As a monthly guest on Hudson River Radio’s “The Many Shades of Green” with Maxine Margo and Malcolm Burman, I enjoy providing perspectives on political, economic, and environmental news shaping our world as the Andy Rooney-style curmudgeon on the program.
On the latest program, we are joined by Yolanda Nava, Jim Driscoll, and Golda Velez. We discuss:
The transition from fossil fuels to clean, safe, renewable energy as a national security and affordability imperative.
The societal response to subversion or suspension of the 2026 midterm elections.
Earned governance as an emerging corporate ownership model.
Listen in: it’s more fun than a barrel of corrupt, incompetent, cowardly Cabinet members: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/who-can-sleep-with-the-world-on-fire--73269404
As part of a series, "The Architecture of Division” and its companion, “The Architecture of Convergence” were released into the wild.
The only way people will see either or both articles is up to each of us. The algorithms responsible for what is widely distributed and what is not is in the hands of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Without you, these articles will only be seen by a few.
The Convergence article is lengthy, and it may be the most consequential piece I’ve written to date. It is a reminder that in the 1960s and early 1970s, Americans were heavily divided on many issues across race, gender, civil rights, and voting rights. The labor movement was in conflict with the environmental movement. The Vietnam war was raging. State-sponsored violence led to the killing and wounding of students. And yet, the era led to the founding of the EPA, The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, Medicare and Medicaid, and other significant legislative and policy reforms.
The article is a reminder that we do not have to agree on every issue that readily divides us today. Immigration. Healthcare. Gaza. Mamdani. Gun violence prevention. Women’s reproductive rights. How people love or believe. Climate action and response. LGBTQ+ rights. History tells us we do not have to be friends to accomplish great things together. It is imperative that, as Americans, we embrace the concepts of justice, democracy, and equality. We must make sure our voter registration is current and accurate, or register to vote. And we must show up at the midterms in numbers too large for the election to be subverted or suspended. It is likely our last opportunity to defend the Constitution, the rule of law, and the country in a non-violent manner.
Future generations will ask what did we do in the face of blatant corruption, lawlessness, and abuse of power. I want us to tell the story this November.
Here’s an excerpt from the “The Architecture of Convergence”:
”…In Chicago, a twenty-one-year-old named Fred Hampton was helping build something called the Rainbow Coalition.
The Black Panthers. The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican organization. The Young Patriots, poor white Appalachian migrants living in Uptown, some of whom had worn Confederate flag patches on their jackets.
Sit with that arrangement for a moment.
Then ask who benefited from keeping those three communities afraid of one another, fighting one another, and out of the same room.
On December 4, 1969, 14 police officers raided Hampton’s apartment before dawn. They killed Mark Clark, who was twenty-two. They killed Fred Hampton in his bedroom. Police fired more than eighty rounds. The physical evidence identified only one shot from a Panther weapon, apparently discharged when Clark was struck and fell.
The officers knew the apartment’s layout. William O’Neal, an FBI informant embedded in the Panthers, had helped prepare a detailed floor plan identifying the rooms, their occupants, and the bedroom where Hampton slept. The FBI passed that intelligence to local law enforcement before the raid. [14] The litigation that followed lasted more than a decade and ended in a $1.85 million settlement paid jointly by the federal government, Cook County, and the City of Chicago.
Fred Hampton was twenty-one years old. He had led the Illinois Black Panthers for barely a year. He had already created free breakfast programs, negotiated peace among rival gangs, and helped bring poor Black, Puerto Rican, and white communities into an alliance.
That was the threat.
The broader campaign against movements like Hampton’s was not an isolated abuse. It was part of a documented federal program, and it had a name.
COINTELPRO…”
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Please note that my articles and subscriptions are not paywalled. This stems from a guiding principle -that any meaningful democracy requires an informed, educated, and engaged society. It is also to honor the life of Aaron Swartz.
Aaron held firmly to the belief that research and knowledge intended for the betterment of humanity should be freely shared.
If the problem is extraction, then the response must be construction.
I am building Civic Works and its core platform, civ.works, as a direct alternative to the systems that have captured our data, our attention, and our civic life. This is a 501(c)(3) effort to create infrastructure that serves the public, not exploits it.
The goal is simple and necessary. A subscriber-supported, ad-free civic network where people can access trusted information, engage constructively, and take meaningful action without being tracked, manipulated, or sold.
No ads. No data harvesting. No hidden incentives.
Just people, information, and the tools to participate in a functioning democracy.
This kind of infrastructure will not be built by the same forces that benefit from the current system. It has to be built by us.
That is why we are asking for direct public support.
If this work resonates with you, I am asking you to make a simple commitment. Visit the pledge page and commit to supporting civ.works at launch. A small monthly contribution, combined across thousands of people, creates the independence required to build this platform without compromise.
https://civ.works/pledge/pledge.html
This is not just about funding a project. It is about proving that a different model is possible. One where civic infrastructure is accountable to the people who use it, not the interests that seek to exploit it.
If you believe the current system is failing, this is one way to begin rebuilding it.
And if you cannot contribute financially, sharing this effort with others is just as important.
The system we have was built deliberately.
What comes next can be built the same way.
Aside from writing, mentoring others, and projects related to democracy, economics, and social innovation, I’m dedicated to Civic Works, a 501c3 non-profit organization building and managing technology that blends social networking and civic engagement. Our core effort is around civ.works. When complete, it will be a subscriber-supported, ad-free social network that does not betray subscriber trust by selling or sharing data with marketers or sinister political operatives.
I’m incredibly grateful for all who contribute to the civ.works effort through our secure payment processor, Stripe, and all who help us gain visibility by sharing the project with journalists and others to move the effort forward.
Special appreciation for all who continue to recommend my rants and musings, restack articles that are found to be worthy, and share with friends and family. And the following are some special recommendations for stacks I value -
Liz Oyer, Former DOJ Pardon Attorney
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