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This article appeared in the Marin Independent Journal on October 7, 2010: By Norman Solomon      Today, the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan is beginning its tenth year, with 100,000 American troops in that country nearly a decade after the invasion started on Oct. 7, 2001.       When I returned home from a brief visit…

This letter was published in The Nation [October 11, 2010 print edition]:      The "Debating Obama" forum spotlighted some big obstacles to progressive change, but the discourse was notably hazy about presidential accountability for calamitous policies. It was a bad sign that the word "Afghanistan" did not appear anywhere in the forum's seven pages. (What would we…

By Norman Solomon      Autumn 2010 is a time of disillusionment for many who deplore the USA’s current political trajectory. Some who’ve been active for progressive causes are now gravitating toward hope that individual actions — in tandem with higher consciousness, more down-to-earth lifestyles and healthy cultural alternatives — can succeed where social activism has…

     Denial may be convenient, but it's not a political strategy.       Since last year, the Democratic Party's base has been eroding. Like canaries in a political coal mine, some progressives have warned of dire consequences. Instead of telling the canaries to pipe down, the way to prevent a collapse is to assess the ominous…

By Norman Solomon   A pithy idea — now going around in some progressive circles — is that elections are a waste of time. The idea can be catchy. It all depends on some tacit assumptions. For instance: elections are a waste of time if you figure the U.S. government is so far gone that it…