Tag: progressive economics

Need to Heed #3

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

When someone tells you who they are, believe them.

Washington DC can drive corruption into any man’s heart it seems. As lobbying efforts grow more complex it can become impossible to determine where candidates really stand. However, even when candidates like President-Elect Joe Biden have sworn to cut social security in the past and has told lobbyists that fundamentally, “nothing would change.” Yet camp Bernie was still in total shock to see him appoint nothing but corporate individuals from Lyft, Amazon, and Air B’n’B. The big lesson here, when someone tells you who they are, believe them. Maybe if we would have believed that Biden and the other Corporate Dems really hated Bernie like they said they did we would have been prepared on Super Tuesday. Why do we constantly get got by this group? We assume they care about the people of this country the same as us. When in reality they hate us and only seek and serve power and the powerful. How long will we let Republican candidates run the democratic party? 

Happy Warriors – Harnessing The Franklin D. Roosevelt Mentality

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

One of TAR’s founding principles states that we will not follow the breaking news cycle, but instead write pieces on political history, principles, and strategy. However, the recent event at the capitol, like the rest of the nation, has made us stop and think. Another founding principle states that we call out our own side. CNN has got the conservative bashing on lock, it occupies 100% of their content. Due to the sheer volume of misinformation that the Corporate Dems have spread about Bernie and his policies, we engage in extreme language, primarily directed at the enemies of the Progressive movement within the party. This is primarily due to them being the gatekeepers of power, holding the keys that lock us up. That being the case, calling out phonies in our own party often becomes item #1. However, that fervor must be matched with integrity and values. We can’t criticize the mayor Pete’s of the world being cynics ourselves. See, as a cynic, you opt-out of participating in the solution. Moving forward let’s carry the demeanor that has built this movement, the cheerful FDR, the never-mud-slinging-always-on-task Bernie Sanders, the intellectual drive for equality of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The scene of protestors becoming terrorists and overtaking our capital yesterday was horrible. So perplexed, I at once found myself feeling vulnerable that it was possible for them to waltz right in. What if Trump would have told them to hurt people, would they have started shooting? We saw one photo of a man holding zip-tie handcuffs as if he planned to take captives. After the initial shock, it sank in those now terrorist live sad lives. They will face up to 20 years in prison over a massive lie told by a man who could not care less about them. How have we come to a place in America where people are so hurt and in such bad shape that they risk their lives for conspiracy theories? During COVID we must all be aware of the pressures people face. Mental illness and substance abuse were running rampant, COVID was the icing on the cake. As a publication of any kind, we must have a sense of decency for others and society at large. While we really don’t like Mayor Pete, we respect him as a fellow human being and American. These events highlight the importance of a core American principle- settling disagreements with conversation, debate, and elections. We must avoid hateful speech. It is dangerous. It is a losing strategy. 

Did you know the media hated FDR more than any President in American history!? Yep, he received fewer newspaper endorsements than Donald Trump! How did FDR respond? Did he flip out like Trump, and start spreading propaganda of his own? Nope, FDR smiled and laughed his way to becoming the greatest President in American history. For his positive attitude and sheer effectiveness, they called him the Happy Warrior. With every big business and every media outlet against them, he never lost his cool or went down to their level. Time and time again he outwitted and like a comic sleuth exposed them. Perhaps the sentiment is best captured in his speech defending his dog, Fala, whom the papers and Republicans claimed he had recently left him on a trip and got a massive naval destroyer to go back and get him, wasting taxpayer dollars- 

After any political event that the media is hyping up, it is always best to check in with the human litmus-test Bernie Sanders. Bernie’s most admirable trait is his discernment. The man has never wavered on his positions and as the news cycle breaks, he knows where he stands. While other politicians take the easy route and engage in extreme partisan rhetoric, Bernie will only discuss the issues. And we mean only, like literally just issues. After the riots at the capitol, Bernie called out the President and the lawbreakers, confirming his main line of attack on the President since 2017, “the most dangerous President in the history of the United States”. Yet, the next day, Bernie immediately presses into the Biden administration calling to pass $2,000 stimulus checks. Notice how Bernie takes control of the narrative by reframing the conversation, Cuomo is trying to score a dramatic sound bit by luring Bernie into calling Trump names. In the end, he always brings it back to the most important issues, people need healthcare, childcare, and decent jobs. 

The final patron saint of the movement and perhaps the most overlooked is Eleanor Roosevelt. While FDR was the face of progress, the truth was that he was a moderating force between Eleanor and the country. She was easily 100-120 years ahead of her time. If we passed the legislation she wanted today it would be an advancement. A natural intellectual drive to solve problems paired with a Mother Teresa like respect for other humans made her a powerful force. It is extraordinary to have someone with pure morals and high intelligence, guiding the most powerful country on earth. Who knows how many times it has happened, 2-3 times possibly? Many don’t know that back in the ’30s and 40’s Eleanor was pushing for marriage equality for the LGBT community and pushing the voting rights act before it even existed. Unfortunately, the country was not as progressive as Eleanor. However, for everything else that FDR did pass where he went big, was him splitting the difference with what Eleanor thought. She also created the model of the first lady that we see today. Before her, the First Lady was a symbolic role, merely acting as hostess, wearing nice clothes, and being polite. When Eleanor arrived she immediately started leveraging her role for good! FDR wasn’t the only one to make radio appearances, one could argue Eleanor had more success with over 300 appearances. Beyond the first lady, Eleanor paved the way for women in broadcasting and media. Her impact today is incalculable, she is the deserved hero of progressives, women, LGBT, and all of her generation. 

Warriors are required for tasks like winning the white house, not warriors that carry firearms, but smiles. Warriors like Nina Turner who rally on the mic to uplift, instead of tear down. Warriors armed with solutions, not conspiracies. 

Need to Heed #2

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

The Four-second rule.

Have you ever been in a heated discussion where neither side is listening? Both sides think up their next talking point as the other is speaking. Chris Voss, the FBI’s top hostage negotiator, calls this the dueling schizophrenics, both parties speaking to themselves in their own heads, without listening. These conversations are what our divided nation looks like at the most micro level, the inability to communicate with each other and show respect. All it takes is the person we are conversating with to mention one point of view that helps us identify them as “the enemy” according to our source of news. Challenge yourself every time you communicate to really listen and care about what others have to say. Anger isn’t the only thing to inhibit listening, it can be excitement as well, we think “oh boy, what they just said leads so beautifully into what I am about to say!” then you proceed to interrupt and vomit all over them. How do you stop yourself? Try using the Four-Second Rule! Originally from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, Carnegie suggests that once someone seems to finish a thought or stop talking you pause for 4 seconds before speaking. This will seem like an eternity, but it is extremely powerful. Try asking someone how their day was and wait four seconds after they say “Good”, they will elaborate every time,” well there was this really annoying moment at work, then I had a good call with a client we were worried about”. This one habit will unlock sensitive political conversations and ease tensions. When someone feels listened to instead of attacked, they will be open and honest. Most shockingly, you will find that people don’t buy into extreme beliefs 100%. For example, a conservative thinks you are about to attack them so they preemptively throw out a “Pelosi and Democrats are so corrupt and owned by china!” ….. four-second rule…. “ Well look I know Trump has done plenty of bad things as well I just don’t see the Democrats doing anything to help.” Now that they tamped down their own rhetoric you can ask a targeted question, “haven’t done anything to help?”. 

What to expect from TAR in 2021

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

After three months of writing, we are looking forward to what 2021 holds. As a Progressive organization, it is so important to make use of all the time between elections. While this might be the presidential off-season, right now is when the strength of a campaign or movement is built. Just like pro sports those who excel during the season put in the most work during the offseason. Our goal throughout has been to become the hangout or destination for the supporters of the Sanders campaign, while also serving to expose Corporate Democrats. While our founding has been exclusively text-based we are excited to build upon our foundation with content to suit everyone’s preferences. We are excited to be adding two new forms of content to supplement our written pieces.

2.)  Audio Book Style recordings for all Articles! 

Starting after the new year we are excited to offer an audio version of all articles! For those who prefer audiobooks, we are recording all past articles to have at the click of a button!

1.) Podcast!

Now that we have laid a decent foundation of topics we are going to release in-depth conversations elaborating upon each topic! Make sure to get the full story on each article as we will go in-depth on books, movies, and speeches that have influenced us! 

Written Content

Following the New Year, we will continue to cover the topics we enjoy most. However, will be doing so with more consistent but less frequent posting. 

From a topics perspective, these are a few of the intensely critical topics we will continue to cover, in no particular order-

The value of morals based politics

The opposition Progressives face from Corporate Democrats

The inherent Americaness of Progressive Ideals

The dangers and effects of Inequality

The Struggles of small business and Entrepreneurs 

The hypocrisy of the media

The global threat of social media

The destructive power of monopolies

&

Solutions.

Progressive Political Tactics Vol. #1 – Leveraging Sales Tactics

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

Watching the democratic primaries since 2015 Progressives have seen hopes dashed before their eyes, over and over and over again. While there are a million different reasons for our losses, the media blacking us out, a smaller movement than we thought, the list goes on. One thing we can unanimously agree on is that the group we are up against definitely out gamed us. They knew and used the system, and to no fault of our own many of us were new to politics. It is now long past due to all brush up on our tool kit, we need to be sharp to keep the Sanders coalition from fracturing. Primarily we need to have the ability to talk confidently about our candidates and learn how to make their case. Sadly being the most caring group with the most morals leads us to be bulldozed by Corporate Elite Democrats that will do anything to keep power. We don’t have to be nasty, we just have to work harder. We know how badly people need Medicare for All, we just can’t sell it. If Corporate Dems can sell an agendaless party to the country, getting buy-in for real solutions should be simple!

Here are three simple lessons from sales to ease tension and have open conversations with anyone. 

1.)It’s all about listening, not speaking! 

The common misconception about sales and salespeople is that the person who talks the loudest and the fastest would make the best salesperson. The truth is the opposite, the best salespeople are those who are genuinely curious and ask great questions. When the questions are being answered they listen intently. See it is the opposite of human nature to buy from a pushy person. It robs your freedom of thought and choice, making us want to buck like a wild Broncho. It is also very rude. However, most people have plenty of reasons why they could benefit from supporting your side, but they must come to that conclusion on their own. You cannot actually control/persuade people of anything. With great questions and an open and pleasant attitude, they can reach their own conclusions. 

2.) Find a pain point and determine the consequence.

When selling a brand new product that is a never before seen solution, you face some very tough challenges compared to established products like the Democratic party. The toughest challenge is finding a pain point. For example, every American hates their insurance but they are unaware that it is a problem. We’ve never had a reason to think there was an alternative. If someone knocks government-run health care, respond with a question, “Do you like your health insurance?” “Have you or your family ever had a bad experience with the healthcare system?” They will then think about the pain of the reduction in their paycheck. That pain becomes real when you know there is an alternative. Switching would put $1200/month in your pocket, here is the consequence. “What difference would $1200/month make for your household?”

3.) Whoever controls their emotions wins! 

Ok, the goal isn’t ultimately about anyone losing, this is a negotiating lesson. Perhaps the most valuable sales to life lesson is learning to control your emotions. Many people who end up buying from you and being long term partners started the conversations with you completely uninterested. Every time you lose your cool on someone and return the favor, they will never work with you, this requires having more emotional control. This is a golden rule in debates as we saw with people like Biden getting flustered into gaffe after gaffe, whereas someone like Mayor Pete was slicker than Clark Grizwolds non-choleric-silicon-based kitchen lubricant. Pete was unflappable on that stage and danced his way out of every attack with a smirk. Talking politics requires emotional control, people will say things that really press your buttons. We have all been on both sides of flipping out in a conversation, you feel like an immature jerk and immediately regret it. Remember you will never regret taking the high road! 

Are Progressive Policies Bad for Small Business Owners?

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

During the last two election cycles Bernie Sanders ideas were slowly heard by nearly every American Conservative and Liberal alike. Shockingly his ideas seemed to gain steam across the Democratic party then started gaining popularity across the aisle as well. However, the idea of so many radical changes seemed to scare small business owners. The Conservatives narrative of low taxes being the savior of small businesses has been extremely successful. Despite the fact that Conservatives couldn’t care less about small business owners, they are feeding large corporations, with the rest of us begging for table-scraps. Let’s do a play by play on each supposedly “Radical” idea of the Sanders campaign.

  1. Medicare for All

Perhaps the most debated and lied about program of all time. This is undoubtedly due to the insane amount of lobbying by insurance and large pharmaceuticals to both Republicans and most successfully to democrats. People like Pete Buttigieg and President Elect Biden took this money and spouted talking points from the Lincoln-Project(Conservative think tank). Before we get into the corruption weeds lets talk small business. 

First, Warren Buffett has voiced support for the plan, but more importantly he views the current system as a massive competitive disadvantage for American businesses. Not only does this hurt every large business, other than Insurance companies, it is often largest deterrent from starting a business. If you have a family the risk is so great when leaving a large company because you will likely pick up $1000-$2000/month in healthcare with the worst plan on the market. One medical emergency will bankrupt the family. Then think about the entrepreneurs who are successful, having to provide insurance to workers can literally be the difference in being profitable and making a living. With M4A small business would flourish as risk lowered and growth would accelerate as the burden was lifted of medical expenses. Keep in mind we are choosing to pay more than any other developed nation just to fund the millionaires and billionaires that own these healthcare companies. Oh yeah, and we don’t even make the top 10 for quality of care!

  1. Making Public Universities and Colleges Tuition Free.

First lets be honest here, if you are the older retired person with no children, this wont directly benefit you, other than by improving society at large. However this can impact small businesses in two big ways. This would really blow the doors off opportunities that have only been available to a small elite group of the country(since the 80’s or so). Essentially anyone with the drive and tools to make it in the college environment would no longer be held back by their parents financial situation. We understand there are still many other factors that will leave even the ambitious no chance to really make through college(poor primary schooling). However, taking money out of the picture would allow many ambitious potential small business owners to expand their knowledge and skills.

On the back end of this is the crippling cost of send children through college. If you are a small business owner with inconsistent income or even consistent income, paying for 3 kids college tuition is going to devour your savings, if you have any! Most small business owners don’t have the luxury of a company matching their 401k retirement plan. Not only do you have to be a great business owner or craftsmen, but also a financial advisor to navigate shark infested waters. Taking the burden of paying for children’s college would be a massive boon to the economy. Imagine all the baby boomers and gen Xer’s cash that would be distributed through the system. And holy sh*t not to mention student debt. You think someone will take the risk of starting a business with $300-600/month student loan payment, forget about it! 

3.)Free Child-Care and Pre-K

Maybe you hadn’t noticed but most other advanced nations have acknowledged this is the most critical time in child development and provide quality child care to working parents. If you don’t have a college degree and can’t earn over $30,000 it will not even justify taking the job to pay for childcare. Imagine starting a business paying the highest possible rate for insurance and $1,000-$7,000/month in child care. One down month and you are absolutely screwed. Not only would we see many more workers enter the work force, their checks would circulate in the economy.

When you really step back and compare all the expenses put on individuals in America vs. other nations there is no comparison, we are extremely disadvantaged. Today in Germany, France, Japan and countless other countries their citizens are not footing all these bills without benefits. They pay taxes but the personal gains are enormous. On average M4A would save the average house hold $1200/month. Then take away anywhere from $80,000-$500,000 in student loans that a given family/individual will pay(already the case in so many countries). Then take away the $1,000-$5,000 in child care. To be conservative a small business owner will have an additional $3,000/month. Their retirement fund will have $100,000 more in it from not paying for two children’s college. Or their children will be able to buy a house after college because they don’t carry that student loan debt. 

Elizabeth Warren is a Dangerous Enemy of the Progressive Movement, Will we Acknowledge it?

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

At the risk of alienating potential Warren supporters, it is better to have an open discussion on her past and present actions to determine if we really want her to be part of our future. First, let’s state that there is zero animosity towards voters. Voters have no control over a candidate, they cannot control them behind closed doors or know what they say or do behind closed doors. On paper and at campaign events the appeal of Warren is obvious. A super-intelligent college professor who started the consumer financial protection bureau before even entering Washington sounds like a home run candidate! However, if you align where she stands with a chronological timeline of her actions starting in 2014, you will find a power-hungry politician that changes positions on a daily basis, and perhaps the greatest roadblock to real change from people like Bernie and Nina Turner. 

If we take it from the top, we all remember that super annoying speech of her military brothers being working-class Republicans, so she gets “normal” people. However, most people do not know that for the majority of her life Warren was also a Republican. Not just a Republican, her coworkers at Harvard vouch for the fact that she was the most vocal Reagan supporter in the college administration. So why did she support the Republicans until into her 40’s!? Well, let’s take her word for it here- 

“I was a Republican because I thought that those were the people who best supported markets. I think that is not true anymore,” Warren said. “I was a Republican at a time when I felt like there was a problem that the markets were under a lot more strain. It worried me whether or not the government played too activist a role.”

Hold the GD phone, this is the candidate who was “just as progressive as Bernie!”? Get real. Actually, let’s get real, Bernie Sanders was a self-declared socialist in his very first run for Mayor of Burlington. If someone tells you everyone changed positions before, that is not entirely true. And yes sometimes it is a sign of a good leader, but that is really a business saying not a political one. Let’s really dissect her response there. She claims she felt that the Republicans were no longer supporting markets and had to switch. That is an admission of the corporate nature of the new Democratic party, she believed they were the more natural continuation of Reaganomics. This really makes sense as we see the party move away from the working class to cater to the coastal elites and exclusively those with a college education. It also makes sense that Mass has the most college grads per capita in the US. It seems Warren has always just been an advocate of college elites, the Dems really moved to her. 

Many are probably in disbelief that the Hyper-Woke-Slay-Queen has been a Republican her whole life, but if you really listen to her this is not such a shocker. Her track record of helping progressive causes isn’t only bad, she actively fights to destroy progressives. Before we are labeled as wounded Bernie supporters let’s take it way back to 2014. 98% of Dem voters have no idea that before Bernie ran he and other progressives were actively pushing her to run for president against Hillary. Not only did she decide not to run, but she did so with a very keen understanding of how flawed Hillary was. Then came her first sin of blasphemy against progressives, she refused to back Bernie. We will never know if a 2016 endorsement could have pushed him over the top. Not to mention that was possibly the most important election of our lifetimes. We all now know that she did so out of the selfish desire to wield power herself, either with a Hillary cabinet position or with the presidency in 2020.

Let’s detour to mention the fact that she claimed to be a native American without actually being one. No wonder the right won’t listen when someone actually does something racist or sexist. If Trump, Rubio, Cruz, Jeb Bush, any one of them did this, they would be canceled into oblivion never to be seen again! Oh, but not one of our own who slams Trump, we can’t call her out for being super racist. Honestly, what is the difference between this and wearing black face? If you don’t know, the Cherokee nation blocked her, she cannot and will never be a member of their tribe. They were also deeply offended by the false claim that she made strictly to enrich herself. She has been a liar her whole life! 

Fast forward to 2020, she declares for the white house. Before we get to her most offensive and nefarious acts of the campaign, let’s analyze her “progressive campaign that accepted big money donations.” So how did it work out for her trying to talk progressive and stay in bed with big business? Here is Krystal Ball on her campaign-” “attempts to co-opt revolutionary rhetoric in service of an establishment campaign, like Disney doing socialism, satisfied no one and left her unable to win more than 1 county in Iowa and an embarrassing distant fourth behind Klobuchar in New Hampshire.” 

In case you forgot let’s rehash, Bernie won Iowa however the DNC delayed the result to look like Pete tied him. Bernie then won New Hampshire and devastated the field in Nevada. By all accounts, he was in the first place. Let’s not forget Warren going for a murder-suicide on Bernie that just so happens to be in front of a hot mic. She claimed that months ago before the campaign, Bernie told her in a one-on-one meeting that a woman could never win the White House. So he said it and she was friendly for months, then when he is leading the race you claim that to the media. Not a private conversation or a debate when he said it, months down the road you drop that during a debate. Sorry, we refuse to believe one of the people who urged you to run in 2016 believes that you can’t win as a woman.  

After that exchange clearly cost Warren, she set her sights on making sure that Bernie was defeated by Biden. In possibly the most corrupt dealing in primary history winning candidates like Pete dropped out immediately to defeat Bernie, but most importantly to secure jobs in a potential Biden admin. And it worked, Pete is now Secretary of Transportation. However, there was one chance to stop the now unified centrist, if Warren just dropped out of the race. She didn’t even have to endorse Bernie, just drop out! She got 3rd place in her own state! Bernie nearly doubled her 16% with 30%! She was a loser up to that point with no shot at victory, yet she stayed to guarantee Bernie would lose. Had she dropped out Bernie Sanders would be the President right now. 

What did Warren get for helping Bernie? Completely snubbed from Biden’s cabinet! See when you abandon real allies for fake friends, no one has your back. If we are to succeed with Nina Turner, we must fight Warren with everything we’ve got. This might seem extreme but we know based on multiple occurrences, she will fight against any progressive that is not her! She is a cynical self-enriching politician just like Pete and Kamala. 

Why Does Nancy Pelosi Hate Us?

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever had that sneaking suspicion that while you know how corrupt the Republicans are, what if the Dems you support are just as bad behind closed doors? Well to be honest if it is still just a suspicion for you, then you just aren’t really paying attention. What’s worse is we have systems like Facebook and biased media channels so if you stay on CNN and FB as a Dem you will never hear about things like Pelosi showing off a freezer with hundreds of dollars of Jeni’s ice cream while she stalls on stimulus checks. This might not seem like a big deal, however the fact that this was running rampant in conservative circles, even being used for ads, and most Democratic voters never saw it is scary. Just imagine what your own side can do and get away with!? Think about all the horrible things about Trump on the left media that a Trump voter has never heard before, it allows Trump to do whatever he wants, and the Dems are the same. The longer we feel a judgemental air of superiority over Trump voters and Republicans, not only will we keep losing, we will keep backing morally bankrupt people seeking cover behind our hatred for Trump. 

Let’s back up, while we will get in plenty of pot shots on Nancy and it is easy to do so, it is more important to understand why she and the Obama wing hate the Progressive left more than anything on earth, even Trump. First let’s start with what the Dems get right and where they are actually aligned with the Progressives. Perhaps the biggest overlap is that the sellout Dems acknowledge climate change, but wow I literally can’t think of anything else where they align more with us than the donors and Republicans. It is truly sad that we will support them just because they will sometimes agree in theory with us. This is the core of why they hate us, when you look close enough, they are much closer on the ideological spectrum to Republicans than they are with us. Think about all they share with Conservatives, they love tax cuts, take donations from the same wall street donors, both agree on endless war, they both hate medicare for all, and they no longer help the lowest among us. Crazy to think we could go on for days and days about the overlap of Pelosi and the Republicans, from endless wars to doing the bidding of ISP’s for hefty donations. 

This is a great lead into why she hates us so much. If we are honest with ourselves on where she is on the spectrum and where the progressive left is, she is in much closer proximity to the right. On the legislative/economic agenda, we are talking a frog hair split four ways separating her from the Conservatives, that close. When you think about it objectively, we are pretty foolish to just expect someone to change their lifelong personal views. We as progressives are asked to give up everything we believe in constantly, and it is so offensive and also impossible. See you can’t change someone’s life experiences that form their beliefs that then lead to their actions. That’s why it is a fool’s errand to try and ever work our agenda in with the Pelosi/Obama regime. Pelosi is worth over $114 million dollars(that we know of) and grew up super rich. Do we really think we are going to talk her into taxing herself? Do we really think she knows anything about the existence and struggle of working class Americans? 

So how has Nancy Pelosi become so wealthy? Go figure, her husband has amassed a fortune owning a Venture Capital fund. If you are unfamiliar with VC, these are the money people in Silicon Valley who dump hundreds of millions into new companies. Ok big deal, she’s ultra wealthy, I’m sure she earned her place before that!? Nope, Pelosi’s father was a politician who served the wealthy like her. Her father was the Mayor of Baltimore and a US Representative for Maryland. His career was successful until his run for Governor- “D’Alesandro was a strong contender for Governor of Maryland in 1954, but was forced to drop out due to being implicated in receiving undeclared money from Dominic Piracci, a parking garage owner convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.[5] Piracci was the father of D’Alesandro’s oldest son and namesake Thomas D’Alesandro III’s wife, Margie Piracci D’Alesandro. “ Not only was he corrupt but this story of a wealthy powerful family sounds like a story from Russia where families and oligarchs rule, enriching themselves with ease and offense to everyone else. Wouldn’t you love to know how much Nancy and Paul Pelosi took home with the Trump tax cuts? If they even pay taxes it is likely more than $1 million! 

Perhaps the greatest barrier for the Bernie agenda is that the average person has never met someone even 10% as wealthy as Pelosi. If you are making less than $100k/year the chances of knowing a top 1%er is extremely slim. People who don’t have money are led to believe the ultra wealthy work or worked just like them. This is one of the greatest illusions of our time, that you can be a billionaire and a worker at the same time. What we mean by this is that their earnings are not directly correlated with the amount of work they do. When you work in a factory, you get paid an hourly rate, that makes you a worker. If you made $180,000 every day since Jesus was born, you would need 76 more years to catch Bezos if he stopped making money today, and that is an old stat(March 2020). See there is no direct service or benefit Bezos himself provides, he just happens to be the owner who spends his time hiring private detectives to bust potential unionization. He spends his time ensuring he can pay his employees the absolute minimum amount of money. Billionaire don’t work in the same way the rest of us do, they spend time rigging the system to keep permanently enriching themselves. They aren’t working in the economy, they are working on the economy, lobbying to change laws and get out of taxes. And Nancy is the queen of this game, offering a cultural alternative to Republicans without going near the purse strings.

See at the end of the day if Obama and Pelosi lose the Republicans, it isn’t really a big deal. Personally they will become more wealthy, and on the political end, they love their job the most as the minority party. Each party seems to rather be the ones obstructing, counting donor checks, and making network appearances than the ones leading. If there weren’t Republicans to foil off of, it is hard to say the modern day Democratic party would even exist, it is a complete hollow shell with  no ideology. This is the way Pelosi wants it, no expectations other than being anti-racist. And this is why she hates us, we ruin her whole game. With Bernie on the scene they are exposed for having no agenda. With Bernie they were exposed as swamp creatures who thrive on serving donors and seeking personal enrichment. Finally with Bernie around their personal wealth was at stake. See they didn’t believe they had to stop Bernie because he would be bad for the country, they knew how bad he would be for the ultra corrupt and wealthy, herself included. 

What Can We Do?

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ Leave a comment

After the fall of Bernie on Super Tuesday, so many of us looked around for answers, feeling completely hopeless. The more time spent volunteering and phonebanking the more devastating the blow. See, after Bernie barely lost to Hillary, we had a different regret in that the first time so many of us did not believe and got on board soon enough to put Bernie over the top. It felt like Bernie really would have won if more people would have gotten active sooner, the fundraising juggernaut was a month to slow. Despite all the dirty tricks of the DNC and DWS, we didn’t blame Hillary as hard, or at least we got over it quickly. In 2020 we saw our person taken out in an orchestrated manor, in an attack more unified than perhaps ever seen in Washington. Seeing the fourth place candidate run a horrible campaign then be hand placed in first by the past President and the media left Bernie nation permanently wounded. Here we are again with a corporate sell out of an administration, so what can we do? Do we forget everything we care about and join Biden’s team of sellouts for table scraps on the environment? Do we risk becoming the hypocrites the right accuses us of by swearing off corporate donations, then being ok with it when it is our preferred flavor? 

While this isn’t an article about how they F’ed Bernie, we can never forget the tactics and scale of our opposition. As we look forward we must choose our path wisely, but most importantly we must start thinking about long term strategy and trajectory. Cleary the corporate dems who have been at war with us have a long term plan for how to weed us out. They have a classic playbook to paint the narrative, what did they all say in perfect harmony when they lost seats in the house and didn’t take the senate? “It was all these radical leftist that cost us the election!” Even though centrist lost at a much higher rate than candidates backing the Green New Deal and M4A. This is where we must improve, we must immediately counter these attacks or else the public will only hear that side of the story. And for those too deep into politics, the average person does not go research another source after hearing something from President Obama. We should have been shouting “we told you so” from the rooftops! The first major course correct that needs to be verbally acknowledged by all of us is recognizing that Nancy Pelosi and the Corporate Dems hate us more than Trump or poor rural voters. They want to destroy us completely, not just win, but destroy. If we keep marching ahead holding hands with our biggest advisory we will be dead on arrival, and we will deserve it for stupidity. 

With an incoming Democratic administration it can be at times conflicting, of course we aren’t with the Republicans, but the Corporate Dems made it perfectly clear that we are not welcome with them. However we do have popular support! Support for the agenda that helps real working Americans. Medicare for All and raising taxes on the wealthy have a majority support. Perhaps it is time to harken back to the most successful Democratic President of all time, FDR. Specifically how FDR faced a very similarly corrupt and wealthy Washington, yet used popular support to put pressure on politicians.

Did you ever indulge in the cynics’ questions to Bernie, “How will you ever pass these bills with Mitch McConnell and the republicans in the senate?”. Probably the more pressing and realistic question would be how is Bernie going to get the Corporate Dems on board when it upsets their masters? Well Bernie gave us a little taste of the FDR play book he planned to use- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S51uyddIiiM . See FDR knew he was the most popular politician in any given state, he also knew his agenda shared in that popularity. Whenever a politician would try to stop his legislation he would immediately call them out on all channels and threaten to start publicly campaigning against them. Only the most skilled politicians understand how to leverage popular support, while most are never popular enough to have the option. Trump and Obama squandered this to a degree that has never been seen. We can probably chalk that up to them both equally being in bed with donors. Obama had a supermajority in the senate and instead of passing medicare 4 all, gave the Republicans and business class exactly what they wanted, despite the will of the people he caved to donors. Trump had the same opportunity and floundered even more. See Trump was the most popular Republican in every state by massive margins. Why the hell did he let Senator Ron Johnson, who is underwater on his approval in his own state, tank his stimulus deal? Trump could have gone out in one tweet or rally and straightened his ass up. Imagine having a sub 40 approval rating in a swing state and still adamantly stiffing your voters, sadly we see it everyday. 

The key to this system of public pressure uses their corruption against them. See they don’t actually care about donors, they just want to be personally enriched and personally leverage donors to stay in power. This is their greatest weakness and strength in a corrupt system, they have no core ideology. If there is one thing we know about people like Mayor Pete and Elizabeth Warren(previously an avid Ragan supporter) they will change every position they have for power. Self-seeking power is the only sure bet with their type, and their type is the most common in Washington. This is the weak spot, if someone like Bernie dropped into your state to start campaigning against you and airing your previously private voting and donor record it would threaten reelection, something that would guarantee an attitude adjustment. You are kidding yourself if you don’t think Warren and Pete would have completely changed their tune on republican talking points if Bernie had won you are so gullible. They would change skin and morph back into two super Progressives who always had Bernie’s back. 

Back to the original question, what can we do now? First, we must change our mentality to long term strategic thinking. While there are more vocal Progressives in congress now than any time in the last 30 years, we are severely outnumbered, and the media is working overtime to erase us. This is perhaps our most important mission, never stop talking about Bernie Sanders and his platform. Never stop criticising the hypocrisy of accepting corporate donations, remember that Bernie raised more. Never forget the media treatment, giving Biden $100 Million in free air time, they are a permanent enemy. Never forget that the Corporate Dems hate us more than they will ever hate a Repulican. While there are not many concrete actions to take, perhaps the actions we do not take will be of the utmost importance. We must stop allowing Republicans disguised as Dems to gain our support. They have already picked their team, we are not on it, so we must stop clinging to their coat tails and letting them drag us through the mud. It is time to harness our inner tea party ferocity or be obscured into oblivion, totally forgotten.

The Case for Tuition-Free Public Colleges and Universities

~ rebelwillfarnaby ~ 1 Comment

Debating the “sheer recklessness” of any real policy has become the mainstay of CNN and the Corporate Dems. Back when Bernie was running in the primary and they were forced to cover him, they spent all of their air time bashing his ideas as pie in the sky, featuring “experts” from conservative think tanks to explain how the policies ruin our system and never work. The idea that drew the most fire other than M4A was making public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is the idea that flew all over most people, especially corporate Dems. Let’s dive into why the plan and walk through the primary misunderstandings and benefits of the policy.

Perhaps it has always been this way, but attending college seems to become more and more political every year. By political I mean that not only are ideas and politics discussed there, it is becoming a difference of parties whether you are pro college or not. Many conservatives(anecdotally) seem to view college as an institution owned by the DNC that is made to brainwash and liberalize their kids. While this is certainly understandable, it is hard to say for sure that it is the college changing kids opinion as opposed to the fact that a child is moving out of their home and away from all of their childhood influences. While this isn’t an objective or rational argument, we need to be aware that the very mention of college can have negative implications to conservative, rural voters. This is where Bernie’s plan can begin to heal the issue by letting all people attend college regardless of income, as opposed to Bidens plan, which is going to further the wedge between us by offering a massive cash give away to college-educated liberals without letting the impoverished into college. Basically, if you are with us, here is some money, but for everyone else, kick rocks. 

Imagine if college attendance matched the real demographics and income distribution of real Americans, it wouldn’t be possible to have strong political leanings. This is where those who didn’t attend college are wrong, it isn’t that colleges are super liberal, they are filled with wealthy elite professors talking to wealthy elite students. It is just by chance that the Corporate Dems have also recently abandoned the working class for college-educated elites. If everyone in the country had the same opportunity to be educated without strangling debt, this would destroy one of the best gatekeepers to prosperity. 

Perhaps the most flak that the plan caught was from an economic perspective. CNN railed constantly from Lincoln Project talking points that the plan was way to expensive to ever happen. They argued that like all of Bernie’s plans it would make the deficit skyrocket. Oh, the deficit, the magical trump card for anything you don’t like, don’t mind spending billions on a fighter plane, but how dare you try to educate us and raise the deficit! Ironically we never hear someone mention the economic impact of a large swath of the country holding massive amounts of debt. As of today there is over $1.5 Trillion in student debt, with 65% of it being held by people under 40. So how does this impact our economy? Well according to one study a 10% rise in student debt decreases homeownership by 1.5%. See this economy is a pie and we all have a slice. Your money is finite, if you have student loans that is monthly payments that will never circulate in the economy. You won’t spend that $100-$500/month on a local restaurant, the stock market, rent, a home, or anything else. On top of the economic damage from not spending, carrying that debt makes it harder to get a loan, to buy a car or home, so no more borrowing to stimulate the economy. This is already a big deal, just imagine in the next 10-15 years as our generation is the bulk of the economy and 66% of us have lingering student loan debt, that does not bode well for us long term compared to countries like Germany where you can get your higher education like a masters tuition-free. 

The other argument that conservatives and corrupt Dems like Mayor Pete make is, why should we pay for some rich kids college? If you know history as a democrat you understand how disgustingly cynically it is for someone like Pete to try and twist this in voters’ minds. You might be familiar with the name Franklin D. Roosevelt or FDR, only the most popular democratic President of all time. See Roosevelt went head to head constantly with people like Pete, always slamming them for cynically seeking self-empowerment. When FDR was leading the charge to create social security, the same argument was used, “Why would we pass a plan that includes rich people?”. See people like Pete aren’t just magically pulling a Bernie and turning on their donors, this is just a ploy to kill the bill and make sure no one can receive the benefit. FDR and his administration knew Social Security would never work if any group was excluded, not to mention the most powerful group. See when you include everyone the argument of fairness is completely removed. If you start giving tuition-free college to everyone making less than $120,000/year, imagine the anger and hostility for everyone hovering right on that line for household income, you would be incentivizing them to stop working once they approached that number. Imagine you have 4 kids, once you earn that $120,000th dollar, on the absolute lowest end you’ve just lost $160,000 that you will pay intuition. See Pete’s argument is a double poison pill, on the front end it makes the policy much harder to pass, but it also implants future troubles that will doom the policy. 

While Biden’s plan to just eliminate all student debt, would be extremely divisive, it would create an economic explosion. Granted it would not be anywhere near the results we would see from UBI or from M4A. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of the velocity of money, check out our post about it here. Essentially, the $1.5 Trillion would no longer be going to a small group of predatory lenders, and instead flow back into the economy. However, this would be going to a group that does contain some of the wealthiest most upwardly mobile people in the country. So to some degree, this is a Wildcat liberals way of giving tax cuts to the rich, they are finally helping the minorities who are more likely to carry student debt, and at the same time enriching their donors and constituents. 

This is why you must eliminate tuition and student debt together. Playing favorites with literal money is one of the most divisive political moves possible, at a time when the country has never been more divided. Or we can open the gates of upward mobility, reviving the American Dream. Imagine the spark of hope for so many impoverished students that if they work hard, they can go to college, regardless of money, and make a better life for their family. 

And finally, the main reason we have so much confidence in Bernie’s plan is that we have seen it work before, in America. See the most economically successful period in America was after WWII when every soldier was given free college tuition in the GI bill. We have seen free tuition pay dividends down the road, clearing roadblocks to an individual’s success in this economy.