Well our daughter at the Jacksonville Tributary just got a link to this. Don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I’ always playing catch up with you Rick, even though you’re considerably younger than I am. But then I say the same thing about said daughter, and I was 41 years old when she was born.
"I'm going to push back with truth". Nice one, great article. I could use your help on FB. It becomes so toxic to just correct the deliberate disinformation, yet I know it's important to do.
Wonderful article, Rick. Congratulations. I’m one of those old people you mentioned who was on Facebook. You’ll be glad to know that I ditched it and joined Substack. It’s like I’ve been reborn and my brain has started to function again! And, I get to follow you!!
Well done, sir. You share the courage of your convictions and give light to your deep moral center for all of us to see. I'm a lifelong Democrat (who started voting life as a "Reagan Democrat," being from California) who appreciates you and everything you're doing, against many odds, for the long-term survival of of the American Experiment.
Congratulations Rick. Maybe the reason you were profiled is because you look like a bald headed Cary Grant and have the crazy wit of Will Rogers ! Maybe not Cary but definitely Will. Well Done.
Good article. You’ve proven that an effective political strategist can be successful for any campaign, party, or political calling. Glad you are on the anti-MAGA/Trump side.
The last part of your article gives me hope. We are, after all, Americans. Our country has done great things and we can overcome this challenge, as well. We must keep the faith and remember the moral arc of the universe is long, but it tends towards justice. Never give up.
I've followed the saga of my main man Rick since '15 and I always find it admirable and inspiring. There are certain key values that we cannot lose as Americans no matter where we fall on the ideological spectrum and these values have always been worth the blood shed for them. America is the first propositional nation, founded on an _idea_ as Joe Biden says, and ideas such as these are worth fighting and sacrificing for. I, too, remember the days when this was a no-brainer.
I am a practical-minded voter but I am no centrist; I fully cop to being something of a left ideologue (but not far left). I have my own issues with my beloved Democratic Party but they're not Rick's issues. What Rick thinks the Democrats should do more of -- move to the center, promote market initiatives -- I think poisoned the brand. This began in the mid-60s and while there was the social froth of a reaction to the counterculture and the Great Society, what was bubbling underneath was more significant; the world was finally emerging from the wreckage of WW2 and competing in earnest with America. After the well meant attempt to democratize the party and do away with the smoke filled rooms that led to the lackluster nomination of the perfectly good man Hubert Humphrey, we got McGovern and lost in an epic landslide.
And so with the oil embargo and foreign imports, automotive and electronics particularly, shaking our once unchallenged economic dominance, Democrats retrenched and drank the Kool Aid of neoliberalism. It began with the unimpeachably moral man Jimmy Carter, but after 12 years of conservative retrenchment (and neoliberal market fundamentalism), we were spooked again and elected someone who we thought would be the Grand Synthesis of neoliberal ideas and social tolerance, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was great for himself and an absolute disaster for the party.
Because as Joe Trippi's man Howard Dean always sez, why vote for Republican Lite?
The financialization of the economy, pushed by the GOP but also by centrist Democrats, has not been a good thing for the country. It help exacerbate the voter affiliation switch, where brainworkers and upwardly mobile yuppies became Democrats and the deindustrializing heartland became Republicans; that only helped Democrats in the short term and now it's leading to an identity crisis in the party. And it won't be fixed by indentured servitude (you want healthcare? Work in a meat packing plant) to the kind of jobs we've been losing to foreigners for generations. The only way to fix this is with robust social policy, including education.
We need to look to the market economies that work best for their citizens.
“Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to struggle, you've had to fight
To keep understanding and compassion in sight
You could be laughing at me, you've got the right
But you go on smiling so clear and so bright
And it’s good to see your smiling face tonight “
~Jackson Browne
Well our daughter at the Jacksonville Tributary just got a link to this. Don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I’ always playing catch up with you Rick, even though you’re considerably younger than I am. But then I say the same thing about said daughter, and I was 41 years old when she was born.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k0vYnD6GGyU
"I'm going to push back with truth". Nice one, great article. I could use your help on FB. It becomes so toxic to just correct the deliberate disinformation, yet I know it's important to do.
Wonderful article, Rick. Congratulations. I’m one of those old people you mentioned who was on Facebook. You’ll be glad to know that I ditched it and joined Substack. It’s like I’ve been reborn and my brain has started to function again! And, I get to follow you!!
Excellent and well deserved!
Good work there buddy. Nice to see you get some old fashioned traditional respect. Nice print article on you and your dedication to your work.
Thank you for all you offer here keeping everybody focused
Very nice interview, Rick
I too am glad you did not hold back!
Congratulations
Well done, sir. You share the courage of your convictions and give light to your deep moral center for all of us to see. I'm a lifelong Democrat (who started voting life as a "Reagan Democrat," being from California) who appreciates you and everything you're doing, against many odds, for the long-term survival of of the American Experiment.
Congratulations Rick. Maybe the reason you were profiled is because you look like a bald headed Cary Grant and have the crazy wit of Will Rogers ! Maybe not Cary but definitely Will. Well Done.
Congratulations. Great interview. 👏👏👏
"Wrapped around the axel." Axel is a figure skating move.
Welcome to ideocracy 2025. Pass the gin and keep your ammo dry. Jeebus on an electric skateboard. Shoot me now.
Thanks Rick Good piece in a Florida magazine. Wonder if taRUMP will read it. Someone in trump land may. He may sue the publication
Teh Trumpty Dumpty do not reed.
Good article. You’ve proven that an effective political strategist can be successful for any campaign, party, or political calling. Glad you are on the anti-MAGA/Trump side.
The last part of your article gives me hope. We are, after all, Americans. Our country has done great things and we can overcome this challenge, as well. We must keep the faith and remember the moral arc of the universe is long, but it tends towards justice. Never give up.
I've followed the saga of my main man Rick since '15 and I always find it admirable and inspiring. There are certain key values that we cannot lose as Americans no matter where we fall on the ideological spectrum and these values have always been worth the blood shed for them. America is the first propositional nation, founded on an _idea_ as Joe Biden says, and ideas such as these are worth fighting and sacrificing for. I, too, remember the days when this was a no-brainer.
I am a practical-minded voter but I am no centrist; I fully cop to being something of a left ideologue (but not far left). I have my own issues with my beloved Democratic Party but they're not Rick's issues. What Rick thinks the Democrats should do more of -- move to the center, promote market initiatives -- I think poisoned the brand. This began in the mid-60s and while there was the social froth of a reaction to the counterculture and the Great Society, what was bubbling underneath was more significant; the world was finally emerging from the wreckage of WW2 and competing in earnest with America. After the well meant attempt to democratize the party and do away with the smoke filled rooms that led to the lackluster nomination of the perfectly good man Hubert Humphrey, we got McGovern and lost in an epic landslide.
And so with the oil embargo and foreign imports, automotive and electronics particularly, shaking our once unchallenged economic dominance, Democrats retrenched and drank the Kool Aid of neoliberalism. It began with the unimpeachably moral man Jimmy Carter, but after 12 years of conservative retrenchment (and neoliberal market fundamentalism), we were spooked again and elected someone who we thought would be the Grand Synthesis of neoliberal ideas and social tolerance, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was great for himself and an absolute disaster for the party.
Because as Joe Trippi's man Howard Dean always sez, why vote for Republican Lite?
The financialization of the economy, pushed by the GOP but also by centrist Democrats, has not been a good thing for the country. It help exacerbate the voter affiliation switch, where brainworkers and upwardly mobile yuppies became Democrats and the deindustrializing heartland became Republicans; that only helped Democrats in the short term and now it's leading to an identity crisis in the party. And it won't be fixed by indentured servitude (you want healthcare? Work in a meat packing plant) to the kind of jobs we've been losing to foreigners for generations. The only way to fix this is with robust social policy, including education.
We need to look to the market economies that work best for their citizens.