The summers before the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election will be the most consequential political moments Gen Z and millennials ever face. We need two modern Freedom Summers, where volunteers from safe blue states go into the most conservative parts of the country to register voters, provide community aid, and explain democratic rights face to face. Social media activism is saturated. Institutions are strained. If democracy is going to hold, it will be because people showed up where it is weakest, not where it is easiest.

By Micah Blake Allred Jan. 14, 2026 China’s trade dominance rests fundamentally on a “low labor rights” economic model that systematically suppresses labor costs, environmental protections, safety standards and worker rights to maintain artificial price competitiveness (Autor et al., 2016). The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intentionally constrains independent worker organizations, enforces wage suppression, imposes restrictions on labor mobility and entrepreneurship, and tolerates widespread forced labor and human rights abuses, all to sustain export advantage (U.S. Department of State, 2023). To properly address the foundational issue of these international trade disputes, the United States must reframe its trade war with China…