Krystal Kyle & Friends

Here’s a roundup of the questions that might have crossed your mind this week: Will the new Democratic-majority government write checks to bail out the banks or the people? How “girlboss” is it that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was paid $810,000 to speak for Citadel, which threw money at the hedge fund that shorted GameStop? What about Nancy Pelosi buying Tesla calls while the new president makes government vehicles go electric? (Hey, maybe she’s just showing her support for “the Green Dream, or whatever they call it.”)

These questions are animated by a common theme: workers make the profit, and capitalists steal that profit to play games with it. And our government is staffed by the people who actively engage in that theft, directly profit from it, or act as the puppets of these hedge-fund ghouls. The events of this week have shown that capitalism “playing by the rules” is a misnomer. There’s just one rule, handed down from party elites and their corporate backers: Financial gain for me, and not for thee. Under the new administration, “Nothing will fundamentally change,” remember? So if it seems wrong that Pelosi and Yellen, along with Wall Street, should line their pockets while the people who do the work go hungry or homeless — what do we do to force the change ourselves?

We spoke to Justin Jackson this week to get an insightful, strategic perspective on this question, and as you’ll hear, he delivered. Theories about how we work with the corrupt Democratic Party, for example, are in no shortage, and as leftists, it’s on us to consider how to productively engage with electoral politics to deliver victories from the people — without becoming acquiescent, as Nina Turner argued in last week’s episode. Not only is Justin a stellar athlete on the national stage, as a running back for the L.A. Chargers, but he’s an advisory board member of the Movement for a People’s Party. He’s thought deeply about the value of a party that doesn’t dip into Wall Street’s pockets, and he clearly lays out the case for that party while spelling out how we make Democratic electeds fight for the change we need in the present moment.

We can’t afford to let politicians attach the word “progressive” to their name while they turn around to support a status quo that bankrupts working people. Justin’s made the point that the future of this country is at stake. We know you’ll enjoy listening to his incisive analysis of how an anti-corporatist left makes a place for itself on the American political terrain. We know you’ll be excited to hear about what he’s working on politically. And we’re so glad to have you tuning in.