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economic bill of rights
Defending Democracy by Making America Radical Again: On the Senate Trail With Graham Platner
Not at all a career politician, Platner is a 41-year-old Marine and Army combat veteran. He left the military after tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan, having finally had enough of witnessing the unrelenting waste of human life and resources that those wars entailed. But as much as he was fed up with forever wars, he did not return home either cynical about or fed up with America. He remained fundamentally a patriot—a democratic patriot.
Back in his hometown of Sullivan, Maine, Graham took up an offer to partner in an oyster farming business and before long became actively involved in progressive community organizing. But it was not enough. An avid reader of history—and knowing full well that the way things were is not the way they have always been or need to be today—he decided, with the support of his wife Amy and a cohort of friends, to pursue the Democratic nomination.
Inspired by Thomas Paine in 1776, the American colonists turned their rebellion into a revolutionary war not just for independence, but also for the making of a democratic republic.
I could not help but take note of his candidacy this past autumn—especially when I saw via social media sites that he was not only quoting my boy Thomas Paine in his speeches—“We have it in our to power to the begin the world over again...” (Common Sense) and “These are the times that try men’s souls...” (The Crisis)—and including my book, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America in his campaign book club. He was also lamenting the fact that Congress had never acted on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1944 call for an Economic Bill of Rights for all Americans. Long story short: I reached out to his campaign manager Ben Chin, who quickly set up a face-to-face zoom meeting for us. And the ensuing conversation made it clear to me that Platner would pass any essay exam this professor of democracy and justice might set. But good grades aside, what really struck me was Graham’s professed determination to take hold of the best of our progressive and radical history and to rhetorically engage and encourage his fellow Mainers to join him in renewing the fight to make the revolutionary promise of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness all the more real for all the more of them.
If you know anything about my work—and Graham made it very clear that he did—you’ll appreciate why I was not only thrilled to run into him on social media, but also eager to help boost his campaign. We stayed in daily touch. Then, just over two weeks ago, Platner reached out to invite me to Maine for the campaign's launch of its Defend Democracy Agenda on March 10. He said would be honored to have me present for the launch, but hell, I have to admit I felt honored he wanted me there.
Democratic US Senate Candidate Graham Platner talks to a local Indivisible group in Maine on March 10, 2026. (Photo: Daniel Pelt)
Flying to Maine, I was still in the dark as to what my actual role would be. But when I finally arrived at Graham and Amy’s house—coming in at 1am after my long flight—I found out that they wanted me to actually introduce the proceedings the next day at the rally in Machias by placing the Agenda in historical perspective. I loved the prospect.
Driving that morning to Machias, the seat of Washington County in Downeast Maine, Graham and Ben told me of the Battle of Machias in 1775—the first naval battle of what would become the American Revolution—in which local residents rallied to defend their town against British ships seeking to secure supplies, by sailing out to engage them. Along the way, we stopped to meet a friendly group of Indivisible Mainers who gathered every Tuesday on a bridge with signs protesting the political and economic royalists of today who are tearing down American democracy. That definitely revved me up a bit and after our visit with local activists, Graham and Ben enthusiastically licensed me to speak radically at the rally in Machias.
Standing outside the Revolutionary-era Burnham Tavern in Machias, I told the crowd of about 100 or so people that I had come to Maine to express my support for Graham’s campaign and to stand in solidarity with them. I then turned to American history. I said straightforwardly that we have endured 50 years of class war from above by corporate elites, conservative Republicans, and neoliberal Democrats, all of which have worked against the democratic achievements of the Long Age of Roosevelt from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is a class war that has stripped workers, women, and people of color of their hard-won rights. It's a class war that has produced gross inequalities and propelled 50 years of creeping authoritarianism that is now running roughshod over us.
I explained that although history does not repeat itself, we have been here before. Not for the first time do we face a mortal crisis in which reactionary forces threaten to destroy American democratic life and bury the nation’s revolutionary promise. We did so in the 1770s, the 1860s, and the 1930s and 1940s. And yet, in each of those crises, generations of Americans—for all of their faults and failings, and sins of omission and commission—found it in themselves to save the nation and its promise by making America radically freer, more equal, and more democratic than ever before.
Don’t vote for the candidate who promises to be your champion and fight for you. Vote for the candidate who inspires the fight in you.
Inspired by Thomas Paine in 1776, the American colonists turned their rebellion into a revolutionary war not just for independence, but also for the making of a democratic republic. Inspired by Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s, Americans of that era saved the Union not only by fighting the Civil War, but also by bringing the scourge of slavery to an end. And inspired by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s, it was the people who beat back both the Great Depression and fascism, not merely by taking up the labors and struggles of the New Deal and the War Effort, but also by empowering working people and radically transforming the nation for the better.
Finally, in introducing Graham, I declared how thrilled I was to have finally discovered a Democratic candidate who understood that to “Defend American Democracy” required joining together and once again fighting to make America radically freer, more equal, and more democratic. (I sadly realized afterwards that I forgot to finish with these words of advice: Don’t vote for the candidate who promises to fight for you – vote for the candidate who inspires the fight in you!)
Stepping forward to uplifting cheers and applause, Graham vigorously reaffirmed the narrative I offered and proceeded to present a set of bold, clear, critical policy proposals to progressively redeem, renew, and and realize America’s promise: ending lifetime Supreme Court appointments; reasserting Congress’s authority over the courts and the executive (the question of war powers!); banning partisan gerrymandering; getting money out of politics; protecting the constitutional right to privacy; strengthening workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively; passing the Equal Rights Amendment; and updating and advancing the economic freedoms which FDR called a Second Bill of Rights via a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights.
These rights would include the right to a useful job that pays a living wage, the right to a decent home, the right to quality medical care and the opportunity to enjoy good health and recreation, the right to economic security in old age, sickness, unemployment, or disability; the right to a good education; and the right of farmers and small business owners to fair competition free from monopoly power.
The author speaking at the event outside the Burnham Tavern Museum in Machias, Maine on March 10, 2026. (Photo: Daniel Pelt)
Graham was impressive. He really does know how to take hold of our history without ever sounding pedantic. And he knows politics and policy. He even confesses when he needs to "look into that”—which is to say, he never fudges his answers.
Following a walking tour of Machias with stops in the local shoppes, we went to the renowned Helen’s Restaurant, where Graham spoke to a full house of enthusiasts, and I ate the best blueberry pie of my life. That evening, Graham addressed a filled-to-the-steeple crowd of local citizens—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents—at the Congregational Church and he stayed on for quite a while to answer questions friendly and challenging.
On the next day, he and I recorded a two-hour conversation at the Bon Vent Cidery in Hancock. The exchange flowed back and forth between past and present and allowed us to not only go deeper into the remarks we made in Machias, but also refine our thinking. We talked about Paine, Lincoln, FDR, the Democratic Party, politics, movement building, populism, progressivism, and social democracy. That night we had dinner with a few friends of Graham’s at his mom’s home. As it was my first time in Maine, I could not help but ask them to tell me the best adjectives to define Mainers and life in Maine. It was so much fun I can’t remember any of the answers.
The following day I was supposed to fly back to Wisconsin, but my flight was cancelled due to thick fog. So, I tagged along to Graham’s campaign meetings for the day. That night, I took Graham out to dinner to thank him for having me out, during which he felt the need to apologize for all the interruptions by other diners (not all of whom were locals), but I thought it fascinating to watch it unfold. He is leading in both the primary and the general-election polls (vs Governor Janet Mills and Senator Susan Collins, respectively), but everyone is well aware of the fact that he is not the favorite of party leaders in Augusta and Washington—and they expect the billionaire money of the ruling class to soon start pouring into the state. Still, union endorsements are strong; both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have embraced his candidacy; and Graham is starting to pick up endorsements from other progressive lawmakers and movement leaders.
I expect to go back to Maine when I can—hopefully, for a couple of victory parties. Meanwhile, my advice to Mainers is what I forgot to say at Machias: Don’t vote for the candidate who promises to be your champion and fight for you. Vote for the candidate who inspires the fight in you. And from what I saw on my visit, that candidate is Graham Platner.
'Do You Hear What I Hear?' When Will Democrats Listen?
In fact, even as workers began to organize anew and started demanding better deals from their bosses, the Democrats failed to act seriously to bolster their initiatives. Then, truly proving they had not been listening, they ran a 2024 presidential campaign that avoided calling out the billionaire bosses whose billions are growing ever greater and made little of the voiced needs and wants of the working class.
Situating our new comic in the Holiday season, we seek not only to remind liberals, progressives, radicals, and socialists to listen to and empower the voices of working people, but also to push the Democrats to do so as they/we work to rebuild the party in favor of taking back and democratically transforming America.
'We Need to Be Heard'
We close this installment of our comic-strip series with a portrait of FDR, the Democratic President who—for all of his tragic faults and failings—not only listened to and actually heard working people, but also encouraged them to progressively push him further than he might otherwise have gone and determinedly engaged their labors and energies to dramatically transform the nation and radically enhance freedom, equality, and democracy.
In upcoming comics for Common Dreams we intend to recount that history in hopes of inspiring and propelling Democrats and working people alike to take action.
No Paine, No Gain: Common Sense in the Year 2024
As Paine saw it: Americans could show the world that humanity had no need for kings and overlords, indeed, that common people, working people, could govern themselves!
Is it any wonder then that we have reached back and recruited Paine to the cause of rescuing America’s revolutionary promise from royal wannabee Donald Trump and his MAGA and GOP (Tory) subjects who seem set upon destroying it?
Vote Democratic top to bottom on November 5th… so we can start acting anew on Citizen Paine’s radical-democratic challenge: “We have it in our power to begin the world again.”Words That Turned a Rebellion Into Revolution
What Is to Be Done? A Comic for a Serious Question
However much we may have yearned for a more progressive ticket and platform—the answer to the above question is simple: Work like hell for Harris/Walz, and their fellow Democratic nominees from top-to- bottom, to win in November. If they lose, we lose.
We lose not only the election, but also any chance of redeeming and enhancing American democratic life in the foreseeable future.
But don’t think of November 5th as merely an election to save American democratic life. Because the struggle for us, however much rooted in the long struggle to make real the revolutionary promise of the Declaration—the promise of equality and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans—will have just begun. Think of it as a vote to empower ourselves anew to take up that fight.
Don’t think of November 5th as merely an election to save American democratic life.
Having recently produced a comic strip recounting FDR’s 1944 call and the continuing fight for an Economic Bill of Rights, Matt "The Letterhack" Strackbein and I have been asking ourselves what we should do now to remind Americans of who we all are and what we need to do to truly save democracy.
To both help us confront the question and inspire us to make history anew, we invited the great radical patriot and pamphleteer Thomas Paine to join us at the bar. This is the Paine whose Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a revolution for independence and the making of a democratic republic; the Paine, whose Crisis papers sustained the Revolution in its darkest days; the Paine who not only called for an end to slavery, but also proposed the creation of a social security system.
As we say at the close of this comic: Stay tuned…
On DNC Sidelines, Progressives Push Democrats to Fight for the Working Class
"The Chicago Teachers Union is supposed to be the anchor, the destination place for progressives from across the world," said CTU president Stacy Davis Gates, whose members are months into negotiations for a new contract. "We're doing the best we can to be a beacon. And what we want to do is call the rest of the progressive movement in to say, help protect this, help anchor this, help grow it, help refine it."
The progressive conference is part of a two-decade tradition, going back to the 2004 convention, PDA communications director Mike Hersh told Common Dreams as the event wrapped up Monday, while anti-genocide protesters marched nearby outside the kickoff of the DNC, where speakers included United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
"I think lot of the energy that progressives have today is because they feel for the first time in a long time that the party has a chance to move more in lockstep with what we want to see."
"This was vintage Progressive Democrats of America," Hersh said of this year's conference. "We try to mobilize people and that's really what all of these Progressive Central events have been about."
The livestreamed conference featured panels, pre-recorded videos, and speeches on a range of key issues, including: building progressive power, the climate emergency, the crisis of American democracy, an Economic Bill of Rights, immigration reform, Medicare for All, organized labor, reproductive freedom, the Rural New Deal, structural racism, foreign policy—particularly U.S. government support for Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip—and more.
Collin Rees of Oil Change U.S. and Food and Water Action's Michelle Allen stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels and combat false climate solutions, while One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman and Sara Nelson from the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA delivered remarks—and a rendition of "Solidarity Forever."
"Using power builds power, and we will use our power," Nelson said. "We are not just about access politics in this room. We are about using power to make our world better for the people."
William Walter, who is part of Young PDA, Our Wisconsin Revolution's leader, and a Democratic candidate for his state Assembly, explained that "our initial approach was, 'What would it look like if we held a progressive national convention akin to the DNC or RNC, but devoted to progressive policies, progressive issues, progressive legislation?'"
Reflecting on her experience attending the event, Beaei Pardo, executive director of Code? Whatever!, told Common Dreams that the event "maps the body of honest ideas, systemic nurturing for self-determination, stories that help us 'get it' about what matters for good life, pragmatic history, theory we can test, and a ready community unafraid to consider the possibilities of our humanity."
India Walton of RootsAction speaks at Progressive Central in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Photo: Young PDA steering committee member Tyler C. Rivera)
The programming offered visions of how the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—coupled with a Democrat-controlled Congress—could tackle these topics, and how to compel them to do so.
"Right now in the United States, there are four prohibitive costs that you experience across life that block young people entering into the economy from having a successful and comfortable economic life readily available to them," PDA executive director Alan Minksy said just before the event began. They are the costs of having a child, education, healthcare, and housing.
"You're not going to be a successful administration if you don't address these things, and the mainstream of Democratic policy is going to fail to produce the kind of society that Americans want to live in," Minsky warned. "We have to be adamant about how we have the solutions to this stuff... Not just maintenance of our democracy, but actually reinvigoration of our democracy."
He added that "one would have to be naïve to believe that an incoming Democratic administration's ready to go against all the power and money and wealth... on the right wing of the party and by the Republicans, but we have to make them see that that's the way to create the society that Americans want to live in."
Over the past few years, Minsky has joined historian Harvey J. Kaye, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, in arguing that progressive groups and unions should create a grand coalition that will press the Democratic Party to advance a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights, a focus of one of the Sunday presentations.
As Kaye spoke, a screen above him displayed a clip of a comic that he and Matt "The Letterhack" Strackbein published in Common Dreams, tracing the idea back to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's State of the Union speech 80 years ago, and the 10 proposed rights:
- A useful job that pays a living wage.
- A voice in the workplace through a union and collective bargaining.
- Comprehensive quality healthcare.
- Complete cost-free public education and access to broadband internet.
- Decent, safe, affordable housing.
- A clean environment and a healthy planet.
- A meaningful endowment of resources at birth, and a secure retirement.
- Sound banking and financial services.
- An equitable and economically fair justice system.
- Recreation and participation in civic and democratic life.
In terms of actually pursuing policies in line with the Economic Bill of Rights, Kaye told Common Dreams Tuesday, "it's too late for this particular convention, but... it's not too late for a Harris presidency."
The proposal—which polling shows would be popular with the American public—could even motivate voters to support Harris and Walz, who are working to defeat Republican former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in November.
"Just imagine if Tim Walz... just one of them got up and said... 'Our ambition is to redeem the legacy of FDR in favor of an Economic Bill of Rights,'" Kaye said. "You can just lay them out and then start talking about it in policy terms if you wish. In other words, if we're going to take back the Democratic majority, we're going to have to take back the people who literally abandoned the party because they felt abandoned."
While some local and state candidates have in recent years embraced and even run on an Economic Bill of Rights, a starting point for promoting related legislation at the federal level, Kaye noted, is to "get into a couple of congressional folks' minds."
Members of Congress who spoke at Progressive Central included Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who declared Monday—ahead of his Tuesday DNC address—that "the American people want us to take on the greed of the oligarchy."
There were also video messages from a few Democrats as well as appearances by Reps. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Jesús "Chuy" García (D-Ill.), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.).
Khanna—who mentioned FDR's Economic Bill of Rights in his 2022 book and was part of the same Sunday session as Kaye—told the audience that "the secrets of America's future are in our history" and "we need ideas that move people."
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) joins Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at Progressive Central in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Photo: Young PDA steering committee member Tyler C. Rivera)
One of those ultra-popular ideas is Medicare for All, which Jayapal discussed during a Sunday panel. The popularity of universal healthcare presents an opportunity for "a great organizing moment," she acknowledged, sharing her hopes to coordinate the reintroduction of the Medicare for All Act with related local and state measures.
While Jayapal and Sanders' bill envisions a full transformation of the U.S. healthcare system, she told Common Dreams that "we're going to try to start to get there by some expansions and modifications to Medicare—so expanding Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing... That will be a big priority."
"Reducing the Medicare eligibility age to at least 60 will be a big priority," the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair added. "Continuing to expand the number of prescription drugs that are negotiated will be a big priority. And then getting rid of what I call the 'Medicare Disadvantage' plans that are trying to privatize Medicare."
Enacting the healthcare reforms that Jayapal outlined will require expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate and reclaiming the House of Representatives—where progressives who have supported a call to end Israel's assault on Gaza are under sustained attack. This summer, Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) lost their primaries to Democrats backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and rich Republican donors.
"We need Bowman in the Congress. We need Bush in the Congress," Nina Turner—who was targeted by dark money during her 2021 Democratic primary run to fill a vacant seat in Ohio—told the crowd. "But we left them on the side of the road."
Turner also challenged Democrats who have spent this election cycle raising the alarm about Project 2025—which includes a sweeping far-right policy agenda written by Trump allies—by urging the party to put forward its vision for transforming the nation in a positive direction. "Where's their Project 2025?" she asked, asserting that the best way to win voters is "by having policies of your own."
Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman, and former congressional candidate Nina Turner particpate in a labor panel at Progressive Central in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Photo: Young PDA steering committee member Tyler C. Rivera)
Since taking the torch from President Joe Biden last month, Harris has started sharing a policy message that includes an economic agenda to boost access to affordable housing, lower medical costs, and assist families raising young children.
"The economic framework that the vice president and her running mate have come out with so far is really a good start," Turner told Common Dreams, noting the need for progress on issues including calls for a cease-fire and arms embargo regarding Gaza. "It's obvious that there are components of the progressive movement who are excited about the change from Biden to Harris-Walz, but also don't let that excitement delude Democrats into thinking they're just going to get a free ride."
"We're in a sugar high right now. That's how I'm going to describe it. We could come crashing down if they're not careful," she warned. "They're going to have to do the work, hear the cries or the concerns of the very voters that they're trying to touch, and communicate with those voters in a way that says, 'We hear you and we see your pain.'"
"Just talk to people about healthcare. Just talk to people about the cost of living. They want relief. And I think they will support anybody that legitimately is going to give them that relief," she added, urging Harris and Walz to "shake off neoliberalism, shake off incrementalism, and go full throttle for the working class."
Harris' selection of Walz as her vice presidential candidate has been cheered by progressive political leaders and groups, in part because of the historic legislative progress that Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party made under this leadership last year.
During a Monday panel, speakers from the state pushed back against the framing of it as a "Minnesota Miracle," stressing that the wins on school meals, labor protections, reproductive rights, and more were instead the result of years of organizing—an important lesson going into a potential Harris-Walz administration with a Democratic Congress.
Minister JaNaé Bates of Faith in Minnesota speaks at Progressive Central in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Photo: Young PDA steering committee member Tyler C. Rivera)
Walter of Young PDA is among those welcoming Walz's rise, telling Common Dreams: "I think the Democratic Party has a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot when decisions are obvious. They overthink or overcomplicate things that really should not be overthought. Take the easy answer. Take the free space on the bingo card. It's right in front of you. You have a very popular governor, a Midwestern state, that has universal appeal that can take your message and present it easily in a way that most people resonate with. Just do it. And for the first time in a long time, the party did it. They just did it."
"I think a lot of the energy that progressives have today is because they feel for the first time in a long time that the party has a chance to move more in lockstep with what we want to see rather than deferring to their big corporate donors," Walter said. "Now, that's not to say they won't in the end because that's our job as organizers and as progressives, to continue to pressure them and to push them left, but I think we see a path forward."
Sam Rosenthal, the political director for RootsAction, similarly told Common Dreams after the conference that progressives across the country must continue to pressure the party.
"I think we're at a precarious moment for the progressive movement," he said. "In a lot of ways, we've achieved major victories in mainstreaming positions that, even five years ago, were considered fringe and too far left. The urgent need for environmental action, the fact that we're being price gouged by pharma companies, organized labor as a bedrock of national prosperity—all these things have become more or less mainstream in the Democratic Party, because of our efforts as progressives."
"At the same time, I fear that we risk losing our unique voice if we don't continue to agitate from the left, in coalition with the grassroots activists who form the base of the progressive movement," he continued. "There's a danger that, as our movement matures and grows, our positions will become harder to distinguish from Democratic Party orthodoxy, and I don't think we should let that happen. We have to continue to play our role in pushing the Democratic Party left, exactly because that strategy has been so successful so far."
The 'New Economic Bill of Rights' Comic Strip: A Vision for 2024 and Beyond
True, they did not realize that vision. The opposition of the corporations, the wealthy, and the right was too strong. But the vision and aspirations did not die. And even now, after 50 years of class war from above and concerted efforts to suppress the working class, polling reveals that the great majority of Americans still aspire to renew the revolutionary promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and secure the makings of a second bill of rights. So, it’s up to us—progressives and labor unionists today—to reinvigorate and renew the struggle.
In that spirit, Alan Minsky of Progressive Democrats of America and I, with input from Nina Turner, authored a series of pieces for Common Dreams (here, here, and here) to both remind Americans of their own history and to lay out an updated version of FDR’s vision, that is, a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights—a bill of rights that has garnered very promising support. Not only have prominent progressive political figures taken it up, but also the nation’s most dynamic labor voice, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA president Sara Nelson. Moreover, leading the way in trying to get the Democratic Party to embrace it, the Massachusetts and West Virginia state parties have adopted it as part of their platforms.
To enhance the developing campaign—and give the story even greater color—comic-book creator Matt Strackbein (aka The Letterhack) suggested to me that we produce a comic not only to recount the 80-year struggle for an Economic Bill of Rights, but also to project how we today might actually realize it.
So here it is. We hope you find these words and images compelling. Enjoy and please share widely!
Prologue
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