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Aaron Wells

@aaronwells.bsky.social

PhD, UCLA. Research emphasis: Ancient Mediterranean, History of Theocracy, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Tortured #Bills fan, Proponent of #GeneralStrike, universal health care, debt release. Catahoula and GSP Owner. ๐Ÿšซ No DMs! ๐Ÿšซ

383 Followers  |  290 Following  |  392 Posts  |  Joined: 31.08.2023  |  2.1673

Latest posts by aaronwells.bsky.social on Bluesky

Thanks for that. I'll look forward to reading your book, but from what I know that mandate reminds me of a religious counterpart to the troubling 1971 Powell Memorandum in terms of a call for coordinated, long-term conservative dominion over strategic segments of society.

05.10.2025 00:52 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Democrats have struggled to match this level of financial support, limiting their ability to build comparable youth-to-leadership infrastructure. This goes beyond the corruption of money in politics. What does an opposition party look like in terms of politics and ability to reach young voters.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The conservative pipelineโ€™s success stems partly from substantial funding by donors like the Koch and DeVos families, who have backed groups like TPUSA and Young Americaโ€™s Foundation since the 1980s, strongly extending their reach.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

To truly compete, Democrats must invest in more institutionalized programs like the Arena, which trains progressive organizers to spread Gen Z and Millennial activism on issues like climate, even if it still lacks the scale and resource depth to compete with organizations like Turning Point USA.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Republicans maintain a structural advantage through long-term institutions like the Leadership Institute and TPUSA, while Democratic efforts, such as Obamaโ€™s 2008 Organizing for America, often rely on short-term mobilization that fades. I suppose groups like MoveOn show some durability.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Democratic groups like NextGen America, Leaders We Deserve, and Dream for America have mobilized young voters on issues like climate and candidate support since the 2010s, but their efforts are often fragmented or issue-specific compared to GOP pipelines.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Turning Point USA, founded 2012, became a national force, combining campus chapters, ideological training, and donor support to groom the next generation of conservative leaders. Their model somewhat echoes earlier projects. It's uniqueness is reflected in its eventual maga identity.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Young Americaโ€™s Foundation, founded in 1971, grew significantly in the 1990sโ€“2000s. buying Ronald Reaganโ€™s California ranch in 1998 as a training site and hub for conservative student leadership. Another youth-to-leadership pipeline, It produced notorious magas like Steven Miller.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The Leadership Institute, founded in 1979, trained thousands of young conservatives and supplied the GOP with a steady farm system of activists and candidates.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

This pipeline's success is evident in Reagan's 1980 victory, where 40% of his staff were Goldwater/YAF alumni, according to primary sources like YAF archives or Goldwater's papers at Arizona State University.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Young Americans for Freedom, for example, beginning in the 1960s produced leaders like Phyllis Schlafly and Paul Weyrich; by 1965, YAF had trained over 50,000 activists. Schlafly was a proto-maga activist, converging conservative policy with incendiary culture war religious ideology.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Sources emphasize 1964 as the critical point where conservatism transitioned from elite-driven to mass-based, with a focus on youth as future leaders.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Warning: NOT a pro Maga thread. This is an assessment of one factor contributing to why Democrats lack majorities in all 3 branches of government and are in need of coordinated long-term strategies if they are to neutralize Maga. Since 1964, Republicans have pursued youth-to-leadership pipelines.

04.10.2025 21:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

You are misinterpreting the post. This is not about what policies are better, which is obvious. It is about winning elections. Maga occupies all 3 branches of govt. For Democrats to regain power they must adopt long-game strategies, such as abandoning neoliberal economics for true populism.

04.10.2025 17:15 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Party Domination and Base Mobilization: Donald Trump and Republican Party Building in a Polarized Era Since the 2016 election, President Trump has achieved unparalleled dominance over the Republican Party. He has also given his party a central role in his reelection campaign and invested heavily in it...

Besides institution building, Republicans developed long-term coalition building: the Southern Strategy, evangelical mobilization, monetarist/neoliberal economic interests, cultural warfare. Democrats failed to match GOP coalition-building efforts. Now they wonder why Maga occupies the government.

04.10.2025 16:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

Since Goldwaterโ€™s defeat in 1964, Republicans have pursued several aggressive political strategies. One of these is institutional expansion: funding think tanks, strengthening party infrastructure, reshaping the judiciary, etc. Democrats have failed to match this effort in consistency or magnitude.

04.10.2025 16:35 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Other than a brief Obama-era organizing movement, one that has since atrophied, the Democrats have had nothing matching the Republican unified youth to leadership pipeline. Where are the Democratic challenges to Turning Point USA, a 2012 pipeline for recruiting Gen Z when Obama won in 2012.

04.10.2025 15:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

After Goldwater's landslide loss, the GOP didn't turn tail. They doubled down on outorganizing liberals. The 1960s Southern Strategy was the beginning of a multidecade project converging Fundamentalist Christianity and deregulated Monetarist economics. It cultivated young conservatives for battle.

04.10.2025 14:32 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Political economy, grassroots organizing, transformational leadership, and the evolution of consciousness, all at the same time

27.09.2025 21:52 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 10    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

On this day in 1973, Salvador Allendeโ€™s democratically-elected socialist government was overthrown in a military coup led by the US-backed fascist Augusto Pinochet.

11.09.2025 06:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 162    ๐Ÿ” 95    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 6

Round one goes to Fed Independence over Trump Interference.

A federal judge ruled that Lisa Cook is "substantially likely" to prevail in her argument that Trump can't arbitrarily fire her, so she stays a Fed Governor while the case works its way through the courts

www.wsj.com/economy/cent...

10.09.2025 02:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 614    ๐Ÿ” 105    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 15    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

The mutants on the Supreme Court will cite some medieval legal precedent and overturn the ruling.

10.09.2025 03:13 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

ATLANTA (AP) โ€” Judge says he'll toss the racketeering case against 61 people tied to protests over a training center called โ€œCop City.โ€

09.09.2025 17:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3540    ๐Ÿ” 793    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 28    ๐Ÿ“Œ 118
Post image 09.09.2025 16:42 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

A nationwide general strike is without a doubt the best response to Trump's fascist moves to consolidate power, including his likely plans to steal the '26 and '28 elections.

The trick of course is organizing it

inthesetimes.com/article/plan...

07.09.2025 18:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 25    ๐Ÿ” 11    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

Iโ€™ve been thinking about ways to combat Trumpโ€™s military invasion of our cities.

Violence has to be the worst possible response, as it seems clear heโ€™s trying to provoke a civil war.

What about a nationwide general strike? If the stock market tanks and business leaders start squawkingโ€ฆ. ๐Ÿค”

06.09.2025 20:13 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 19    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Brian has been way ahead in articulating this argument and it's good to see more elite opinionmakers joining him...

07.09.2025 18:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 446    ๐Ÿ” 104    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 33    ๐Ÿ“Œ 9
Preview
DeSantis and Ladapo to โ€˜end all vaccine mandates in Florida lawโ€™ Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the move in Hillsborough County on Wednesday.

Florida is set to end all state vaccine mandates, the state surgeon general announced today

03.09.2025 16:27 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 348    ๐Ÿ” 134    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 109    ๐Ÿ“Œ 233
Preview
Thereโ€™s No More Business as Usual in Washington The country is rapidly devolving into rule by an unpopular despot. The Democrats who blind themselves to this are causing great harm.

*The country is rapidly devolving into rule by an unpopular despot. The Democrats who blind themselves to this are causing great harm*

prospect.org/politics/202...

02.09.2025 15:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 24    ๐Ÿ” 7    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
Preview
The Rich Wrote the Laws So that They Get all the Money, While the Left Was Sleeping Billionaires arenโ€™t just undertaxedโ€”the rules of patents, labor law, corporations, and bankruptcy are built to funnel wealth upward.

*Billionaires exist because market rules are rigged to push money to the top, not just because they pay too little tax*

cepr.net/publications...

02.09.2025 15:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 33    ๐Ÿ” 11    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

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