Time is short, but the moment is now. There are too many serious issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible.
The Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade is but the latest in a series of recent events that demonstrate the critical issues facing our country. Here are some of the biggest of those issues:
The Supreme Court has taken away the basic Constitutional right of women to decide in private whether or not to bear a child. No longer will they be able to make a choice on something as fundamental as the human right to control one’s own body.
In recent weeks we’ve seen two more incidents of gun violence. Buffalo and Uvalde are among the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of mass shootings. Public outcry was so strong, that finally, after decades of calls for stricter gun control laws, Congress finally passed a “bipartisan” bill, one though that barely addresses the many dimensions of the problem. Yet, just the day before its abortion ruling the High Court overturned one of the most restrictive gun-control laws in the country, New York’s concealed carry law.
At the same time, we have been glued to our televisions watching the hearings of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack. Each session has shined the spotlight on Donald Trump’s attempted coup to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. What has become clear is that people at the highest levels of government sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Such machinations show that democracy was and remains in serious danger.
We cannot forget the many other serious problems that cry out for action.
- We are still in a pandemic, one which has exposed major weaknesses in our social, economic, and medical systems; voting rights remain under attack;
- the United States is spending billions of dollars sending military aid to Ukraine with virtually no discussion on how to end the war;
- and our environment is being ravaged by climate change.
The danger to our country, particularly to the working class, the poor, women, people of color, young people, and seniors has never been more grave.
And, of course, there is record inflation. The ruling class is engaging in massive price gouging, using to an unprecedented extent, massive price increases to increase profits.
Meanwhile, the armaments makers who fund so many of our lawmakers push for unprecedented increases in military spending as they encourage war making around the world. The war in Ukraine poses the additional threat of nuclear annihilation. This they do as they ignore global warming which is causing disastrous climate change.
We cannot allow the right-wing forces (the Republican Party) to win the election this fall, let alone in 2024. We need to unite, to rally around a set of core principles. We need an All-People’s Convention composed of all decent, honest, good-hearted people to come together and confront these existential dangers to our country.
Groups such as the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, women’s groups, LGBQT+ groups, environmentalists, seniors, and many more need to draft a People’s Platform—a general set of principles to which candidates would pledge to carry out upon election.
Since we are only about 140 days until election day, such a mass meeting may not be possible in such a short time. What groups such as the AFL-CIO, and the NAACP, among others with the resources could do, is start to contact each other, brainstorm the issues, circulate their conclusions, and formulate this platform. Various people’s groups could circulate petitions online to which “ordinary citizens” could affix their signatures in a show of support.
This time in history is as critical to the future of our country as things were in the 1930s—a time of economic collapse and the threat of fascism. Back then people of various political persuasions and from diverse backgrounds coalesced into a popular front which helped create the New Deal, re-elected Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide in 1936, and built the forces that went on to help defeat fascism in the Second World War.
It happened then, and it can happen again, but we cannot sit still. We need to organize and mobilize the dormant power of the people. The time is short, but the moment is now.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, this article represents the opinions of its author.
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