The idea that there is wisdom within every person, that when we’re educated and well informed we can pool our intelligence and come up with good answers for how to govern ourselves more often than not…1/5 that is the power of democracy. 2/5

What has happened to this country that the notion of government existing to serve people has become so suspect? How were we so easily conned by the purveyors of economic oppression? 1/4 When I was growing up, the biggest cliché in politics was to say the goal was “peace and prosperity.” Politicians don’t even use that phrase anymore - but not because it’s a cliché. They don’t use it anymore because that’s no longer their goal. 2/4

The DNC is at it again…

We discovered the Massachusetts Democratic Party intends to include only Joe Biden as their primary candidate on the MA ballot. 1/4 @stevekerrigan Dem Chair Steve Kerrigan’s misplaced attempt at protecting Joe Biden robs Massachusetts Democrats of their voice and choice in the upcoming election.

This action is a flagrant violation of DNC rules and process. 2/4

The level of chaos happening in the world - including in this country - is not normal. Stress points long pushed to the limit have given way. We are experiencing the eruption of dysfunctional energies now overwhelming levies that for decades have kept them at bay. 1/6 It’s no longer a matter of warning that something is going to blow; things are blowing now. And they are going to land in one way direction or the other. They will either land in the direction of greater democracy, justice and love - or they will fall in the direction of chaos, authoritarianism and violence. 2/6

When I talk about a progressive policy the president ignored or abandoned, someone always jumps in to say, “But he didn’t have the votes to pass it! You have to have Congress!”🧵 True in some cases (Build Back Better)… but let’s be clear:

Manchin and Sinema did not make Biden approve the Willow project, or grant more oil drilling permits than even Trump did.

The parliamentarian had no actual political power to stop Biden from raising the minimum wage… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

1/ I’ve spoken and written extensively on the establishment of a United States Department of Peace. The idea of creating such an agency is given short shrift in legislative circles, however, and for obvious reasons. 2/ Defense industry donations don’t rush in to the coffers of politicians funding peace; they rush in to the coffers of politicians funding war. War profiteering, supposedly a crime, has become an industry. An industry worth trillions of dollars.

1/ On Julian Assange’s 50th birthday, it’s important to remember his case is not just about Julian Assange. It’s not even just about press freedom. It’s about horrible things being done by the US military that they did not want us to know about. 2/ Over 15,000 more Iraqi civilian deaths than has been reported. Blackwater mercenaries indiscriminately shooting into crowds. 700 civilians shot for getting too close to checkpoints, some of them men trying to get pregnant women to the hospital. Abuse. Rape.Torture. WAR CRIMES

1/ From neo Nazi communities to cars flowing into groups of peaceful protesters to mass shootings, our problem with violence is growing. And it will continue to grow until we face it for what it is: a character defect that’s been part of the American psyche from the beginning. 2/ Groups have shadow sides just as individuals do, and when a character defect is on full display it’s an opportunity to face it, deal with it, heal it and evolve beyond it.

1/ That over half a million people are homeless in America is an indictment of both political parties. That tens of million are medically uninsured or underinsured is an indictment of both parties. That 43 million Americans owe college loan debt is an indictment of both parties. 2/ That mass shootings have become a common occurrence in America is an indictment of both political parties. That income inequality is a core facet of our economy is an indictment both political parties. That our food and water are so toxic is an indictment of both parties.

1/ America has too short a memory. The sound of no investigations pending regarding criminal investigations into Barr, Miller and other bad actors from the Trump administration is growing deafening. 2/ Has Garland decided to basically let it all go but not mention it? I get that Matt Gaetz is a sexual scumbag but I think thousands of children being forcibly separated from their parents at the border is worse. Gaetz but not Steven Miller?

1/ From Heather Richardson’s newsletter today: “The president put his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in charge of the nation’s response to the pandemic. Kushner sidelined career officials who knew how to source medical supplies, for example, in favor of young volunteers... 2/ ...from investment banks and consulting firms. The administration touted what its leaders called an innovative public-private partnership to respond to the country’s needs, but a report from Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) documented that as late as March 2, ...

1/ There was a time when the Left didn’t have to fight for power so much within the Democratic Party; it wasn’t treated like a political stepchild the way it is now. 2/ According to @mtaibbi the establishment chooses every four years who they will promote four years hence; clearly Kamala, Pete and Amy are the Democratic chosen ones.

1/ The difference between race-based policies and reparations Is that reparations contain an inherent mea culpa. They’re recognition of a wrong that was done, a debt that is owed and the willingness on the part of a people to pay it. 2/ Germany has paid $89 billion in reparations to Jewish organizations. It doesn’t mean that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but it has gone far toward establishing emotional and psychological reconciliation between Germany and the Jews of Europe.

1/ Having come this close to losing our democracy, millions of more people now realize how important it is that we have one - however imperfect and bedraggled it is. 2/ We didn’t come so close to the cliff because of just one man; we came so close because We the People took our eyes off the ball, too many of us allowing the musculature of vital citizenship to whither while we were off doing other things.

1/ When I was running for president I mentioned the “dark psychic force of collectivized hatred.” Officialdom laughed because mass psychosis is outside the purview of what they know how to address. 2/ Political calculations guided almost solely by lawyers, accountants, money managers, businessmen, traditional politicians and experts at brute force are what got us into this ditch, but they are not what will get us out of it.

In every area where this country is wounded there are people of extraordinary expertise who know how to heal it. But in the vast majority of cases those people & projects are underresourced & underfunded. We can’t heal our country if our bottom line goal remains corporate profits 2/This is particularly tragic in the area of children. When I campaigned I met so many extraordinary childhood experts who do amazing work. But even when they reported success I’d ask how many kids in the district who need the help get it, and the answer was almost always “10 %.”

1/ Large groups of desperate people are a national security risk, whether here or in other corners of the world. They form a petri dish out of which mass societal dysfunction is almost inevitable. This led to the emergence of Hitler in Germany after WW I among other examples. 2/ Starting with Reaganomics in 1980 & continuing for 40 yrs, the majority of Americans were squeezed into the painful confines of a system where economic & social opportunity consistently & increasingly dried up for them so that a tiny few Americans could grow obscenely wealthy

1/ Sometimes it feels like people have just thrown up their hands and given up when it comes to American militarism. The Pentagon spends $2 billion a day or $1 million a minute. That’s not for garden parties. 2/ Here are examples of $ to be spent in the current in the NDAA: billions for 93 F-35 fighters built by Lockheed Martin, *14 more than the Pentagon requested*, and $23.4 billion for the Navy to build nine warships, an increase of $3.5 billion from the service's budget request.

1/ The worst part of contemporary capitalism is not just what it’s done to our economy but what it’s done to our heads. Our entire society, and the mindset that dominates it, has been infused with a marketing mentality. 2/ Everything has become a marketed product, from the way we look to the way we act to what we do professionally and how we do it – and particularly dangerously at this point in our history, our politics.

1/ For years I heard people say things like “I’m not political” & that illusion contributed to what’s happening now. In fact everything is political: the quality of the air you breathe, toxins in food, safety of cars and airplanes, whether or not you have healthcare and fair pay. 2/ Many blame others for perpetrating madness they wouldn’t have been able to perpetrate if more of us had been awake politically. Too many people remaining apolitical enabled the emergence of a “political class.” And how’d did they do? Look around you.

1/ If you don’t know what the Proud Boys are, you should probably learn. A gay friend of mine in NYC told me a couple of years ago that he & his boyfriend were at a bar in Brooklyn & these Proud Boys came over & told them that it was time for them to leave, the place was closing. 2/ My friend looked around & saw other people were still there, looked at their watches & realized it wasn’t closing time yet. So they told the guys that they would leave when they were done. Then the Proud Boys literally beat him up & dragged them out. This is not a drill.