Starting with Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party purged leftists. . . . [As a result] there's no room today for anything to the left of corporatist liberalism inside the Democratic Party.
– Ted Rall
Ted Rall is one of the most influential political cartoonists on the left today. In his new book What’s Left: Radical Solutions for Radical Problems, he presents a manifesto for left-wing politics in 2025, blending incisive analysis with his political cartoons.
In the following Current Affairs interview, Rall outlines what it means to be a leftist in an era where the Democratic Party has abandoned progressive ideals. He argues that the left must focus on real, substantive demands – from healthcare and the defense budget to a livable wage, offering both a critique of the past and a vision for what the future could hold if we organize around principles that actually improve people's lives.
Related Off-site Links:
An Interview with Ted Rall – What’s Left Podcast (May 24, 2025).
The Left Is Dead – What And Who Will Rise From the Ashes?: An Interview with Ted Rall – The Kim Iversen Show (April 26, 2025).
A Movement Beats a Party Every Time – Ted Rall (Creators, February 21, 2025).
We Need More Independent, Working-Class Political Candidates – Nick French (Jacobin, March 25, 2025).
Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism – The Humanist Report (March 6, 2025).
Wimpy Democrats Cannot Lead This Fight Against Trump – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, March 24, 2025).
Sanders Pushes Progressives to Run as Independents in Response to Election Losses – Austin Denean (NBC-15 News, March 21, 2025).
Jill Stein and Kshama Sawant on the Fight the Rich Movement – Sabby Sabs (January 26, 2025).
Trump Is Unpopular – and So Are the Do-Nothing Democrats – Jeet Heer (The Nation, February 18, 2025).
If You’re a Democrat Annoyed by Outraged Voters, You Are Doing It Wrong – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, February 24, 2025).
Democrats Are MIA – Just When the Country Needs Them to Counter the Trump-Musk Blitzkrieg – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 24, 2025).
Dems Reportedly Angry That Progressives Are Pushing Them to Act Like an Opposition Party – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 12, 2025).
Ted Rall: “If I’m on Luigi Mangione’s Jury, He’ll Walk”; United Health CEO Killed Thousands for Profit – The Jamarl Thomas Podcast (December 14, 2024).
U.S. Presidential Candidate Jill Stein: This Two-Party System Is Jeopardizing America’s Future – Young and Profiting (August 20, 2024).
Ted Rall Interviews Green Party Candidate Howie Hawkins – TedRallToons (October 20, 2020).
Ted Rall on the Many Ways the DNC and Democratic Party Leaders Piss On and Disrespect Progressives – Rob Kall Bottom-Up Show (July 23, 2020).
Ted Rall: Hillary Clinton Is a “Disaster for the Democratic Party” – Newsmax (March 18, 2015).
UPDATES: Did the Left Learn Nothing from Bernie 2020? – An Interview with Benjamin Studebaker – Bad Faith (May 26, 2025).
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries No Match for “Historic, Fascistic Moment” – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, June 2, 2025).
The Philosophical Roots of the Green Party – Anarchist and Libertarian Socialist Influences – Samantha Hull (Emerald Praxis, June 3, 2025).
Rehashing Force the Vote: Why Can’t the Left Unite? – An Interview with Francesca Fiorentini – Bad Faith June 9, 2025).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green
1 comment:
What's left of the professional American Left, as it were, currently appears likely to remain its usual performative self, talking mostly among itself in places where hive-mind thrives and *at* others outside those places. (Making "demands" is rhetorical performance.) There no Left accelerationism that is going to be able to rouse an erstwhile American proletariat from its false consciousness to effective victorious electoral dominance.The American Right and Left are asymmetrically situated in this regard, because that atavistic fears the Right appeals to are far more strongly and deeper rooted than the hopes and fears the Left appeals to.
Post a Comment