The Pike statue is the only outdoor monument within Washington, D.C. to honor a Confederate general – but it does not mention his military history. Pike, who was a Freemason and was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, has also been identified by historians as possibly having been involved with the development of the Ku Klux Klan in the period after the Civil War.
The plaque at the base of the statue, which was originally mounted by the Freemasons, calls Pike an “author, poet, scholar, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher.”
Well, technically helping found the KKK is a type of philosophy.
Was reading my November 2025 issue of Harper’s Magazine and came across this letter to the editor from Ralph Nader. It seemed like a sensible platform for the Democrats: it would not raise eyebrows in Canada coming from a mainstream political party.
How do folks think it would fly with US voters?
**Third Opinion
I call such a program the Compact for America, and it would be hugely popular, upending the GOP.
This compact would include: (1) increasing the federal minimum wage to at least $15 per hour, supporting more than twenty-five million workers; (2) increasing Social Security benefits, largely stagnant for more than forty-five years, by raising the Social Security tax on the wealthy, supporting more than fifty-five million elderly Americans; (3) reinstating taxes on super-rich individuals and corporations; (4) establishing Medicare for All; (5) holding corporate crooks accountable; (6) instituting a social safety net, as in Western Europe and Canada; (7) adopting labor-law reforms proposed decades ago; and (8) investing in job-producing public services and infrastructure, with all of the above funded by the increased taxes as well as reductions in corporate welfare and the very bloated military budget.
The GOP is opposed to all of these proposals and would be defeated in a stinging collapse, with its phony populism exposed and its avaricious plutocrats dethroned. To mobilize around this compact, Democratic leadership must stop excluding input from labor and civic groups (see winningamerica.net). Absent replacing party sinecurists with able, energetic people, nothing can keep candidates from adopting this agenda on their own—as some younger primary challengers of Democratic incumbents are already starting to do.
The Democrats have sucked for a while at conveying their message, partly I think because they are trying too hard to be a big tent and not offend anyone, which they do by being quiet and not being clear about their positions.
can happen in legislatures beyond the United States.
