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Many progressives are suffering Trump exhaustion. The new administration has set the country back on so many fronts that it may not even be possible to follow all the breaking, and very bad, news. Every time you take some comfort in a successful lawsuit against the dark side, a whole new set of evils are rolled out.

Trump wants the Environmental Protection Agency to declare that carbon dioxide is not a dangerous greenhouse gas, and to stop threatening coal plants. And you might despair about that until your realize that what hed really like is to abolish the EPA entirely.

Trump is authorizing oil pipelines like crazy and you might despair about that until you realize that he wants to use hydraulic fracturing to fill them with oil, visiting enormous environmental degradation on a wide swathe of America.

Trump wants to cut virtually all federally supported research, scientific or in the humanities, including on diseases like cancer and on climate change, and you might be distressed about that until you realize that he and his cronies would probably like to substitute state propaganda for science entirely.

Trump wants to try to enlist the federal government in a fight against local attempts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And you might be depressed about that until you realize that he probably doesnt want a minimum wage at all.

Trump wants to abolish internet privacy and allow private corporations to sell your browser history without your knowledge to other corporations. And you might despair about that until you realize that his ultimate goal to to get rid of net neutrality and make sure we can only visit the web sites of a handful of huge media conglomerates if we want the site to load in less than half an hour.

Trump wants a ban on entrants from six Muslim countries and you might despair about that until you realize his real goal is a complete Muslim ban, followed by a complete Mexican ban.

Trump wants to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, which international law does not recognize as Israels capital (it is a matter for final status negotiations with the Palestinians) an action that will deeply anger and set against the U.S. 1.6 billion Muslims. And you might despair about that until you realize that Trump likely will throw the weight of the U.S. government behind the determined and concerted Israeli government project of putting hundreds of thousands more Israeli squatters on land in the West Bank stolen from Palestinian owners with the likely ultimate outcome of their being made completely homeless in their millions.

I havent even covered all the bases! There is hardly any progressive achievement of the past 40 years which is not on the chopping block. There is hardly any hard-won right of citizens or consumers which is not in danger of being taken away.

The one thing of which I am sure is that we must not allow ourselves to be enervated and exhausted by Trump Fatigue. We have all been working toward certain societal goals, and well just have to keep at it. Were being made to take a step back on many fronts. But lets quote a right-winger right back at the administration: Bad! Bad! What? Does he notgo back? Yes! But you misunderstand him when you complain about it. He goes back like every one who is about to make a great jump forward. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

We will make our great jump forward, and will set records precisely because we have been backed up so far and have room to build up speed when we turn it around.

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Are Progressives Suffering From 'Trump Fatigue'? - Truthdig

posted at 1:21 pm on March 31, 2017 by John Sexton

It has been something of a mystery why Democrats are driving so hard toward a filibuster that seems destined to result in the GOP going nuclear but a report today at the Hill suggests an answer. Progressives think Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is bluffing.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,called the premise of not filibustering Gorsuch to preserve the filibuster in the future absurd.

Going along with a right-wing justice so later on you have the right to block a right-wing justice is ridiculous, he said. Thats why were urging Democrats to filibuster.

Green added that said its not clear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) actually has the votes to go nuclear.

It will be a challenge for McConnell to get the votes and we cant let him win something as important as a Supreme Court seat on a bluff, he said. Thats crazy.

Lets just review the facts here.On Tuesday, McConnell said flatly that Judge Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court next Friday. McConnell said this despite the fact that Democrats have organized a serious filibuster effort which, as of this morning, has 37 Senators saying they will oppose Gorsuch. Theres really only one way to interpret McConnells certitude that Gorsuch will be confirmed: Hes prepared to go nuclear. And the fact that Senators Orrin Hatch and Lindsay Grahamhave both indicated they are ready to push the button suggests McConnell already has some Senators eager to go along.

Ed touched on this yesterday but even Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill realizes this filibuster is likely to drive the GOP to go nuclear. Theyre not going to let us do that too long before they move it to 51 votes, McCaskill told a group of Democratic donors. She added, God forbid, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies, or (Anthony) Kennedy retires or (Stephen) Breyer has a stroke or is no longer able to serve. Then were not talking about Scalia for Scalia, which is what Gorsuch is, were talking about Scalia for somebody on the court who shares our values.

Thats a pretty good summary of what could very well happen here before Trump leaves office. And yet, from the excerpt above, its clear progressives dont really believe it. As Adam Green says, they dont want to lose to McConnell on a bluff.

What I dont think Green and others realize is that efforts to paint Gorsuch as a right-wing extremist havealready failed. A plurality of Americans believes he should be confirmed despite the low approval ratings for the President who nominated him. This is a losing battle.

In addition, Democrats really would have an easier time making the case against a conservative judge who was replacing a progressive on the court. Most Americans cant even name a single sitting Justice. So this battle is not about Americans detailed knowledge of the Court and its decisions. Its much simpler than that. Most people are basing their judgment about these nominees on something like what sounds fair. It sounds fair to most Americans to replace Justice Scalia with a similarly conservativejudge. But it will sound less fair to replace, say, Justice Ginsburg with a very conservative judge.

But none of that will matter if the nuclear option has already blown away the filibuster. Democrats are taking a huge gamble here that McConnell is bluffing. Theres a very good chance it could backfire on them in a spectacular way.

Read more here:
Progressives think McConnell is bluffing on the nuclear option - Hot Air

Progressives to DSCC: Don't Fund Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch Common Dreams WASHINGTON - Progressive leaders will deliver a petition Monday urging the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to publicly announce that it will not allocate campaign funds to any Democratic senator who votes for or strikes a deal to advance the ...

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Progressives to DSCC: Don't Fund Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch - Common Dreams

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Is the American Dream dead? Has that shining promise that hard work will bring prosperity and a better life been snuffed out?

It's tempting to think this might be the case. It seems that America is sliding towards a division between a coastal plutocracy and everyone else, and that for those who are born in America's ever-growing and ever-worsening underclass, everything is destined to keep them stuck treading water, if not forcing their heads down.

But, according to a new, well-reported article from Bloomberg's Megan McArdle, there is one place where the American Dream is alive and well: Utah. In Salt Lake City, the likelihood of moving from the poorest quintile to the richest is 10.8 percent, an upward mobility rate much higher than the 4 percent found in other cities, like Charlotte, North Carolina.

This kind of upward mobility is the stuff progressives' dreams are made of. But it's how Utah has accomplished this that progressives might find interesting, if not infuriating.

What is Utah's secret? Mormons.

That's the short answer, at least. In reality, Utah is different in a lot of ways, as McArdle explains. First, its government is very effective. But it is also cheap. Utah is one of the reddest states in the country, but its conservatism is of the compassionate kind. The state recently led a successful "war on homelessness" and is currently engaged in a massive effort to fight intergenerational poverty. "During the week I spent in Utah," McArdle writes, "I was astonished at how cheerful the civil servants were." This probably raises the eyebrows of anyone who is familiar with how government works. Then, she drops the bombshell: "No one I talked to, even off the record, said they needed bigger budgets or more staff."

But it doesn't stop with Utah's government. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the de facto state church of Utah, and it shoulders many of the responsibilities that we traditionally associate with the welfare state, and seems to do a better job at it. The LDS Church's social services agency, called Welfare Square, seems well-funded and efficient. Mormons volunteer with Welfare Square, and informal church networks help people find jobs or work through marriage difficulties. What's more, while Welfare Square is generous when it comes to giving people the necessities of life, McArdle writes that "the church is quite clear that the help is a temporary waypoint on the road to self-sufficiency, not a way of life. People are asked to work in exchange for the help they get. [...] The two phrases I heard over and over were 'individual' and 'self-reliant.'" Someone who relies too much on handouts will get "a verbal kick in the pants." As McArdle notes, in the U.S., government social services are no longer allowed to do that because of the potential for racial discrimination.

Finally, the state is steeped in a general bourgeois ethos. People get married young and stay married. Churches provide the sort of informal social networks that help people build what economists refer to as human and social capital, which helps them lead healthier lives, find and keep jobs, and so forth.

In the end, Utah represents a unique experiment, "something a bit like [what] Sweden might be, if it were run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce," McArdle says. It is low-tax, small-government, and business-friendly, but also strongly committed to caring for the under-privileged.

In other words, Utah is everything conservatives would expect it to be.

Yes, there are a few things that might make Utah's success a little bit cringe-worthy for conservatives: Some might not like the idea that, along with an emphasis on self-reliance, social policy also needs a bleeding heart. More profoundly, conservative wonks like me enjoy touting policy ideas like child tax credits and wage subsidies, but Utah suggests that what America more fundamentally needs is a religious revival, and nobody knows how to engineer that.

Then there's the fact that the state is one of the least racially diverse in the country. The LDS Church banned blacks from the priesthood until 1978, and though now the church is open, "the church's racist past still lingers," McArdle writes. No doubt conversations around poverty that happen in Utah would be much more difficult in more diverse settings, especially those still struggling with the legacy of slavery. Certainly, very few would be comfortable with the idea that less diversity might mean higher social trust, as the sociologist Robert Putnam has famously argued, which in turn might be the only way to get things like efficient government and a mobile society.

But it's progressives not conservatives who ought to make note of what is happening in Utah thanks to a religiously-soaked culture, a strong marriage and bourgeois ethos, and the use of private initiative and civil society to help put the underprivileged on their feet. Progressives say they want the kind of social welfare, equal opportunity, and high social mobility found in this state, but are they willing to accept that those goals might best be accomplished through conservative means?

View original post here:
Utah has an important lesson for progressives on upward mobility - The Week Magazine

Thursday, Mar 30, 2017, 12:51 pm BY Cynthia Phinney, Peter Kellman and Julius Getman

Only when liberals recognize the importance of labor, and when a progressive labor movement returns to its historic roots, will the battle against right-wing demagogues and zealots be won. (Maine AFL-CIO/ Facebook)

Progressives are finally energized. Millions of young people became politically active through the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders and several million more joined the women-led solidaritymarches of the inaugural weekend. Many of the recently activated are seeking to channel their enthusiasm into effective political resistance. These are heartening developments. But it is far too early to declare victory over those who seek to make America great by returning it to a less tolerant, less progressive past.

A dismayingly large share of the white working class, including union members that once supported liberal candidates and causes, remains supportive of President Donald Trump and his agenda. Only when liberals recognize the importance of labor,and when a progressive labor movement returns to its historic roots, will the battle against right-wing demagogues and zealots be won.

What we are calling for is an active alliance between progressives and organized labor. For progressives and intellectuals, organized labor has much to offer: a rich history, seasoned leaders and, most significantly, an immediate connection to workers. For organized labor, the potential of such an alliance is equally significant. It can renew the commitment to social and political change, reminding workers and their leaders that unions are far more than just vehicles for economic gain.

Historically, alliances between workers and intellectuals have proven enormously powerful. They were central to the New Deal in the 1930s and were at the heart of Polands Solidarity movement in the 1970s. The early days of the Solidarity movement are an inspiring illustration of the power for change that can be harnessed when workers and intellectuals combine. The movement, led by workers, was sparked by intellectuals who risked prison to circulate in factories and shipyards a pamphlet setting forth the need for a workers bill of rights. And when the workers at the Gdansk shipyards rose up in a strike that shook the Soviet empire and inspired workers throughout the world, their demands went well beyond their own economic interests to include broad demands for free speech, religious freedom and the freeing of political prisoners.

How could such an alliance come about in this moment and how would it function? Progressives must make clear their willingness to actively support strikes and organizing drives, to take part in labor education programs, to show up at rallies and to help organize coalition groups for political action.Labor, in turn, must welcome new ideas and broad alliances. Its leaders must see activists from other organizations not as intruders but as key to labors future. Labor unions must also become clear, consistent and committed in its support for racial justice and immigrant rights.

The first steps to a broader movement are already being developed through concrete actions in specific locations.For example,the Maine AFL-CIO (a federation of 160 local labor organizations representing approximately 40,000 workers) and the Maine Peoples Alliance (a citizen-action organization with 32,000 members) have come together to promote progressive causes. Last year, they spearheaded a coalition that utilized the citizen initiative processto raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017 and then by a dollar a year until it reaches $12 in 2020. The initiative, which also links future increases to the cost of living after 2020 and brings restaurant tipped workers up to the same minimum wage over a longer period, passed by a wide margin.Interestingly, it passed even in counties and communities where Trump won.

The battle for Maines political future continues. Maine has its own Rust Beltalthough in Maine it is a "Paper Mill Belt." The paper mill towns were union towns that generally voted for Democratic candidates, at least until the mills closed. Starting in 2014, they moved to the Republican column and voted for the sitting governor, Maines version of Trump, Paul LePage.The Maine story is similar to what has happened in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, where once thriving union towns are now wastelands and where desperate citizens feel let down, ignoredby the Democratic Party elite and have switched their politicalallegiancein desperation. They can be won back by candidates who demonstrate concern about the state of workers in America.During the primary campaign, union activists regularly encountered conservative union members who were supporting Sanders but who said that if Sanders lost they would go for Trump.

Also last year, leaders of the Maine Labor Federation decided to make their annual summer institute more than a one-off event. Through the institute, they were able to contact andactivate many members whose connection to the labor movement had become dormant and to deepen the process of forming coalitions with other progressive groups. New committees were formed that actively seek to focus the work of the state federation on issues such as economic equality, basic human rights and universal healthcareissues that are of broad interest to workers and progressives across the state.

This new focus has rich potential for the union movement.It will provide opportunities for workers to learn how specific issues are related to labor history, and to their fundamentaleconomic and political concerns. Such work will also provide opportunities for union leaders to identify new leaders and activists both in unions and in the other organizations members belong to.The results of the new approach, thus far, include a growing sense of optimism and a feeling that labor and the broader community will face the future trials of the Trumppresidency and the LePage governorship in solidarity with each other.

We believe that as labor becomes more active and more open, its appeal will spread and a broader coalition, politically attractive to workers, will arise. This is a lesson not only for Maine, but for progressive activists and workers nationwide.

Read the rest here:
We Need To Restore the Frayed Alliance Between Unions and ... - In These Times