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Going Back to the Status Quo is Not a Solution [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-18
I. A Call for Civic Renewal
In an era of toxic polarization and weaponized division, Americans must rediscover what truly binds us—not culture war slogans or media echo chambers, but shared civic principles rooted in democratic-republican ideals. Our Constitution, while flawed and incomplete, laid a framework for liberty and justice. But it is now undermined by forces that exploit its ambiguities and subvert its purpose.
This Manifesto is a plea—and a blueprint—for reclaiming civic sanity, resisting the natural tendency to tribal affliation, and restoring moral seriousness in how we govern, inform, and co-exist.
II. Our Foundational Belief
Citizenship is a civic oath—not a tribal identity.
“I pledge the protection of liberty and justice for all people in these United States of America, and will seek to check and balance all organized selfish powers and their agents that would threaten or diminish those rights.”
If you can say that and mean it—regardless of origin, religion, or party—then you belong here.
III. The Four Pillars of Civic Democracy
Progressives—and all who care about a pluralistic, inclusive Republic—must defend these four civic pillars:
Free, Fair, and Accessible Elections
— With majority rule and protection for minorities. Checks and Balances on All Organized Selfish Power
— Including corporate, partisan, and media entities. Equal Application of Fair Law and Opportunity
— Justice that serves the many, not the privileged few. Self-Correcting, Uncertainty-Expressing, Evidence-Based Institutions
— Science, journalism, and education must be protected and allowed to inform policy and expose corruption.
IV. Addressing Derivative Injustices: Expanding the Checks and Balances
Many of today’s injustices—economic inequality, voting suppression, judicial partisanship, and regulatory failure—stem from one root dysfunction: unchecked power held by political parties and corporations.
To restore the balance intended by the Constitution, we must broaden our framework of checks and balances to include:
1. Political Parties
No party or its agents should control the mechanisms of elections, voting access, or judicial nominations.
Independent, nonpartisan bodies must oversee redistricting, voting access, and the judicial selection process to protect the Republic from gerrymandering, voter suppression, and politicized courts.
2. Corporations
No corporation or its agents should finance elections or appoint representatives to regulatory agencies.
Regulatory agencies must be staffed by independent, public-minded experts—not corporate insiders undermining oversight.
Unchecked, these forces have:
Rigged economic policy to serve the wealth-owning class
Diluted protections for consumers, workers, and the environment
Undermined public trust in elections and courts
The solution to these derivative injustices is systemic reform—reviving the democratic ideal of government of, by, and for the people, not parties or profit.
V. The Regressive Counter-Vision
The radical right (Regressives) reject this democratic project. Their values now actively undermine liberty and solidarity:
Nullifying Central Authority over states that violate rights.
Weaponizing the Second Amendment while suppressing the First.
Deifying the "Free Market" as infallible and unregulated.
Normalizing Misinformation and Historical Revisionism, especially around white Christian nationalism and corporate power.
These values serve a minority rule by:
One-party authoritarians, kleptocrats, techno-visionaries
Gun cult anarchists and fascist ideologues
Corporate libertarians and shareholders
Conspiracy movements and ethnonationalists
VI. The Crisis of Misinformation and the First Amendment
The Founders could not foresee:
Mass broadcasting to millions
Billionaire-funded propaganda
Legal bribery through campaign donations
Stochastic terrorism driven by demonizing speech
The First Amendment, as currently interpreted, allows for the poisoning of public discourse—undermining the very institutions it was meant to protect. We must courageously explore how to:
Filter organized mass misinformation
Preserve civic truth without empowering censorship
This is the liberal paradox: to protect freedom, we must sometimes guard against its abuse.
VII. Economic Justice is Social Justice
We must end false binaries of "capitalism vs. socialism." A functional society uses a hybrid model that balances the elements depending on the economic realities. The final determinant to the success of economic policy is whether the middle class is growing.
Entrepreneurial markets with fair competition Regulation for fair business, monopoly, public safety, and the environment Progressive taxation to fund infrastructure and innovation A social safety net—housing, healthcare, education—that tracks national productivity
VIII. Our Vision
A modern civic republic that:
Embraces diverse identities without losing civic unity
Welcomes immigrants committed to shared values—not tribal loyalty tests
Encourages debate grounded in evidence—not conspiracy
Honors both individual liberty and collective responsibility
IX. Call to Action
We must not surrender truth, compromise, or responsibility to cynicism or propaganda. Let this Manifesto be a litmus test of democratic republican belonging, not party loyalty. Speak out. Organize. Educate. Vote with conscience.
A republic—if we can keep it—demands nothing less.
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