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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 ...

The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure many of the ills of American society that had developed during the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century. The frontier had been tamed, great cities and businesses developed, and an overseas empire established, but not all citizens shared in the new wealth, prestige, and optimism.

Efforts to improve society were not new to the United States in the late 1800s. A major push for change, the First Reform Era, occurred in the years before the Civil War and included efforts of social activists to reform working conditions and humanize the treatment of mentally ill people and prisoners.

Others removed themselves from society and attempted to establish utopian communities in which reforms were limited to their participants. The focal point of the early reform period was abolitionism, the drive to remove what in the eyes of many was the great moral wrong of slavery.

The second reform era began during Reconstruction and lasted until the American entry into World War I. The struggle for women`s rights and the temperance movement were the initial issues addressed. A farm movement also emerged to compensate for the declining importance of rural areas in an increasingly urbanized America.

As part of the second reform period, progressivism was rooted in the belief, certainly not shared by all, that man was capable of improving the lot of all within society. As such, it was a rejection of Social Darwinism, the position taken by many rich and powerful figures of the day.

Progressivism also was imbued with strong political overtones, and it rejected the church as the driving force for change. Specific goals included:

The success of progressivism owed much to publicity generated by the muckrakers, writers who detailed the horrors of poverty, urban slums, dangerous factory conditions, and child labor, among a host of other ills.

Successes were many, beginning with the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). Progressives never spoke with one mind and differed sharply over the most effective means to deal with the ills generated by the trusts; some favored an activist approach to trust-busting, others preferred a regulatory approach.

A vocal minority supported socialism with government ownership of the means of production. Other progressive reforms followed in the form of a conservation movement, railroad legislation, and food and drug laws.

The progressive spirit also was evident in new amendments added to the Constitution (text), which provided for a new means to elect senators, protect society through prohibition and extend suffrage to women.

Urban problems were addressed by professional social workers who operated settlement houses as a means to protect and improve the prospects of the poor. However, efforts to place limitations on child labor were routinely thwarted by the courts. The needs of African Americans and Native Americans were poorly served or served not at all a major shortcoming of the progressive movement.

Progressive reforms were carried out not only on the national level, but in states and municipalities. Prominent governors devoted to change included Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin and Hiram Johnson of California.

Such reforms as the direct primary, secret ballot, and the initiative, referendum, and recall were effected. Local governments were strengthened by the widespread use of trained professionals, particularly with the city manager system replacing the frequently corrupt mayoral system.

Formal expression was given to progressive ideas in the form of political parties on three major occasions:

- - - Books You May Like Include: ----

Prairie Club of Chicago by Cathy Jean Maloney.Originally formed in 1908, as an outgrowth of the Playground Association of Chicago, the Prairie Club was incorporated as a separate entity in 1911. E...Crime, Corruption and Politics in Hull The Rise and Fall of Boss Smith's Old Ring by John Galluzzo.If you lived in Hull, Massachusetts, during the first four decades of the 20th century, you knew both the political machinations of Boss John Smith an...Social Darwinism in American Thought by Richard Hofstadter.Social Darwinism in American Thought portrays the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers ov...Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt by Edward P. Kohn.One of the worst natural disasters in American history, the 1896 New York heat wave killed almost 1,500 people in ten oppressively hot days. The heat ...Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman.As a conservative Supreme Court flexes its muscles against a Democratic president for the first time since the New Deal, a series of recent books has ...The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.For nearly a century, the original version of Upton Sinclair's classic novel, which gave impetus to the Progressive Movement, has remained almost enti...Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris.Of all our great presidents, Theodore Roosevelt is the only one whose greatness increased out of office. When he toured Europe in 1910 as plain Colon...Pivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920 by John J. Cooper.These were the years in which two of our greatest presidents--Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson--transformed the office into the center of power; ...

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The Progressive Movement

Progressive lawmakers and activists are urging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats to resist President Donald Trump's forthcoming nominee for the Supreme Court to replace Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement on Wednesday, after siding with the rest of the high court's right-wing justices onlabor unions,reproductive rights, the Trump administration's travel ban, and GOP gerrymandering.

"Failing to keep all Senate Democrats united would be a colossal failure of leadership that helps Republicans make abortion illegal, destroy our civil rights, shred the social safety net, poison the planet, and undermine our democracy."Heidi Hess, CREDO Action

In an email to supporters on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted that the 5-4 Muslim ban and union votes "were only possible because of the unprecedented actions of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to deny President Obama's nominee a vote ahead of the 2016 elections."

By forcing a delay in filling the seat, left vacant following Antonin Scalia's death, McConnell enabled Trump to nominate right-wingerNeil Gorsuchwho was only confirmed after Republicans rewrote the Senate's rules to reduce the number of votes needed from 60 to a simple majority.

Now, Sanders and others are calling on Senate Democrats to take a page out of the Republican playbook and block whoever Trump nominates until after the November midterm elections.

We should listen to what Sen. McConnell said in 2016. President Trump should not nominate, and the Senate should not confirm, a Supreme Court justice until the American people have had the opportunity to make their voices heard in November. https://t.co/JjyEavC3O3

Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 27, 2018

"By now we know that is not what we will get from Donald Trump's nominee," Sanders said. "And I believe the American people have a right to make their voices heard about that at the ballot box in November."

"I believe most Americans want a Supreme Court that will stand up for civil liberties, constitutional rights, workers' rights, environmental rights and women's rights," he concluded. "The American people deserve a Supreme Court justice who respects the rights of workers instead of bowing down to big business... a Supreme Court that will move us back in the direction of one person, one vote, and stop our slide into an oligarchy, in which the political life in this country is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaire families."

"The American people deserve a Supreme Court justice who respects the rights of workers instead of bowing down to big business... a Supreme Court that will move us back in the direction of one person, one vote, and stop our slide into an oligarchy, in which the political life in this country is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaire families."Sen. Bernie Sanders

While the hashtag #MidtermsBeforeSCOTUS started gaining steam on Twitter following Kennedy's annoucement, as Common Dreams reported, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (Wis.), and Chris Murphy (Conn.) all weighed in, declaring that McConnell should follow the precedent he established when he refused to hold a vote for Obama nominee Merrick Garland.

Although Schumer said Wednesday that it would bethe "height of hypocrisy" for the Senate to vote on a candidate before the midterms, unlike progressive leaders such as Sanders and Warren, who are known for standing up to Trump and Republicans in Congress, Schumer has a well documented history of a caving to both.

"Keeping the Democratic caucus united in blocking Trump's extremism from being enshrined on the Supreme Court for a generation is a crucial test of Sen. Chuck Schumer's ability to effectively lead Senate Democrats," Heidi Hess, co-director of the activist network CREDO Action, said Thursday.

"Failing to keep all Senate Democrats united would be a colossal failure of leadership that helps Republicans make abortion illegal, destroy our civil rights, shred the social safety net, poison the planet, and undermine our democracy," Hess warned."Sen. Schumer is fully on the hook for ensuring that not a single Senate Democrat breaks ranks and hands the Supreme Court to Trump."

While progressives are keeping pressure on Schumer and Senate Democrats to block a vote, the powerful right-wing political groups bankrolled by the billionaire Koch Brotherswho are megadonors to Republican politiciansare already plotting to spend millions to support Trump's pick for the court, which is expected to be one of 25 candidates put forth by the White House in November. McConnell, for his part, said he plans to hold a Senate hearing and vote in the fall.

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'Colossal Failure of Leadership,' Warn Progressives, If ...

Paul Kengor offers a lively, yet sober, analysis of the most controversial social issue of our day, gay marriage. He traces the intellectual origins of the movement to redefine marriage, and how it has unfolded in recent times. His analysis of how the contributions of left-wing thinkers and political operatives found their way into mainstream American thought is masterful. Importantly, Kengor examines the way leading Catholic figures, such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, saw how the destabilization of marriage and the family was aided by, and served the interests of, Communism. This is one of the book's greatest strengths: Kengor's weaving of the political with the cultural. Takedown deserves a major place in all future discussions on this subject. (Bill Donohue, Ph.D., President Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights)

Paul Kengor does an excellent job of tying historic events and personalities together to make a coherent tale of what happened to America in the 20th century, from John Dewey and his effect on public education, to Herbert Marcuse and the Communist influence, to Betty Friedan and the feminists attack on marriage and motherhood, and to the voices of sanity from Dr. Fred Schwarz and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. (Phyllis Schlafly, president, Eagle Forum and author of 24 books)

America has been waiting for this book. History has been waiting for it. Takedown irrefutably documents that todays leftist war against the traditional American family is rooted in Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, which preaches the abolition [Aufhebung] of family. . . .

I am glad Paul Kenkgor is not politically correct. I hope his Takedown will hammer another nail in the coffin of Marxism.

Kengors depth of scholarship combined with a light style make Takedown a must read. He shows what Marx only dreamt of but Lenin planned and set in motion with the Frankfurt School, their academic allies (Margaret Mead, Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse), activists (Margaret Sanger, 60s feminists, The Weathermen) and finally the President of the United States. These all worked to change the Wests view of sexuality. Already they have achieved more than Marx ever dreamed of or any ordinary American thought possiblethe destruction of the American family. The fall of the Berlin Wall may have seemed like the end of Marx but he is having the last laugh as his progeny tears down the our nation, law by law and family by family. Every parent, pastor, teacher and professor needs to be given a copy of this book.

Takedown is an explosive and significant book. While I respectfully disagree with some of Professor Kengor's conclusions, his work shows that the dark dream of an all-powerful government with officially enforced equality is both a cause and effect of the weakening of the family. In the process, he exposes aspects of the international left that may shock even careful students of recent history.

Classic Kengor: researched; readable; and rivoting. This time, Paul Kengor connects the dots showing that the current push to redefine marriage is not some isolated end, but rather a coordinated means used for a larger ideological end: undermining the family and related mediating authorities so as to unleash an increasingly Leviathan State. Following the footnotes leads to one unmistakable conclusion: the Left and their Progressive friends focus on the family . . . in order to destroy it. Learn the truth; refute the error.

Very few people know how many generations the war against the family has been being fought, how intensely, how seriously. Paul Kengor, in short taut chapters, brings the outline up to date. Kengor includes many colorful first-person passages from enemies of marriage, and he pushes back with a certain brio of his own.

Everyone should read this book, especially those conservatives who think they can support genderless marriage and other alternative family forms. Paul Kengor makes very clear the Leftist and Statist, big-government roots of these ideas.

Americans will be astounded to learn the history of the movement to undo the institution and definition of marriage, and its ultimate purposes. Takedown is a powerful documentary in an accessible book, and the one most critical to engage in our time, to face what comes next.

Takedownby Paul Kengor switches on the krieg lights to expose the shadowy theoreticians and practicioners who have undermined marriage for over a century. Kengors careful research shows that the hammer used to smash the House of Marriage has been invariably accompanied by the sickle used to cut the power cables. If you want to understand the ideology behind the sudden juggernaut against the millennia-old definitions of marriage and family, get this book.

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Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left ...