In yesterday's rant, I laid out all the reasons why Democrats should put at the top of their priority list "defunding the Republican Party." Here's a little background, and how to do it.

Back in 1981, the Republican Party decided to defund the Democratic Party. While the Republican party had principally been funded by rich people and big business since the 1920s, the Democrats were largely reliant on the labor unions.

So Ronald Reagan, as part of his "Reagan Revolution," figured the best way to destroy the Democratic Party was to destroy America's unions. His first shot was to destroy Patco, the air traffic controller's union, and he did it in less than a week in August, 1981.

Read more here.

-Thom

Thursday's Daily Stack

Article: "How do we deal with a Republican Party that's become a traitor to humanity itself?" by Thom Hartmann.

Quote: "Less government in business and more business in government" - Warren Harding.

Article: "Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) - August 1981 strike" by Wikipedia.

Article: "When Reagan Broke the Unions" by Julia Simon, Kenny Malone.

Speech: "Great Society" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Democratic Leadership Council" (DLC) by Wikipedia.

Article: "New Democrats" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The GOP's attack on the Postal Service is bigger than this election" by Paul Waldman.

Article: "Nelson Rockefeller's Last Stand" by Richard Norton Smith.

Article: "Goldwater's 1964 Acceptance Speech", 1964. "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Article: "Most Red States Take More Money From Washington Than They Put In" by Dave Gilson.

Article: "United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education" by James Ellsmoor.

Article: "Medicare Advantage" (Medicare Part C) by Wikipedia.

Article: "History of Federal Income Tax Rates: 1913 - 2019" by Bradford Tax Institute.

Article: "US Billionaire Wealth Surges Past $1 Trillion Since Beginning of Pandemic" by Chuck Collins.

Article: "US billionaires gained $1 trillion since pandemic started" by Statista.

Article: "Billionaires' 'pandemic profits' alone could pay for $3K stimulus checks to EVERY American - report" by RT.

Book: Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes by William H. Gates and Chuck Collins.

Article: "COVID-19's link to erectile dysfunction" by Charli Shield.

Article: "It's Time to Defund the Republican Party" by Thom Hartmann.

Law: "Civil Rights Act of 1964".

Twitter: "Third Way".

Article: "Pro-Trump 'shadow group' is targeting officials for assassination in a 'tangible step toward terrorism': Attorney" by Travis Gettys.

Book: From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming.

Article: "A man with a 'manifesto' threatened to detonate bomb inside a Democratic headquarters in Washington state, officials say" by Andrea Salcedo.

Article: "Elon Musk" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Managed care" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy." - Jack Welch.

Article: "1973 oil crisis" by Wikipedia.

Hour Two: How Do We Best Deal With Billionaires and the Damage They Do To Our Economy and Politics?
- Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books - his latest is The Sickness is the System

Article: "70% of Americans say U.S. economic system unfairly favors the powerful" by Ruth Igielnik.

Article: "Americans Vastly Underestimate Wealth Inequality, Support 'More Equal Distribution Of Wealth': Study" by William Alden.

Site: Patriotic Millionaires.

Article: "Frederick Douglass On How Slave Owners Used Food As A Weapon Of Control" by Nina Martyris.

Article: "Redlining" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Most Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 expense" by Sarah Min.

Article: "Fact Check: Do 83% of Trump's tax cut benefits go to the 1%?" by Holmes Lybrand.

Article: "Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic" by Abha Bhattarai and Hannah Denham.

Article: "Mitch McConnell says Congress 'can't leave for Xmas without a Covid bill' as he asks to drop Dem stimulus requirement" by Israel Salas-Rodriguez.

Article: "White House proposes dramatically lower unemployment benefit in exchange for $600 stimulus check" by Jeff Stein, Mike DeBonis.

Article: "Food Insecurity Among Children Has Declined Overall But Remains High for Some Groups" by Alisha Coleman-Jensen.

Article: "Maternal and infant mortality" by OECD.

Article: "Child Mortality Rate" by NationMaster.

Article: "Poverty rate" by OECD.

Quote: "Why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?" - "The Patriot" (2000).

Site: "The Equality Trust".

Site: Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Article: "Economic History Shows Clearly That Tax Cuts for Rich Hurt the Economy" by Robert Creamer.

Article: "How the US Got Out of 12 Economic Recessions Since World War II" by Dave Roos.

Hour Three: Conversations With Great Minds: How Do We Recover From Trump?
- Psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank MD, Psychoanalyst & Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science - George Washington University / Author - Trump on the Couch (Previous books include Bush on the Couch & Obama on the Couch)

Article: "Trump calls on Supreme Court to 'have the courage' to overturn Biden's election victory" by Chris Sommerfeldt.

Article: "Joe Biden" by Wikipedia.

Article: "'Lock her up': Trump launches fresh attack on kidnap plot governor Gretchen Whitmer at Michigan rally" by Graeme Massie.

Article: "'It is terrifying to have a president who is psychotic': Dr. Justin Frank explains why Trump hates anyone who is loved" by Chauncey Devega.

Article: "Oedipus" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Humpty Dumpty" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Sticks and Stones" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Psychopathy" (& Sociopathy) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Where the psychopaths are: in prison -- and the CEO office" by Aimee Picchi.

Book: "Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism" by Jack D. Forbes.

Article: "Friedrich Nietzsche" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Chad (paper)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Brooks Brothers riot" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Time for Plan B" by Thomas L. Friedman.

Video: "Reagan: Government is not the solution to our problem government IS the problem".

Article: "Strategic Arms Limitation Talks" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Psychological projection" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty" - attributed to Joseph Goebbels.

Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

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And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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