This is an excellent piece! It needs to be read by everyone in every Dem state, so that they understand how it really works and where it's coming from, and the role of the Robert's Court in facilitating it. Sharp analysis, most appreciated.
Great article, as is the 2 Nations article (which should be required reading),
"the most persistent fictions in American political analysis: that national public opinion, rather than geography and institutions, is what actually sets the direction for the country."
I've been thinking something along these lines every time I read another article saying "Americans believe this or that".
For quite some time I have attempted to "connect all the dots" that comprise the current neo-confederate movement. MAGA gave it power to free itself of its historical regional associations to the extent that Trump cultist Kevin Seefried from Delaware provided one of the most iconic images of the insurrection, though confederate flags were seldom absent for any Trump rally. Your article has done an incredible job of accomplishing that.
What is an additional certainty is that when and if MAGA and its attending neo-confederate component are finally vanquished AGAIN, there will most certainly be yet another "Lost Cause" movement to find fresh hate and resentment to feeds its cancerous growth once more.
Slavery did not need a “state rights” interpretation to support it. The United States Constitution did not restrict it any of the states until the 13th amendment. Senator TH Benton in 1848 said it plain--you can bring your rights to the territory, but not your law!
“Ostensibly, the complaint of Mr. Calhoun is that the emigrant from a slave state cannot bring his slave with him. In reality, it is that he is not allowed to carry the state law along with him to protect his slave.” Senator Thomas Hart Benton 30th Cong., 1st sess., June 2, 1848, 697
The slave power plans for the federal government were to violate the state rights of states that had decided by legislation or state constitution not to allow slavery any longer. Slave catchers were sent to roam some of the same spaces ICE is trying to hold today. The people stood to stop that.
Does the association of “state rights” and racism in the 1950s and 60s limit our political imaginations today? Maybe. Thirty years ago, Eugene Genovese offered a provocation. “The taint-the incubus-that strict construction and the derivative doctrine of state rights have acquired as rationales for slavery and discrimination has proved disastrous to democracy.” Eugene D. Genovese, The Southern Tradition: The Achievement and Limitations of an American Conservatism (1996) 53-61
2026 Once again, immersed in history-- the people will rely on democratic defense mechanisms against autocracy-- the separation of political powers- horizontal branches, vertical levers; and the autonomy of civil society. We need to get our hands on the levers of power at every level.
The true driver in the southern rebellion was the planter class, more properly recognized as the capital class, who weaponized various components of antebellum culture and southern pride to attempt to create a society in which capital dominated. That attempt was unsuccessful then as it has been unsuccessful other times, and as it will be unsuccessful now. The economic and social devastation of the civil war may possibly be repeated.
We think today that capital vs labor is something from history books. News flash: It has always been capital vs labor, and it’s still capital vs labor. It’s not a delusion. Our problem is the disparity of wealth, and we’re in exactly the situation we always find when there is great disparity of wealth. This isn’t new. It’s just the newest cycle, and we got complacent. It’s time to correct that.
Meanwhile, It’s another Kent State moment - the murders of Renee Good, who with the words “we don’t hate you” stuck a flower in the barrel of Jonathon Ross’ gun, and Alex Pretti, whose last words were “are you ok?” to the woman he was attempting to protect. Both of them were innocent of any wrongdoing, and the ICE agents involved, whether they pulled the trigger or just stood there, all are guilty of murder. And let’s not forget Keith Porter! And Wael Tarabishi! Keep adding names to the list!
Speaking of which: Shouldn’t there be a warrant out for the arrest of Jonathon Ross based upon his own cell phone evidence? And warrants for every other ICE agent present as accomplices? And warrants for all ICE in the vicinity of the murder of Alex Pretti? And how about the others ICE has murdered? Not to mention all those who have been brutally assaulted and detained? Can culpability be assigned clear up to the White House?
THE COMMON GOOD MANIFESTO
A society built for people, not predators.
We are at our best when we invest in each other.
We are at our worst when we abandon the vulnerable.
This manifesto is how we return to the common good.
I. DIGNITY AND JUSTICE
1. Release the Epstein files — full transparency, no exceptions.
2. Impeach, convict, and imprison Donald Trump and every handler who enabled his corruption.
3. No federal office for any convicted felon.
4. End the weaponization of the justice system against the poor, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and marginalized communities.
II. DEMOCRACY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS
1. Abolish the Electoral College — one person, one vote.
2. Abolish ICE — replace it with humane immigration policy that honors human rights.
3. Ban gerrymandering with a standardized national apportionment method.
4. Two-term limits for every elected office.
5. Mandatory retirement at 70 for all elected officials.
6. Paper ballots only — end the era of hackable voting machines.
III. AN ECONOMY THAT SERVES PEOPLE
1. Restore 1950s-style progressive tax rates — when America was prosperous and fair.
2. Overturn Citizens United — corporations are not people.
3. Eliminate the Social Security payroll cap and tax capital gains for Social Security contributions.
4. $25 minimum wage indexed to inflation.
5. Medicare for All, one unified system — no A/B/C/D maze.
6. Congress receives Medicare, not boutique private insurance.
IV. WORKERS, CREATIVES, AND PUBLIC SERVANTS
1. Big pay raises for social workers, teachers, librarians, artists, and cultural workers — the people who actually hold society together.
2. Universal childcare — because families are the foundation of the nation.
3. Free public university education.
4. Full forgiveness of all student debt.
V. CLEAN GOVERNMENT
1. Root out corruption at every level, starting at the top.
2. Full financial transparency for every elected official, appointee, and senior bureaucrat.
3. Ban lobbying for former officeholders for life.
VI. THE FUTURE WE CHOOSE
We choose a country that values:
• Compassion over cruelty
• Community over greed
• Truth over propaganda
• Shared prosperity over billionaire hoarding
• Democracy over minority rule
• Human dignity over corporate profit
We choose a nation where the common good is not a slogan, but the organizing principle of public life.
And we refuse to apologize for demanding better.
I invite you to adopt this manifesto, add to it, improve it, and share it widely with your friends and elected officials, including school boards, city councils, churches, civic groups, anywhere you can get people to listen. Post it on Substack, send it by email, hell, print it on paper and post it on light poles and bulletin boards. Let’s show the world that we envision a better world that serves people rather than just the oligarchy.
We have the power to change the world. All we have to do is act.
👏👏👏👏👏🇺🇸. I would add third party auditors of state ballots. The number of red herrings, percentage impossibilities, tabulating machines that kept freezing, then started so accept ballots again, the candidate ratios between mail in and in person voting. Let’s not be stupid enough to use the same systems for the midterms that we did in the 2024 election.
This, @Reading Off into the Sunset is a brilliant new strategy for Democratic democracy to defeat white supremacist Republicanism.
Thank you! Feel free to restack, and to add any refinements you might feel are necessary. There needs be a lot of conversation before we arrive at any destination. My goal is simply to encourage people to speak with a unified voice in order that we can make progress towards this vision for our future!
Pablum. The "Secessionists" are just a tool. The billionaires running the coup are the story. TYhey do not vare about racist ideology. They do not care aout maggot red hats. The do not care who runs the rump governement of the United States. All they want is chaos a la Soviet Union 1990. Then they can pick up the pieces they want at bargin prices. They want the U.S. isolaated so the pickin's are easier. They want the worlds' currency system to collapse so it can bereplace with a digital spreadsheet that they control.
It's billionaires=climate change =corporate oligarchy control. All the rest is sympthoms and noise. Including this very looong article.
Thank you. If you haven’t already, please read my recent Shadows and Shadowcasters (https://www.weekendreading.net/p/shadows-and-shadow-casters) and other pieces in which I make clear that it’s the billionaires etc that we have to pay attention to. That said, if we want to properly understand why the brutal invasion on Northern cities is underway now, something that is both deeply unpopular nationally and something that is hardly a priority for those billionaires, we need to see it as a consequence of those billionaires', especially the Koch network’s, investments empowering the deeply rooted organized interests in Neo-Confederate states.
This points out the basic fact that racism is the founding principle of policy. "They" don't deserve the same rights, so the plan has always been to undo everything that tried to create a semblance of equality. Thus the attack on voting rights, DEI, education, and democratic cities. John Roberts approved the return to the 19th century, as taught by the federalist society. And we now know that we still have plenty of racists in our country who are easily manipulated by the lies which create fear,and anger. It's not complicated.
Yes. Most (and it must be said, not all and each to a different degree) of the Republican congress in both houses have decided that being in power (aka keeping their job) is more important than honesty, truth and their solemn sacred sworn oath to the Constitution under which all the statutes and laws that uphold our republic are founded.
Instead they agree with the basic rule that might makes right and truth is optional and deniable as necessary to win, win, win. They have decided that they want to "feel" big and tough like inwardly empty Trump and his mentor the coward Roy Cohn.
Everyone in America today, tomorrow and into the foreseeable future ought to watch and learn from the movie THE APPRENTICE and see where, why and how Trumpism got its start...
[The Apprentice (2024) is a biographical drama that explores the early career of Donald Trump and his relationship with mentor/lawyer Roy Cohn in 1970s-80s New York.]
I grew up in the south, though I left when I was in my 20s (I am now in my 70s). My only other times there since have been a stint or two with the Air Force. But, I do recall, as a teen, hearing non-stop about how it was all about state's rights. Hogwash! It was about enslaving people.
State’s rights sounds prettier than what it really was…that excuse is used to shield the truth. Individual rights is what was referred to in the opening of the Declaration of Independence. We are still(!) asking people to remember who is an ‘individual’ …given where this country is today, the definition of an individual as any human being, has never been fully adopted. If it was, the systems that oppress black, brown, yellow, Indigenous people, women…citizen, immigrant and criminal…would be crushed.
This is an excellent piece! It needs to be read by everyone in every Dem state, so that they understand how it really works and where it's coming from, and the role of the Robert's Court in facilitating it. Sharp analysis, most appreciated.
I absolutely can't wait for part 2, what an incredibly well written and thought out comparison.
Great article, as is the 2 Nations article (which should be required reading),
"the most persistent fictions in American political analysis: that national public opinion, rather than geography and institutions, is what actually sets the direction for the country."
I've been thinking something along these lines every time I read another article saying "Americans believe this or that".
I heard a Brit refer to the Civil War as the Slaveholders Rebellion. I thought it hit the nail on the head.
For quite some time I have attempted to "connect all the dots" that comprise the current neo-confederate movement. MAGA gave it power to free itself of its historical regional associations to the extent that Trump cultist Kevin Seefried from Delaware provided one of the most iconic images of the insurrection, though confederate flags were seldom absent for any Trump rally. Your article has done an incredible job of accomplishing that.
What is an additional certainty is that when and if MAGA and its attending neo-confederate component are finally vanquished AGAIN, there will most certainly be yet another "Lost Cause" movement to find fresh hate and resentment to feeds its cancerous growth once more.
Thanks Mike!
Slavery did not need a “state rights” interpretation to support it. The United States Constitution did not restrict it any of the states until the 13th amendment. Senator TH Benton in 1848 said it plain--you can bring your rights to the territory, but not your law!
“Ostensibly, the complaint of Mr. Calhoun is that the emigrant from a slave state cannot bring his slave with him. In reality, it is that he is not allowed to carry the state law along with him to protect his slave.” Senator Thomas Hart Benton 30th Cong., 1st sess., June 2, 1848, 697
The slave power plans for the federal government were to violate the state rights of states that had decided by legislation or state constitution not to allow slavery any longer. Slave catchers were sent to roam some of the same spaces ICE is trying to hold today. The people stood to stop that.
Does the association of “state rights” and racism in the 1950s and 60s limit our political imaginations today? Maybe. Thirty years ago, Eugene Genovese offered a provocation. “The taint-the incubus-that strict construction and the derivative doctrine of state rights have acquired as rationales for slavery and discrimination has proved disastrous to democracy.” Eugene D. Genovese, The Southern Tradition: The Achievement and Limitations of an American Conservatism (1996) 53-61
2026 Once again, immersed in history-- the people will rely on democratic defense mechanisms against autocracy-- the separation of political powers- horizontal branches, vertical levers; and the autonomy of civil society. We need to get our hands on the levers of power at every level.
The true driver in the southern rebellion was the planter class, more properly recognized as the capital class, who weaponized various components of antebellum culture and southern pride to attempt to create a society in which capital dominated. That attempt was unsuccessful then as it has been unsuccessful other times, and as it will be unsuccessful now. The economic and social devastation of the civil war may possibly be repeated.
We think today that capital vs labor is something from history books. News flash: It has always been capital vs labor, and it’s still capital vs labor. It’s not a delusion. Our problem is the disparity of wealth, and we’re in exactly the situation we always find when there is great disparity of wealth. This isn’t new. It’s just the newest cycle, and we got complacent. It’s time to correct that.
Meanwhile, It’s another Kent State moment - the murders of Renee Good, who with the words “we don’t hate you” stuck a flower in the barrel of Jonathon Ross’ gun, and Alex Pretti, whose last words were “are you ok?” to the woman he was attempting to protect. Both of them were innocent of any wrongdoing, and the ICE agents involved, whether they pulled the trigger or just stood there, all are guilty of murder. And let’s not forget Keith Porter! And Wael Tarabishi! Keep adding names to the list!
Speaking of which: Shouldn’t there be a warrant out for the arrest of Jonathon Ross based upon his own cell phone evidence? And warrants for every other ICE agent present as accomplices? And warrants for all ICE in the vicinity of the murder of Alex Pretti? And how about the others ICE has murdered? Not to mention all those who have been brutally assaulted and detained? Can culpability be assigned clear up to the White House?
THE COMMON GOOD MANIFESTO
A society built for people, not predators.
We are at our best when we invest in each other.
We are at our worst when we abandon the vulnerable.
This manifesto is how we return to the common good.
I. DIGNITY AND JUSTICE
1. Release the Epstein files — full transparency, no exceptions.
2. Impeach, convict, and imprison Donald Trump and every handler who enabled his corruption.
3. No federal office for any convicted felon.
4. End the weaponization of the justice system against the poor, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and marginalized communities.
II. DEMOCRACY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS
1. Abolish the Electoral College — one person, one vote.
2. Abolish ICE — replace it with humane immigration policy that honors human rights.
3. Ban gerrymandering with a standardized national apportionment method.
4. Two-term limits for every elected office.
5. Mandatory retirement at 70 for all elected officials.
6. Paper ballots only — end the era of hackable voting machines.
III. AN ECONOMY THAT SERVES PEOPLE
1. Restore 1950s-style progressive tax rates — when America was prosperous and fair.
2. Overturn Citizens United — corporations are not people.
3. Eliminate the Social Security payroll cap and tax capital gains for Social Security contributions.
4. $25 minimum wage indexed to inflation.
5. Medicare for All, one unified system — no A/B/C/D maze.
6. Congress receives Medicare, not boutique private insurance.
IV. WORKERS, CREATIVES, AND PUBLIC SERVANTS
1. Big pay raises for social workers, teachers, librarians, artists, and cultural workers — the people who actually hold society together.
2. Universal childcare — because families are the foundation of the nation.
3. Free public university education.
4. Full forgiveness of all student debt.
V. CLEAN GOVERNMENT
1. Root out corruption at every level, starting at the top.
2. Full financial transparency for every elected official, appointee, and senior bureaucrat.
3. Ban lobbying for former officeholders for life.
VI. THE FUTURE WE CHOOSE
We choose a country that values:
• Compassion over cruelty
• Community over greed
• Truth over propaganda
• Shared prosperity over billionaire hoarding
• Democracy over minority rule
• Human dignity over corporate profit
We choose a nation where the common good is not a slogan, but the organizing principle of public life.
And we refuse to apologize for demanding better.
I invite you to adopt this manifesto, add to it, improve it, and share it widely with your friends and elected officials, including school boards, city councils, churches, civic groups, anywhere you can get people to listen. Post it on Substack, send it by email, hell, print it on paper and post it on light poles and bulletin boards. Let’s show the world that we envision a better world that serves people rather than just the oligarchy.
We have the power to change the world. All we have to do is act.
👏👏👏👏👏🇺🇸. I would add third party auditors of state ballots. The number of red herrings, percentage impossibilities, tabulating machines that kept freezing, then started so accept ballots again, the candidate ratios between mail in and in person voting. Let’s not be stupid enough to use the same systems for the midterms that we did in the 2024 election.
This, @Reading Off into the Sunset is a brilliant new strategy for Democratic democracy to defeat white supremacist Republicanism.
Thank you! Feel free to restack, and to add any refinements you might feel are necessary. There needs be a lot of conversation before we arrive at any destination. My goal is simply to encourage people to speak with a unified voice in order that we can make progress towards this vision for our future!
Pablum. The "Secessionists" are just a tool. The billionaires running the coup are the story. TYhey do not vare about racist ideology. They do not care aout maggot red hats. The do not care who runs the rump governement of the United States. All they want is chaos a la Soviet Union 1990. Then they can pick up the pieces they want at bargin prices. They want the U.S. isolaated so the pickin's are easier. They want the worlds' currency system to collapse so it can bereplace with a digital spreadsheet that they control.
It's billionaires=climate change =corporate oligarchy control. All the rest is sympthoms and noise. Including this very looong article.
Thank you. If you haven’t already, please read my recent Shadows and Shadowcasters (https://www.weekendreading.net/p/shadows-and-shadow-casters) and other pieces in which I make clear that it’s the billionaires etc that we have to pay attention to. That said, if we want to properly understand why the brutal invasion on Northern cities is underway now, something that is both deeply unpopular nationally and something that is hardly a priority for those billionaires, we need to see it as a consequence of those billionaires', especially the Koch network’s, investments empowering the deeply rooted organized interests in Neo-Confederate states.
This points out the basic fact that racism is the founding principle of policy. "They" don't deserve the same rights, so the plan has always been to undo everything that tried to create a semblance of equality. Thus the attack on voting rights, DEI, education, and democratic cities. John Roberts approved the return to the 19th century, as taught by the federalist society. And we now know that we still have plenty of racists in our country who are easily manipulated by the lies which create fear,and anger. It's not complicated.
Great piece, but the U.S. is actually made up of 10 "nations" within its borders. As Colin Woodard shows in American Nations and I write about here. Understanding them is key to understanding politics right now: https://open.substack.com/pub/nickcoccoma/p/american-nations-part-i?r=7ymja&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Yes. Most (and it must be said, not all and each to a different degree) of the Republican congress in both houses have decided that being in power (aka keeping their job) is more important than honesty, truth and their solemn sacred sworn oath to the Constitution under which all the statutes and laws that uphold our republic are founded.
Instead they agree with the basic rule that might makes right and truth is optional and deniable as necessary to win, win, win. They have decided that they want to "feel" big and tough like inwardly empty Trump and his mentor the coward Roy Cohn.
Everyone in America today, tomorrow and into the foreseeable future ought to watch and learn from the movie THE APPRENTICE and see where, why and how Trumpism got its start...
[The Apprentice (2024) is a biographical drama that explores the early career of Donald Trump and his relationship with mentor/lawyer Roy Cohn in 1970s-80s New York.]
I've said this for years as a long time gun control advocate.
I grew up in the south, though I left when I was in my 20s (I am now in my 70s). My only other times there since have been a stint or two with the Air Force. But, I do recall, as a teen, hearing non-stop about how it was all about state's rights. Hogwash! It was about enslaving people.
Excellent article. May I recommend https://weeklysift.com/2014/08/11/not-a-tea-party-a-confederate-party/, from the invaluable Weekly Sift, as a companion piece?
State’s rights sounds prettier than what it really was…that excuse is used to shield the truth. Individual rights is what was referred to in the opening of the Declaration of Independence. We are still(!) asking people to remember who is an ‘individual’ …given where this country is today, the definition of an individual as any human being, has never been fully adopted. If it was, the systems that oppress black, brown, yellow, Indigenous people, women…citizen, immigrant and criminal…would be crushed.
civil war never ended in MS