Imagine If This Moment Was Not About The Ascent of Authoritarians, But About A New Birth Of Global Freedom. Just Imagine.....
A global fight for freedom and democracy is underway. It is time for the Democratic Party of the United States of America to lead it once again......
Greetings everyone. Today, I’m sharing a post originally published here on January 11th for it reflects where my head is at today. I chose to send it so you can see how things have evolved since then, for they are reminders that while we are making real, material progress in our fight against global autocracy - real, material progress - there are also going to be hard and difficult days ahead.
I look forward to talking about the ideas in this post in tonight’s paid subscriber weekly gathering/special Fall of Orban Dance Party and tomorrow night at the kick off to our Vote Yes Virginia phonebank. Our regular “Let’s Get To Work” section is below, and now let’s spend some time imagining that our future is about a “new birth of freedom” and not the growing power of autocrats and oligarchs….
Morning all. Last night I came across this video from Iran on Bluesky:
And I started thinking…. what if the Iranian regime were to fall? If Zelenskyy were to win in Ukraine, and Putin lose? If the end of Maduro brought democracy to Venezuela not dictatorship? If Orban’s government finally was voted out of power in Hungary later this year? If the Cuban dictatorship were to fall after 67 years in power? If the new Syrian government, having overthrown a family dictatorship that lasted 53 years, was able to successfully bring democracy to the Arab world?
If we were here in America successful in reclaiming our government from the oligarchs and Trump’s escalating authoritarianism? What if this moment became a moment, as Lincoln called it - “a new birth of freedom” - around the world and here at home rather than one of autocratic and oligarchical consolidation? What if we could look back at this year, 2026, ten years from now, not as one where freedom was lost but where it was renewed, restored and regained momentum? Where governments “of the people, by the people, for the people” did not perish from the earth……
Imagine if we were to win and Elon, and Putin, and Trump, and Orban, were to lose? Imagine……
I think this is the future we want. And thus we must start imagining it, and begin building a politics that makes it far more likely.
I don’t know what that politics looks like, exactly. I don’t know what this global pro-democracy movement’s rallying cry is going to be, what symbols will animate our fight or who will lead us. But we’ve seen early pieces of it in the weary but determined eyes of Zelensky, of the grace and courage of Maria Corina Machado, of the beauty of the new Syrian currency unveiled this week…..
of the brave women in Iran throwing off their head scarves and challenging one of the most oppressive regimes in modern history…..
And we’ve seen it here in the US with our No Kings movement, in our vital electoral wins in 2025, in the emergence of a new pro-democracy media ecosystem, in the rise of new and powerful patriotic leaders here, of the success of the 23 Democratic AGs, of the courage of judges across the US, and now in a new movement spawning to combat the Trump’s out of control paramilitaries…….
The world is deeply unsettled now. We don’t know how all this is going to turn out. We could lose, or we could win. But we will not win unless we understand the nature of the conflict we now find ourselves in, and organize ourselves to win it.
To do this our Democratic leaders and all of us must far more consciously see themselves not just as legislators or party leaders or grassroots activists but as actors in a global battle for freedom and democracy. We must come to see ourselves as heirs to the American Revolution and the Post WWII Four Freedoms global system that made freedom - not dominion - the founding organizing principle of our country and the world, and recognize that it is our obligation, our responsibility, to lead this global fight - as we have for 250 years. We must be warriors for the middle class and working people, AND proud American patriots fighting for freedom and democracy here and everywhere - for our Founders declared that our inalienable fights included not just the “pursuit of happiness” but “life” and “liberty” too. And we must summon the power of those great American patriots who came before - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, Dr. King - and other global freedom fighters - Churchill, Gandhi, Mandela - to inspire us in the years to come.
For we are Americans, and fighting for freedom and democracy is who we are. It is what we do. That is the job history has given us, and it is one now we must now go do - together.
I don’t know what this global pro-democracy movement will look like. But we will need to find ways to network, work together, learn from one each other in the years ahead for we will be much stronger together than alone. We will need to build new institutions and capacities, be far more purposeful about winning the daily global info war waging in the English language across the world, create new and vital global networks, free American states and cities will have to find ways to band together more successfully, and we will need to accelerate the development of a new generation of leaders comfortable fighting in today’s political and information battlefields, not yesterday’s……for we are in a new day. And it isn’t so much older people who are standing in our way, it is old understandings, and the false comfort that things will return to the way they were; that there is an easy road, and not only hard ones; and that we must come to accept that the best way out is always through and just have to get on with it……
It is a time for courage, ambition, imagination, patriotism, and a time to reject those who market their cowardice as pragmatism.
We are a year into Trump the return and we know who he is. We understand now. The shock and awe, the surprise, is over. We know who he is. It is time the Democratic Party of the United States of America, heirs to the American Revolution and the Four Freedoms, showed the American people and the people of the world who we are.
Are you with me brothers and sisters?
Now, Let’s Get To Work Everyone!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $570,300 raised, $1,000,000 goal (new ambitious, audacious even, q2 goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | You can meet and get to know these House flipping candidates by watching our recently recorded Hopium interviews with each.
So far we’ve sat down with Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Rebecca Cooke (WI-3), Sean McCann (MI-04), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and should rounding out the rest in the coming weeks. If you are looking for inspiration this weekend watch a few of these interviews - I promise they great candidates will get you excited about our opportunities this November!
Huge shout-out to the team at FridayAction. Our recent event together has now raised $97,000 for our House candidates - amazing, amazing stuff! That total is included in our new remarkable fundraising total, as is the money given to each individual House candidate in recent weeks.
James Talarico For Texas - $57,700 raised, $250,000 - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Enjoy my inspiring interview with Rep. Talarico as he fights to turn Texas blue
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $83,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Enjoy my uplifting conversation with Mary Peltola as she fights to turn Alaska blue
Winning Ohio - $120,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Our new campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton/Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party. Donate today and help us turn this critical 2026 battleground blue, and watch my new discussion with our good friend David Pepper, now our candidate for Lt. Gov in Ohio. This total includes $21,00 sent by a Hopium community member directly to each of our three Buckeye State partners!
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $104,500 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my new discussion with Gov. Cooper as he fights to turn North Carolina blue
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $166,800 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $518,600 raised, $750,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our campaign that has helped expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas, all now central battlegrounds in the 2026 election. Catch interviews with the five intrepid state chairs leading their troops into battle this year - will get you fired up!
Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $20,000 to each of our five state parties over the past two years.
Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community/VA Vote Yes Phonebanks Thursday
We had hundreds of people join us last Thursday night for the first of our two Yote Yes phonebanks. We made over 50,000 dials, and had 5,000 conversations with voters. We, the members of this plucky and patriotic community, reached 5,000 voters in just a few hours. I want to double that this Thursday, and note that when we reach 5,000 voters, or 10,000 this week, we are reaching far, far more than that as each person we touch will touch many others in these critical, closing days.
Sign up for our phonebank this Thursday at 530pm here - let’s blow this one out everyone!
There are a few more ways to go to work in the coming days - call your leaders and advocate for elements of our working, ever evolving Hopium Agenda; bring resolutions that condemn our Mad King and lets facts be spoken to a candid world to your state or local government.
Here’s our working Hopium Post-Iran Disaster Agenda:
Work to end this new gulf war and Trump’s Imperial global ambitions
Support Ukraine and Europe, not Russia
Roll back the new, illegal tariffs
Rescind the Trump tax cuts, claw back the extra ICE funding, fund the IRS so it can collect the taxes the rich are hiding from us
Make the US a clean energy superpower, fight for true energy independence, and lower utility and energy prices for the American people
Rein in ICE, end Mass Deportation
End Trump’s destructive war on science, research, our health scare system and our public Health
Make clear to American farmers that we want to end the failed war, repeal the terrible tariffs, find legal pathways for farm workers, and make health care and energy more affordable
This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home, and rescinding the tariffs that are doing so much damage to our economy.
And please use the paid subscriber chat to self-report the good trouble you make each day.
Keep working hard all. We have a country to save and an election to win, together - Simon
With Orban's loss in Hungary and Carney's win in Canada, things are looking hopeful. If we do the work, we can accomplish the same thing!
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say NO money for ICE or war and that Trump is dangerously out of touch with reality and needs to be removed.
The economic impact of Trump’s war against Iran has been estimated to exceed 8 trillions USD. It pains me to think about all the good that could and should have been accomplished with such an unimaginably large amount of money!