David Brooks - it's time for a civic uprising
Finally, the mainstream is coming around
Please read this piece as more evidence as to why people have the power and why a citizens group is the only solution to beat back and defeat Trumpism.
If you run into a paywall, try using RemovePayWall to view it:
Or here's a PDF version:
From the piece:
"So far, we have treated the various assaults of President Trump and the acolytes in his administration as a series of different attacks. In one lane they are going after law firms. In another they savaged U.S.A.I.D. In another they’re attacking our universities. On yet another front they’re undermining NATO and on another they’re upending global trade.
"But that’s the wrong way to think about it. These are not separate battles. This is a single effort to undo the parts of the civilizational order that might restrain Trump’s acquisition of power. And it will take a concerted response to beat it back".
"It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power".
"If they are going to participate in a mass civic uprising against Trump, they have to show the rest of the country that they understand the establishment sins that gave rise to Trump in the first place. They have to show that they are democratically seeking to reform their institutions. This is not just defending the establishment; it’s moving somewhere new".
Town Hall Citizen proposes to form a citizens group of about 5 million members strong. With this amount of members Democrats would have to work for us instead of their donor class. Otherwise they won't win elections.
Here's our platform:
- A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
- Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
- Medicare For All
- The Open Web
- Free speech
- Publicly funded elections
- Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
- Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
- Department of Peace
- Legalize Marijuana
"Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”— Ralph Nader
We the people can do this. We just have to want to.
tty next time,
