Here’s a selection:
“Where leftists promised freedom for workers from bosses, citizens from dictatorship, countries from colonialism, Friedman promised ‘individual freedom,’ a project that elevated atomized citizens above any collective enterprise and liberated them to express their absolute free will through their consumer choices.”
Friedman’s rules: “First, governments must remove all rules and regulations standing in the way of the accumulation of profits. Second, they should sell off any assets they own that corporations could be running at a profit. And third, they should dramatically cut back funding of social programs.”
In Chile, with the overthrow of democratically elected socialist Salvador Allende, the Chicago Boys had an opportunity to remake the Chilean economy, which went hand in hand with the violence perpetrated by dictator General Pinochet and his subordinates.
“In broad daylight and in full view of the neighbors, police or soldiers battered down the door and dragged out the victim.”
“It wasn’t only unionists who faced preemptive attack – it was anyone who represented a vision of society built on values other than pure profit.”
“Economic shock works according to the premise that people can develop responses to gradual change – a slashed health program here, a trade deal there – but if dozens of changes come from all directions at once, a feeling of futility sets in, and populations go limp.”
Sound familiar?
That same friend and I went to the 50-50-1 rally in Hartford on Feb. 5 – meaning 50 rallies in 50 state capitols on one day, to oppose Project 2025, the blueprint for everything Trump has done since re-entering the White House. And it happened in every state. I even got a link to the rally in Charleston, West Virginia – the reddest of red states. The scene in Hartford was almost delirious joy and determination not to “go limp,” not to give in to futility. Instead of the hate and the Nazi salutes favored by MAGA and Musk, Nutmeggers in all their diversity were building a spontaneous community built on love, mutual support, and determination. I have to say, being there was the most hopeful I’ve felt since November 5.
It's time for the Democrats, the media and all of us to wake up to what’s happening before our eyes, to not give away our power and to oppose the new world order with everything we’ve got. And we can’t let them divide us or sow doubt among us, as happened around the 50-50-1 actions, where a lot of seasoned leftists were too suspicious to come out because they didn’t know who was behind it. And it turned out that who was behind it was regular people, most of whom had just been radicalized by the coup in progress.
What I'm going to do is keep publishing my blog (I missed a month or two), keep standing on street corners with signs and banners that say, "Stop the Coup" and "Trump -- Hands Off Gaza," keep meeting with like-minded people to rise up together against fascism and white supremacy, and try to talk more with people who support what Trump is doing. In many cases they're not getting the same information I am, so they don't see the dangerous threat he's posing. What will you do?
I’m attaching the lively audio headline I produced from the rally (starts around 14:45), and a link to my February radio show, The Forest & the Trees, which was a conversation with Praisely McNamara, key organizer of the rally, and my friend Allie, who went with me that day.