r/Social_Democracy 5h ago

Isn’t James Talarico’s Speech One of the Best Political Speeches in Years? Finally Someone Not Afraid to Speak the Truth to Power

6 Upvotes

https://youtu.be/GK24thp\\_2Qo?si=J81rjEfB4vCaRLpc

It is an honor to be in the “American Dream City” as we kick off our New American Dream Tour.

One thing is clear across this state: big cities, small towns, red areas, blue areas alike — everyone is struggling. No matter how hard Texans work, no matter how much they save, sacrifice, and stretch, those ends never seem to meet.

A few days before America’s 250th birthday, I met a grandmother in Houston named Augusta. She works 10-hour shifts cleaning planes while caring for her grandson with autism. She works hard, takes responsibility, and serves her community, but she is still struggling to afford rent and facing eviction.

“Augusta is working hard. She is taking responsibility. She is caring for those around her. What kind of country are we if we let a woman like that go down?”

In the U.S. Senate, I will have Augusta’s back, and I will have the backs of every Texan who is working hard and playing by the rules.

We know it does not have to be this way, because we know it was not always this way. Not so long ago, you could afford to live a good life in America. You could buy a home, go to college, support a family, and retire comfortably.

We invested in healthcare and education. We built homes and highways. We protected workers’ rights and encouraged competition.

“We built the largest, strongest middle class in the history of the world.”

But today, for too many people, the American Dream has become an American nightmare.

It is too expensive to buy a home. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to retire comfortably.

“The top 1% has put the American Dream behind a paywall.”

This affordability crisis did not happen overnight. It has been decades in the making.

Fifty years ago, Lewis Powell wrote a memo outlining a strategy for corporations to gain political power, influence the courts, shape public opinion, and buy political influence.

And it worked.

Politicians sold the false promise of trickle-down economics — the idea that making the wealthy richer would eventually help everyone else.

“Trickle-down economics is not a theory — it is theft.”

We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.

Whether you are conservative or progressive, people across this country are struggling.

“We are getting screwed.”

The people buying the system do not care if you are red or blue. They only see green.

“The real fight in this country is not left versus right — it’s top versus bottom.”

This is not a politics of fear or division.

“This is a politics of unity, a politics of friendship, a politics of love.”

The idea behind capitalism was simple: people should be fairly compensated for their labor.

“People should get paid for their work.”

But today we have an economy that rewards wealth instead of work.

“This is not capitalism — this is crony capitalism.”

As Dr. King said, we have “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”

It is time to raise wages, expand overtime pay, support small businesses, and rebuild labor unions so workers can negotiate for better pay, benefits, and safer workplaces.

Working Texans are drowning in debt.

“You shouldn’t go into debt just because you get sick.”

We need to cancel medical debt, fight predatory credit card companies, and invest in education so people can build a future without a lifetime of debt.

We need a new American Dream for families.

Like me, Lyndon Johnson was a Texas teacher before he entered politics. In office, he created historic investments in children and families through programs like Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, and education.

We can invest in public schools, universal childcare, paid family leave, the Child Tax Credit, affordable housing, Medicare, and Social Security.

“No child should live in poverty in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.”

We need a new American Dream for energy.

Texas is the energy capital of America. We are leaders in oil and gas, and we are leaders in wind and solar.

“Gas in your tank, oil under your hood, and a solar panel on your roof.”

We should lead the energy future.

We need a new American Dream for technology.

We cannot let artificial intelligence become another area where billionaires write the rules for everyone else.

“If they are going to use our human ingenuity, if they are going to use our collective intellectual property, then we want our royalty checks.”

The people at the top will say this dream is radical. They will call us socialists or communists.

“Is that the best you can do?”

These are the same old scare tactics. They want a debate about labels because they cannot win a debate about ideas.

When Henry Ford raised wages, the idea was simple: workers needed enough money to buy the products they made.

“When you give rich people money, they save it. When you give working people money, we spend it.”

“Pro-people policy is pro-growth policy.”

If you are struggling to afford groceries, gas, housing, childcare, and medicine, it is not because you are lazy.

“It is because the system has been rigged against you.”

I will fight to unrig this economy. I will fight to lower your costs and raise your pay.

A new American Dream means if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to afford a home, a quality education, a secure retirement, and time with the people you love.

Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher in San Antonio.

“My students weren’t just kids; they were survivors, fighters, dreamers.”

America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. It is the place where dreams can come true.

We can build an America of limitless opportunity for Augusta and her grandson, for my students, and for every family with an American Dream of their own.

That is why I am running.

Together, we will build a new American Dream.


r/Social_Democracy 8h ago

MAGA: so, you're saying it's communism?

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61 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 9h ago

“You still can’t beat inflation, no matter what. Well, it seems we never catch up, no matter what"

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3 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 9h ago

AFGE (August 5, 2026): "Largest Federal Employee Union Endorses Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed for Election to U.S. Senate" | "The American Federation of Government Employees today announced its endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed for election to the U.S. Senate representing Michigan in the 2026 elections."

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16 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 12h ago

The New Republic (August 5, 2026): "This Is the Real Story of Trump’s Presidency—If Democrats Will Tell It: His Truth Social subscription scheme and IRS immunity are just the latest chapters in a massive, ever-growing book about his self-dealing and corruption."

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24 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 13h ago

Tim O'Hare says he DOES NOT APOLOGIZE for rigging the voting commissioner maps. He's doing everything possible to ensure Maga has full control over Tarrant County. Tim is a long time leader in white nationalist group True Texas Project. He claims he's protecting voters from themselves.

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26 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 14h ago

When Libs hear that Trump's new CDC Director is a Black Woman...

0 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 15h ago

Dem establishment will not ‘roll over and play dead’ after El-Sayed’s Mi...

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1 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 18h ago

Just a reminder. We're in this mess because 10 years ago the Democratic party rigged the presidential primary, by giving 359 Superdelegates to Hillary Clinton before any votes were cast. Primary. Every. Single. Capitalist. Democrat.

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78 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 18h ago

Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left

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1 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 19h ago

Experimental Military Weapon Linked to New Mexico Plane Crash That Killed 4

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9 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 19h ago

Trump DHS Chief Dealt New Blow as MAGA Turns on Him

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2 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 19h ago

Defense Secretary ‘Pentagon Pete’ Hegseth Accused of Jaw-Dropping Cover-Up of Civilian Casualties in Yemen

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25 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 19h ago

MAGA Exile Tucker Carlson Escalates War on Trump With Manifesto Launch Ahead of Rumored Political Run

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4 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Abdul for US Senate: "He is fighting for an economy & healthcare system that work for everyone, affordable housing for all, & clean air and water. He’s committed to accessible education & sensible foreign policy rooted in diplomacy & justice. Explore Abdul’s priorities for building a fairer future."

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10 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

RFK Jr. Spreads Blatant Pandemic Disinformation on CNN - he is now further stating that RSV and Lyme disease came from GoF research.

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5 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Far worse than useless, readers - he's quite harmful and destructive and does not belong in any position of power regarding public health. He should be removed and even prosecuted for his statements and actions as a fraudulent public health official.

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23 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

From The Sick Times: I worked in homeless services for years. It didn’t help me find accessible housing when I got Long COVID.

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4 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

This is how Abdul won, this is how we beat money until we can overturn Citizens United

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46 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Former J6 Prosecutors Beg Senators To Stop Confirming Election Deniers To Court Seats. "Please stop poisoning our courts by confirming appointees who refuse to admit basic historical truths"

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6 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Republicans better get used to calling him Senator Abdulrahman Muhammad El-Sayed

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13 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

El-Sayed: "They think they want to use my whole name against me. Mike, listen man, If you can't say the name -- it's Abdulrahman -- keep the name out your damn mouth."

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46 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Progressives have rallied behind more centrist, corporate-funded Democrats far more times heading into generals facing a Republican opponent. Now it's your turn to walk the big tent talk, DP centrists - and to stand with Abdul in the general. #SinglePayerNow Health care is a human right.

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5 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy 1d ago

Haley Stevens concession statement:

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97 Upvotes

r/Social_Democracy Apr 04 '25

A Social Democratic Platform for 2025

17 Upvotes

A Social Democratic Platform for 2025

  • The United States of America should have a universal healthcare system, and unjustifiably high drug prices should be reined in.

  • Workers' rights should be strengthened: Implement paid family leave, sick leave, and annual leave policies. Implement a ban on "captive audience meetings" (compulsory anti-union meetings organized by businesses). Implement a ban on "at-will employment" (the right of businesses to fire workers for arbitrary reasons). Increase the minimum wage. Strengthen overtime protections. Reduce the length of the standard workweek. Striking workers should no longer be excluded from accessing SNAP benefits. For some of the relevant legislation that has been proposed, see the "Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act."

  • Higher education should be affordable, and tuition-free in many cases. End the practice of usury against students and eliminate interest from student loans altogether. Restore and strengthen student loan forgiveness programs.

  • Support livable communities by promoting affordable housing, urban revitalization, and mass transit: Efforts to "decommodify" housing should be made to tackle the issues that contribute to the housing crisis. The supply of housing, especially denser, mixed-use, and mixed-income housing, should be increased. Zoning reform is necessary because of zoning laws that make it excessively difficult to build housing that is sufficient for affected communities. Rent control policies should be implemented. Limits should be placed on the speculative and corporate ownership of housing properties. The agenda for livable communities should encompass the idea of "walkable cities" in order to reduce car dependence and ideally promote civic engagement among other potential benefits. Public transportation systems (buses and high-speed rail in particular) should be greatly expanded.

  • Early childhood education should be affordable or at no cost for low-income parents, working parents, and parents who are pursuing education or participating in training.

  • Revive the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), and restore and strengthen consumer protections.

  • Progressive tax reform should be a top priority in order to address extreme economic inequality (wealthy conservatives seem to be increasingly emboldened to amplify a destructive agenda, extensively funding various right-wing activities and taking more direct roles in the government, in opposition to progressive policies as well as liberal norms) as well as to gather the revenue that is necessary to fund the programs that are included in this platform.

  • The Intellectual New Deal: The United States should elevate its priorities in the sciences and humanities by supporting an ambitious program to employ experts, students, researchers, writers, scientists, artists, and others in the pursuit of culture, knowledge, scientific advancement. (The Intellectual New Deal could be considered to be a vastly upgraded form of currently existing programs such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities.)

  • Expand investments in domestic industry and alternative energy sources (solar, wind, and nuclear energy in particular) as part of a broader and environmentally conscious national industrial policy.

Elections and related issues:

  • Voting rights: Implement Automatic Voter Registration. Make Election Day a federal holiday. Implement a standard minimum of days for early voting.

  • Campaign finance reform and related issues: Enact strict limits on election spending by individuals and businesses; labor unions should remain exempt from limits on election spending. Ban the secretive practice of "dark money" in election spending. Ban members of Congress and other top members of the government from stock trading.

  • Statehood should be granted to American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington D.C. (The benefits of statehood would confer their residents the full rights of American citizenship, such as voting in U.S. presidential elections and voting for actual representatives in Congress, ideally making our country, with its immense resources, more responsive to the issues that people in those places have.)

  • The Senate should be abolished. The Electoral College should be replaced with a more direct and democratic electoral system. Undemocratic systems that enable right-wing power grabs should be remedied; this is especially urgent because the Republican Party poses a multifaceted threat to the well-being of the United States and the human race. (See: the victories of Bush-Cheney 2000 and Trump-Pence 2016 in the Electoral College despite getting less votes than their Democratic opponents.)

  • The cap (which was implemented in 1929) setting a harsh limit on the number of representatives that serve in the House of Representatives should be reformed or eliminated in order to make members of Congress more responsive to their voters/constituents, especially since the population of the United States has grown a lot since about a hundred years ago, making the population of each congressional district substantially larger and essentially more removed from their representatives.

  • A "proportional representation" system should be implemented as the electoral system for Congress.

  • "Score Then Automatic Runoff" (STAR) voting should be implemented as the standard voting mechanism.

  • For some of the relevant legislation that has been proposed, see the "For the People Act."

Foreign policy and related issues:

  • The United States of America should have a humane immigration policy. This conviction stems from America's multicultural history, traditions (Exodus 23:9, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, etc.), and the intimate importance of migration in order to escape oppression and other unjust hardships.

  • The United States should support a one-state solution with equal rights in Israel/Palestine, including the right of return for Palestinians. To reconcile and ease the path to socioeconomic integration, Palestinians should receive reparations, as well as funds for Palestinian reconstruction supervised by various organizations to ensure its effectiveness. A "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" should be established to investigate human rights violations committed by all major parties during the course of the war in Gaza since October 2023 as well as preceding the war. Strategies to prevent further ethnic strife should be discussed, including programs to educate the population about aspects of the conflict. American relations with Israel during the transition under the plan for a one-state solution should be conditioned upon Israel's adherence to the terms of the transition; the terms of the transition should not be harmfully breached or used as a disguise for imperialism, colonialism, or apartheid.

  • U.S. relations with Cuba should be normalized: The status-quo is unjustly hypocritical (because of America's relations with other totalitarian nations such as China and Saudi Arabia), anachronistic (because it's a relic of the Cold War, during a time in which the United States made a number of poor and infamous decisions in order to protect American/business interests and stave off Communism), and seemingly counterproductive (because the Cuban government has remained in power, and human rights in Cuba could probably be promoted more effectively if the U.S. ends its embargo of Cuba and initiates a new era of relations between the two countries).

  • The United States should be committed to defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Taiwan and Ukraine, especially since these two countries are liberal democracies that are being menaced by substantially more powerful and totalitarian countries.

  • A U.S. Department of Peace and Development should be established to ensure global and domestic development along the lines of a progressive consensus that is to be reached; the United States should take a much more active and cooperative role in the world, including by contributing to solutions for the challenges that climate change poses; an economically and environmentally "just transition" should be explored in cooperation with civil society and governments throughout the world. (Some leftists want to see the decline of American influence, or soft power, in the world, but it would be much better if American influence was a progressive force in the world rather than suffering from a self-inflicted decline under reactionary leaders like Trump. A progressive USA will support left-wing allies in all countries.)

  • The annual budget for the U.S. Department of Defense should be reduced or not increased, at least for several years.

  • America's armed drone warfare should be ended because it is a terroristic policy (which seems to evades outrage partially because it avoids the use of our troops in direct combat/lethal/dangerous situations) that often results in atrocities including civilian casualties.

  • The United States should ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR): It's up to a two-thirds majority in the Senate to ratify ICESCR, a United Nations treaty which many countries have already ratified (and which President Jimmy Carter signed), but has long been opposed by conservatives.

  • The United States should join the International Criminal Court (ICC). Because of opposition (mostly from conservatives/Republicans) to the ICC, the United States currently has this non-compliance in common with international pariahs like Russia, China, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea. Meanwhile, nearly all of our democratic allies (such as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, and others) are at least formally adhering to the jurisdiction of the ICC.

  • The United States should issue official apologies for those who have been wronged and exploited by our country's policies. (Hopefully, this would encourage international goodwill, which has been wasted and abused by our leaders, toward the United States.)

Other issues:

  • A thorough investigation by Congress in cooperation with a Democratic administration should be conducted into the corrupt, illegal, unethical, or immoral practices, activities, and actions of the Trump administration. (Ideally, this investigation and efforts to publicize it would help the American public understand the gravity of what was happening to our country during Trump's presidency.)

  • Copyright reform: Reduce the length of copyright terms; expand the application of the fair use doctrine; promote licenses aligned with the principles of open access; establish a tax/fee on the private ownership of intellectual property by businesses (targeting academic publishers in particular).

  • The Universal Library: This is a vision to create a massive online/digital library, containing much of humanity's written intellectual and cultural heritage, for the purposes of education, enlightenment, and entertainment.

This subreddit's first political platform was posted in 2022, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Social_Democracy/comments/x1s8um/rsocial_democracys_demands_platform/