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Sunday Hopium - Reflecting On The Greatness Of The Four Freedoms

Greetings From Santa Fe, New Mexico

Simon Rosenberg

Aug 24

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Happy Sunday all. With Hopium in a lower gear until September 2nd, I am enjoying the extra time to see family, celebrate my son’s 25th birthday, read books that have been long sitting on my bedside table, take long hikes and think about what comes next.

I got to hit one of my happy places yesterday - the incredible Santa Fe Farmer’s Market. Here is a farmer roasting freshly harvested green chiles, always a highlight for me (and yes I am a green chile guy, not red):

Congressional Democrats will be returning to a very different political landscape when Congress resumes in September. Washington is now an occupied city; Trump has spent the recess wildly escalating; and Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker and the Texas Dems have shown us how we must fight now. As we’ve been discussing Congressional Dems will simply have to find a higher gear, and raise their game to challenge Trump’s growing danger far more directly, and effectively. I will have more to say on all this in the coming days.

On this Sunday I want spend time with something I’ve been thinking about a lot these past few months - Trump’s malicious assault on what is often called the American led global order, one that was built upon FDR’s Four Freedoms. It is a system built upon freedom, democracy, and it was imagined and built by the leaders of Democratic Party of the United States of America. It is I believe the greatest achievement of our proud and remarkable Party. And it is under unprecedented assault right now.

In my old presentation, With Democrats, Things Get Better, we spend the last 10 minutes or so reflecting on the historical importance of the Four Freedoms and the golden age they have brought. What follows now are a few slides, graphs and charts from that presentation, ones that I felt I needed to connect to today to draw inspiration for the battles ahead. For they remind us of the greatness of our Party, and what’s at stake in this battle against Trump.

In this era of the Four Freedoms more people have lived under democracy than any time in human history:

In this era of the Four Freedoms live expectancy has soared to levels never seen before in human history:

In this era of the Four Freedoms literacy, and the ability for people to do and pursue their dreams, has reached levels never seen before in human history:

In this era of the Four Freedoms fewer people live in extreme poverty than any time in human history:

When Trump attacks and undermines this American-led global liberal order, through his tariffs and his abandonment of freedom and democracy here and around the world, he risks the extraordinary progress we’ve made; he risks ending this golden age in human history, an age that has also seen America become more prosperous and powerful than any other nation in the history of the world.

In the bluster and the bullshit and the legacy media’s horserace coverage of Trump’s extraordinary assault it can become easy to lose sight of what might get lost if we are not successful in slowing him down and mitigating the damage he is doing.

Keep working hard all. For the stakes couldn’t be higher or our work together ever more important - Simon