Dear Progressive Reader,

Shortly after last Saturday’s newsletter went out, an earthshaking political event took place. On Sunday July 21, President Joe Biden announced to the nation that he would not seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for President in the 2024 election. It was the sort of announcement not previously heard during the lifetimes of about two-thirds of the U.S. population. The last time a sitting President pulled out of the race was when Lyndon Johnson, embroiled in an unpopular foreign war, told the country on live television: “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

I wrote about Johnson’s decision in a previous newsletter last March, the similarities are notable—up to and including the fact that this year’s Democratic National Convention is again taking place in Chicago, where a candidate who has not stood in a primary will be chosen by delegates amid a series of planned protests in the streets outside the convention hall. The Democratic Party is quickly unifying around the anticipated nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris.

As of this writing, Harris's nomination at the DNC in Chicago is fairly certain. As Harris told attendees at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earlier this week, that she has now secured the votes of enough delegates to gain the nomination on the first round of voting.  However, as Bill Lueders points out this week, Harris will face a flurry of attacks and slurs from Republicans and others in the coming weeks and months. And in order to win in November, John Nichols writes this week, “Harris needs to amplify the economic and social and racial justice messages that have been central to progressive politics since the days when [Robert M.] La Follette promised, ‘The will of the people shall be the law of the land.’ ”

The Democratic Party must listen to its own history and ideals, and to the concerns of everyday working people to craft its message this year. However, Biden and the close advisers in his campaign did not seem to be getting this message. When I listened to Biden’s interview on July 5 with George Stephanopoulos, I was amazed at how it seemed the only campaign tool Biden felt he could use was the language of Donald Trump: “look how big our crowds are,” “no one has ever done as much as we have,” “I alone can beat the other guy,” and to me most concerning, “I only hear those criticisms from the press.” None of these statements, whether true or not, addressed the bottom line concerns of U.S. voters—the blank check for war and militarism, the runaway cost of groceries and housing, and an environment hurtling toward disaster.

Biden’s reluctance to step aside, in spite of numerous calls, requests, and even threats to funding from numerous sectors led me to turn to the last page of the Greek tragedy Antigone: “Great words by men of pride bring greater blows upon them.” Now that he has finally made the choice (which is a 180-degree counterpoint to Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021), it is time for the Democrats to move forward and take on the progressive goals and ideals that have broad appeal across the nation and that will help us to address the real needs of the majority of Americans (and others around the globe).

In other stories on our website this week, Jeff Abbott reports from Guatemala on an important step toward seeking justice for the parents of tens of thousands of children illegally adopted between 1977 and 2008; Mike Ervin reflects on the thirty-fourth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and David Helvarg looks at the irreversible damage to Florida’s coral reef. Plus, Carol Burris calls for an end to federal funding of for-profit charter schools; Arvind Dilawar examines Israel’s two-tiered justice system; and Christopher Cook opines on the anti-worker sentiments of Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance.

Finally, I want to sadly note the passing of David Giffey (December 20, 1941 – July 19, 2024). Giffey was a lifelong peace activist and advocate for workers rights and racial justice. His 2006 book Long Shadows: Veterans’ Paths to Peace (with an introduction by Howard Zinn) tells the stories of men and women who fought various wars over seven decades, all convinced by their experiences to become activists and advocates for peace and an end to militarism. Giffey and his work will be long remembered by everyone who knew him and whose lives he touched.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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