If Democrats Didn’t Suck, by David Swanson

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, July 1, 2022
July 10, 2022

If Democrats threw out the filibuster today and rapidly passed legislation over the next 8 months as if they gave a damn — as if they were, oh, I don’t know, the Supreme Court — and if they put just what they’re increasing the military budget by into their Build Back Better bill, if they put through with majority votes just those items they were elected on that are favored by significant majorities in the country, they’d have done enough by 6 months from now to not lose those elections. And if they kept going, they’d need never lose an election again. The whole premise of keeping the filibuster around to restrain the Republicans is the plan to go on sucking badly for 6 more months in order to lose — combined with the delusion that Republicans are going to be restrained by something that THEY can and will choose to throw out. The Republicans will certainly plan on never losing an election again. Any elections they can’t win or rig, they can ask the Supreme Court to fix up for them — and hire Al Gore to explain to us that we should sit back and take it.

U.S. Senate – From Partisan (GOP) Swamp to a Bipartisan Graveyard for Democracy, by Ralph Nader

Image by Daniel Huizinga via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page, June 17, 2022
June 18, 2022

Since January 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed 412 bills (See: Congress.gov) and sent them to the Senate. Unfortunately, the Senate hasn’t acted. “What?” you say, “don’t the Democrats control both Chambers of Congress?” Sure, by the barest of margins. Handcuffed by the filibuster, a Senate rule (not a federal law) requires 60 votes to pass legislation in what Senators of yore called the “world’s greatest deliberative body.”

The Dis-United States, by David Swanson

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
May 10, 2022

[Note to DS readers: Please check out the links on 7 of the 8 maps for “take action” or for more info. ~DS]

A map of the U.S. states that might serve as safe havens for abortion rights . . .

As Long as Capitalism Exists, The Threat of Fascism Exists, by Pete Dolack

Image by Ivan Radic via Flickr

by Pete Dolack
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Systemic Disorder, Jan. 10, 2022
January 11, 2022

Six years is an eternity in politics. Consider what was common opinion at the start of 2016: That changing demographics in the United States favored the Democratic Party; it would soon be impossible for Republicans to win a national election unless they sharply changed from their primary strategy of sending dog whistles to their base of conservative white people, a dwindling percentage of the U.S. population.

Beyond Passive Resistance: Against Democratic Surrender in a Time of Fascitization, by Paul Street

Image by Lorie Shaull via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Dec. 16, 2021
December 27, 2021

Sixty percent of the U.S. populace backs Roe v. Wade and just 27 percent back its undoing even as the nation’s right-wing Supreme Court is strongly predisposed to reverse the decision by next summer. Where is the call for millions in the streets to defend women’s right to control their bodies over and against this anti-democratic outrage? Where is the uprising against a government structure and social order that permits this and numerous other forms of authoritarian insanity? It’s shocking to hear liberal talking heads say (basically) “oh well there goes Roe v. Wade for a generation, until we can get the votes and a better court back some day.” Are these shrugging accommodationists aware that the nation’s right-wing Minority Rule party is actively and effectively working (in the name of “stop the steal”) to permanently suppress and nullify votes and elections and policies that don’t go their patriarchal, white-nationalist way? How do they not understand that, as the leading feminist and communist Sunsara Taylor notes:

America’s Instinctive Fascism Creeps On, by Paul Street

Image by duncan c via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Nov. 4, 2021
November 7, 2021

Recently Norman Ornstein told Salon’s Chauncy de Vega that the United States is mired in a crisis of democracy that shows parallels with Germany’s descent into Nazism during the 1930s. Ornstein is right to worry about the nation’s ongoing lethal rightward drift beyond “normal” bourgeois democracy. That is how the United States’ political life is shaping up. The signs are ominous indeed. As de Vega writes, “the coup attempt of January is only a prelude to similar events in the future, when Republicans and their allies fully intend to overthrow any election they lose, and therefore deem illegitimate.”

Chris Hedges and Paul Street: Neo-fascist Seizure of America’s State Governments

Image by Chris Barker via Flickr

with Chris Hedges
and with Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 22, 2021

RT America on Oct 21, 2021

On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the seizure of state government by American’s homegrown neo-fascist movement with the historian Paul Street.

The Frontier is Closed: Capitalist and Constitutional Chickens Coming Home to Cancerous Roost, by Paul Street

Image by The All-Nite Images via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Oct. 7, 2021
October 13, 2021

Much of the United States (US) is in crisis as capitalist-imperialist chickens are coming home to roost.

Multiple Interrelated Crises Rooted in Bourgeois Evil

Joe Biden’s Hollow Resistance: Words vs. Deeds, by Paul Street

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Aug. 8, 2021
August 10, 2021

“The president is increasingly at odds with leaders of the voting rights movement, who see a contrast between his soaring language and his willingness to push Congress to pass federal legislation.” — New York Times, July 22, 2021

No Time to Relax: Dark Clouds in Biden’s America, by Paul Street

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, June 5, 2021
June 7, 2021

The sense of relief that came over many Americans after the malignant pandemo-fascist Donald Trump’s removal from power seems increasingly misplaced. The feeling of relaxation is understandable. The pandemic is in significant retreat inside the U.S. as summer dawns, thanks in part to the Biden administration’s vaccination efforts. The improved U.S. health outlook combined with Biden and the Congressional Democrats’ large opening stimulus package to spark some modest economic recovery and hiring expansion. Significantly vaccinated fans, shoppers, diners, vacationers, drinkers, entertainment seekers, and gamblers have returned to American major league baseball, basketball, and hockey games, beaches, bars, restaurants, hotels, casinos, movie theaters, concerts, and shopping malls.

Abby Martin: Will the Supreme Court Overturn the Election for Trump?

Image by Becker1999 via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Nov 10, 2020

Constitutional rights lawyer talks to Abby Martin about the potential for the Supreme Court to overturn the election results in Trump’s favor, and analyzes the basis of voter fraud allegations.

Abby Martin: It’s Just Mind-Boggling that the Democrats Continue to Support Trump’s Worst Foreign Policy Blunders and Policies

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

TeleSUR English on Oct 14, 2020

Unsubstantiated Trump’s questioning on mail-in voting system, the nomination of the conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and foreign policy of both candidates, are discussed by the journalist for Empire Files Abby Martin.

The Promise of a Shiny “Great Reset” Masks Our Terrifying Future + The 2020 Election: The Latest Step in the Loss of U.S. Stability, by Rainer Shea

Image by Infinite Ache via Flickr

by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, Oct. 14, 2020
October 20, 2020

In 1937, the storyteller H.P. Lovecraft wrote this about the direction that capitalism was taking:

“Capitalism is dying from internal as well as external causes, and its own leaders and beneficiaries are less and less able to kid themselves…The only avenue of survival for plutocracy is a military and emotional fascism whereby millions of persons will be withdrawn from the industrial arena and placed on a dole or in concentration camps with high sounding patriotic names. That or socialism—take your choice. In the long run it won’t be the New Deal but the mere facts of existence which will be recognized as the real and inevitable slayer of Hooverism.”

Top 12 Reasons Biden Is Not My Fault, by David Swanson

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Oct. 18, 2020
October 19, 2020

When the Democratic Party decided it preferred Trump to Bernie and would rather nominate to run against Trump a more corporate-friendly candidate who was polling more weakly against Trump, there were — in theory — at least two choices.

Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley: Why Trump Can Still Win and Why We Must Oppose U.S.’ New Cold War Against China

Image by AK Rockefeller via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens on Aug 17, 2020

In the fourth of the Left Lens, co-hosts, Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley discuss why Donald Trump’s re-election is not as unlikely as the Biden/Democratic Party let on. Also, Danny and Margaret discuss just some of the reasons we should oppose the U.S.’ New Cold War against China.