Tag Archives: news

Don’t Bother Arguing

June 25, 2026

You may have recently seen a long CPUSA response to criticisms from a person or organization named “Geese.” You may have also seen even longer criticisms and responses that were apparently generated when “Geese” seized on a resignation letter from someone quitting the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Anybody could have demolished the Geese criticisms in a few paragraphs. By writing a long theoretical defense, they gave “Geese” a lot more credibility than they deserved. All of these criticisms and responses are, at best, unlikely attempts to convince readers. At worst, they are wasting time and resources that could be used in building the working class.

CPUSA has always had a number of anti-communist critics pretending to be “more left” or “more pure.” Nearly all of these groups can trace their origins back to CPUSA, even though their reasons for splitting may have waned over time. Gus Hall spurned them as the “Phoney Left.”

WELCOME THEM

I think we should be more welcoming toward the young people just discovering political action. Most of the errors that these come-and-go revolutionaries make are just because they are new. A lot of us, when we were new, had delusions of “unity of the left,” electoral sectarianism, armed struggle and other shortcuts. Those of us who are serious about a better world got through our immaturity.

OUR SITUATION AND THEIRS

Nearly all of the young insurrectionists today owe their newfound consciousness to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign of 2016. After that election, they went their different ways. Some remained devoted to electoral work alone. Others joined groups that they considered to be “more revolutionary.”

All of them, and all of us for that matter, are struggling to understand a fast-changing political landscape that is almost entirely new to us. The best example is Democratic Socialists of America, the organization that benefitted most from Sanders’ campaign.

It is entirely natural that newly-conscious activists gravitate toward DSA. Hardly any of them are even aware of its historical commitment to reformism and are working, day by day, to change it into a vehicle that coincides with their hopes. DSA doesn’t have a political platform. It isn’t even a political party. It is a relatively large group of mostly young activists who are seeking their way.

PERSUADE, DON’T ARGUE

Arguing with so-called “leftists” is not a good use of our time and resources. If they are sincere and honest, and don’t give up, we’ll be able to have reasonable discussions with them sooner or later. Until then, let’s be the adults.

–Gene Lantz

Some Recent Headlines

June 7, 2026

civil rights, democracy, economy, elections, environment, history, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

All week every week, I collect news articles in hopes of reading them over KNON radio. Here are some recent articles and bits of my observations:

The best understanding always flows from the general to the particular, so I’m going to take a worldwide view and then bring it down to my home in North Texas.

The Economic Situation

We are in the middle of a worldwide shift toward the end of American economic domination.

The Multipolar Moment: What U.S. Hegemony Decline Means Telesur

U.S. economy grew at a modest 1.6% annual pace (1st quarter) ap in dmn //Chinese authorities worry if their growth falls below 5%//

German economists have lowered their predicted growth rate to .4% for next year. Telesur

Trump’s State Visit to Beijing and the New Cold War on Asia Telesur

Trump Between Cuba and Taiwan Telesur

In the U.S., the stock market is booming, but people are beginning to hurt. Construction of data centers and other infrastructure for artificial intelligence is helping some and hurting others. Unions seem paralyzed, but environmentalists and communities are moving into action.

“Households getting discouraged as Wall Street rises” ap in dmn

“Prices in the U.S. are Rising at the fastest pace in years.” NYT

Atmos will be allowed to raise household gas prices $9.46/month. DMN

“Nearly 88,000 U.S. jobs were directly eliminated by AI in 2026 as companies restructured operations,…” Telesur

Inside the Trump-backed push to bring AI doctors into American medicine WAPO via ARA

“It’s clear that if we don’t harness if properly, A.I. is the single biggest threat to working people of our lifetime.” –Pope Leo quoted in PW

Social Security unraveling: 7,100 workers sacked, performance metrics retired, disability claims falling Fortune via ARA

Texas billionaires are benefitting from the tech boom, but a spontaneous resistance is growing. Jun 11, 6P: ”Are Data Centers Good for Texas” film by Texas Organizing Project at Texas Theatre, 231 Jefferson in Oak Cliff. 469-550-4750

“Median CEO pay up nearly 6% in 2025” At the median company, the average worker would have to work 200 years to get what his/her CEO makes in one.” AP in dmn

Musk received $132.3B in one year. Ap in dmn

Data center divide widens in North Texas DMN

The hospitality industry in North Texas, especially in Arlington, expects to make major gains from the World Cup. Each Player to Receive $5,000 Per Day at the 2006 World Cup Finals Telesur

Uncertainty about Trump’s warmaking is affecting business decisions.

Bell Textron announced 250 layoffs and some furloughs. DMN

The fury against data centers is mostly in rural areas. The uprisings in urban areas are largely undirected except that they are always against autocracy. “No Kings” is the most popular slogan in American history.

The Political Situation

U.S. imperialism is intervening, with some success but not unequivocal success, in other nations’ power struggles. The world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk, is the main ambassador for autocracy.

Trump plans anti-anti-fascist summit. PW

Colombian elections, Bolivian rebellion. Telesur

China Sends Rice Shipment to Cuba Amid U.S. Blockade Telesur

The economic situation is the most important, but is not the only crisis of capitalism. The world is also dangerously close to suffocating, drowning, or dying from disease because of capitalist domination.

The most vulnerable populations such as seniors and children are hardest hit. Oppressed people are learning how to fight. People of color are by far the most likely to fight back. African Americans, because they are overwhelmingly working class, continue as the spearhead for justice.

Trumpsters, like autocrats through history, are trying to control all information.

“…right now, Republicans are running circles around Democrats on the social media platforms where more and more Americans are getting their news. Case in point: Fox News’ TikTok account has exploded from around 500,000 followers on Election Day 2024 to nearly 11 million today.“ Robert Reich

“Scott Pelley worked at CBS News for 37 years, including as White House correspondent, anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes” correspondent until he was fired on Tuesday.” In an interview with Time magazine, he said he was fired for standing up for the truth, particularly about what happened in Minneapolis. Nyt

In another case of President Trump’s erasure of history, the Trump regime’s Justice Department has deleted all the files—documents, e-mails, reports, and everything else—about the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol invasion and insurrection from its website. And bragged about it PW

The mid-term elections loom before us as an opportunity to set autocracy back. We have no illusions about the straight-jacket of the 2-party capitalist system, but the working class can make gains in spite of it by employing class struggle election policies. Trumpster corruption may be a good election issue. Overwhelming turnout for progressive candidates and ideas is job one.

“Former judges urge inquiry into deal trump struck with I.R.S.“ NYT

”FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home” NYT

Trump said while surrounded by top administration officials. “I don’t care about the midterms.” AP

“… in congressional primaries and general elections, the top fundraiser still wins 92 percent of the time.” Niskanen Center Oct 2025

“In latest sign of discontent, 43% of voters are dissatisfied with both parties.” NYT

Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas Baptist says that Trump understands the Bible better than the Pope does. Fox News https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F8TiLkbe4

There are 18.7M voters registered in Texas. 81.19% of VAP are registered. 1.4M voted in Republican runoff. 64% went for Paxton . In the primary, before the runoffs, 2.3M Democrats and 2.2 Republicans voted. Texas Secretary of State and DMN

The Trumpsters are currently trying to rig the system as much as possible. Trump himself has floated the idea of not having elections. The most likely future gives Democrats an edge in many if not most elections. However, it is a certainty that the Trumpsters will try to overthrow all elections that they lose, exactly as Trump did in 2020.

Judge declines to block Trump’s mail-in voting executive order. NBC News/Reuters, May 28, 2026

“A federal judge has declined to halt President D Trump’s executive order creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, clearing the way for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.” AP in DMN

They will of certainty employ the coercive forces that they can command.

To overcome the billionaire autocrats, we will have to organize to fight beyond the electoral arena. Boycotts and other mass actions will be necessary. The most powerful organizations will be those close to labor like YALL and TARA. Civil rights organizations are a close second.

The progressive movement can be well proud of what we have done over the past period.

Strategies and tactics are now under discussion. Some of them, such as military action, going underground, or total reliance on the Democrats, are obvious losers. But other strategies and tactics are not as clear without a vigorous discussion.

It is our job to make the best recommendations possible and to implement and communicate them as widely as possible.

–GeneLantz19@gmail.com

Texas Primaries May Predict November Outcomes

June 1, 2026

civil rights, democracy, elections, history, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

The votes of far-right Republican voters and the prayers of Democrats elevated former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to the top of the ticket for the state’s November elections.

Paxton’s Democratic opponent in November posted, “I’m now officially running against Ken Paxton. If we fail to take back Texas, we could hand this seat to the most corrupt politician in America.” – Candidate James Talarico

Trump and Democrats Celebrate the Texas Primary Results

Paxton may be one of the best-known for nastiness politicians from anywhere. His headlines include charges of corruption, infidelity, investigations, impeachment, and homophobia. A recent People’s World article charges him with forcing a Texas hospital to give up gender affirmation and change to behavior modification!

Texas A.G. Ken Paxton forces hospital to establish conversion therapy clinic

In case anyone doubts the death wish of Texas Republican voters, the race for Railroad Commissioner is clear proof. The Railroad Commission oversees oil and gas and is one of the critical elected offices in the state. The winner was Bo French, who had backing from the West Texas oil billionaires who have sponsored right-wing turnarounds in many and varied state elections, including school boards. Backing French’s opponents were the mightiest of right-wing state politicians, including the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. French’s campaign, based almost completely on racism and islamophobia rather than the oil industry, was too disgusting even for the more traditional hate mongerers.

The race for Attorney General in the Republican primary was all hate and mudslinging. The winner overcame the backing for his opponent from no less a well-known far-right hatesman than Senator Ted Cruz!

The shift among Texas Republicans is clearly toward autocracy without any regard to winning in November.

Texas Matters

The Texas primary elections are important because of the size of the state and the earliness of the returns. There are clear trends that can be used to predict outcomes in November.

Republican winner Ken Paxton put it well in his victory speech, “If Republicans lose this state, we lose the country.” — Dallas Morning News

In both the Democratic and Republican primaries that were settled in the runoffs on May 26, some of the biggest issues were hardly mentioned. The effect of artificial intelligence on jobs didn’t find a champion. The ongoing war in Iran and the coming threat to Cuba were not issues. Democrats and Republicans showed little interest in China, Israel, nor the exploding military budget.

Big $Money$ Matters

“The matchup became the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history, topping $130 million in spending by all candidates and their allies.” –Dallas Morning News

The downright silly mud-slinging contest for Republican nomination for Attorney General drew over $14 million, according to news accounts made before the final tallies.

Despite all the Texas craziness, there were some issues that stood out.

Labor Celebrates, and Deserves to Celebrate

In Congressional District 33 around Dallas, labor endorsed Democrat Colin Allred based a great deal of his campaign on corruption among public officials. He especially charged his opponent with profiting from stock trading while holding public office and trust. He won handily and, because of Republican redistricting, expects little resistance in November.

Labor celebrated its victories in the critical Attorney General’s race and in several state legislature races. Our endorsed candidate for Lieutenant Governor lost, but he lost to another highly respected union member. The Texas AFL-CIO is revitalizing the entire state with political training and backup in local areas.

–GeneLantz@gmail.com

Two Bad Approaches

December 26, 2025

strategy

Leave a comment

In revolutionary politics, all tactics are good if they are appropriate in their time and place. Armed struggle and exclusive devotion to parliamentary work, for example, may have been good tactics in a certain nation at a certain time. In the United States right now, both are disastrous.

Don’t Shoot!

The obvious argument against armed struggle is that no one is going to out-shoot the U.S. military. It is the strongest military the world has ever known and has sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the planet. Nevertheless, some naïve activists exhort us to “pick up the gun.” Perhaps the problem is just that they are new to the movement and haven’t thought much about what would work and what wouldn’t. More likely, they aren’t materialists in their thinking. In other words, they believe in religious or superstitious notions that exist only in their own heads. They don’t even consider the likely outcomes of their actions.

If they did think about outcomes, they might consider what actually happens when trigger-happy activists try to take on the establishment. A civil rights activist in Dallas some few years ago was able to shoot five policemen before they blew him up with a grenade attached to a robot. I’m not sure anybody remembers his name today, but the police collected large sums of money in donations. They got raises and improvements in their benefits. They held, and still hold, special public celebrations for their fallen heroes every year.

More recently, someone shot a right-wing commentator at a public presentation. The Trumpsters imposed the largest anti-free-speech movement in history. People went to jail; even more people lost their jobs – not because they had anything to do with the shooting or condoned it, but because they failed to speak about it with what the Trumpsters considered proper allegiance to the shooting victim. Presently, the guy’s wife is spreading his ideas to thousands, and the Governor of Texas has mandated that every high school in the state has to have one of his clubs.

And possibly the worst example ever is the sniper who apparently took a shot at candidate Donald Trump while he was making a televised speech. His ear may have been hit. His polling shot up. Some of his white Christian nationalist supporters said that the bullet was deflected by God. Trump implied the same. A little later, he was elected president of the United States.

Don’t Stop At Voting

The electoral sphere cannot be ignored because power actually changes hands there. Who gets elected and who doesn’t is of vital interest to the working class. But those who prioritize voting to the point of ignoring all other forms of organizing and political struggle are misleading us to the point of criminality.

The joke is that people attend a craps game where the dice are known to be loaded because, “it’s the only game in town.” The same could be said about American electoral politics. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party rigged the game decades ago so that American voters are hemmed in between them. Gerrymandering and allowing oceans of secret money to sneak into campaign treasuries are more recent deteriorations of democracy.

Around 27% of all eligible voters do not even register. 73% do. A great many don’t vote. In non-presidential races and local races, considerably more people skip voting. Wikipedia says that 64.1% of registered voters turned out in 2024. Of those, Trump won a plurality of 49.8%. Multiply .73*.641*.498 and you will get .23. In other words, 23% of the eligible voters in America elected Donald Trump in 2024. But he has used that “mandate” to impose the most anti-working-class rulings in modern history.

With few and largely irrelevant exceptions, elections rigged by the bosses will always result in victory for the bosses. There are exceptions, of course, and all bosses are not equal. Voting matters, but it is entirely untrue that the winners of our rigged capitalist elections represent the will of the people.

Real democracy has to assert itself from underneath all the gimmicks and pressures. That means working in all possible arenas of struggle. They include labor organizing, strikes, boycotts, fund raising, and mass demonstrations. The idea of abandoning all but the legislative arena deserves the name that Lenin used, “parliamentary cretinism.”

Buckle Seat Belts for 2026

December 26, 2025

democracy, economy, history, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

By Gene Lantz

“Expect the worst and hope for the best.” – Accountant’s credo

The Worst

The world economic system will continue to tremble and quake

American manufacturing and the stock market will rise without improving the jobs situation

Artificial intelligence will gobble up jobs and tremendously worsen the jobs crisis that is already underway

Income disparity, juiced up by Trump policies, will drastically worsen

Communications, especially cell phone communications, may end healthy competition and become even more of an oligopoly

In the electoral arena, candidates will be straining to find a “middle” in an increasingly divided electorate

Mister Trump, who has already shown that he will stop at nothing to maintain and extend his power, will likely start a war and implement martial law as his continuing drive toward fascism continues

Unions will refuse to recognize the new situation and continue the exact policies that have so far lost nearly ¾ of our peak density

Millions will not be able to afford decent health care. Emergency rooms will be overrun

The Best

In the electoral arena, candidates will be forced to clarify their intentions during 2026. Where I live in Dallas, labor will pressure all candidates to reveal their stand on Gaza

Unions will be more aggressive in the electoral arena. Where I live, we are working on two union members running in the January 31 special election. Two Steelworkers have filed for statewide races in the coming primaries.

A growing but unguided mass movement against dictatorship has exploded

More and more people are figuring out the dangers and what to do about it

Some unions are discarding old ways and implementing a larger reliance on our magnificent popularity in the general population of workers

Youth and retirees, two sectors recently encouraged by the labor movement, are growing and adding muscle

The Starbucks workers, using a combination of strike and boycott simultaneously, are showing all workers how use labor’s popularity against the bosses. On December 22 alone, 19 Starbucks stores signed up for union elections.

The Indicators

Nearly all of this analysis comes from information gathered during the past week, and especially on Christmas Day when the Washington Post published ten charts describing the current U.S. economic situation.

Gold and silver prices set new records. The usual “gold bug” speculators are buying precious metals of course, but major investors and some governments are also buying them. Precious metals pay no dividends, but they are a haven of safety for those who think a worldwide financial crisis is imminent.

Two major financial indicators, a soaring stock market and an expected increase in manufacturing, are both rooted in investment in artificial intelligence. Investors are buying into it and energy-gobbling data center building way up and projected to be gigantic. At the same time, the labor movement is “cool.” Although Trump’s anti-labor policies explain some of the labor market problems, the main problem now and in the future is job-killing artificial intelligence. The same thing lifting the stock market and manufacturing in America is driving down the jobs market.

The union response, so far, is to try to contain artificial intelligence through union contracts. Even if this were possible, it wouldn’t solve the problem because most workers, more than 90%, have no union contracts. As the bosses without unions implement artificial intelligence to lower their production costs, they will undermine all workers, including those with union contracts.

Income disparity is the illness afflicting all workers worldwide. Among the many alarming reports comes this sentence from the current week by Politico: “Bank of America says its top account holders saw take-home pay climb 4 percent over the last year, while income growth for poorer households grew just 1.4 percent.” Even though inflation held at 3% during the past year and dropped to 2.7% for November, it’s still a lot higher than income growth for poorer households.

All of the major tech companies have hitched themselves to the Trump agenda, and for good reason. They produce artificial intelligence, and they all know that artificial intelligence is Trump’s main hope to lower production costs enough to outperform China and other worldwide economic competitors. “Lower production costs” is a euphemism for fewer jobs.

Elon Musk, in many ways the master tech investor, has practically cornered the market in communications satellites. He has already bought the software and established the partnership with T-Mobile that he needs to change all cell phone communications to satellite. Everybody who currently works in cell phone tech is in danger. The Communications Workers of America have a vital boycott against T-Mobile, but it hasn’t yet achieved nationwide participation.

Just two recent election results are sufficient to show the strain in the electoral arena. Mister Trump successfully used the power of the United States government to overcome the progressive government of Honduras. He failed to do the same in the New York Mayoral race. Candidates in 2026 will find it difficult to dodge the issues important to working people. For example, the Dallas Central Labor Council voted to pressure all candidates who apply for endorsement to reveal their positions on the genocide in Gaza.

War in Latin America is imminent. The Trump Administration has already discarded every aspect of international law and human decency in its attacks against Venezuela. So far, they have managed to resist the provocations, but Trump isn’t finished. He needs the popularity of a wartime presidency and, if it becomes necessary to maintain power, he needs an excuse to implement martial law and end democracy once and for all.

Our unions have taken hardly any positions on the coming war nor on any of the pressing international questions. Domestically, we continue to try to organize more workplaces under the rules set in the early Roosevelt Administration. We continue to try to use our diminishing membership base to affect legislative change, just as we have since around 1947 when we had 35% of the American workforce organized. Today, we have closer to 9%.

So… Why Are We Smiling?

Clearly, the Trump Administration and the billionaires it leads are flailing around in desperation. They aren’t acting out of strength nor confidence, but like boat wreck survivors trying anything and everything to cling to life. They have very little thought of what they are doing, and they are being led by an unstable person.

Democracy has taken hits, but is a long way from disappearing in a country convinced, for 250 years, that democracy is best. The worldwide system of governance is very weak against a super power, but it has the credibility of all caring people.

Our anti-war movement may seem small, but the structures created in earlier upsurges still exist and are ours to use. Our unions may seem small and timid, but we still have the power to shut down the major intersections of economic and social life. Organizations close to the unions, especially the youth and senior movements, are growing stronger.

Candidates in 2026 will be pressured to take our side, and more of them will

People are catching on. We have the communications ability for accelerated strategic progress. We haven’t yet agreed on a plan of coordinated mass resistance, but we are clearly headed that way.

Trump Must Start a War and End Democracy

November 15, 2025

democracy, economy, history, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

In a recent discussion, I asserted that Trump will start a war soon, most likely against Venezuela. Nobody agreed.

They all said that Trump is doing everything possible to achieve a regime change in Venezuela, but won’t go as far as starting a war.

Some of them took a military view and said that he doesn’t have enough troops – estimated at “only” 15,000 – ln the Caribbean. The other 2.1 million Americans “under arms” are reserves or are deployed elsewhere.

Others took a psychological view and said that Trump is a coward who likes to create chaos but doesn’t really have the courage to start an actual war.

And Trump could never face the international condemnation that has already begun, they said. The murders already carried out on the high seas were “trial balloons” that have already brought harsh criticism from abroad.

Lastly, people said that Trump could not risk any further deterioration in his approval ratings in the U.S.. Public opinion, in other words, will restrain him.

In summary, my friends say that Trump is attempting to “create chaos” and to bluff the Venezuelans into an uprising leading to regime change. But all of the above reasons, my friends say, will prevent him from actually making war.

I replied that their logic was understandable in normal times, but we are not in normal times. No one living today knows what to do with the situation in the United States, because we have never faced it. The best path to understanding is to look at other autocracies in other countries and from other periods, inexact as that may be.

Here is the Situation

Here is my description of the current situation. It will be followed by the unassailable conclusion that Trump is going to start a war before 2027 unless the restraining force of the American people grows exponentially higher than it is today. Most of my information comes from common news sources, mostly the Washington Post.

“As of Friday (November 14), there were seven U.S. warships in the Caribbean: the guided missile cruisers USS Gettysburg and USS Lake Erie; the destroyers USS Gravely and USS Stockdale; and the amphibious ships USS Iwo Jima, USS Fort Lauderdale and USS San Antonio. The Ford was nearby in the Atlantic with the destroyers USS Mahan, USS Bainbridge and USS Winston S. Churchill.” Wapo 11/15/25

Amphibious ships carry armed personnel, usually Marines, to foreign shores. Guided missile cruisers, aircraft carriers and destroyers are just what they say they are. The United States is the greatest military power that the world has ever seen. As their world economic hegemony diminishes, and whatever goodwill they might have enjoyed is thrown away by Trump, military power is all they have left.

The Trump Administration raised the bounty on the President of Venezuela to $50 million. “Operation Southern Spear” has blown up a number of boats and killed their passengers. Trump asserts, without any evidence, that they were all carrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States. Hardly anybody with any knowledge agrees.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation announced in October that the Venezuelans had foiled a “false flag” attempt to blow up the U.S. Embassy. Newspersons here discounted the report. The U.S. State Department suspended operations at its Caracas embassy in March 2019. If the embassy had been destroyed with any loss of American life, Trump would have had a welcome excuse for military action.

NBC News announced that the U.S. Department of State has categorized Venezuela as Level 4: Do Not Travel due to crime, civil unrest, etc. They proclaimed that Americans should not travel to Venezuela and that they should avoid the Venezuela-Colombia border.

The Trump Administration has already sent armed troops into several cities. He told a meeting of top military leaders that they might be practicing on the U.S. citizenry. Partly because of Trump’s disdain for morality and law, his approval ratings have been falling.

Even though newspersons focused on Trump’s disappointment at not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, it actually went to a certain Maria Corina Machado. Machado has been a long-time advocate of U.S. intervention in Venezuela. On November 14, an article ran in the Washington Post describing how she is lining up corporate leaders with promises of privatization and protection of American corporations as they raid Venezuelan wealth, especially oil.

In November, in spite of gerrymandering and myriad schemes to undermine the election process, Republicans were humiliated at the polls. Democrats and pundits began predicting a Blue Wave of victory against Trump in 2026.

How Do I Know Trump Will Create a War?

There are several good arguments and one unassailable one. Begin with American presidents in history. Most of us can’t name them all, but we can name the “important” ones like Washington, Jackson, TR Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Eisenhower. All of them were warriors. More recently, Bush the First tried to portray himself as tough by invading Iraq, but was criticized for pulling back without achieving regime change. His son learned the lesson, re-invaded oil-rich Iraq, and enjoyed two relatively strong terms of office. Iraq and Venezuela, by the way, are famous for their oil reserves.

But no one can understand today’s situation in the U.S. simply with domestic examples. Our present situation is entirely new. Look, instead, at other countries and other times. Trump is a fascist and all fascists are military leaders. Fascism doesn’t just define its relationship to the populace. It also defines its economic policies and its relationship to the rest of the world. Trump, so far, has followed in the footsteps of such notable fascists as Franco, Pinochet, Mussolini and Hitler – except that he has not yet claimed the title of military leader.

For those who are unconvinced, I ask them to look at posts on social media. Many posts are already calling for criminal proceedings against Trump and the Trumpsters. Their disdain for morality and law has clearly put them into the criminal class. They know it. They see the same social media posts that you do.

If the Trumpsters were to lose power, they would be subject to criminal charges and would risk spending the rest of their lives in prison. Furthermore, they know it. They must, therefore, stay in power.

In order to stay in office and out of jail, they need a war to give them special powers, including the power to declare martial law and use the military against the populace. That’s why they have to do it.

No one has a chance of stopping them except us.

The Case for an American Workers Party

July 4, 2025

democracy, elections, history, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

Will the Democrats save America from fascism or do we need a Workers Party? I think it’s the latter. The former, counting on the Democrats, has been tried over and over without success. Fascism in America has been a long time coming, and the many Democratic Party administrations of the past didn’t stop it.

The Workers Party idea isn’t new. It isn’t even American. Lots of other countries, with parliamentary system instead of two-party winner-take-all elections, have Workers Parties or Labor Parties associated with their union movement and pledged to the interests of the working class.

The Democrats and Republicans both represent the interests of the billionaires. Some of the billionaires may have slightly different opinions that are reflected in their choice of which party to support in a given election, but they own both parties in an overall sense.

Would working families be better off with a Workers Party?

Here are few advantages:

* Independent political voice: A workers’ party would provide a platform for workers to voice their concerns and advocate for policies that directly benefit them, independent of corporate influence and the agendas of major parties.

* Addressing economic inequality: Supporters argue that a workers’ party would focus on issues like raising the minimum wage, creating living-wage jobs, expanding social safety nets, and holding corporations accountable for unfair labor practices, which they believe current parties neglect.

* Democratic accountability: A workers’ party, accountable to its members, would ensure that elected officials prioritize the needs of working people and fight for their interests, rather than being influenced by corporate donors or elite interests.

* Building class unity: A workers’ party can unite different segments of the working class and marginalized groups in a common struggle against the influence of the wealthy and powerful.

* Facilitating social change: Such a party could serve as a vehicle for broader social and political change by mobilizing workers and activists to challenge the status quo and push for a more just society.

Is a Workers Party the Best of the Alternatives?

Probably the prevalent hope for stopping fascism is reforming the oldest political party in the world until it gives up its billionaire base and embraces the working class. This is not a new idea. It has been tested time and time again and always failed.

What about just skipping the whole idea of an electoral party for workers and going straight to socialist revolution? This would be the hope of anarchists and amateurs. It has a lot of appeal for them but isn’t much more than a fantasy. Successful revolutionaries in other countries did not turn up their noses at electoral work, nor any other arena of struggle for that matter.

Is a Workers Party Possible in the Present?

Up to now, the answer to that question has always been “no.” The last successful third party was the Republican Party which grew because the Whigs had no solution to America’s division over slavery. Since then, the two billionaire parties have done everything possible to maintain the status quo. The legal barriers to a third party are formidable.

It takes a lot of money to win elections.

While romanticists imagine a working class that is united in its electoral preferences, practical politics tells us that it isn’t true. American workers are all over the map, and voters make their choices the same way they decide what commodities to buy – by emotion rather than reason.

But is it possible?

For a number of reasons, I think that the American Workers Party may have come into its time:

* A growing number of Americans believe that the Democrats fail to adequately represent the interests of the working class. Witness the growing protest movement, with five million demonstrators on June 14, 2025 alone.

Low turnout in elections shows that people don’t really care for either party.

Progressive Democrats like Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett are being passed over for good committee assignments by other Democrats (Dallas Morning News)

Independent and third-party voter registration is growing, largely at the expense of Democrats (NBC News)

Two major labor leaders, Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders, quit the Democratic National Committee, saying it isn’t doing enough to “open the gates” and win back the support of working-class voters. (The Guardian)

A democratic socialist won the most votes in the first round of the Democratic Party primary for New York Mayor. He defeated billionaires and union supporters from the traditional wing. So called “moderate” Democrats attacked him during and after the election. They will run their candidate against him as an Independent! (Washington Post).

Political winners like Trump, Obama, and AOC have proven that they can raise money without the help of the national political party

People no longer get their information from the major parties. They get it from their phones, social media, etc.

Do these facts prove that a Workers Party is feasible? At the very least, the facts show that it is more feasible than it used to be.

Given that Americans are being forced into fascism, it’s time to develop an alternative.

Why Raise Birth Rates?

April 23, 2025

civil rights, democracy, economy, history, politics, strategy, women

Leave a comment

My friend Charlotte recently asked, “In an overpopulated world, why are Trump and other national leaders trying to raise birth rates?” I thought it was a profound question and one that deserves careful examination.

Birth rates in various countries get published every now and then. Like record high gold prices, though, they aren’t considered very fundamental to what’s going on. Or maybe, like gold prices, birth rate statistics reveal a lot more than the oligarchs want us to know.

Charlotte’s insightful question generates some other interesting questions:

“Why are reactionaries, especially religious reactionaries, opposed to birth control?”

“If reactionaries want more children, why don’t they want to take care of them?”

”If they had higher birth rates, wouldn’t they get more unemployment, especially as automation eats our jobs away? Doesn’t rising automation, especially artificial intelligence, argue for our needing fewer workers?”

“Trump says he wants more population, so why is he against immigration?”

I got this from a web site:

Pronatalism in the US: The Trump administration’s push for more births

“Right-wing governments and figures with nationalistic tendencies (including Trump) also want to increase birth rates to maintain a strong military and to counter ethnic, racial, and cultural diversification from immigration. These types of leaders often embrace the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory which states that white people are being “replaced” with foreign non-white populations that have higher birth rates. As well as opposing immigration, these governments are hostile to reproductive health and rights, especially abortion care.

‘Probably the most influential pronatalist in the Trump administration is the richest man on Earth and father-of-14 Elon Musk, who bought his new position as Trump’s right-hand man with a $288 million campaign donation. Musk has been trying to sow panic over declining birth rates for years, claiming that the human population is on the verge of collapse due to people having small families, and that low birth rates present a “much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.”

Birth rates weren’t much of an issue before hard-fighting women were able to win some control over what happens to their own bodies. Check out the tough life of Margaret Sanger to see more about that long and terrible fight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger

In the mid-1960s, it looked like women and progress had finally won in America and some other countries. More recently, the oligarchs have pushed women’s rights way backwards. Again, Charlotte might ask, “Why?”

The answer lies in the economic nature of world capitalism. Each nation is pitted against the others, and the chief way they compete is with cheap labor. Whoever drives down the cost of labor lowest, beats the other competitors. Nations that have more workers, naturally, get lower labor costs.

What we call a “nation” and what more scientific people call a “state” is actually a political subdivision run by its ruling class. For the major nations, that ruling class is the capitalist class, which might also be called the owning class, or the billionaire class, or, in our case, the oligarchs. They compete with each other economically until they’ve vacuumed up every bit of profit possible. Then they go to war against each other.

They need higher birth rates for their wars, too.

Unity Isn’t Easy Nor Simple

March 20, 2025

democracy, politics, strategy

Leave a comment

You are witnessing an unprecedented national upsurge against outrageous and illegal actions by the Musk/Trump cabal. But protests are not unified. To be ultimately effective, it must become so.

To obtain the necessary unity, it would help to examine the real obstacles to unity. They may not be reasonable, but they are real.

What Is Used to Keep Us Apart?

The first and most important chasm between us is racism. That is the tool that our enemies have always exploited best. Male chauvinism and homophobia are used similarly.

Our enemies are also expert at manipulating us against one another with nationalism. International Workers Day, May 1, may be our best opportunity to overcome it. In Texas, International Workers Day celebrations usually compete with Cinco de Mayo events; but they should obviously be together.

Religion, sectarianism, and anticommunism are always handy tools for the enemies of unity. Another one is called ultraleftism. There are progressive groups that do not want to be “tainted” by unions nor the Democratic Party.

What Will Bring Us Together?

Our own collective intellect is bringing us together. More and more protesters, no matter what they have protested, are beginning to realize the need for unity.

Some of the issues are sure to be more effective than others. In my opinion, sharply increasing food prices will pull us together more than any other single issue. A close second might be retiree rights and benefits, since everybody hopes to have a good retirement eventually.

Organizationally, it would help for our protesters to learn how to create separate contingents in marches and rallies. It is a simple manner of gathering forces behind a single banner instead of marching as a mob, but we haven’t learned it yet.

Most important is leadership. We do not have to agree with one another to recognize our common enemy and work together for our common good. Leaders of progressive organizations, especially the unions where the most power resides, need to consult.

In the meantime, resisting the Musk/Trump cabal in every way possible is the necessary road.

–GeneLantz19@gmail.com, texasaflcio.org/dallas, texasretiredamericans.org, https://lilleskole.us