Author: Thom Hartmann

Can a nation survive as a democratic republic without an honest and trusted news ecosystem? Is it an actual fact that truthful and reliable news, combined with the kind of cultural trust people have in both government and each other as the result of a shared reality, are both historic and necessary preconditions for a democracy to work at all? Thomas Jefferson once famously said that if he was given the ultimatum of choosing to live in a functioning nation without newspapers or a place with newspapers but no national government, he would surely choose the latter. It was...

The pundits are mystified by election outcome on November 8. They were certain a red wave was on its way. They missed the Zoomers. They missed the Fourth Turning. It has been 76 years since the Silent Generation birthed the first Boomers after World War II in 1946. That’s exactly four times nineteen years per generation (4 x 19 = 76). From 1901 to today, we call these generations: Greatest, Silent, Boomers, Xers, Millennials, Zoomers, Alpha. Each lasts roughly 17-20 years, before the next generation steps onto the world’s stage. And there’s something extraordinary about every fourth generation. On September 6,...

For Republicans, the purpose of religion is, as it has been for authoritarians since Old Testament days, political and social control. It is not about spirituality: it is all about raw, naked, taxpayer-subsidized power and the wealth associated with it. A Michigan county Republican Party just posted a video showing picture after picture of that state’s Democratic politicians, starting with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who rightwing terrorists have already tried to kidnap and murder. Under each picture — including a picture of George Soros representing, presumably, the “International Jews” who Republican politicians suggest wield space lasers and secretly are trying to control...

Donald Trump has built a cult around himself. This is dangerous to America and dangerous to democracy. Cults of personality in governance are broadly incompatible with democracy. They usually erupt in dictatorships where the Great Leader’s face and sayings are splashed all over public places. Think Mao’s China, Stalin’s USSR, Hitler’s Germany, Kim’s North Korea. On a smaller scale and in a different context, we see how destructive such personality cults can be with the deaths around Jim Jones’ Jonestown, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians, and Charles Manson’s Family. This is what Donald Trump aspires to. Back in 2000, Louise and I visited...

“US News and World Report” published a story about how the fringe has become the mainstream in the Republican Party. The headline of their story said it all: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rises From GOP Fringe to Front.” The backstory here is fascinating and grim. The GOP is no longer a normal political party with a single governing philosophy: instead, it’s become a coalition of interest groups, each seeking its own ends. How did we get here, and where will this crisis of political governance lead America? It all started with the billionaires. Of course, back then they were...

The 1970s were a pivotal decade, and not just because it saw the end of the Vietnam War, the resignation of Nixon, and the death of both the psychedelic hippie movement and the very political (and sometimes violent) SDS. Most consequentially, the 1970s were when the modern-day Republican Party was birthed. Prior to that, the nation had hummed along for 40 years on a top income tax bracket of 91% and a corporate income tax that topped out around 50%. Business leaders ran their companies, which were growing faster than at any time in the history of America, and...