We hear from citizen activist, Diana Kastenbaum, who organized a town meeting in her congressional district in Western New York State filled with both Democrats and Republicans airing their concerns.
Last week, we had discussions on the environmental impact of AI. Elizabeth Booker Attorney on Substack @ Bet it On Booker reported that Musk's xAI is polluting the air and water in the Blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Memphis.
With the ongoing removal of EPA protections and watch dogs dismantled polluters will become more prolific.
We need AI Ethics and Ethic Board of oversight for each industry adopted by states .
Thank you Ralph Nader & Team for the continued activism
I'll be linking to this story on Town Hall Citizen!
One of the problems I've faced is not being able to talk with anyone for help or advice. I've written about this here. Diana has a big advantage because she has a platform. She's a friend of Steve's.
I don't have a platform like Diana does. I'm not going to be on FB or X. I'm just some guy listening to Ralph and trying to do something. I would love to talk with Diana. Could someone put me in touch with her? You can reach me on the website.
Mr. Nader I beg you, please bring attention to GEORGIA right now!!! If people think the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant/"Construction Work in Progress" was a Boondoggle, well it's Nothing compared to the upcoming "SOLAR FARM JAMBOREE" aka, "DATA CENTERS"!!!!!!!! (SEE: GEORGIA POWER HEARINGS- YOU TUBE-2nd Round Of Hearings; 3rd Day of the Intergrated Resourse Plan/ . Docket # 570002.)
The town hall meetings that are happening are just theater. This is what happened in Florida district 7, Representative Corey Mills
I had visited his local office and got the runaround about pretty much everything. When I asked what it would take for him to have a town hall meeting, I was told that he had a few before. I receive his emails and never saw anything about a town hall meeting. I found out that they have a different email list, they select people who are supposed to attend those. I got on that list.
Then I received a call a few weeks later to confirm my email and that I would get an invitation for the meeting. I did receive the email for a "meeting" by phone. I had a code, so I could ask a question. I believe there were two emails, one for everybody and one for "the special people".
On the day of the meeting I called in and typed my code. Corey Mills came on the phone, talked about himself for 10 minutes, then started answering questions. At one point I was interrupted by a staffer to take my question.
My question never made it to the list. I know it wouldn't since it was vetted and it was a serious question about Medicaid cuts. In the end, Corey Mills answered about 6 or 7 questions, I am 100% sure that two of them were planted in there so he could spin his talking points. Maybe all of them were because they were so easy, praising him and sounding like they came from very naive people, not from real concerned citizens. The meeting was over in just under one hour. And they claimed that 220 thousand people were on the phone. Maybe 200 thousand very angry people
I sent an email after the meeting to voice my concerns about the way it was conducted and asking my question again. One thing I asked and I think many people should ask their MAGA republican representatives: what does Make America Great Again mean to them? Seriously, why did Corey Mills said MAGA so many times? I really want to know because for some, this country was never that great. For some, it was great when there was slavery and the civil rights laws didn't exist. Whatever they answer, there is a rebuttal. In most cases, one can argue that this country was somewhat great when rich people paid more taxes.
But I never received a reply to my email. Obviously
I can't tell if you listened to the episode, but Diana didn't go to a town hall at the invitation of the congressperson. She got together with her friends and summoned the representative to their meeting. Even though the rep didn't show up, the hundreds of people in attendance got to share their stories and their concerns in community. The press covered it and the congressperson was outed for not being there. And what has followed is a series of them all over the district, two a month. Diana took the power into her own hands.
I did listen and kudos to her. I was just trying to point out how ridiculous Congress has become. I know that there was at least one "cardboard" town hall meeting in my district but I am not in any social media and didn't hear about it until after. I asked a friend to let me know if she sees people organizing another one. I feel a bit like an impostor but I don't have the time or skills to organize anything. I don't have time to even be on social media because it is so easy to fall in the rabbit hole.
Thank you Ralph. As long as Americans continue to reward these two corrupt parties by voting for their Red and Blue cabal the American People will have no voice and no change. They will continue to do whatever they want and answer to AIPAC. These Hyenas do not belong in government.
Question to Norman Solomon or anyone from wrap-up segment. Now that AOC is a leading Candidate for President, which I think is scary. My feeling David Hogg should run for Congress or Mayor as a starting point so we can have a better candidate in a few years?
Part of the Town Hall Citizen is having a Department of Peace. Defensive capacities ain’t that.
The great Daniel Berrigan was asked to give a commencement speech. He walked to the podium, said these seven words then walked back to his seat: “Know where you stand and stand there”.
It's way past time for you to attend an emergency meeting with me as you continue to approach the problem with big money/the alleged Democratic Party as if it's business as usual clinging to the myth that we have two parties.
In major league baseball there are the American league and the National league. On paper they are two separate leagues but they are both under the control of MLB. So in practice and reality they are each one half of MLB.
The Dems and Repubs are two separate parties on paper but are both under the control of big money so in practice and reality they are each one half of the one big money party.
This is why 90% of the 2026 congressional elections are already decided in the gerrymandered districts making those districts one party districts no matter how you view the Dems and Repubs.
So let's organize the Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts and independents in both to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2026 instead of continuing to prop up the big money two party myth.
No one that takes big money is a progressive or liberal or conservative. They are just putting on show for the rubes while they work together for the big money interests.
We need a grassroots effort to demand that politicians do not take big money.
I talk to young people all the time. The reason why they don’t vote, don't care, and they don’t show up to town halls is because they’re apathetic. They don’t believe in the Democratic Party.
You're suggesting a platform of 1 item - publicly funded elections. IMO this isn’t near enough to turn theirs, or the millions of other non-voters heads.
I was at the Bernie rally in Denver - 30,000 people. Most of them younger. Why so many younger people? Because Bernie pitches a platform that’s essentially the same as ours at townhallcitizen.com.
If Bernie just said "publicly funded elections" no one would care.
Please read this piece that just came out on Levernews.com
David is exactly right and it's what I said in the comments below. Democrats waste time protesting. It's so discouraging. Full disclosure. I've wasted time protesting too. What Democrats haven't done, is what the Tea Party did.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party rose to take control of the Republican Party with what's been estimated as no more than 300k constituents.
The solution is what the Tea Party did. Form a citizens group that's at least 5 million people strong that takes control of the Democratic Party. Here's the platform. It's the New Deal but updated. I got 9 and 10 from Ralph.
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
We the people need to set the Democrats agenda. If we do, millions more will show up to vote and we'll turn back Trump and authoritarianism. Because this is what people want.
Looking at your ten points, what is your proposed policy strategy for achieving those points? Specifically, how do you propose achieving points 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10?
I'm an entrepreneur. I started in tech circa '87 with barely a 9th grade education. I'd never run a business. I was a waiter, I didn't know how to code. I thought "software" was something you ate with.
The issue is that there is an existing party which contains many of the points in your list, the Green Party. The problem is that the Green Party generally doesn't explain, at least not in a successful way, how they hope to achieve those goals and, thus, relatively few people who might be aligned with their goals take them seriously as a viable option.
The good news is that there are potential policy paths which can be taken to achieve your goals. The bad news is that there are a lot of false narratives out there, especially on economic matters of central importance, and so there has to be many discussions on that front in order for people to see a realistic way that the problems you're hoping to address can be successfully addressed.
I don't think the Green Party is about our 10 points. And the head of the party is constantly embroiled in controversy. She shows up once every 4 years. Who cares? I don't take her seriously.
But this isn't about forming a new party. Because as Ralph says, getting a new party going is all but impossible.
It's time to start anew. Form a citizens group. Ordinary people coming together and going forward with these 10 points and only these 10 points.
I've asked plenty of people how they feel about these 10 points. So far it's unanimous agreement. Surely there's at least 5 million people in the United States who agree.
I understand at the outset this sounds crazy. That some guy can start this. But stranger things have happened.
And as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
"I've asked plenty of people how they feel about these 10 points. So far it's unanimous agreement. Surely there's at least 5 million people in the United States who agree."
This is my exact point though. You'll have no problem finding 5 million people who agree with your 10 points, or at least most of them. Similarly, the Green Party's platform is full of positions which poll very strongly with progressives and even with the whole population in some cases. The problem is that even people sympathetic with the Green Party's platform have no reason to think that the Green Party has even the slightest clue on how to achieve their end goals. Thus, the Green Party is not worthy of being taken seriously.
Whether you're looking to start a party or a movement, the key is to be able to explain how meaningful reform can be achieved to accomplish the goals via policy. There is no shortage of people wanting peace and prosperity, but the problem is that people have differing definitions for these things and, even if there is consensus, the breakdown occurs when people do not see viable policy to achieve the goals.
Will town meetings like the one Diana Kastenbaum organized in upstate New York be able to counter the juggernaut of right-wing politics in the US? I’ve been involved in grassroots Democratic Party politics for decades and did not walk away until Bernie Sanders' primary run defeat in 2020. It may be too late. The movement of all three branches of the federal government under the dictatorial edicts of Donald Trump have overwhelmed those of goodwill to counter this insanity. That a genocide is being carried out in Gaza is hardly acknowledged in the US and among Israel’s allies. “Never again” is happening with the support of many, while many in the US, especially young people, have strong opinions, and have taken action to a limited extent on college and university campuses and on the streets where police repression and the repression of administrators at colleges and universities has been generally universal.
In terms of activism, besides continuing to write about and against these horrors, I’m going to protest against the Trump parade on June 14th.
The best town hall meeting is when someone yells something from the back of the room and know one completely hears or understands what he or she said.
Take the night our senior citizen Wanda yelled, " give them hell Buster'" , but Buster our new sheriff was not in the room nor anywhere to be found. And besides the meeting was about school lunches, what kids eat in my town is a big deal because sometimes it's the only meal some of our kids get. It's got to be more than just ' sloppy Joe's or sh__t on a shingle.
I saw an Elon Musk rocket go up the other day,, and it's cost could easily feed every day, every kid in America a great nutritional meal for a year.
Buster,, just showed up,, he said, " let's vote, come on folks, come on America we need great food for our kids every day right now ! '
It's really hard to do this. I'm not retired. I don't have a platform. So far, I'm alone. And the last thing I want to do is wade into the social media cess pool.
So what then?
Since I started townhallcitizen.com this is what I asked myself. Can I really do this? How will anyone know I exist if I won't do social media. BTW, this man organized without social media.
Then I asked myself do I really want to to have Trump in my head all day?
It all ended up to look like a battle and life is too short. But then I rallied. Where there's a will there's a way.
I'm going to post flyers around town and up and down the valley we live in. I'm going to call our local paper. Maybe only a few people will show up. But a few is a start. Because as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
But no one should get the idea that this is easy. Because it's not. It's hard, it's frustrating. There's so many obstacles that make you want to give up.
I stopped to read your link. Wow! The image of the earth and its blue waters connected to an opened water faucet that is draining away our pure, clear, drinkable water containing no lead gets right to the point. That water may be appropriated for those who can afford to go to Mars with Elon Musk . . . Yikes! Truly chilling. Water is life.
I seem to remember that episode of Ralph's. That was a passionate person speaking about the need to protect our water as part of the commons. Ralph himself sounded tremendously impressed. The ownership of the resources of our planet by all the peoples of the earth is one of Ralph's great reminders that has been nearly totally eclipsed. When I first heard about it from Ralph, which must have been decades ago. I had never heard the idea of a commons. Ideas seem to have a sense of crazy impossibility to them until they become a natual part of the language. I really could not get it. I was too steeped in the idea of private property. What we cannot conceive, we cannot create. We need to open our imagination in order to survive.
The idea that social media is the opposite of activism is startling. I did not want my personal information to be appropriated, so I kept clear of it. I did not consider RNRH or a few other places with limited participation and fascinating content to be social media, although I could be wrong. I think the main difficulty is the insidiousness of the theft and sale of our personal information and of corporate algorithms that create jittery zombies of us. Surveilance, too, is a serious problem, and I think serious technology is needed to stay clear of it.
It turns out that I am interested in the political considerations I have discovered on YouTube, which I did not realize was social media. To my surprise, it seems that I got into social media after all. Commenting on YouTube can be satisfying, since it seems pressing now to express the importance of resisting authoritarianism. However, it has been dawning on me that this may equate to the entertaining distraction of the Roman circus in another age.
Perhaps intentionally, social media can be a compelling distraction from difficult, effortful activism that could create the real changes we need, such as assuring clean drinking water to our people, without which we cannot survive, or creating a deeply buried, frozen repository of our organic non-GMO seed stock to assure the means to restore our healthy agriculture, or supporting our Constitutional rights of due process, because freedom also really matters.
The worst thing you can do is post on social media. The worst! It's nothing but a waste of time. In fact this is what the Trumpers want us to do. Because they want us to waste time and be distracted.
There's a really great piece on 404 Media that I've linked to on my site - Why You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism.
This excellent piece accurately sums up why posting back and forth with anons about Trump’s latest atrocities adds up to nothing more than poor health and lost time. Why, it “keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them”, “always reacting and never acting”. And, that social media convinces “ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action”.
But yet, those on the left and so called progressives ask us to "follow them"! When in fact it's a giant waste of time. Instead, we the people need to organize and follow what the Tea Party did. Ralph calls it the Coffee Party. I'm calling it the Radical Party.
Whatever, pick a name. The point is that the only way we're ever going to get out of this nightmare we're living in -- AI, Tech Overlords, Gaza, Trump, Authoritarianism, etc., is to form a citizens group that makes the Democrats do what we tell them -- or else they won't win elections. It's a really simple concept. Here's the platform I'm proposing:
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
That's it. Nothing else. Because everything else we want will happen if we just stick to these 10 things.
Ralph agrees with these 10. He said as much on his show two weeks ago.
The Democrats aren't going to change unless we force them to! So? Let's force them to. All we need to do, IMO, is get about 5 million people nationwide to join our citizens group. Or, about 1/3 or Bernie's followers (Bernie has 15 million followers). We do this, we're now in charge. Dems will have to do what we want or they'll lose elections.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party had no more than 300k constituents. But look what they accomplished. My god they took control of the Republican Party. We can do the same.
But not if we keep wasting time protesting, or posting. No. Because as the Notorious RBG once said, "Protests are important. But changing the culture means nothing if the law doesn't change".
Who makes the laws? Law makers. Who elects the law makers? We the people.
So c'mon, people. Let's do this. All we gotta do is get about 5 million people nationwide to join in and go forward with these 10 things -- which, btw, are just the New Deal, but updated. I got #'s 9 and 10 from Ralph.
You are right about the basic idea of a citizens group telling Dems if they don't do what we want they won't win elections (because they won't get our votes).
But nothing on your list will happen until the problem that you want to solve with publicly funded elections is solved. And publicly funded elections cannot solve that problem.
As you point out legislators make the laws. As long as the politicians take big money they will not pass the legislation to publicly fund elections no matter what they promise while campaigning. In order to pass that legislation the big money legislators must first be replaced by small donor legislators.
The problem has to be solved before the legislation to solve the problem can be passed.
The citizen's group we need to solve that problem needs only one demand- the politicians (Dems, Repubs, third party or independent) do not take big money and if they do they will not get our votes.
Your list enables the politicians to promise future action that they will never deliver while continuing to take big money feeding the problem. Citizens demanding that politicians do not take big money forces the politicians to take action now in order to earn our votes.
It’s the chicken and the egg. Sure, I could shorten the list to one item - publicly funded elections. But why stop there?
If the citizens group says “we won’t vote for you unless you back publicly funded elections”, why not also say, “we won’t vote for you unless you back publicly funded elections and Medicare for All”?
My point is we the people need to set the Democrats agenda. If we do that, millions more will show up to vote. Because they believe in Democrats.
I was at the Bernie rally in Denver - 30,000 people. Most of them younger. Why so many younger people? Because Bernie pitches a platform that’s essentially the same as ours. It’s what people want.
I talk to young people all the time. The reason why they don’t vote and they don’t show up to town halls is because they’re apathetic. They don’t believe in the Democratic Party.
So let’s create something they believe in.
A platform purely of publicly funded elections isn’t enough to turn theirs, or the millions of other non-voters heads.
You seem to have missed my point that publicly funded elections cannot solve the problem. The big money legislators will not pass the legislation.The big money legislators must first be replaced by small donor legislators before the legislation can be passed.
The problem has to be solved before the legislation to solve the problem can be passed.
As for why stop with one demand that politicians do not take big money and if they do they will not get our votes is that 80% of citizens want the big money out of politics including a majority of Republican voters.
This way citizens that agree on this one issue can work together on this issue they agree on even if they disagree on other issues. These citizens can work together to influence the Dems, Repubs, third party and independent politicians.
What I am proposing is that citizens declare they will not vote for candidates that take big money in 2026 by registering their intent on the One Demand website once it is updated for 2026. They can also pledge to contribute to small donor candidates.
This let's the politicians and other citizens know their intention before the election and verifies the reason the votes were cast as write in votes after the election.
The reason participants will cast a write in vote is if there are no small donor candidates on their ballot they cast a write in vote to register a vote against the big money candidates on the ballot and to create and demonstrate demand for small donor candidates in the next election.
Just 10% of voters participating in 2026 (instead of voting for Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts or not voting) would inspire more citizens to participate in 2028 and inspire some politicians to run small donor campaigns in 2028. This would inspire more citizens and politicians to participate in 2030.
Real progress in 4-6 years because it does not require legislation as opposed to waiting another fifty years for the big money politicians to pass legislation they are paid to not pass which is why they haven't done in the last fifty years.
For those of us who have a reluctant but passionate sense of needing to do "something" for which we feel totally inadequate, it is surprising how much difference it makes to hear your honest perspective about the very real challenges involved.
Interestingly, accepting what is actually true about the real challenges and difficulties of "doing something," rather than feeling discouraging, actually instead feels empowering. I can now see a different possibility.
I thought I needed to know what I was doing and to already be good at doing it, and to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart, none of which is true of me in the least. I may feel passionate about the importance of making change, but I'm just a tired old person with no experience and no time around the edges who wishes I could change the many ways our country falls short of what We the People truly need.
But what if I don't need to know what I'm doing, and what if I don't need to already be good at it, and what if I don't need to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart? What if whatever I am able to do at any moment, however tiny it may be, is exactly what I need to do.
Next, one has to be in a position in life to be able to afford to put in the time to be able to do this. Meaning, you either have too much money or too much time. That requirement right there eliminates 99% of the eligible population.
Then, in my experience it's been impossible to get help. I tried doing something else with Lauren Boebert - Vote Boebert Out. I sent in questions to David and Steve, never heard back.
I've tried contacting guests that Ralph has had on. Not one of them has ever replied to me. Nada. So Ralph has these people on, but us commoners can't ask them questions. It can be infuriating.
I think the worst is that this work requires diving (In a previous post I said "wading" - it's worse than that) into the cesspool called social media. Which means dealing with comments from the world's worst people. You might say "Ignore them". It's impossible. It's like peaking under the Christmas tree. You can't look just once. BTW why on earth folks like Ralph and these other people we're supposed to follow tell us to use social media is beyond me. Because they don't read our comments. And social media is a social disease.
There's other problems. Like the fact that young people aren't involved. I'm gonna get meetings going and I'll post the videos on my website. But I'll be you dollars to donuts the audience will be mostly older folks. I have an idea to get younger people to come, btw.
There's a reason why younger people don't care, have given up, don't pay attention, pick one. It's because of the machine. Even the so called progressives haven't figured out how to get younger people involved. So these "smart" people who went to Harvard, all these fancy schools, are really the dumbest. Because they can't even figure out how to get young people involved! Bernie is the closest, but even his machine has some gaping holes.
So yeah, this is really hard. But I'm gonna get some meetings going. Because I know it's the right thing to dol. And you watch me -- I'll get young people there.
Wonderful group of panelists.
Last week, we had discussions on the environmental impact of AI. Elizabeth Booker Attorney on Substack @ Bet it On Booker reported that Musk's xAI is polluting the air and water in the Blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Memphis.
With the ongoing removal of EPA protections and watch dogs dismantled polluters will become more prolific.
We need AI Ethics and Ethic Board of oversight for each industry adopted by states .
Thank you Ralph Nader & Team for the continued activism
A woman after my own heart! I'm not alone!
I'll be linking to this story on Town Hall Citizen!
One of the problems I've faced is not being able to talk with anyone for help or advice. I've written about this here. Diana has a big advantage because she has a platform. She's a friend of Steve's.
I don't have a platform like Diana does. I'm not going to be on FB or X. I'm just some guy listening to Ralph and trying to do something. I would love to talk with Diana. Could someone put me in touch with her? You can reach me on the website.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com
Who knew, Batavia stands up for Free Speech and the audience are seniors.. Feels good.
Mr. Nader I beg you, please bring attention to GEORGIA right now!!! If people think the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant/"Construction Work in Progress" was a Boondoggle, well it's Nothing compared to the upcoming "SOLAR FARM JAMBOREE" aka, "DATA CENTERS"!!!!!!!! (SEE: GEORGIA POWER HEARINGS- YOU TUBE-2nd Round Of Hearings; 3rd Day of the Intergrated Resourse Plan/ . Docket # 570002.)
The town hall meetings that are happening are just theater. This is what happened in Florida district 7, Representative Corey Mills
I had visited his local office and got the runaround about pretty much everything. When I asked what it would take for him to have a town hall meeting, I was told that he had a few before. I receive his emails and never saw anything about a town hall meeting. I found out that they have a different email list, they select people who are supposed to attend those. I got on that list.
Then I received a call a few weeks later to confirm my email and that I would get an invitation for the meeting. I did receive the email for a "meeting" by phone. I had a code, so I could ask a question. I believe there were two emails, one for everybody and one for "the special people".
On the day of the meeting I called in and typed my code. Corey Mills came on the phone, talked about himself for 10 minutes, then started answering questions. At one point I was interrupted by a staffer to take my question.
My question never made it to the list. I know it wouldn't since it was vetted and it was a serious question about Medicaid cuts. In the end, Corey Mills answered about 6 or 7 questions, I am 100% sure that two of them were planted in there so he could spin his talking points. Maybe all of them were because they were so easy, praising him and sounding like they came from very naive people, not from real concerned citizens. The meeting was over in just under one hour. And they claimed that 220 thousand people were on the phone. Maybe 200 thousand very angry people
I sent an email after the meeting to voice my concerns about the way it was conducted and asking my question again. One thing I asked and I think many people should ask their MAGA republican representatives: what does Make America Great Again mean to them? Seriously, why did Corey Mills said MAGA so many times? I really want to know because for some, this country was never that great. For some, it was great when there was slavery and the civil rights laws didn't exist. Whatever they answer, there is a rebuttal. In most cases, one can argue that this country was somewhat great when rich people paid more taxes.
But I never received a reply to my email. Obviously
I can't tell if you listened to the episode, but Diana didn't go to a town hall at the invitation of the congressperson. She got together with her friends and summoned the representative to their meeting. Even though the rep didn't show up, the hundreds of people in attendance got to share their stories and their concerns in community. The press covered it and the congressperson was outed for not being there. And what has followed is a series of them all over the district, two a month. Diana took the power into her own hands.
I did listen and kudos to her. I was just trying to point out how ridiculous Congress has become. I know that there was at least one "cardboard" town hall meeting in my district but I am not in any social media and didn't hear about it until after. I asked a friend to let me know if she sees people organizing another one. I feel a bit like an impostor but I don't have the time or skills to organize anything. I don't have time to even be on social media because it is so easy to fall in the rabbit hole.
Thank you Ralph. As long as Americans continue to reward these two corrupt parties by voting for their Red and Blue cabal the American People will have no voice and no change. They will continue to do whatever they want and answer to AIPAC. These Hyenas do not belong in government.
Question to Norman Solomon or anyone from wrap-up segment. Now that AOC is a leading Candidate for President, which I think is scary. My feeling David Hogg should run for Congress or Mayor as a starting point so we can have a better candidate in a few years?
Thank you
Thank you for broadcasting!!
Substack is terrible for conversation. Ghost is way better plus other benefits. But I wanted to add this.
Here’s an example of why we the people need to form a citizens group that makes the Democrats work for us instead of their donor class.
Today AOC and Bernie announced support for “defensive capacities” for Israel.
https://x.com/zei_squirrel/status/1930398201217007639?s=46
Part of the Town Hall Citizen is having a Department of Peace. Defensive capacities ain’t that.
The great Daniel Berrigan was asked to give a commencement speech. He walked to the podium, said these seven words then walked back to his seat: “Know where you stand and stand there”.
We need to do the same.
Ralph,
It's way past time for you to attend an emergency meeting with me as you continue to approach the problem with big money/the alleged Democratic Party as if it's business as usual clinging to the myth that we have two parties.
In major league baseball there are the American league and the National league. On paper they are two separate leagues but they are both under the control of MLB. So in practice and reality they are each one half of MLB.
The Dems and Repubs are two separate parties on paper but are both under the control of big money so in practice and reality they are each one half of the one big money party.
This is why 90% of the 2026 congressional elections are already decided in the gerrymandered districts making those districts one party districts no matter how you view the Dems and Repubs.
So let's organize the Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts and independents in both to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2026 instead of continuing to prop up the big money two party myth.
No one that takes big money is a progressive or liberal or conservative. They are just putting on show for the rubes while they work together for the big money interests.
We need a grassroots effort to demand that politicians do not take big money.
Howdy Don,
I talk to young people all the time. The reason why they don’t vote, don't care, and they don’t show up to town halls is because they’re apathetic. They don’t believe in the Democratic Party.
You're suggesting a platform of 1 item - publicly funded elections. IMO this isn’t near enough to turn theirs, or the millions of other non-voters heads.
I was at the Bernie rally in Denver - 30,000 people. Most of them younger. Why so many younger people? Because Bernie pitches a platform that’s essentially the same as ours at townhallcitizen.com.
If Bernie just said "publicly funded elections" no one would care.
Please read this piece that just came out on Levernews.com
https://www.levernews.com/the-trump-protests-will-fail-unless-people-do-this/
David is exactly right and it's what I said in the comments below. Democrats waste time protesting. It's so discouraging. Full disclosure. I've wasted time protesting too. What Democrats haven't done, is what the Tea Party did.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party rose to take control of the Republican Party with what's been estimated as no more than 300k constituents.
The solution is what the Tea Party did. Form a citizens group that's at least 5 million people strong that takes control of the Democratic Party. Here's the platform. It's the New Deal but updated. I got 9 and 10 from Ralph.
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
We the people need to set the Democrats agenda. If we do, millions more will show up to vote and we'll turn back Trump and authoritarianism. Because this is what people want.
spinbackwards,
Looking at your ten points, what is your proposed policy strategy for achieving those points? Specifically, how do you propose achieving points 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10?
I don't know! I've never done it before!
But I bet the Tea Party didn't know, either.
I'm an entrepreneur. I started in tech circa '87 with barely a 9th grade education. I'd never run a business. I was a waiter, I didn't know how to code. I thought "software" was something you ate with.
But here's what I do know.
The surest way to fail is to not start.
The issue is that there is an existing party which contains many of the points in your list, the Green Party. The problem is that the Green Party generally doesn't explain, at least not in a successful way, how they hope to achieve those goals and, thus, relatively few people who might be aligned with their goals take them seriously as a viable option.
The good news is that there are potential policy paths which can be taken to achieve your goals. The bad news is that there are a lot of false narratives out there, especially on economic matters of central importance, and so there has to be many discussions on that front in order for people to see a realistic way that the problems you're hoping to address can be successfully addressed.
Here's examples of people using their power.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/people-using-their-power/
We can do this.
I don't think the Green Party is about our 10 points. And the head of the party is constantly embroiled in controversy. She shows up once every 4 years. Who cares? I don't take her seriously.
But this isn't about forming a new party. Because as Ralph says, getting a new party going is all but impossible.
It's time to start anew. Form a citizens group. Ordinary people coming together and going forward with these 10 points and only these 10 points.
I've asked plenty of people how they feel about these 10 points. So far it's unanimous agreement. Surely there's at least 5 million people in the United States who agree.
I understand at the outset this sounds crazy. That some guy can start this. But stranger things have happened.
And as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
"I've asked plenty of people how they feel about these 10 points. So far it's unanimous agreement. Surely there's at least 5 million people in the United States who agree."
This is my exact point though. You'll have no problem finding 5 million people who agree with your 10 points, or at least most of them. Similarly, the Green Party's platform is full of positions which poll very strongly with progressives and even with the whole population in some cases. The problem is that even people sympathetic with the Green Party's platform have no reason to think that the Green Party has even the slightest clue on how to achieve their end goals. Thus, the Green Party is not worthy of being taken seriously.
Whether you're looking to start a party or a movement, the key is to be able to explain how meaningful reform can be achieved to accomplish the goals via policy. There is no shortage of people wanting peace and prosperity, but the problem is that people have differing definitions for these things and, even if there is consensus, the breakdown occurs when people do not see viable policy to achieve the goals.
Will town meetings like the one Diana Kastenbaum organized in upstate New York be able to counter the juggernaut of right-wing politics in the US? I’ve been involved in grassroots Democratic Party politics for decades and did not walk away until Bernie Sanders' primary run defeat in 2020. It may be too late. The movement of all three branches of the federal government under the dictatorial edicts of Donald Trump have overwhelmed those of goodwill to counter this insanity. That a genocide is being carried out in Gaza is hardly acknowledged in the US and among Israel’s allies. “Never again” is happening with the support of many, while many in the US, especially young people, have strong opinions, and have taken action to a limited extent on college and university campuses and on the streets where police repression and the repression of administrators at colleges and universities has been generally universal.
In terms of activism, besides continuing to write about and against these horrors, I’m going to protest against the Trump parade on June 14th.
What a fascinating and diverse program! Thank you!
The best town hall meeting is when someone yells something from the back of the room and know one completely hears or understands what he or she said.
Take the night our senior citizen Wanda yelled, " give them hell Buster'" , but Buster our new sheriff was not in the room nor anywhere to be found. And besides the meeting was about school lunches, what kids eat in my town is a big deal because sometimes it's the only meal some of our kids get. It's got to be more than just ' sloppy Joe's or sh__t on a shingle.
I saw an Elon Musk rocket go up the other day,, and it's cost could easily feed every day, every kid in America a great nutritional meal for a year.
Buster,, just showed up,, he said, " let's vote, come on folks, come on America we need great food for our kids every day right now ! '
" Give them hell Buster' '
Is that you Wanda?
Good luck America have a great day my friends.
Adding this.
It's really hard to do this. I'm not retired. I don't have a platform. So far, I'm alone. And the last thing I want to do is wade into the social media cess pool.
So what then?
Since I started townhallcitizen.com this is what I asked myself. Can I really do this? How will anyone know I exist if I won't do social media. BTW, this man organized without social media.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/ralph-nader-podcast-fighting-for-water-social-media-hinders-organizing/
Then I asked myself do I really want to to have Trump in my head all day?
It all ended up to look like a battle and life is too short. But then I rallied. Where there's a will there's a way.
I'm going to post flyers around town and up and down the valley we live in. I'm going to call our local paper. Maybe only a few people will show up. But a few is a start. Because as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
But no one should get the idea that this is easy. Because it's not. It's hard, it's frustrating. There's so many obstacles that make you want to give up.
I stopped to read your link. Wow! The image of the earth and its blue waters connected to an opened water faucet that is draining away our pure, clear, drinkable water containing no lead gets right to the point. That water may be appropriated for those who can afford to go to Mars with Elon Musk . . . Yikes! Truly chilling. Water is life.
I seem to remember that episode of Ralph's. That was a passionate person speaking about the need to protect our water as part of the commons. Ralph himself sounded tremendously impressed. The ownership of the resources of our planet by all the peoples of the earth is one of Ralph's great reminders that has been nearly totally eclipsed. When I first heard about it from Ralph, which must have been decades ago. I had never heard the idea of a commons. Ideas seem to have a sense of crazy impossibility to them until they become a natual part of the language. I really could not get it. I was too steeped in the idea of private property. What we cannot conceive, we cannot create. We need to open our imagination in order to survive.
The idea that social media is the opposite of activism is startling. I did not want my personal information to be appropriated, so I kept clear of it. I did not consider RNRH or a few other places with limited participation and fascinating content to be social media, although I could be wrong. I think the main difficulty is the insidiousness of the theft and sale of our personal information and of corporate algorithms that create jittery zombies of us. Surveilance, too, is a serious problem, and I think serious technology is needed to stay clear of it.
It turns out that I am interested in the political considerations I have discovered on YouTube, which I did not realize was social media. To my surprise, it seems that I got into social media after all. Commenting on YouTube can be satisfying, since it seems pressing now to express the importance of resisting authoritarianism. However, it has been dawning on me that this may equate to the entertaining distraction of the Roman circus in another age.
Perhaps intentionally, social media can be a compelling distraction from difficult, effortful activism that could create the real changes we need, such as assuring clean drinking water to our people, without which we cannot survive, or creating a deeply buried, frozen repository of our organic non-GMO seed stock to assure the means to restore our healthy agriculture, or supporting our Constitutional rights of due process, because freedom also really matters.
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
Excerpt from William Wordsworth
The worst thing you can do is post on social media. The worst! It's nothing but a waste of time. In fact this is what the Trumpers want us to do. Because they want us to waste time and be distracted.
There's a really great piece on 404 Media that I've linked to on my site - Why You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism.
https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/?ref=townhallcitizen.com
This excellent piece accurately sums up why posting back and forth with anons about Trump’s latest atrocities adds up to nothing more than poor health and lost time. Why, it “keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them”, “always reacting and never acting”. And, that social media convinces “ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action”.
But yet, those on the left and so called progressives ask us to "follow them"! When in fact it's a giant waste of time. Instead, we the people need to organize and follow what the Tea Party did. Ralph calls it the Coffee Party. I'm calling it the Radical Party.
Whatever, pick a name. The point is that the only way we're ever going to get out of this nightmare we're living in -- AI, Tech Overlords, Gaza, Trump, Authoritarianism, etc., is to form a citizens group that makes the Democrats do what we tell them -- or else they won't win elections. It's a really simple concept. Here's the platform I'm proposing:
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
That's it. Nothing else. Because everything else we want will happen if we just stick to these 10 things.
Ralph agrees with these 10. He said as much on his show two weeks ago.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/ralph-nader-gives-thumbs-up-to-town-hall-citizen-platform/
The Democrats aren't going to change unless we force them to! So? Let's force them to. All we need to do, IMO, is get about 5 million people nationwide to join our citizens group. Or, about 1/3 or Bernie's followers (Bernie has 15 million followers). We do this, we're now in charge. Dems will have to do what we want or they'll lose elections.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party had no more than 300k constituents. But look what they accomplished. My god they took control of the Republican Party. We can do the same.
But not if we keep wasting time protesting, or posting. No. Because as the Notorious RBG once said, "Protests are important. But changing the culture means nothing if the law doesn't change".
Who makes the laws? Law makers. Who elects the law makers? We the people.
So c'mon, people. Let's do this. All we gotta do is get about 5 million people nationwide to join in and go forward with these 10 things -- which, btw, are just the New Deal, but updated. I got #'s 9 and 10 from Ralph.
Who's in?
You are right about the basic idea of a citizens group telling Dems if they don't do what we want they won't win elections (because they won't get our votes).
But nothing on your list will happen until the problem that you want to solve with publicly funded elections is solved. And publicly funded elections cannot solve that problem.
As you point out legislators make the laws. As long as the politicians take big money they will not pass the legislation to publicly fund elections no matter what they promise while campaigning. In order to pass that legislation the big money legislators must first be replaced by small donor legislators.
The problem has to be solved before the legislation to solve the problem can be passed.
The citizen's group we need to solve that problem needs only one demand- the politicians (Dems, Repubs, third party or independent) do not take big money and if they do they will not get our votes.
Your list enables the politicians to promise future action that they will never deliver while continuing to take big money feeding the problem. Citizens demanding that politicians do not take big money forces the politicians to take action now in order to earn our votes.
Howdy Don,
Check this out:
https://www.levernews.com/the-trump-protests-will-fail-unless-people-do-this/
David is exactly right.
Protests mean nothing unless people come together to change the system.
That means forming a citizens group to take control of the Democratic Party!
C’mon, people. Let’s do this!
It’s the chicken and the egg. Sure, I could shorten the list to one item - publicly funded elections. But why stop there?
If the citizens group says “we won’t vote for you unless you back publicly funded elections”, why not also say, “we won’t vote for you unless you back publicly funded elections and Medicare for All”?
My point is we the people need to set the Democrats agenda. If we do that, millions more will show up to vote. Because they believe in Democrats.
I was at the Bernie rally in Denver - 30,000 people. Most of them younger. Why so many younger people? Because Bernie pitches a platform that’s essentially the same as ours. It’s what people want.
I talk to young people all the time. The reason why they don’t vote and they don’t show up to town halls is because they’re apathetic. They don’t believe in the Democratic Party.
So let’s create something they believe in.
A platform purely of publicly funded elections isn’t enough to turn theirs, or the millions of other non-voters heads.
The chicken and egg thing is not a thing. When it comes to which came first the chicken or the egg it has to be the chicken because eggs don't come.
You seem to have missed my point that publicly funded elections cannot solve the problem. The big money legislators will not pass the legislation.The big money legislators must first be replaced by small donor legislators before the legislation can be passed.
The problem has to be solved before the legislation to solve the problem can be passed.
As for why stop with one demand that politicians do not take big money and if they do they will not get our votes is that 80% of citizens want the big money out of politics including a majority of Republican voters.
This way citizens that agree on this one issue can work together on this issue they agree on even if they disagree on other issues. These citizens can work together to influence the Dems, Repubs, third party and independent politicians.
What I am proposing is that citizens declare they will not vote for candidates that take big money in 2026 by registering their intent on the One Demand website once it is updated for 2026. They can also pledge to contribute to small donor candidates.
This let's the politicians and other citizens know their intention before the election and verifies the reason the votes were cast as write in votes after the election.
The reason participants will cast a write in vote is if there are no small donor candidates on their ballot they cast a write in vote to register a vote against the big money candidates on the ballot and to create and demonstrate demand for small donor candidates in the next election.
Just 10% of voters participating in 2026 (instead of voting for Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts or not voting) would inspire more citizens to participate in 2028 and inspire some politicians to run small donor campaigns in 2028. This would inspire more citizens and politicians to participate in 2030.
Real progress in 4-6 years because it does not require legislation as opposed to waiting another fifty years for the big money politicians to pass legislation they are paid to not pass which is why they haven't done in the last fifty years.
For those of us who have a reluctant but passionate sense of needing to do "something" for which we feel totally inadequate, it is surprising how much difference it makes to hear your honest perspective about the very real challenges involved.
Interestingly, accepting what is actually true about the real challenges and difficulties of "doing something," rather than feeling discouraging, actually instead feels empowering. I can now see a different possibility.
I thought I needed to know what I was doing and to already be good at doing it, and to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart, none of which is true of me in the least. I may feel passionate about the importance of making change, but I'm just a tired old person with no experience and no time around the edges who wishes I could change the many ways our country falls short of what We the People truly need.
But what if I don't need to know what I'm doing, and what if I don't need to already be good at it, and what if I don't need to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart? What if whatever I am able to do at any moment, however tiny it may be, is exactly what I need to do.
Hmmm.
See my comment above.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ralphnader/p/the-tale-of-a-town-meeting?r=16krn&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=122635577
It's even harder than I summarized.
First, one has to have the time to put into this.
Next, one has to be in a position in life to be able to afford to put in the time to be able to do this. Meaning, you either have too much money or too much time. That requirement right there eliminates 99% of the eligible population.
Then, in my experience it's been impossible to get help. I tried doing something else with Lauren Boebert - Vote Boebert Out. I sent in questions to David and Steve, never heard back.
I've tried contacting guests that Ralph has had on. Not one of them has ever replied to me. Nada. So Ralph has these people on, but us commoners can't ask them questions. It can be infuriating.
I think the worst is that this work requires diving (In a previous post I said "wading" - it's worse than that) into the cesspool called social media. Which means dealing with comments from the world's worst people. You might say "Ignore them". It's impossible. It's like peaking under the Christmas tree. You can't look just once. BTW why on earth folks like Ralph and these other people we're supposed to follow tell us to use social media is beyond me. Because they don't read our comments. And social media is a social disease.
There's other problems. Like the fact that young people aren't involved. I'm gonna get meetings going and I'll post the videos on my website. But I'll be you dollars to donuts the audience will be mostly older folks. I have an idea to get younger people to come, btw.
There's a reason why younger people don't care, have given up, don't pay attention, pick one. It's because of the machine. Even the so called progressives haven't figured out how to get younger people involved. So these "smart" people who went to Harvard, all these fancy schools, are really the dumbest. Because they can't even figure out how to get young people involved! Bernie is the closest, but even his machine has some gaping holes.
So yeah, this is really hard. But I'm gonna get some meetings going. Because I know it's the right thing to dol. And you watch me -- I'll get young people there.
https://open.substack.com/pub/peterbahouth/p/lets-get-visceral?r=1a90o4&utm_medium=ios
Ha, ha, ha, ha, so real, so alive!