Evidence-Based Information and Analysis
Summaries of our latest commentary, explainers, and action step notes. Each summary includes a direct link to read the full article on Substack, where you’ll find grounded analysis and practical tools for civic engagement.
A Few Minutes a Day to Resist Authoritarianism Safely
You can make a difference without leaving home, as part of your normal activities.Sharing accurate information helps counter misinformation and keeps people informed. Small actions add up.
Continue reading “Do Something from the Comfort of Your Own Home”
In less than 48 hours, we went from ICE raids in Los Angeles to the federal government announcing plans to deploy 2,000 soldiers against American citizens. This wasn’t random—it followed a deliberate four-step strategy: conduct potentially unconstitutional raids, wait for people to protest (as the Constitution protects), label peaceful demonstrators as “rioters,” then use that false narrative to justify military force.
The piece shows how this playbook works and why it matters beyond immigration or California. Once you normalize sending soldiers against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights, that precedent applies to any future protest about any issue. The article breaks down what’s really happening and provides concrete steps for disrupting this pattern before military responses to peaceful dissent become the new normal.
link
In less than 48 hours, we went from ICE raids to military deployment against citizens exercising their Constitutional rights. For further reading and action steps see “The Authoritarian Playbook: Action Steps.”
The June 6-7, 2025, ICE raids and subsequent protests in Los Angeles have reignited debate over the legal status of protest and the constitutional limits on government action. Contrary to administration claims, peaceful protest is a protected right—rooted in the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments—and recent government responses raise serious legal and constitutional concerns.
Contents:
The Revolutionary Promise • From Revolution to Media Spectacle • How We Lost Our Revolutionary Principles • We’ve Been Trapped in a Weird Economic Cycle • Returning to Revolutionary Principles • Economic Independence Enables Political Freedom • Making “We the People” Real Again
—
Further links from the article (→ indicates articles by this author):
• The Declaration of Independence • The Liberal Republicanism of the Founders • History Extra for October 21, 2021 (Andrew Jackson and the spoils system) • The Gilded Age • New Deal: United States history • The New Deal in New York City, 1933—1943 • Public Service is Not a Business • Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons Why It Just Doesn’t Work • The Trickle-down Tax Code Failed. In 2025, We Have an Opportunity to Think Bigger. • Why does the economy do better when Democrats are in the White House? • Media and Politics in the Age of Trump • How Trump Shaped the Media • Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential • Full List of Fox News Personalities Serving in Donald Trump Administration • Wealth inequality in the United States • Explainer: Why a Strong, Healthy Middle Class Matters • Voting is Infrastructure • Main Street Isn’t Failing. It’s Being Abandoned. • Breaking the Spell — Implementing Solutions for a Resilient Democracy • Reaction → Resilience → Transformation •
May 30, 2025
Public services and private businesses exist for fundamentally different reasons. Businesses are designed to generate profit for their owners or shareholders. In contrast, public services exist to meet collective needs—like education, health, safety, and infrastructure—that cannot be addressed adequately by individuals or local groups alone. At its core, public service is about serving people, not generating income.
There’s a difference between simply getting by—and truly belonging to a country that values your life.
At its strongest, America thrived because the middle class thrived. The most stable, productive, and hopeful periods in our history were built on the idea that ordinary people could build secure lives through hard work, fairness, and mutual investment in the common good. A decent home, school for the kids, a modest vacation, and a dignified retirement—this wasn’t a fantasy, or a reward for the lucky few. It was a shared vision. And for a time, it worked.
But that vision has been systematically unraveled.
Over the past 45 years, the stability and fairness that defined middle-class life have been quietly stripped away—not by accident, but by deliberate exploitation. Wages stagnated. Costs rose. Unions were weakened. Public goods were sold off—sometimes to save money, but often to enrich a few. Public services became profit centers instead of public goods.
In theory, privatization can be useful. But in practice, when it’s driven by greed instead of public interest, it drains resources from the many to benefit the few.
Through it all, slogans helped mask the damage: “efficiency” (often just code for cuts), “freedom” (redefined as freedom from responsibility to each other), and “trickle-down” (which never actually did).
What happened wasn’t some drift of history. It was a strategic transfer of wealth and power, engineered by people who saw middle-class security as an obstacle—not a goal. A stronger, more inclusive future wasn’t the goal—only what could be taken in the short term. The middle class became a market to exploit and a voting bloc to manipulate.
Now, we live with the fallout. Our economy is top-heavy and fragile. Our politics are flooded with resentment, rage, and fear. People are working harder than ever just to stay afloat. Young adults can’t afford to buy homes—or even rent them. Families are living in cars. And the hope that once defined the American spirit is dissolving into exhaustion and quiet despair.
This didn’t just damage people’s lives. It fractured the foundation of our democracy.
“Middle-class security wasn’t a side effect of democracy. It was the engine that made it work.”
A functioning democracy depends on a strong middle class—on people who feel they have a stake in the system. Who believe their voices count. Who see a future for themselves and their children.
When that sense of connection—to the system, to their country, and to each other—starts to erode, we get disengagement, division, and desperation. People lose faith—and when they do, some turn to chaos, some to strongmen, and some to silence.
The American middle class can still save this country—if we work for it. That means fair wages. Public services that work. Affordable housing, healthcare, and education. Support for families and workers. And a government that sees people not as consumers or donors—but as valued citizens.
A revitalized middle class means more than economic comfort. It means young people can imagine a future without fear of debt. It means teachers, nurses, and service workers can live in the communities they serve. It means fewer families on the edge—and more people building stable lives with room to breathe.
It means we begin to reconnect—to our neighbors, our communities, and even across political lines. Not because we suddenly agree on everything, but because we once again have something real in common: a stake in the future.
It means restoring conversations around kitchen tables instead of severing the bonds that hold us together. It means the return of trust—not blind, but earned, slowly, through shared progress.
A restored middle class brings with it a more stable, generous, and less suspicious country. A culture that values fairness over fear. That builds instead of hoards. That supports instead of scapegoats.
It means a political system that actually reflects the will of the people, because more people can afford to participate and hold leaders accountable. It means less division, because when people feel secure, they don’t need someone to blame. And it means renewed faith—in each other, and in the idea that America can still live up to its promise.
Rebuilding the middle class isn’t some temporary patch or economic fix. It’s how we will restore democracy. It’s how we build a future that includes all of us—morally, socially, and politically.