Hartmann Report

Democrats have two months before they lose control of the House. It’s absolutely essential that they do everything possible to stop the cancer of “big money” and “dark money” in our politics. Now it’s official. Twenty-seven men choose who runs the GOP. Pundits are fond of saying, “The President of the United States is the most powerful person in America.” He’s not and hasn’t been for over a decade. Political power in this country, since five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court fully legalized both overt and secret political bribery in their 2010 Citizens United decision, is now centered in the money bins of the morbidly rich.

Millennials today hold only 4.6% of the nation’s wealth and, along with Zoomers, struggle to own a home & are deeply in debt. What happened? In a word, Republicans… Dear Millennials and Zoomers: back in the 1980s a lot of us worked like hell to try to stop the Reagan revolution. We failed. The next two years may be our last chance to save American democracy, our environment, and what’s left of the American middle-class. When my Boomer generation was the same average age as the Millennial generation is today, back in 1990, our generation held 21.3% of the nation’s wealth. Louise and I shared in that wealth; although we were still in our 30s, in 1990 we owned a profitable small business (our fourth) and a nice home in suburban Atlanta. That was, in fact, the “American dream.” It was normal then.

Many Americans are baffled by the Republican Party’s embrace of billionaire sociopath Trump and elected Republicans’ willingness to overlook the death of seven Americans, including three police officers, in an attempted coup. (Particularly after they spent over 2 years and tens of millions of dollars obsessing on 4 dead Americans in Benghazi.) They’re also wondering why Kevin McCarthy would reject Liz Cheney to embrace someone like Elise Stefanik, an apologist for the January 6 treason attempt, or go along with Mitch McConnell’s attempts to sabotage the American Rescue Plan, the American Jobs Plan, and the American Family Plan. After all, people are hurting. We just experienced the worst pandemic in a century, and, under Trump and Bush before him, two economic downturns unmatched since the Republican Great Depression of the 1920s. Why, Americans wonder, would the GOP embrace such anti-American and nakedly brutal politics and policies?

What is the most horrific crime humans can commit against other humans? Let’s take a momentary break from our politics today and look at what is really and truly driving all our crises around the world. “The Lost People,” was originally published in Spirit of Change magazine, November 1998. It’s even more relevant today than it was then: please set aside a few minutes to read it all the way through. I believe you’ll find it worth your time and would love to read your comments and thoughts on it; it cuts to the root of our “modern” world’s core crises.The last weekend of September was the Harvest Gathering, near Mount Washington, Massachusetts, sponsored by Spirit of Change magazine. At this gathering, Native American elders met with several hundred White, Black, Asian, and mixed-race immigrants to this continent. (Most were White.)

Sunday book excerpt: The Hidden History of the War on Voting. Outside of Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan (and a hedge fund guy), just about all American billionaires are white. And while their white privilege helped most of them to become billionaires in the first place, for the politically active billionaires on the right, it’s their money that they care about the most.

Today is the day to celebrate peace and wonderful memories... One-hundred-four years ago today, November 11th, 1919 at 11 am, an armistice was declared to end World War I, known then as “The Great War.” An armistice is a peace agreement, and Armistice Day was, for decades, celebrated here as the day when “the war to end all wars” was over and peace would, humanity hoped, reign worldwide. A national holiday in France, it’s still celebrated that way, as Armistice Day, as well as in Canada and across Europe, although we’ve renamed the holiday twice here in the US and some countries call it Remembrance Day.

Republican policies have already created crises that challenge our very survival as a species - will these crises be solved by Zoomers? The pundits are mystified by Tuesday’s election outcome: they were certain a red wave was on its way. They missed the Zoomers. They missed the Fourth Turning. It’s been 76 years since the Silent Generation birthed the first Boomers after World War II in 1946. That’s exactly four times nineteen years per generation (4 x 19 = 76).

In democracy, the people choose their leaders; in fascism, The Leader chooses his people. The elections appear to be a mixed bag, with young people and women, in particular, rejecting the rightwing Supreme Court Dobbs abortion decision. The early youth vote in Wisconsin, for example was 360% higher than in 2018 according to Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. It’s a good start toward returning sanity to our nation, although even in Wisconsin that state’s House, Senate, and delegation to the US House of Representatives all remain in Republican hands because of massive gerrymandering. And Donald Trump says he’s going to make a “major announcement” next week. If Republicans seize control of the House — as it appears they will do when all the election results are in — the January 6th Committee will be shut down and with it much of our nation’s ability to publicly hold Trump accountable for his crimes in office.

The GOP wants to install their very own version of Putin, Duterte or Orbán in the White House in two years, regardless of what the majority of Americans want. VOTE! There are only two ways that independent nations can be governed: by the people themselves through free and fair elections with maximum participation, or by an elite group that is only acting for its own benefit. Democracy or autocracy. Freedom or oligarchy. Liberty or tyranny. Violence or the rule of law. Trump and virtually the entire GOP have chosen autocracy, going all-in on voter intimidation, throwing people off voter rolls or preventing their votes from being counted, and trying to rig future elections.

We now have two years to prepare for what may be American democracy’s final act. Three major trends are driving American politics right now and will continue to for at least a decade. If Democrats fail to understand and respond in a meaningful way to each, expect a Republican White House, House, and Senate in 2024. And, with it, the probable end of democracy in the United States. These three political megatrends are: * Generational “social” changes in America and the Republican Party’s exploitation/demonization of them. * The entrance of rightwing billionaires into America’s political scene with the blessing of 5 corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court. * The Republican Party’s rejection of democracy.