TRUMP'S FATAL FLAW

Overreach and Opportunity: Why It’s Time for Democrats to Embrace the Sanders Platform

Donald Trump and his enablers have made a fatal error. In their arrogant rush to seize total control of the U.S. government, they overplayed their hand. Project 2025, crafted by the Heritage Foundation and carried forward by operatives like Stephen Miller, was supposed to be the blueprint for a gradual erosion of democracy. Instead, it reads like a confession of authoritarian ambition.

And that’s the only good thing about it.

Had they been smarter, they would have hidden their plans behind layers of policy-speak and slow procedural change. They would have taken the long road, incrementally replacing civil servants with loyalists, quietly undermining independent agencies, and stealthily fusing church with state. However, subtlety has never been Trump’s strength. In his world, power must be loud, fast, and unrepentant. And so, Project 2025 was published, not leaked, not inferred, but declared.

Now, the American people are staring tyranny in the face. And while many are still rubbing their eyes, unsure of what they’re seeing, a critical mass is beginning to awaken.

This is not a moment for politics as usual.

The Democratic Party cannot continue campaigning on modest reforms, vague slogans, or bipartisan nostalgia. That kind of incrementalism brought us to this cliff. It will not lead us back. Instead, Democrats must seize this moment to redefine themselves, and perhaps even rename themselves around a bold, moral, and transformative agenda.

And that agenda already exists. Bernie Sanders has been articulating it for decades.

This is the time for democratic socialism, not as an abstract ideal, but as a living, breathing political movement. One that prioritizes working people over Wall Street, universal healthcare over corporate profit, climate justice over fossil fuel subsidies, and expanded public ownership over privatization and greed.

Project 2025 is a blueprint for oligarchy.
Project 2029 must be a blueprint for shared power, economic democracy, and moral government.

What Trump and his allies offer is rule by the few, for the few. The correct, and only, response is a government by the many, for the many. A politics rooted not in appeasement, but in principle, not in polling, but in justice.

The opportunity is now. Not in 2028. Not after another round of cautious compromise. Now.

The Democrats must stop playing defense and start leading a movement. They must become the unapologetic voice of working people, the marginalized, and those who believe the American experiment is not dead but in desperate need of rescue.

Trump has made his intentions clear. So should we.

And if the Democratic Party cannot rise to meet this moment, then perhaps it’s time for a new party that can.

William James Spriggs

WE WERE NOT HERE

We Were Not Here

We were not here.
No mark remains, no echo rings.
In the vast halls of the universe.
Our atoms scatter, past or future, 
Never now.

The moment just passed does not exist.
The moment to come is unborn.
And this moment?
Already fading,
Dissolving
As we try to name it.

We live between illusions,
Held in place by breath and memory,
Make-believing that presence is real.
But it is not.
We are not.

Particles playing roles,
Stories in dust,
We vanish even as we speak.

And perhaps,
Just perhaps,
That is enough.

To vanish beautifully.
To exist without permanence.
To love, to ache, to reach,
And leave no need
For how or why.

William James Spriggs

HAMBURGER OR STEAK

From Hamburgers to Steak: What It Will Take for Democrats to Win in 2028

Suppose the Democratic Party hopes to regain government control in 2029 and put forth the bold vision of Project 2029, a future grounded in justice, equity, and economic democracy. In that case, it must stop nibbling around the edges of progress and finally serve the main course: a socialist agenda that excites, inspires, and mobilizes.

For decades, Democrats have played a cautious game offering modest proposals, trimmed-down reforms, and half-hearted resistance to Republican extremism. They've promised a slightly better version of the status quo: a more affordable healthcare plan, a tax tweak, a plea for unity everywhere. But in an age of profound inequality, rising authoritarianism, and environmental catastrophe, the status quo is no longer an option. You don’t beat a wildfire with a garden hose.

The lesson was made clear in a recent local race in New York City, where a socialist-backed candidate defeated the mainstream Democratic pick in the primary. The race was small, but the signal was strong: there is a growing hunger on the left for real, structural change, not cosmetic reforms. And when candidates embrace that message unapologetically. They can win.

The Democratic Party must recognize that its most passionate, energetic base is not in the middle of the road. It is in the core socialist contingent, young voters, working people, climate activists, progressives of every stripe, who believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege; that housing should be for people, not profit; that billionaires should not exist in a nation where children go hungry.

This group may be small now, but it has one thing moderates don’t: a vision. And vision spreads.

Bernie Sanders proved this when he electrified millions, not by moderating his views, but by embracing them fully and fearlessly. Crowds didn’t come because he was safe. They came because he was bold. They came because he offered steak, not a better hamburger.

The Democrats must now decide: Do they continue to triangulate, compromise, and sell incremental change to a nation on fire? Or do they finally embrace the ideals that can rescue democracy and rebuild America from the ground up?

Winning in 2028 will require more than beating the Republicans at their own game. It will require changing the game entirely.

That means:

• Embracing democratic socialism as a legitimate and necessary force for justice.
• Promoting candidates who speak, passionately, and radically about what working people deserve.
• Building coalitions from the ground up, not just with donors and lobbyists, but with teachers, nurses, organizers, and the disillusioned.
• Rejecting the notion that boldness is political suicide. On the contrary, it may be the only lifeline left.

The American people aren’t hungry for better slogans. They’re hungry for a moral movement. A reason to believe again. A reason to fight.

The Democrats have a choice: serve the steak, or be left behind in the drive-thru line.

WilliamJames Spriggs

WHERE KINDNESS GROWS

WHERE KINDNESS LIVES

In halls where golden years grow dim,
And time walks slow with aching limb,
There shines a quiet, steadfast light,
A few good souls who make things right.

They do not boast, they wear no crown,
They do not seek the world’s renown.
But when you stumble, lost or low,
They’re there, just gently saying, “Hello.”

Wayne, who smiles with eyes that see,
Maria’s calm serenity,
Reggy's song, and Sharon’s grace,
Tony’s heart and Donna’s pace.

They walk these halls with open hearts,
And play the most essential parts.
They ask not what, but how you are,
They notice silence from afar.

They weather storms we cannot tame,
Still greet each sunrise just the same.
Their empathy, a healing thread,
That stitches hope where it has bled.

No spotlight shines upon their way,
No trophy shelf, no grand display,
But every act, each selfless deed,
Is how they plant a kinder seed.

They share, they lift, they lead without
A single whispered word of doubt.
No medals earned, no thanks required,
Their simple goodness never tired.

If all the world could learn their art,
To ask, to care, to hold a heart,
Then even age would feel less cold,
And life, less heavy to behold.

So here’s to them, the quiet few,
Who carry us when days feel blue.
They light the path, they smooth the climb,
The saints of our ungrateful time.

  

DUST IN THE WIND

 I clI close my eyes

Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh, oh

Now don't hang on
Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)

Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
(In the wind)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Kerry Livgren

Dust in the Wind lyrics © Emi Blackwood Music Inc., Don Kirshner Music

Kansas – Dust in the Wind Lyrics

THE FORGOTTEN VIRTUE

The Forgotten Virtue: Empathy

In the long arc of evolution, our survival has depended on far more than strength or cunning. We have endured and flourished not because we were the fastest or fiercest but because we could understand one another. Empathy, our intuitive ability to feel the world through another’s eyes, is embedded in our DNA. It is not just a moral ideal; it is a biological imperative.

Had we not evolved the ability to care, share, defer, and cooperate, we would have destroyed each other millennia ago. The capacity to avoid unnecessary harm to choose understanding over violence, restraint over theft, and compassion over cruelty is the bedrock of civilization. It is what allowed our ancestors to build tribes, then towns, then nations. And yet, in modern America and much of the developed world, empathy has gone missing.

We now live in an age where self-interest is elevated to virtue, greed is mistaken for strength, cruelty is cheered as honesty, and compassion is dismissed as weakness. In this distorted worldview, empathy is no longer a shared instinct  but a foreign concept rarely practiced and almost never taught. No institution in America treats empathy as essential, from our schools to our boardrooms to our houses of worship. And yet, it is the one virtue that could save us all.

We must correct this course urgently.

Empathy must no longer be left to chance or childhood whim. It must become an intellectual discipline, a civic requirement, and a cultural cornerstone. We must teach it in classrooms, practice it in politics, reinforce it in business, and live it in our daily lives because empathy is not just about being nice. It is about being wise. It is about recognizing that my survival depends on yours, that my dignity is bound up in yours.

If we hope to preserve democracy, we must first rediscover our moral compass, and morality begins with empathy. Without it, capitalism runs riot, religion becomes a tool of judgment rather than love, and the fragile bonds of civil society dissolve into tribal chaos. But with empathy, we can temper our markets, humanize our policies, and reconnect our fractured communities.

Empathy is not a soft skill. It is a survival skill. And it must be treated with the urgency of a nation on the brink because that is where we are. The ancient wisdom of the Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is not a quaint saying. It is a strategic imperative. It is time to breathe life back into it.

Because without empathy, there is no morality.
Without morality, there is no society.
And without society, there is no future.

William James Spriggs

WE WERE HERE FIRST

WE WERE HERE FIRST

There is no enduring custom in America to honor our elders. No rite, no reverence, no rule. Instead, a grotesque reversal of roles has crept into our culture, one in which the children have appointed themselves as the parents and the elders are cast as helpless dependents in need of scolding, managing, or babysitting.

This is not just misguided. It is insulting. It is an abomination.

To be old in America is to be condescended to. The language used is soft, sing-song, and patronizing as if we were toddlers who needed their shoes tied and their meals cut. The tone is one of pity. The advice is unsolicited and often absurd. The universal assumption is that aging robs you of intellect, insight, independence, and basic human worth.

Let’s be clear: this is a myth.

Most elders are not suffering from cognitive collapse. Many remain sharp, witty, thoughtful, and fully engaged with the world around them. More importantly, we bring to the table something our critics lack. We have lived, built, endured, lost, loved, raised families, led careers, and shaped the very systems in which today’s “advisors” operate.

To those who treat us as simple-minded burdens to manage, ask yourselves: have you published books? Commanded troops? Run businesses? Drafted legislation? Healed patients? Represented clients in court? Fought for civil rights? Changed lives?

Because we have, and we did it before you were born.

This ageism masquerading as concern is often nothing more than fear and ignorance in disguise. It allows the young to feel superior for a moment while conveniently ignoring the fact that their parents and grandparents paved the roads they now drive on, literally and figuratively. They forget that we’re the ones who paid for their education, carried their worries, and absorbed their tantrums with the patience they now lack.

So here is a radical suggestion: turn the tables back. It’s time we remind the younger generation that wisdom does not shrink with age. It accumulates. Respect is not optional. It is earned, and we have earned it in full. Guidance, when it comes from those who’ve lived through war, depression, love, loss, and change, is not to be mocked. It is to be sought out and treasured.

Children of America: you may hold the car keys now, but we built the road. A little humility would serve you well. And a lot more respect is overdue.

We are not your children.
We are your elders.
Start acting like it.

William James Spriggs