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Articles by Alan Minsky
Meet the Nine Former Federal Workers Running for Congress
This article introduces you to nine contemporary heroes. All nine were on the frontlines of President Donald Trump’s authoritarian attack on our democratic society. All nine had careers serving the American people in socially essential government jobs. All nine could not tolerate seeing their career work undermined, and even outright destroyed, by DOGE and MAGA’s contempt for science, the rule of law, public safety, and the welfare of the common person.
Meet the 9 Former Federal Workers Running for Congress
This article introduces you to nine contemporary heroes. All nine were on the frontlines of President Donald Trump’s authoritarian attack on our democratic society. All nine had careers serving the American people in socially essential government jobs. All nine could not tolerate seeing their career work undermined, and even outright destroyed, by DOGE and MAGA’s contempt for science, the rule of law, public safety, and the welfare of the common person.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense for 2026: Progressives Must Transform the Democratic Party
To defeat Trumpism, revive American democracy, and rebuild the middle class, progressives must win primaries, take over party institutions, and enact a 21st-century Economic Bill of Rights. In 1776. Tom Paine wrote: “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Today, we are in the throes of another deep crisis. The United States of America has lost its way.
Common Sense in 2026: No More Retreat—We Must Fulfill the Promise of America
In 1776. Tom Paine wrote: "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." Today, we are in the throes of another deep crisis. The United States of America has lost its way. The fundamental premise of our founding, the rejection of tyranny—the focus of Common Sense, the pamphlet which sparked the popular revolution of 1776-1783—has been abandoned.
California’s Choice: The Progressive Path or Centrist Stagnation
Within national mythology, California is understood to be a progressive haven—with a ruling Democratic Party passing strong regulations, ever-higher taxes on the wealthy, and supporting unions to its heart’s desire. Unfortunately, this is far from accurate. The Democratic Party may dominate California politics, but the wealthiest state in the union no longer leads the way with innovative laws and regulations, let alone serving the interests of working people, the poor, and the middle class.
Op/Ed: Oil Shocks Will Keep Coming. High-Speed Rail Can Boost Our Resilience.
Alan Minsky is the Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America and a resident of California. If and when oil once again moves freely through the Strait of Hormuz, there is little doubt that global energy prices — and America’s security — will continue to be subject to the whims of profiteering oil giants and foreign dictators.
Act Now to Defend Our Republic! | Common Dreams
President Donald Trump’s illegal, unconstitutional war on Iran is not only a moral and humanitarian disaster, but also the latest assault on our way of life. Trump and his enablers count on us to endure their ever escalating egregious abuses of power that imperil our democracy, potentially fatally. We must prove them wrong. We can and must overcome these clear and present threats to our lives, liberty, and way of life. Our Constitution cannot defend or protect itself.
How Progressives Can Transform the Dems to Save Our Democracy and Renew Prosperity
There are two central facts about the Democratic Party that everyone must understand if our democratic republic is going to survive President Donald Trump’s authoritarian counterrevolution: The Democratic Party is the only institution in our society with the breadth and scale to defeat and vanquish Trumpism The Democratic Party, as currently configured, has proven incapable of doing this. That sounds pretty hopeless. However, there is a path forward.
2 Truths the Dems Should Take Away From Mamdani’s Win
“We have won a city where… the Mayor will use their power… to govern our city as a model for the Democratic Party.” —Zohran Mamdani, June 24, 2025 Zohran Mamdani’s spectacular victory in Tuesday’s Democratic Mayoral Primary in New York City taught us two essential truths about the contemporary American political landscape. Two truths that add up to one unmistakable message for the Democratic Party. Truth #1: The Democratic Socialist-Social Democratic-New Deal politics that Sen.
2 Truths the Dems Should Take Away From Mamdani’s Win | Common Dreams
“We have won a city where… the Mayor will use their power… to govern our city as a model for the Democratic Party.”—Zohran Mamdani, June 24, 2025 Zohran Mamdani’s spectacular victory in Tuesday’s Democratic Mayoral Primary in New York City taught us two essential truths about the contemporary American political landscape. Two truths that add up to one unmistakable message for the Democratic Party. Truth #1: The Democratic Socialist-Social Democratic-New Deal politics that Sen.
Passive Democrats Fail To Convene Emergency Meeting To Confront Trump’s Assault On Democracy
All these tyrannical actions and more are occurring on a daily basis while the Democratic party, the nation’s major opposition bloc, is perceived by millions of Americans to be weak, disorganized and incapable of launching an effective response on Trump and the Republican assault on the rule of law and civil society. A recent poll found that only 27 percent of voters say they have a positive view of the Democratic party.
How Progressives Can Transform the Dems to Save Our Democracy and Renew Prosperity
There are two central facts about the Democratic Party that everyone must understand if our democratic republic is going to survive President Donald Trump’s authoritarian counterrevolution: The Democratic Party is the only institution in our society with the breadth and scale to defeat and vanquish Trumpism The Democratic Party, as currently configured, has proven incapable of doing this. That sounds pretty hopeless. However, there is a path forward.
Can Progressives Transform Dems to Save Our Democracy
Either we act now to position progressive politics as the viable alternative to Trump or we’re complicit in the end of our democratic society.
How Progressives Can Transform the Dems to Save Our Democracy and Renew Prosperity | Common Dreams
There are two central facts about the Democratic Party that everyone must understand if our democratic republic is going to survive President Donald Trump’s authoritarian counterrevolution: • The Democratic Party is the only institution in our society with the breadth and scale to defeat and vanquish Trumpism • The Democratic Party, as currently configured, has proven incapable of doing this. However, there is a path forward.
Our 2 Choices: Join the Democratic Party to Transform It, or Acquiesce to Fascism
We are in the midst the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. In less than one month, the new administration has shredded the United States’ heretofore sacrosanct system of checks and balances—through the brazen expansion of executive power, the de facto disregard of Congress whenever expedient, the intimidation of adversaries including the press, and a brash confidence that President Donald Trump cannot be contained by the courts.
Our 2 Choices: Join the Democratic Party to Transform It, or Acquiesce to Fascism
We are in the midst the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. In less than one month, the new administration has shredded the United States’ heretofore sacrosanct system of checks and balances—through the brazen expansion of executive power, the de facto disregard of Congress whenever expedient, the intimidation of adversaries including the press, and a brash confidence that President Donald Trump cannot be contained by the courts.
Our 2 Choices: Join the Democratic Party to Transform It, or Acquiesce to Fascism | Common Dreams
We are in the midst the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. In less than one month, the new administration has shredded the United States’ heretofore sacrosanct system of checks and balances—through the brazen expansion of executive power, the de facto disregard of Congress whenever expedient, the intimidation of adversaries including the press, and a brash confidence that President Donald Trump cannot be contained by the courts.
Our Democracy Is in Peril, But Progressives Are Poised to Lead Its Revival
“Let us not talk falsely now The hour is getting late” —Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower We can have no illusions. There’s a reason the word “oligarchy” has been trending. After only one week of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second administration, the idea of America as an open society where the people are sovereign is under serious threat. So, what is to be done? It’s time for progressives to step up.
Our Democracy Is in Peril, But Progressives Are Poised to Lead Its Revival | Common Dreams
Let us not talk falsely now / The hour is getting late—Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower We can have no illusions. There’s a reason the word “oligarchy” has been trending. After only one week of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second administration, the idea of America as an open society where the people are sovereign is under serious threat. So, what is to be done? It’s time for progressives to step up.
Can Progressives Rescue the Democratic Party?
This moment of crisis is an opportunity to get the party on track. We should not squander it. Once again, the Democratic Party is in crisis. Activists both inside and outside the party have a big question to answer: Do insiders pivot to the center or the left? Do outsiders join the party or abandon it? In both cases, the choice should be obvious: embrace the progressive economic agenda (move left) and enter the party en masse.
Now Is the Time for Progressives to Take Over the Democratic Party
Once again, the Democratic Party is in crisis. Activists both inside and outside the party have a big question to answer: Do insiders pivot to the center or the left? Do outsiders join the party or abandon it? In both cases, the choice should be obvious: embrace the progressive economic agenda (move left) and enter the party en masse. This moment of crisis is an opportunity to get the party on track, to turn it into what people want and need.
Now Is the Time for Progressives to Take Over the Democratic Party | Common Dreams
Once again, the Democratic Party is in crisis. Activists both inside and outside the party have a big question to answer: Do insiders pivot to the center or the left? Do outsiders join the party or abandon it? In both cases, the choice should be obvious: embrace the progressive economic agenda (move left) and enter the party en masse. This moment of crisis is an opportunity to get the party on track, to turn it into what people want and need.
Progressives Must Challenge for the Leadership of the Democratic Party—and Win | Common Dreams
Tuesday’s election results were dire, but now is not the time for progressives to retreat. American society will be best served by a progressive movement that plays strong defense and offense. Progressives must continue to be vigilant in defending democracy, the rule of law, and the constitutional republic. In order to be most effective on these matters, we should maintain our recent alliance with liberals and conservatives of conscience.
Prop 33 for Rent Control is Essential Step in Rebuilding California
Californians have an opportunity in Tuesday’s election to pass a ballot measure that will address the high cost of housing, which is one of the top grievances among the state’s voters. Proposition 33 will allow cities and counties to implement rent control ordinances in order to contain the increasing cost of rental units. Just as importantly, passage of Prop 33 will send a signal that people don’t have to passively accept unjust housing costs.
Prop 33 for Rent Control is An Essential Step in Rebuilding California
Californians have an opportunity in Tuesday’s election to pass a ballot measure that will address the high cost of housing, which is one of the top grievances among the state’s voters. Proposition 33 will allow cities and counties to implement rent control ordinances in order to contain the increasing cost of rental units. Just as importantly, passage of Prop 33 will send a signal that people don’t have to passively accept unjust housing costs.
This Progressive Democrat Could Help Improve Millions of Lives - and American Democracy
Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary in Oregon’s vast 5th congressional district just might hold the key to defeating MAGA Republicanism and renewing American democracy. Sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not. If one of the two top contenders in the race, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, wins next Tuesday and in November, she will transform the Democratic Party for the better – and, by doing so, alter the 50/50 balance that defines American politics.
This Progressive Democrat Could Help Improve Millions of Lives — and American Democracy | Common Dreams
Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary in Oregon’s vast 5th congressional district just might hold the key to defeating MAGA Republicanism and renewing American democracy. Sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not. If one of the two top contenders in the race, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, wins next Tuesday and in November, she will transform the Democratic Party for the better – and, by doing so, alter the 50/50 balance that defines American politics.
Why the cease-fire protest movement is good for democracy — and potentially for Democrats in November
Though the nominees are locked in, the stakes of the remaining 2024 presidential primary elections are still gigantic. In fact, the health and evolution of American democracy may hang in the balance. That’s because of this year’s protest vote phenomenon, as primary voters increasingly use their ballots to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. In previous uncompetitive primaries where the front-runner was a shoo-in, protest votes ran around 7 percent.
Remembering the extraordinary life and novels of David Rhodes
We had arrived in Wisconsin’s famed Driftless area, a name acquired from the region’s unique geological character. At the end of the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago, the region was spared the immense geological transformation caused by retreating glaciers, which flattened much of the Great Lakes region, leaving behind glacial “drift,” or composite remnants of silt, gravel, sand and clay.
Why the people of rural America need a Rural New Deal
This might seem a minor point, but we believe that its part and parcel of something much more important. Most rural people prefer action over talk, the concrete over the abstract. They’re frugal, unpretentious and wary of lofty language. In a society inundated with platitudes and party or brand “messaging,” they’ve come to distrust anyone who doesn’t walk it like they talk it.
Air Ambulances Struggle to Fill the Gap as Rural Hospitals Close
“They said I tried to keep the bike up,” says Dan McKeaney, 59, of Las Vegas, Nevada. His voice grows quiet, choked with emotion, thinking of the day he and his wife, Jeri, almost lost their lives. A veteran of Desert Storm, Dan and his wife were on a veterans’ motorcycle ride headed for Bagdad, Arizona last year when their bike suddenly blew a tire. “Once we went down, I lost memory of it,” Dan says.
We Need an Economic Bill of Rights to Save American Democracy
We can save the rights we have inherited from our fathers only by winning new ones to bequeath our children.
The Writers Guild Strike
Alan Minsky: Welcome to Beneath the Surface. I’m Alan Minsky sitting in for Suzi Weissman. Today, we’re going to talk with Howard A. Rodman about the ongoing writers’ strike that is impacting TV, movies and streaming platforms across the country and the world. Howard is a screenwriter, author, and professor.
Biden and the Democrats Better Fight Like Hell for Student Debt Relief
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision today to shoot down President Joe Biden’s Student Debt Relief plan, all elected Democrats and all people of conscience need to rally around the issues of Student Debt relief and affordable higher education. This doesn’t mean vague generalities but specific action, as outlined below, with President Biden taking the lead. The student debt crisis is outrageously unjust. In mid-20th century America, public higher education was virtually free for students.
New US Sanctions on Nicaragua Hit Poor Hardest
The Biden administration has announced new sanctions which are intended to hit the poorest Nicaraguans – both in their pockets and in the public services on which they depend.
Midterm Election Vote Against Authoritarianism
Ralph Nader, the legendary consumer advocate and former Green Party presidential candidate, has a message for the Democrats: Crush the GOP in 2022. Nader sees the Republican Party's embrace of authoritarianism as an existential moment for U.S. democracy, and the midterm elections as the key moment to defeat this rising tide of fascism.
Filibuster to Codify Roe v Wade
The 2022 midterm election represents a unique and historic opportunity to protect our democracy and our right to equality before the law against an unrelenting offensive being waged by the reactionary right. In an unprecedented move, the Democratic Party has committed itself to altering the Senate filibuster to pass voting rights, protect democracy, and codify Roe v Wade—but to do so they must maintain a majority in the US House and gain two seats in the Senate for a majority of 52.
No Person of Conscience Can Sit Out this Midterm Election
The 2022 midterm election represents a unique and historic opportunity to protect our democracy and our right to equality before the law against an unrelenting offensive being waged by the reactionary right. In an unprecedented move, the Democratic Party has committed itself to altering the Senate filibuster to pass voting rights, protect democracy, and codify Roe v Wade—but to do so they must maintain a majority in the US House and gain two seats in the Senate for a majority of 52.
Opinion | No Person of Conscience Can Sit Out this Midterm Election
Democracy and the very principle of a Society of Equals are on the ballot—and, yes, it's about the Economy too. The 2022 midterm election represents a unique and historic opportunity to protect our democracy and our right to equality before the law against an unrelenting offensive being waged by the reactionary right. We must mobilize now and vote for democracy, equality before the law, and economic policies that support the vast majority of Americans—by voting for Democrats in the midterms.
Everyone on Planet Earth Should Be Rooting for Climate Trailblazer Doyle Canning's Win in Oregon Original
You wouldn't know it from the mainstream press, but one of the most important elections of 2022 is happening in the southern part of Western Oregon this week. The people of the 4th district have an opportunity to choose climate activist and lawyer Doyle Canning as the Democratic Party nominee in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Peter DeFazio.
Opinion | Everyone on Planet Earth Should Be Rooting for Climate Trailblazer Doyle Canning's Win in Oregon
Opinion | Everyone on Planet Earth Should Be Rooting for Climate Trailblazer Doyle Canning's Win in Oregon | Alan Minsky
Nonalignment: An Urgent Imperative for the Global South
South Africa and other countries that have abstained from voting against Russia at the United Nations General Assembly in response to the war in Ukraine face intense international criticism. In South Africa, the domestic criticism has been extraordinarily shrill, and often clearly racialized.
On Censorship and Disinformation
The best way to combat disinformation is with more and better information. Censorship isn’t the answer. The Biden administration has reached a different conclusion, creating a “Disinformation Governance Board” under the Department of Homeland Security. This “board” is headed by Nina Jankowicz, an unelected official and an apparent partisan hack.
Progressives Need to Renew American Democracy
"America needs something more right now than a 'must-do' list from liberals and progressives. America needs a different story… the leaders, and thinkers, and activists who honestly tell that story and speak passionately of the moral and religious values it puts in play will be the first political generation since the New Deal to win power back for the people." —Bill Moyers, "A New Story for America" (2006). It has become nearly cliché to say we are enduring a crisis of democracy.
Make Italy Italy Again
Having lived two years in Italy decades ago, I fell in love with European programming when I discovered MHz a few years back. Naturally, I watched lots of French and German and Swedish shows too, but mostly I loved watching everything Italian I could find. And while it was as rejuvenating as a cold aranciata during ferragosto, watching the shows was unsettling, too. Italy had changed a great deal in forty years.
Democrats' Secret Sauce for Winning Midterms
The beginning of May before midterm elections marks the start of primary season and six months of fall campaigning. The conventional view this year is Democrats will be clobbered in November. Why? Because midterms are usually referendums on a president’s performance, and Biden’s approval ratings are in the cellar. But the conventional view could be wrong because it doesn’t account for the Democrat’s secret sauce, which gives them a fighting chance of keeping one or both chambers: Trump Sauce.
Jewelz for the Face by the Cartier Doctor
New York City, NY / February 2022—Accessories and jewelry are forms of luxurious expression that could never go wrong. They are powerful vehicles of style and elicit a sense of confidence in those who wear them.
Paul Delacourt champions UChicago's threat management degree
The Graham School at the University of Chicago originally introduced its Master of Science in Threat and Response Management over a decade ago. In the ten years or more since, the threat management degree program has gone from strength to strength, championed by the likes of adjunct lecturer and former FBI special agent Paul Delacourt. What follows is an opportunity to take a closer look at the University of Chicago's MSTRM program on his behalf.
A Nina Turner Victory Would Give Dems a Much Needed Shot in the Arm
Last August, on the day of the special election primary between Nina Turner and Shontel Brown, Common Dreams published my article "Nina Turner: A Champion of the People Redeeming Our Frayed Democracy." The piece focused on two things: 1. Why Nina Turner would be a brilliant addition to the US Congress, both as a Representative for the people of Northeast Ohio and for the national progressive movement; and 2. The unique dynamics of Ohio's 11th District.
A Victory for Nina Turner Is Exactly What the Democratic Party Needs
Last August, on the day of the special election primary between Nina Turner and Shontel Brown, Common Dreams published my article "Nina Turner: A Champion of the People Redeeming Our Frayed Democracy." The piece focused on two things: 1. Why Nina Turner would be a brilliant addition to the US Congress, both as a Representative for the people of Northeast Ohio and for the national progressive movement; and 2. The unique dynamics of Ohio's 11th District.
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