What if we have it all wrong? We accept unemployment, inflation, low wages, lack of access to healthcare and education, periodic recessions, ecological collapse, food insecurity and endless wars as inevitable. The underlying belief in a market driven system is the bedrock of our economy. We’ve handed our lives and resources over to a mechanism that doesn’t value humans or their well-being. But humans created this system and humans can change it. In her book Escape From Capitalism Clara Mattei makes the case that we can build systems that serve people not the market. Her organization is the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation (freeforum.org).

The cost to our nation from militarized borders goes beyond the cost of enforcement. Both legal and undocumented migrants pay into our tax system. They boost the economy by spending money on the basics like food and rent. Many of our skilled workers in tech and medicine are immigrants. They also are the backbone of construction, agriculture and food services. When we discourage people from entering or deport people already here we’re not safer, we’re poorer. John Washington takes a look at possible solutions in his book The Case for Open Borders.

When the Heritage Foundation published Project 2025 in 2023 the goals seemed so radical that many dismissed the threat as far-fetched. But as the Trump presidency steamrolls over accepted norms, court orders and public opinion much of that radical agenda is being implemented. In order to see where all this is leading one has to take a look at history and what life looked like for so many people in the past. In his book How We Win the Civil War Steve Phillips posits that the Confederacy never really surrendered and until we examine the past we can’t move forward into a better future. But he also maintains that the better future is realistically achievable. It’s all about mobilization.