To better explore the important issues facing the nation and the challenges hard-working Americans face today, there will soon be some changes to The Progressive Capitalist.
I have been working on a new quarterly publication available both digitally and in print. The first issue is ready, and I’ve received the test print. Now I just need to finalize the new site and make sure it works properly.
The Progressive Capitalist will soon switch to this new format. Here’s how that will go:
The website theprogressivecapitalist.com will switch to the new format. theprogressivecapitalist.substack.com will remain available for free, with the existing articles, for a while longer.
The new site will be mostly for paid members, with only a few sample articles available for free. I will post the introduction article on this Substack as part of launching the new site.
Anyone who currently has a monthly paid subscription will have it ended here and be given three months of free access to the new site.
Anyone with an annual subscription will have it ended and receive a full year on the new site, regardless of how much time remains on your current subscription. I will reach out for an address to send physical copies during that year-long subscription (you can say no to physical copies if you’d like).
I do not have access to your payment information, which is a good thing, so I cannot move your active subscription over. If you want to keep supporting my work on the new site, you will need to start a paid subscription once the free access period ends.
Stripe is the payment processor on Substack and the same one being used on the new site.
I am deeply thankful to everyone who has supported The Progressive Capitalist over the years. Your support is what has kept this going and allowed it to grow into a fledgling publication.
The first issue is called “...and then the Corporations Came”. It includes five articles totaling about 12,000 words, plus a lengthy citation and resources section at the end for anyone who wants to dig into the topics. The issue is 32 pages.
The introductory article is titled “The Match Was Lit.” It covers the rise of corporate influence in politics by examining the Powell Memorandum and the frustrations that led to it.
It is followed by “The Flood of Money,” which explores the massive increase in political spending that followed and its effects on the nation. It discusses the explosion in the costs of running a winning campaign, excessive lobbying spending, and the avenues of dark money, along with how we got here.
Then we look at how corporations shifted the public narrative in “The Story Was Rewritten”. It exposes the strategies corporations use to influence education, media, the public, and politicians, as well as how they develop think tanks and organizations that target regulations through deception.
We shift gears in “The Movement They Feared” to look back at the movement from WWII through the 1960s that fought to improve civil and workers’ rights by following the career of A. Philip Randolph, who organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, among many other achievements throughout his life.
Those decades of progress show how everyday Americans can still regain power in Washington, as shown in the article “One Million Can Defeat Billions”. We counter the billions in spending by getting organized and using our voice.
The first issue ends with a short article titled “One vote. Then two.” discussing how we start making change through voting. Then we help someone else vote. That continues until we build a movement for change.
I hope that you enjoy the new format and the articles when the site goes live. You’ll even be able to download each issue as a PDF and read it on whatever device you want, or read it directly on the page in a magazine layout with page flipping. Here are some pictures from the printed magazine.
