 1917, Socialist Party membership had slipped to 80,000. Nevertheless, by 1920 Debs managed to garner 919,800 votes for his presidential candidacy, the most a socialist has ever received in America, albeit making up only 3.4 percent of the popular vote. Those votes were representive of Americans` disillusionment with World War I, and of Debs himself, who spoke passionately against the country`s involvement in that war.

The Espionage Act of 1917 was crafted to jail anyone who interfered with the draft or encouraged disloyalty [to America]" and provided for jail sentences of 10 to 20 years. The Sedition Act of 1918 extended further penalties to those found obstructing the sale of U.S. war bonds, discouraging recruitment, uttering disloyal or abusive language" about the government, the Constitution, the American flag, or even the U.S. military uniform. Under those acts, the government arrested more than 1,500 people, including Eugene Debs.

The Socialist Party`s strength was further sapped by 1920, because of government suppression and public disapproval during World War I. Such anti-socialist hysteria as the Red Scare, and internal factionalism aggravated by the presence of Communists, took their toll. Fears associated with the Bolsheviks` seizure of power in Russia, bombings in the United States, along with a series of labor strikes, led to the Red Scare in 1919. Suspected socialists and Communists were arrested and thrown into jail. In the end, of the 5,000 people who were given arrest warrants, only slightly more than 600 aliens were actually deported.

In addition, the party`s failure during the 1920s was due to its inability to appeal to the upwardly mobile worker who yearned to be part of the middle class. The party also was divided along racial and ethnic lines. Their broadest appeal was to the well-educated members of society. In 1928, the Socialist presidential candidate, Norman Thomas, received only 267,835 votes. Thomas was a Princeton graduate and Presbyterian minister in New York. He succeeded Debs after the latter`s death as the perennial presidential candidate in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 elections. Thomas stood as more indicative of the Socialist Party member, which was made up of mostly intellectuals and the middle class, rather than a worker`s party that Debs had basically represented.

Socialists were also plagued by extreme doubt on the part of most progressives, who were leading the charge to free America from the economic woes of the Great Depression and were weathering deep hostility from conservatives. By the mid-Twenties, the party was deeply divided and failed to revive itself during the depression years of the 1930s.

During the election of 1932, the Socialist and Communist parties, who had insisted that capitalism had collapsed, pulled less than one million votes combined. American voters had grown weary of Republican policies and therefore Democrats won big in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, illustrating that Americans had faith in their country and its institutions. In that election, Norman Thomas received only 892,000 votes.

During the election of 1936, Republican painted Franklin D. Roosevelt as leading the country towards the platform of the Socialist Party. This bothered both Roosevelt and Norman Thomas, who agreed on one thing, which was that Roosevelt was not a Socialist.

Creeping socialism," an expression used in modern times to describe America`s so-called drift towards a socialistic society, was coined by author F.A. Hayek in his book The Road to Serfdom. Published in 1944, Hayek`s book warned of the dangers of state control over the means of production, which he perceived to be occurring, especially in regards to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), during the New Deal and the Fair Deal administrations of presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, respectively.

Hayek believed that excessive governmental controls on society did not deliver on their promises and that their ideology actually delivered dismal economic results. But more importantly, he averred, it produces a psychological change in the character of the people in that man`s desire to better himself is what drives him to succeed and also improves the way of life for those around him. According to Hayek, socialism strips man of his desire to succeed.

Because of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and dominance of the Middle American" values, the Communist and Socialist parties virtually disappeared in the 1950s, when membership fell to below 2,000 members. Many Socialists left the party because it was seen that more progressive reform could be achieved through membership in the Democratic Party. Among those who departed were: Walter Reuther, Philip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin. Life was good for the average American, who worked fewer than 40 hours per week. Most received annual two-week vacations and had twice the income to spend as they had during the nation`s previous economic boom time in the late Twenties.

During the 1960s and `70s, the Socialist Party exerted little influence on American society because of intra-party conflict, as well as a refusal to support the anti-Vietnam War movement that was sweeping across America. In 1968 at the Socialist Party convention, members passed a resolution to support Democrat Hubert Humphrey for president, instead of nominating their own candidate.

And in 1972, the body chose to support George McGovern for president. But then for the first time in 20 years, in 1976, the Socialist Party decided to run its own presidential campaign with former Milwaukee mayor Frank Zeidler (1948-1960) for president and J. Quinn Brisben, a Chicago teacher, for vice president. Since that time, others have been nominated, including Willa Kenoyer (1988), J. Quinn Brisben (1992) and Mary Cal Hollis in 1996.

Modern socialist movements and organizations

In American society today, socialist groups range in political views from the extreme right to the extreme left. The extreme right wing groups comprise neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and fascist groups such as the National Socialist Movement or NSM, whose purpose is to purify" American society through violent and non-violent means. The NSM is said to wear the uniforms and paraphernalia of the Third Reich. According to their website, the NSM is an organization that is dedicated to the preservation of our Proud Aryan Heritage, and the creation of a National Socialist Society in America and around the world."

Representing the far left wing are such groups as the Socialist Party U.S.A. That party believes in what is called Democratic Socialism," defined as a political and economic system with freedom and equality for all, so that people may develop to their fullest potential in harmony with others." The party further states that it is committed to full freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religion, and to a multi-party system" and that the ownership and control of the production and distribution of goods should be democratically controlled public agencies, cooperatives, or other collective groups." Other socialist groups include the Democratic Socialists of America, National Alliance, Young Democrat Socialist, and the Democratic Progressive Party.

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The Wobblies: The Story of the IWW & Syndicalism in the United States by Patrick Renshaw. Does anyone save historians remember the Wobblies? This nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the revolutionary labor union founded...

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Socialism in America - u-s-history.com

For a long time, the political left has been on the rampage trying to call out Donald Trump as literally Hitler, obviously as an emotionally charged incentive to try to get (braindead) people to not vote for him. In many cases even his mere supporters have been grouped into the label as well!

However, little do progressives and SJWs know, there are six (at the minimum!) ways in which it is actually they who are far more closely associated with Nazism, rather than the various libertarian and right-wing groups they are always attacking.

So dont just sit back and take the punishment. Call them out and fight back!

The Hitler salute used in Nazi Germany

A wannabe-tough and Hitleresque salute used by Black Lives Matter and their leftist sympathizers

The Nazi salute or Hitler salute was a gesture used as a greeting to powerful Nazi officials, and to glorify the German nation under the Third Reich. The salute was performed by extending the right arm to at least eye level, and straightening the hand so that it is parallel to the arm.

The George Soros-funded domestic terrorist group Black Lives Matter, which has a great deal of sympathizers and supporters from the political left, has also adopted their own (ultimately meaningless) arm gesture. Conservatives, libertarians, and the Alt-Right simply dont bother with such try-hard tough and faux-fascist nonsense.

Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Hitler!

2. They Both Want Heavy Firearms Restrictions Or Outright Confiscation

In the build-up to Nazi Germany going on the war rampage, Hitler made damn sure that the non-military German populace (Jew and Gentile alike) would be thoroughly disarmed of any projectile firing weapons, as to prevent any kind of civilian insurrection or rebellion against his fascist regime.

Progressives and SJWs in the United States by and large hate guns, and repeatedly call for heavy restrictions on firearms or outright Hitler, Stalin, and Mao style confiscation.

On the other hand, conservatives, libertarians, and the Alt-Right (including neomasculinists) all respect and value the right to bear arms in order to stymie out-of-control criminality and keep government oppression in check. Not to mention its a damn good idea to have most of the population armed as a major deterrent against outside invaders.

Just ask Switzerland, who successfully avoided all of the chaos in Nazi-occupied Europe due to both their mountainous geography and by having the most strapped-up civilian population in all the land.

Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Hitler!

From Progressive website Alternet. Could have come straight out of Mein Kampf when talking about Jews.

Despite being responsible for about 95% of all major technological and medical advancements for the past 600 years, and the upholders or creators (along with Northeast Asians) of the most advanced infrastructure, high-income, low-corruption, politically stable, and peaceful countries on the planet (i.e. highly desired for migration for people of all races and colors around the world), progressives and SJWs almost never have anything positive to say about white males.

Every real or perceived societal issue must be caused by the white man and his supremacist outlook on life and his racist institutions, and no personal responsibility must be accepted for what plagues the African-American, Native American, or Chicano communities. The finger of righteous indignation can simply point straight back to heterosexual white males, who are privileged beyond all comparison.

(But please, keep it quiet that many Asian minority groups are economically outperforming white people and are being imprisoned far less per capita. Ok? Youll ruin the leftist narrative.)

In similar fashion, the Nazis blamed just about everything that caused pain to Germany on the mannerisms, behaviors, and business practices of Jews.

Nazi Germany: Jewness will explain away nearly anything.

Degenerate leftist outlets like Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and MIC work day and night to humiliate, belittle, and blame white males for every perceived societal injustice, in the same way Nazi Germany blamed Jews for everything.

Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Hitler!

(2016 Alternate Universe: Black Lives Matter Protest And Beating Of Innocent Whites Begins At 0:42)

As part of the increasingly hostile treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany, the Kristallnacht or crystal night was an evening in late 1938 where thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed or damaged in a coordinated act of malice. Additionally, several dozen Jews were murdered during the attacks and untold thousands were injured.

In the late 2010s, the progressive and SJW-supported Black Lives Matter have enacted several major protests (riots) in various cities across the United States which have seen hundreds of businesses burned or looted, and innocent white people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time have been specifically targeted for violent reprisal. Because, you know, another police officer (whether white or black) must have shot and killed another black felon.

But what do the SJW leaders of Black Lives Matter like DeRay Mckesson have to say about these destructive and inherently anti-white rioters? We Stand With You.

Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Hitler!

5. They Both Use Incessant Goebbles-Style Propaganda To Push Their Bogus Narratives

Ok, so Goebbles isnt (literally) Hitler, but hes close enough to how the progressive and SJW media acts in the 2010s. Much like the Nazi propaganda machine of the 1930s, leftist media outlets continually push lie after lie after lie upon the masses. All in the hopes that it will eventually become, via sheer repetition alone, the truth in the minds of the emotion-driven sheeple.

Even though these lies, such as campus rape culture, the gender wage gap, and institutional racism in policing (all by-products of a supposed white supremacy and toxic masculinity) have been disproven and debunked time and time again, they simply double down and keep pushing the lies one thousand times over. Like the Nazis, SJWsjustdont..QUITwith the lies and endless propaganda.

On the other hand, the vast majority of conservatives, libertarians, and the Alt-Right are receptive to digesting actual facts about people and society. Untethered by the scourge of political correctness, and the scourge of favoring egalitarian feelings against factual analysis and data which may be discomforting to many.

Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Goebbles!

An SJW book burning rally against authors Roosh, Cernovich, Vox Day, and others.

Finally, the Nazis despised any concept of freedom of speech. There was a huge verboden (forbidden) list of books people could read, names which new parents could give to their children, and people who spoke out against the Nazi regime would be arrested, have their livelihoods destroyed, or even get disappeared altogether.

Modern day progressives and SJWs take great delight in doxing people out of their jobs (and thus potentially reducing them to destitute poverty) if their manner of speech, writings, or opinions do not march lock-step with the social justice narrative.

If you dont think transgenders are brave and gorgeous people, that homosexuality is the greatest thing since sliced bread, that Islam will culturally enrich the West, and that high black arrest rates are because of racist white cops, then you put your livelihood in great danger if you make those opinions public.

Most conservatives, libertarians, constitutionalists, and Alt-Right adherents place great value on freedom of speech as one of the most prominent vanguards against tyranny. Progressives, SJWs, and the former Nazis of 1933-1945 do not share that sentiment.

(1:10 We live in a free country. And that is a powerful idea. Thats a magnificent way to live. But there is a price for that freedom, which is that sometimes we have to tolerate things that we dont necessarily like.)

Progressives and SJWs do not tolerate your freedom of speech.Progressives and SJWs are (literally) Hitler!

Now of course we know progressives and SJWs are not literally Hitler (we act on logic and reason rather than wild emotional fervor), but people who closely identify with those sets can start to eat their own words when they want to moronically accuse Donald Trump of being literally Hitler.

Their own way of life, and the master whom they will likely vote for (Hillary), are far more closely associated with Nazi-era behaviors than Donald Trump and his supporters ever will be.

Read More: Fake Conservative Megyn Kelly Exposes Her Anti-Trump Agenda During Presidential Debate

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6 Reasons Progressives, Leftists, And SJWs Are (Literally ...

Progressive groups backing Rep. Nancy Pelosis (D-CA) bid to reclaim the House speakers gavel in the next Congress issued a sharp warning on Monday to the group of Democratic lawmakers seeking to deny her the requisite votes: do so at your own political peril.

If right-wing Democrats end up helping Republicans by voting against Nancy Pelosi as speaker, they can expect to face serious backlash from the same energized and mobilized base of progressive voters that just brought Democrats a majority in the House. Which certainly could extend to primaries, Karthik Ganapathy, a spokesman for the progressive bulwark MoveOn, told The Daily Beast.

The warning was the latest in an increasingly aggressive exchange of salvos between Pelosis detractors and a larger group of supporters. It came just hours after 16 Democrats went public in their vow to oppose her candidacy to lead their caucusa total that could seriously complicate Pelosis ability to corral the 218 votes she needs on the House floor come January.

The question between now and then is whether Pelosi can convince those 11 incumbent Democrats and five incoming freshmen lawmakers who signed onto the letter to reverse their position. An implicit threat from liberal groupsthat those lawmakers may face a primary challenger in 2020 if they dontcould potentially help.

On Monday, Daily Kosthe massive online progressive community that raised more than $8.7 million for Democratic candidates throughout the 2018 midterm cyclethrew its weight behind Pelosi. The group plans to remain heavily involved in the 2020 election cycle, too, and officials left the door open to backing Democrats who challenge Pelosis detractors in the primaries.

Well be taking a variety of factors into consideration, including this, and if good challengers run in those seats, well be keeping a close eye on the situation, communications director Carolyn Fiddler told The Daily Beast.

There are few more dynamic figures in politics than Pelosi, who has led her caucus since 2003 and became the first female speaker in history in 2007. For Democrats, her tenure has been filled with notable policy achievements and difficult election defeats. She is widely regarded as a powerhouse fundraiser and talented vote-getter. But she is also a lightning rod for conservatives and has long been a punching bag for Republican candidates. Those factors have made her a target for removal before; two years ago, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) won 63 votes to Pelosis 134 in the election to be Democratic minority leader.

For progressives, however, the fact that Pelosi was the bogeyman of a midterm cycle in which Democrats still gained the majority lends credence to the idea that she has earned another run at the speakership. So too does the fact that no challenger has yet to emerge against her. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), who did not sign the insurgent letter, has said she is considering running for the position. The most vocal Pelosi opponents, however, are both white male incumbents who are ideologically more conservative: Ryan and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).

Activists dubbed the initial group of Pelosi opponents as the #FiveWhiteGuys last week. And on Monday night, Moulton encountered swift backlash for his position on Pelosi when he met with constituents at a town hall in his district. Isa Leshko, a 47-year-old Salem resident, organized a protest at the event, distributing stickers indicating that she and other constituents were backing Pelosi.

Leshko, who had previously voted for Moulton and was grateful that he held a number of town halls in the early months of the Trump administration, said that she now believes he is squandering the goodwill he had built up with residents of the district.

We have worked so incredibly hard to get the House back, Leshko told The Daily Beast. And it just feels like he would be squandering the gains that we have made. This really is a slap in the face to progressives and women of color who really are the backbone of the Democratic party.

I just cant see another experienced accomplished talented woman get taken down, added Leshko, an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter.

A spokesman for Moulton indicated that the Massachusetts Democrat would not be deterred by statements from progressive outfits encouraging primary challengers in the future.

Seth has made his position on the need for new leadership very clear for over a year and his constituents voted overwhelming to send him back to Congress for another term knowing what that position was, Moulton spokesman Matt Corridoni told The Daily Beast. Challenging the status quo and taking on the establishment is always met with resistance from those in power, but the American peopleand Seth as one of their representativesknow its the right thing to do.

But Leshkos sentiments are shared by a host of progressive organizations that have announced their backing of Pelosi during the past week. MoveOn voiced its support around the same time that the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said they had an encouraging meeting with Pelosi and extracted some key concessions, including the promise of favorable representation on powerful House committees. Indivisible, the resistance organization founded when Donald Trump came into office, quickly followed suit, adding that we shouldnt let a small group of white, moderate men sabotage her. We support Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House. Some of the Democratic caucus most progressive members, including Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, have announced their support for Pelosi, too.

The 11 incumbents who signed Mondays letter are in relatively safe Democratic districts, which could prompt liberal groups to find and encourage future primary challengers. But the efforts to recruit a viable challenger to Pelosi are also being pushed by a group of newly elected Democrats who campaigned on their opposition to Pelosi.

Absent a decision by the incumbent members to drop their opposition to Pelosi, those members could be forced to take a politically treacherous vote: either torpedoing the partys primaryif not onlyoption for speaker, or breaking a campaign promise to help Pelosi win 218 votes.

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Progressives Threaten to Target Dem ... - thedailybeast.com

Despite its claims to want to unify voters ahead of November's election, the Democratic party appears to be pushing for an agenda that critics say ignores basic progressive policies, "staying true" to their Corporate donors above all else.

During a 9-hour meeting in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday, members of the DNC's platform drafting committee voted down a number of measures proposed by Bernie Sanders surrogates that would have come out against the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), fracking, and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. At the same time, proposals to support a carbon tax, Single Payer healthcare, and a $15 minimum wage tied to inflation were also disregarded.

In a statement, Sanders said he was "disappointed and dismayed" that representatives of Hillary Clinton and DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz rejected the proposal on trade put forth by Sanders appointee Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), despite the fact that the presumed nominee has herself come out against the 12-nation deal.

"Inexplicable" was how Sanders described the move, adding: "It is hard for me to understand why Secretary Clintons delegates wont stand behind Secretary Clintons positions in the partys platform."

The panel also rejected amendments suggested by 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, another Sanders pick, that would have imposed a carbon tax, declared a national moratorium on fracking as well as new fossil fuel drilling leases on federal lands and waters.

"This is not a political problem of the sort that we are used to dealing with," McKibben stated during the marathon debate. "Most political problems yield well to the formula that weve kept adopting on thing after thingcompromise, well go halfway, well get part of this done. Thats because most political problems are really between different groups of people. Theyre between industry and environmentalists. That is not the case here."

"Former U.S. Representative Howard Berman, American Federation of State, County, and Muncipal Employees executive assistant to the president, Paul Booth, former White House Energy and Climate Change Policy director Carol Browner, Ohio State Representative Alicia Reece, former State Department official Wendy Sherman, and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden all raised their handsto prevent a moratorium from becoming a part of the platform," noted Shadowproof's Kevin Gosztola.

According to Gosztola's reporting on the exchange, Dr. Cornel West lambasted the aforementioned panel members, particularly Browner, for "endorsing reform incrementalism" in the face of an urgent planetary crisis.

"When youre on the edge of the abyss or when youre on that stove, to use the language of Malcolm X, you dont use the language of incrementalism. It hurts, and the species is hurting," West said.

Other progressive policies were adopted piecemeal, such as the $15 minimum wage, which the committee accepted but without the amendment put forth by Ellison that would have indexed the wage to inflation.

The panel did vote unanimously to back a proposal to abolish the death penalty and adopted language calling for breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and enacting a modern-day Glass-Steagall Actmeasures that Sanders said he was "pleased" about.

According to AP, the final discussion "centered on the Israel-Palestinian conflict."

"The committee defeated an amendment by Sanders supporter James Zogby that would have called for providing Palestinians with 'an end to occupation and illegal settlements' and urged an international effort to rebuild Gaza," AP reports, measures which Zogby said Sanders helped craft.

Instead, AP reports, the adopted draft "advocates working toward a 'two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict' that guarantees Israel's security with recognized borders 'and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity.'"

Citing these "moral failures" of the platform draft, West abstained during the final vote to send the document to review by the full Platform Committee next month in Orlando, Florida.

"If we can't say a word about TPP, if we can't talk about Medicare-for-All explicitly, if the greatest prophetic voice dealing with pending ecologically catastrophe can hardly win a vote, and if we can't even acknowledge occupation... it seems there is no way in good conscience I can say, 'Take it to the next stage,'" West declared before the assembly.

"I wasn't raised like that," he said. "I have to abstain. I have no other moral option, it would be a violation of my own limited sense of moral integrity and spiritual conscience," adding, "That's how I roll."

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Betraying Progressives, DNC Platform Backs Fracking, TPP ...

While President Donald Trump said Tuesday morning that the nomination process for his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh would be a "beautiful thing to watch" over the coming weeks, progressive advocacy groups say they will leverage their collective political willand the tens of millions of their outraged membersto stand against the president's far-right and extremist choice.

Calling Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh a "five alarm fire," NARAL Pro-Choice America, MoveOn.org, Color of Change, and other groups announced a mass mobilization against the right-wing judge's confirmation, including a nationwide day of action planned for August 26.

Americans concerned about Kavanaugh's opposition to abortion rights and other issues the Supreme Court could rule on in the coming years are being urged to demand that Democrats unite against the nomination, and to confront Republican senators who are considered potential opponentsmuch like thousands of Americans did last summer as the Senate debated a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

MoveOn.org members are already "making crystal clear that a vote for Brett Kavanaugh is a vote to end Roe, criminalize abortion, and punish women," said the group's Washington director, Ben Wikler. "We need to make sure that they understand that their entire political career will be haunted by their decision on Brett Kavanaugh for good or for ill."

MoveOn's website has a #SaveSCOTUS section for local events nationwide this week and other organizing resources.

While reproductive rights are at risk, Wikler noted, "protections for LGBTQ Americans, the Affordable Care Act, protections for people with pre-existing conditions...the ability to protect our democracy and voting rights...and the fundamental question of whether the president is above the lawall of those things are on the line, and that's why MoveOn members will respond to this just as we did with the healthcare fight when nobody thought a victory was possible."

"We need to make sure that [senators] understand that their entire political career will be haunted by their decision on Brett Kavanaugh for good or for ill."Ben Wikler, MoveOn.orgTrump has already named one judge, Justice Neil Gorsuch, to the nation's highest court, after three Democrats joined Republicans in voting to confirm him last year. Indivisible co-executive director Leah Greenberg spoke about efforts to pressure Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to unite his party in opposition.

"We can't lose a single Democratic vote this time," Greenberg said. Indivisible chapters based in New York "held a rally outside [Schumer's] office with more than 300 people yesterday pushing him to whip the votes and to step up into this leadership moment."

The distinct possibility that Kavanaugh could be the deciding vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, criminalizing abortion care, is playing a major role in mobilizing Americans across the political spectrum, said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"The anxiety in the country is palpable," said Hogue. "We're hearing minute by minute from both our existing members and new members, and by the way, not just the progressive base. We have independent and Republican women ringing our phone off the hook, very concerned about this moment, this nominee, this court, and this administration."

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are being targeted by their constituents, as the two so-called "moderate" lawmakers have equivocated in recent weeks over how they would vote on an anti-choice nominee like Kavanaugh.

In Portland, Maine, a rapid response rally began hours after Trump announced Kavanaugh's nomination outside Collins's office, with protesters holding signs reading "Women Won't Back Down" and "My Body Is Not Up for Debate."

"We saved the Affordable Care Act through Susan Collins and we need to save the Supreme Court," progressive activist Betsy Sweet told Common Dreams.

"It's not just about having a 'Blue Wave' in November, it's about us," added Portland resident Tina Marie Davidson. "We have everything to lose so we can't take anything for granted...We've been fighting for a year and a half, we rallied [Collins] last year for the ACA and we got her on our side, so we're just going to do what we did but even better and make sure she knows that this is her legacy. She needs to stand with us and represent us."

"These senators hold the keys to women's futures and our fundamental freedoms in their hands," said Hogue. "Donald Trump has been crystal clear, he wants to end Roe vs. Wade. Kavanaugh is his path to doing so. Now the only question is whether these senators will stand up and fight for women and families or be a rubber stamp on Trumps agenda. Seven in 10 Americans believe abortion should be legal. We are the majority and those who vote for Kavanaugh, which is a vote to end Roe v. Wade, will be held accountable at the ballot box.

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Calling Kavanaugh a "Five-Alarm Fire," Progressives Reveal ...