With the increasing tensions both foreign and domestic, and the Trump administration’s complete incompetence in dealing with them, it’s also becoming pretty clear that establishment liberalism, both in the form of political elites and the mainstream press, are simply not equipped to mount the necessary pushback. What is needed is a positive alternative vision for the future to compete with the frightened, belligerent, authoritarian one coming from the right.

The understanding of socialism itself remains somewhat nebulous in the popular consciousness. It’s usually framed as either Soviet-Communism by its detractors, or simply as an alternative to capitalism, which of course it is, among other things. Owen Hill helps to explain socialism and where it fits into today's society.

Chris Beam discusses why the Civil War is still relevant today.

What might a post-capitalist future look like for America and beyond? Marxists have an answer to this question, but my guest today suggests we need to look beyond socialism as well. So what else is there?

If people in unions have better health plans, better retirement and job security, and better wages, then we should try to figure out how they’ve done it and emulate it, not pull them down to our destitute level. Of course, how unions have historically done it is through solidarity and collective bargaining. Which is exactly why oligarchs like Walker attack these institutions so viciously. Union workers, although rapidly diminishing, are among the best paid, most secure workers left in the country. Yet are among the most vilified and resented, particularly among the rich oligarchs in government. Today, we’ll talk about why.

Mainstream media would have us believe that the gulf between the left and right political factions in America could not be greater. But there’s no question that if the left is to be successful, it must unify. It must find some coherent message around which to organize. So what would happen if the two supposedly opposing sides came together to realize the many initiatives on which they agree?

Freedom comes with contraints. If we accept some limitations, why not others? The atomized movements around the environment, around labor, around civil rights, around economic justice, will have to become a thing of the past. We need to understand the challenges that have thwarted the formation of a coherent left up until now. An Interview with Henry Giroux.

The United States of America is not a totalitarian state… Right? Chris Hedges offers insight into Inverted Totalitarianism and the current state of the world.

Why is America unique among many Western countries in that it does not have a labor oriented political party? Jefferson Cowie traces a path from a level society resulting from the New Deal to the grotesque inequality of today and the precarity of the contemporary working class.

Do populists who capitalize on the anger of the masses always turn into dictators? Would our opinion of them change if they actually followed through on their promises? Have we ever had a genuine populist follow through, and won an election in the US? This week on the Soapbox, we look at Huey P Long and his legacy.