“The continued fallout from the Supreme Court’s destruction of the Voting Rights Act has placed American democracy on a knife’s edge.” www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

"Sometimes silence is more persuasive than anything you could say." www.liberalcurrents.com/rather-than-...

"Let's start with the Virginia decision. It is almost certainly wrong on the merits." www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

A nice “yes, AND” to Andy Craig’s concern about right wing mischief in Jan 2027.

I can't stop thinking about this. It needs to be shared in the inbox of every Democrat running for office.

“The People of Virginia have the right to change their system of government, entirely outside of any kind of amendment process established by law. That is what it means for this right of the People to be ‘inalienable’.” www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

“Congress judges the republican character of each state every time it seats that state's elected representatives. This also implies that Congress can refuse to seat a state's representatives, if it thinks that state's government is not republican.” www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

This analysis of bad faith court rulings and redistricting by @hurricanexyz.bsky.social got me thinking: Must everyone acquiesce when courts say a black letter law inalienable right is alienable? Is there no line? If a court blatantly violates a constitution, who caused the constitutional crisis?

"In order to win, you do not need to persuade The New York Times that Trump is a danger to democracy, that he is a greater danger than a Democratic president, or even that trans rights are human rights." You just need to get them to cover your story, one that draws sympathy to your cause.

"American democracy began in 1965, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Before that time, with the brief exception of Reconstruction, black Americans had been essentially incapable of exercising real political power." www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

"This was not a silver bullet. The administration did not dismantle itself as a result. Donald Trump did not resign. The personality cult party still rules Washington. But given the poor hand that was dealt to them, the people of the Twin Cities played a very good game."

“The People of Virginia have the right to change their system of government, entirely outside of any kind of amendment process established by law. That is what it means for this right of the People to be ‘inalienable’.” www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

what i think @hurricanexyz.bsky.social is dead-on in highlighting here is that the VA supreme court ruling was a violation of the VA constitution itself, which quite explicitly notes that the power of the people to reform their constitution is sovereign and inalienable

“Congress judges the republican character of each state every time it seats that state's elected representatives. This also implies that Congress can refuse to seat a state's representatives, if it thinks that state's government is not republican.” www.liberalcurrents.com/how-the-120t...

"What should have mattered to the public, what the media should do or say, could not bring them victory. What brought them victory was what did matter to the public, what the media would do and say, given the choices the activists made." www.liberalcurrents.com/rather-than-...

I wrote this for you—yes you: Bluesky, where a lot of people whine that we cannot win because the media isn’t our friend. The media isn’t our friend, it’s true. Let’s win anyway.

"Even if you cannot persuade the other side, you can persuade your side to trust you more. Building your credibility as an individual or an organization is a critical part of participating in intraparty politics, or in our current circumstances, of building an effective opposition bloc."

A fascinating read, and important to boot. Republicans believe themselves to be engaging in revolution right now, so Democrats need to see it too.

A great deal of persuasion comes down to your credibility with particular audiences. In a low-trust era, credibility is often gained through demonstrations that your audience's enemies perceive you to be their enemy. This is precisely why Starmerism and similar approaches simply do not work.

"Republicans still, for now, claim to require Congress to enact budget appropriations. Hence the Big Beautiful Bill, which was a staggering giveaway of power to the executive branch. Congress has prostrated itself before Trump's authoritarian push. Norms haven't saved us."

"We don’t always have the option of simply producing that story the way a comedian produces punchlines or the way that Rosa Parks created a conflict advantageous for her movement. But like the brave residents of Minneapolis, we can aim at creating the conditions for such stories to emerge."

"Movement leaders certainly did not intend for any of their members to die, but they pursued action in dangerous places like Selma knowing that it was a very real possibility. They did not want James Reeb to be murdered by white supremacists, but once he was they damn well made good use of it."

"People do not laugh at punchlines because they choose to—not, again, if it is the kind of laugh that leaves you in tears, or gasping for air. That kind of laugh is something that happens to you, or at best something you surrender to rather than consciously produce. Persuasion is the same way."

“Publications become persuaded that this is “a story,” social media accounts become persuaded that this is engaging content, their actions help to perpetuate that belief among their peers, and belief becomes reality. It is a cascade of actions grounded in beliefs which become self-fulfilling.”

“After years of hearing that these platforms tanked everything but rightwing content, you had everyone down to the golf influencers referencing Pretti being ‘murdered by masked agents of the state.’” www.liberalcurrents.com/rather-than-...

“If ‘the media’ in the 1960s was good enough for the Civil Rights Movement to have viable options, our current media is more than good enough. We need instead to think about our overall strategic environment, and how to make the best play with the hand we’ve been dealt.”

“Life isn’t fair and politics ain’t beanbag. You don’t win power and use it to any effect by hoping that your adversaries and observers will play nicely and go along with your plans. The enemy gets a vote, as do the people and groups you wish would be your allies.”

another great piece from alan that emphasizes: we didn't make the time. we didn't make the crisis. we might wish it wasn't the time that it is. that might be inconvenient for our preconceptions or our politics. and yet the crisis us upon us all the same. only question left: honesty? or delusion?

If it’s good enough for Ohio republicans to ignore a court’s order on redistricting 5 TIMES, it’s good enough for Virginia Dems.

Althusser talked about the conjuncture, the aleatory in history that Machiavelli understood as key moments of contingency where true leaders set themselves apart. That’s what this moment is. Our future is, right now, highly contingent. Will we act for liberty or capitulate to tyranny?

"Democrats in Virginia can and in fact must defy the Virginia court ruling. The Virginia gerrymander was democratically approved, and it is now an essential bulwark as the Republicans prepare to paint the South a deep, Neo-Confederate red." www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

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This is WELL worth reading. Democrats need to wake up and play hardball. NOW.

"Revolutionary moments demand that we act boldly and decisively. They are moments of great danger but also great opportunity." www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

"We are experiencing a widespread GOP attempt to undo the Reconstruction Amendments that, along w/later civil rights reforms, form the constitutional foundation for our multiracial democracy." Good @aselrod.bsky.social intervention (cites my reporting on VA): www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

Left and lib bashing is getting tired. We have disagreements but way more in common w each other than either has with the fascists in power. Let’s end the threat and then argue about the details of our policy preferences.

liberal currents update: merch liberalcurrentsmerch.printful.me/product/unis...

@aselrod.bsky.social says VA must use its new map, Dems must expand the Supreme Court, and the new rulebook is all hardball all the time: "Democrats need to wake up and realize what time it is. And I’ll be clear, I’m not a radical. The moment is." Exactly. www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

"Democrats who stand on procedure and pontificate about exercising caution and restraint are catastrophically out of step with events. Virginia must implement the map anyway." www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

In Ohio, "elected Republicans continued to work to gerrymander the state despite multiple rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court that their maps were unconstitutional. Lawmakers in Virginia, however, have shown a more tepid response." www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

Alan really gets at it here:

“What Berman, Bouie, Hayes, Craig, and others all apprehend is the immense peril of this moment and the poisonous intentions of the Republicans and their allies on the Supreme Court.” www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

Democrats need to understand we’re already in a revolutionary moment. The American republic built in the 60s and 70s is being swept away by Republicans and the Supreme Court. It’s up to us to fight for a liberal democratic future. My latest: www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

“The Supreme Court took another step to empower this Neo-Jim Crow assault on the electorate by determining that Alabama can move ahead with redrawing its districts before the midterm elections.” www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-ne...

Socialism is on the rise in the United States, where the two party system hamstrings socialist candidates who run outside of the largely liberal Democratic party. Can liberals and socialists find common ground and inspiration in figures like Thomas Paine? www.liberalcurrents.com/socialism-an...

"Thomas Paine—a Founding era liberal read by the likes of Washington and Jefferson—argued for taxing land value long before even Henry George. In Agrarian Justice, he argued that land belongs to all of humanity in common—that its value is collectively created by society’s presence and labor"

"Where the classical liberal argues that accumulations of wealth have no bearing on democratic proceduralism, the socialist argues that this wealth is itself a question for democracy." www.liberalcurrents.com/socialism-an...

"The liberal tradition and the socialist tradition are sisters, and daughters of the Enlightenment. A project that sought to undermine entrenched power, and sought to assert that power fundamentally belongs to the people." www.liberalcurrents.com/socialism-an...

Are there times when retaliation that goes against one of our principles might serve a greater purpose? @jacobtlevy.bsky.social returns to discuss this with @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social and @trentrichardnelson.bsky.social www.liberalcurrents.com/to-what-leng...

"She 'married the rank,' she 'lives off his benefits,' she is loud, uneducated, and spendthrift. But the stereotype obscures an undeniable truth. Military spouses are actively encouraged, both culturally and structurally, to be dependent." www.liberalcurrents.com/tradwives-de...