A Note from Hightower (and a Summer Invitation)
Friends—
You may have seen the clip. The “six Bs” excerpt from my speech from the Texas Democratic Convention has been bouncing around the internet all week now, and boy, did it feel good watching all of you share it.
But here’s what I want you to know: that speech wasn’t really about me. It was about handing the mic to Clayton Tucker, a goat rancher out of Lampasas who’s picking up a fight that started at a kitchen table in his own county a hundred and fifty years ago. I’ve spent decades trying to make sure that fight doesn’t end with me. Watching Clayton take the stage, getting to call him the People’s Agitator in front of thousands of Democrats — that’s the work, and that’s my reward.
This past month, we opened the gates a little. You got the pesticide hearing story — Willie Nelson, Barbara Jordan, and a fight we won by building a movement before we ever needed the movie stars. You got the Lampasas story. You got the speech. That’s usually paid-subscriber-only territory, and we wanted you to see what you’ve been missing.
So here’s the deal, plain and simple. I’ve been doing this work for over 50 years. No corporate sponsors. No PAC money. No billionaire sugar daddy funding this operation. The people who chip in $5 a month are the reason this newsletter exists. Period.
I’m not going to give you a hard sell. You know what we do. You’ve been reading it, and this summer you got an extra taste of it.
Right now, we’re offering annual subscriptions at $40 a year — that’s $10 off the regular price. Less than a dollar a week to keep independent, populist, corporate-free commentary coming to your inbox, plus the Friday posts, the live Happy Hours, and whatever other trouble Laura, Deanna and I cook up.
The Powers That Be have got their megaphones, their billionaires, their six Bs. We’ve got our own power: you.
If you’re in a position to join us, we’d be glad to have you. If you’re not, keep reading — that’s what the free tier is for, and it’s not going anywhere.
Either way — let’s keep agitating, together.
— Hightower
P.S. If you’re already a paid subscriber — thank you. Seriously. We cannot do this without you!
I date back to the Hightower Lowdown in print version. I generally dislike having to wade through videos because I can read so much faster. But that's a serious error here. It's not just what Jim says, but how he says it. Listen and you get a master class in storytelling--how to really reach people. The inflection, the humor, the ease; all connect on the feeling level, the heart, yet at the same time get across serious issues. It's the legacy of Populism he's carrying on.
I'm reading /Missing Class (Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures)/ by Betsy Leondar-Wright, 2014. Academic research, but also practical. The usual race and gender lens, adding the class lens. "Two studies of US white and black men's values found that upper middle class men emphasized getting along with everyone and diplomacy while working class men valued blunt honesty." True in my experience. Blue collar most of my life, but later also becoming well educated. I saw how the educated class (~31% in the US) all too often comes across as convinced their way is best and assuming they know what is or isn't relevant. What struck me about that particular passage was how good Jim is at blending the two modes.
You’re the greatest Jim! 👍