The Billionaires Have Two Parties, We Need a Party of Our Own

How Working People Can Build Independent Political Power

My new book is out and I hope you’ll take a look. It’s designed to stir up a discussion about what it will take to build working-class political power in America, especially in very red areas. It’s available here at Amazon, and it can be ordered at any book store or bookseller. Here’s the introduction and table of contents. Thanks so much for your consideration.

INTRODUCTION:

LISTEN TO THE BOSS

“We are desperately in need of an effective alternative party…”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, INSTAGRAM, 9/26/25

The Boss is right and the goal of this book is to get readers to both consider the need for a new workers’ party and assess its feasibility. It is aimed especially at concerned union, faith, and community leaders who have seen more and more of their members, congregants, and constituents abandon the Democrats and align with MAGA.

This book aims to open up a positive, substantive discussion with working people2 of all shades and stripes to encourage a new political path.

It will show why….

• Working people have been abandoning the Democratic Party

  as the party has been abandoning them.

• The Democratic brand is so tarnished that Democrats face a severe electoral penalty even before starting their campaigns.

• Working people are ready to support a new political organization with a very progressive economic platform that respects basic human rights and freedoms. New surveys prove it.

• Progressive economic populism matters much more to the working class than “wokeness.” Working people care less about who sleeps with whom than they do about whether everyone has a place to sleep.

• They also believe deeply in the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution that everyone in America should be able to take for granted.

• A new political party of the working class would strengthen rather than undermine the two-party system. (Many states and districts have become one-party fortresses because of gerrymandering and legislated restrictions on the size of Congress.)

• This new party can field working-class candidates in otherwise non-competitive districts where the needs and interests of working people have been too long taken for granted.

• It can also grow through advocacy and direct democracy by sponsoring ballot initiatives to increase the minimum wage, expand healthcare, fund childcare, build homes, prohibit mass layoffs, and assure a job to everyone who wants to work.

What’s in This Book?

In the chapters to come, we’ll explore these questions one by one:

Chapter 1: What do working people really want? Which issues are most important to them, and how do they rank them?

Chapter 2: What do voters think about the Democratic Party? What is the first thing that comes to their mind about the party? Is there a penalty for running for office as a Democrat?

Chapter 3: Would voters support, oppose, or be indifferent to a new policy that would prevent mass layoffs at large corporations receiving government money? Would they support ballot initiatives to impose that requirement statewide? How would they respond to corporate attacks on such a policy?

Chapter 4: To what degree would people support a new, independent workers’ political alliance that would fight for a very progressive economic populist platform?

Chapter 5: Didn’t the Labor Party, founded in 1996, fail to take hold? Why would a new party of working people be any different?

Chapter 6: What about the Working Families Party? Isn’t it already the established party of working people? Why build another one?

Chapter 7: Wouldn’t a new workers’ party become a spoiler party, enabling Republicans to win elections more easily?

Chapter 8: Why give up on reforming the Democratic Party? Couldn’t a new charismatic progressive leader do the trick?

Chapter 9: How do we deal with the tensions between class and social justice issues?

Chapter 10: If a new party is both possible and necessary, how would it be built, and where? What would be its goals?

Chapter 11: How do we get this going? What are the initial steps, who takes them, and where?

Conclusion: Should a new workers’ organization start by forming coalitions with other working-class-oriented candidates, no matter what the party affiliation? Or must the new party first take root and grow? And finally, what have we learned from our exploration?