On Day 13 of the fascist regime, I did not write anything about Day 12 because I was busy doing something much more fun and exciting. I, along with my podcast partner Brendan Skwire, sat down for an hour-long chat with Driftglass and Blue Gal of the amazing The Professional Left Podcast. In my mind, they’re the best in the country at what they do. This was our 21st podcast. They recently published their 873rd. By all rights, they should be on Sirius Radio and have an audience of millions.

Part of what was so cool about talking with them is that we’re all veterans of the original progressive blogosphere and have 20 years of experience trying to explain to people that dangerous nature and direction of the Republican Party. But unlike me, who forgets things as soon as they happen, they remember and bring receipts for virtually everything, going back to the Gingrich Revolution.

The problem, as we discuss, is that there has never been a sugar daddy to support progressive voices so we’ve always had to do things by ourselves. Back in 2003-2005, the blogosphere arose out of nothing to protest that no one was telling the truth about Iraq. The Democratic Party wasn’t doing it. The media wasn’t doing it. No financiers were interested in doing it. Instead, folks like Driftglass and Blue Gal, from the cornfields near Springfield, Illinois, and people like Brendan and I from the progressive Philadelphia community, found each other, organized, and successfully put pressure on and gave courage to the Democrats and the media until they stood up and told the truth.

The result was a massive win in the 2006 midterms and electing a black guy as president in 2008. The heyday of blogging is over, but our voices are obviously needed now more than ever. And why shouldn’t the people who have been fucking right about the nature and direction of the Republican Party all along be the voices now to raise the banner and give courage to the resistance to full-blown fascism we’re been warning about for 20 years?

And a banner does need to be raised to rally and encourage the troops, because once again, no one is coming to save us. The Democrats are wounded and in a fetal position, and the media are more interested in handing out millions to settle frivolous Trump lawsuits than they are in defending democracy from darkness. Part of raising that banner is having progressive podcasters support each other, promote each other, and appear on each other’s shows. It’s like the old blogrolls from the OG Progressive Blogosphere, and we hope to do more shows with podcasters, both as hosts and guests.

We’ve done some good podcasts in the past, but I believe this is the best one we’ve done yet, and it’s not surprising because Driftglass and Blue Gal are simply brilliant and so good at this genre of communication. You can support them at their Patreon. If you’re a knitter, you should also definitely check out BlueGal’s knitting podcast. CabinGirl is a huge fan.

You can listen to the 21st Progress Pondcast on Amazon, I Heart Radio, Apple, Spotify and other outlets where you listen to podcasts. Please remember to like and subscribe because that helps us get organic listenership. And if you can manage it, please go to our Patreon and become a member (whether paid or not). You’ll be notified whenever we drop a new episode.

And please tell your friends to listen to not only our podcast but the amazing The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and BlueGal.