Ten Rules for Liberals Who Want to Actually Win: A Messaging Manifesto 📢
How to Build a Coalition That Can Finish What Reconstruction Started
🎯 The Moment We're In
We are not in normal times. This is not a policy debate. This is not about finding common ground with people who want to eliminate your right to exist.
We are in the middle of a modern civil war—one that started years before any bullets flew, one that began with gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the systematic capture of institutions. The groundwork for actual violent conflict has been laid over the last decade, brick by brick, ruling by ruling, law by law.
If you don't understand where we are in history, wake up.
This moment is the fever that forces America to finally finish the work of Reconstruction. Without this crisis, we would have limped along forever in a half-democracy, pretending incremental progress was enough while authoritarianism grew stronger.
Trump is not the disease—he's the catalyst. He's America's unwitting gift to democracy, the crisis that makes denial impossible.
The question now is whether liberals will rise to meet this moment with the clarity, courage, and strategic thinking it demands. Here's how.
⚡ Rule 1: Name the Conflict Honestly
💢 Historical Context: During Reconstruction, Americans pretended the post-Civil War period was "peaceful reconciliation" until white terrorism through the KKK and Redemption governments revealed it was war by other means. The failure to name the conflict honestly led to the collapse of Reconstruction and nearly 100 years of Jim Crow.
❇️ Present Reality: We are in a cold civil war. It's not a metaphor. It's not hyperbole. Wars don't start with bullets—they start with the systematic undermining of shared institutions, the delegitimization of opposition voices, and the preparation for violence.
The January 6th insurrection wasn't the beginning—it was one battle in a war that started when Mitch McConnell refused to seat Merrick Garland. It continued through every voter suppression law, every gerrymandered district, every Supreme Court decision that chipped away at voting rights.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: Use the word "war." Stop softening it. Stop calling it "polarization" or "division." When someone asks you about "political tensions," correct them: "We're not dealing with political tensions. We're dealing with one side that has declared war on democracy itself."
🤝 Rule 2: Inclusion with Guardrails
💢 Historical Context: The abolitionist coalition succeeded because it was radically inclusive—former slaves, radical Republicans, moderate Republicans, even some Democrats who broke ranks. But it had one non-negotiable principle: slavery had to end. Period.
❇️ Present Reality: Everyone is welcome in this coalition—right-leaning people, centrists, progressives, even billionaires (we need their money). The only exceptions are people who actively work to hurt others: rapists, murderers, abusers, and those who are openly hostile to the project of pluralistic democracy.
You don't have to like everyone in the coalition. You don't even have to agree on tax policy or healthcare or foreign policy. You just have to be willing to live in harmony with everyone else and oppose authoritarianism.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: Lead with invitation, not exclusion. "Everyone's welcome as long as you're not actively trying to hurt people." Make it clear this isn't about ideology—it's about basic human decency and democratic norms.
When accused of being "divisive," respond: "The only thing we're dividing is democracy from authoritarianism. Which side are you on?"
🗳️ Rule 3: Get Clear on "Fraud"
💢 Historical Context: Jim Crow governments invented "voter fraud" as justification for literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses. They claimed to be protecting "election integrity" while systematically disenfranchising Black voters.
❇️ Present Reality: Republicans deliberately conflate "election fraud" (systematic manipulation of elections through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and institutional capture) with "voter fraud" (individuals illegally casting ballots).
They scream about voter fraud—which is virtually nonexistent—while committing massive election fraud through gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and limiting access to polling places.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: Always distinguish between the two. "There's been massive election fraud in this country for decades—it's called gerrymandering, voter suppression, and court-packing. What there hasn't been is voter fraud, which is individuals illegally casting ballots."
Repeat this distinction relentlessly. Don't let them control the frame.
🔍 Rule 4: Decode "Socialism"
💢 Historical Context: In the 1960s, civil rights legislation was called "communist" and "socialist" by segregationists. Medicare and Social Security were called "socialist" when they were proposed. The New Deal was called "socialist."
❇️ Present Reality: When Republicans say "socialism," they don't mean Marx or even European-style social democracy. They mean Black people voting, women in positions of power, LGBTQ+ equality, and any redistribution of resources or dignity away from straight white men.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: Don't defend "socialism"—decode their language. "When you say 'socialism,' you mean Black people having political power. You mean women making decisions about their own bodies. You mean LGBTQ+ people existing in public. Why does equality scare you so much?"
Turn their scare word back on them. Make them explain why they're terrified of other people having rights.
⚖️ Rule 5: Stop Revering Captured Institutions
💢 Historical Context: The Supreme Court gave us Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, and the systematic gutting of Reconstruction. Courts have always been political weapons—the difference is that conservatives admit it while liberals pretend otherwise.
❇️ Present Reality: The Supreme Court spent 30 years laying the groundwork for this moment. Citizens United, Shelby County, Dobbs—each decision was a brick in the wall of authoritarianism. The Court is not a neutral arbiter; it's a captured institution serving partisan ends.
The same is true for much of the federal judiciary, gerrymandered state legislatures, and the Electoral College. These institutions don't deserve reverence—they deserve reform or replacement.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: "The Supreme Court is not holy. It's corrupt, and it's been laying the groundwork for authoritarianism for decades. Stop defending institutions that are working against democracy."
When someone talks about "norms" or "traditions," ask: "Which norms? The norm of Dred Scott? The norm of Plessy? The norm of gutting the Voting Rights Act?"
💡 Rule 6: Admit the Democratic Party is Failing
💢 Historical Context: In the 1930s, timid centrists nearly lost the country to fascism. It took FDR—willing to fight like democracy itself was at stake—to save it. Similarly, the civil rights movement succeeded only when leaders were willing to break "norms" and fight for justice.
❇️ Present Reality: The Democratic Party, as currently constituted, is weak, ineffective, and has no understanding of the reality we face. These are bureaucrats trying to manage a revolution. They bring process arguments to a power fight.
In revolutions, you need revolutionaries, not administrators. The current Democratic leadership is not just inadequate—they're actively harmful because they prevent the kind of aggressive response this moment demands.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: "The Democratic Party as it exists today cannot win this fight. We need fighters, not bureaucrats. We need people who understand we're in a war, not a debate club."
Don't defend Democratic failures. Demand better. "I'm not going to pretend the party that let Merrick Garland sit on his hands while democracy burned is equipped for this moment."
💰 Rule 7: Always Link Money to Power
💢 Historical Context: The New Deal coalition succeeded because it linked economic justice to democratic participation. The civil rights movement succeeded because it connected racial equality to economic empowerment. You cannot separate economic policy from social justice—they're the same fight.
❇️ Present Reality: The people fighting against racial equality, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights are the same people hoarding economic resources. If the money were distributed differently, their politics would change overnight.
This isn't about ideology—it's about protecting wealth and privilege. The culture war is a distraction from the class war.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: "You can't separate economics from civil rights. The same people who want to control women's bodies want to control workers' paychecks. The same people who oppose racial equality oppose economic equality. Follow the money."
Never let social and economic issues be separated. They're the same fight against the same enemy.
🔥 Rule 8: Use Trump as a Catalyst—Without Romanticizing Him
💢 Historical Context: Sometimes it takes a crisis to force necessary change. Bull Connor's brutal response to civil rights protesters made the cause undeniable to moderate Americans. The Great Depression created the political space for the New Deal.
❇️ Present Reality: Trump is America's fever—the crisis that makes denial impossible. Without him, we would still be in a mealy-mouthed democracy, pretending incremental progress was enough while authoritarianism grew stronger.
He's not a mastermind; he's a symptom and an accelerant. The forces he represents were always there—he just made them impossible to ignore.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: "Trump didn't create American fascism—he revealed it. He's the fever that forces us to deal with the infection. Without this crisis, we'd never have the political will to finish what Reconstruction started."
Frame him as the catalyst for necessary change, not as a unique threat. The threat was always there; he just made it visible.
💪 Rule 9: Call the Courage Question
💢 Historical Context: Every leap forward in American history required people willing to risk everything. Abolitionists faced death threats. Suffragists were imprisoned. Civil rights leaders were murdered. Freedom has never been free.
❇️ Present Reality: This moment requires courage. People will be targeted. Careers will be ended. Some of us will lose everything. The question is whether we'll be remembered as the generation that saved democracy or the one that let it die.
If you have young children, understand: they will inherit either the democracy we fight for now or the authoritarianism we allow to take root. There is no middle ground.
✉️ Actionable Messaging: "I'm prepared to risk everything for my children's future. Are you?"
"Revolutions aren't pretty. You might be targeted. But if we're going to be on their enemies list anyway, let's make sure we're there as heroes, not as cowards."
Make it personal. Make it about legacy. Make it about what kind of world we're leaving behind.
✊ Rule 10: Center Women as the Power Base
💢 Historical Context: From Seneca Falls to Montgomery to #MeToo, women have been the backbone of every progressive movement in American history. They were often denied credit, but they were always the engine of change.
❇️ Present Reality: Women are the most powerful institution we have available to mobilize. They vote more than men, they organize better than men, and they have the most to lose from authoritarianism.
Especially challenge white women: "Do you want your daughters growing up in a world where men have complete control over their bodies? Where their husbands can legally rape them? Where their economic opportunities are limited by law?"
✉️ Actionable Messaging: Make women central to every message, every coalition, every strategy. Not as a special interest, but as the foundation of democratic power.
"This is a women-led movement because women understand what's at stake. The question for men is whether they're ready to follow women's leadership or whether they'll sit on the sidelines while democracy dies."
📍 The Bottom Line
This is not a movement of exclusion—it's a movement of inclusion with clarity. We welcome everyone who is willing to live in harmony with others and oppose authoritarianism. We reject only those who actively work to harm others.
Stop being nice to people who want to eliminate your right to exist. Stop defending institutions that have been captured by authoritarians. Stop pretending bureaucrats can manage a revolution.
The stakes are existential. The timeline is compressed. The choice is binary: democracy or authoritarianism, pluralism or white Christian nationalism, freedom or fascism.
Trump gave us the crisis. Women, money, and courage will give us the solution.
History will judge us not by our intentions but by our results.
The only question left is whether liberals will finally speak and act with the urgency this moment demands.
The revolution won't be televised—but it will be messaged.
Make sure you're on the right side of history.
All of this! It's time progressives get clear-eyed, leave the nostalgia about this democracy at the door and get about the business of building whatever comes next.