The recent election results starkly confirms that what we’ve always advocated for—a working class economy—would strike a powerful and resonant chord across the country. There can be no denying the potency of a populist message in working class neighborhoods, as well as in rural regions.

Our “Assembly Line Concerts” https://www.detroitboldcoffee.com/concert/ garnered national attention, well beyond the original intent of focusing a spotlight on the plight of displaced auto workers of Michigan and the midwest. The Concerts gained national, even global attention as an awareness campaign demonstrating the importance of the community, “cross-trickle” economy, as contrasted with the bogus, discredited trickle-down sham. There is no denying that It will be a cross-trickle economy that will resuscitate communities and neighborhoods.

The Concerts were cited in the Guinness World Records book, triggering a cascade of attention to the cause. During that time we founded the “Assembly Line Party,” as a progressive expression whose intent was to emphasize the imperative for a robust national economy that enables people to build what they buy and buy what they build.

This is “Fordism” taken to its logical conclusion, where workers/ wage earners are what make up the bulk of the market economy that I call cross-trickle. This is an economy not rigged to favor short-term market gains but rather to incentivize investments that are long term and community- minded.

This is a model that recognizes that what is good for Woodward Avenue will be good for Wall Street, that if we are to have a strong national economy, we must put the old them vs. us mentality in the rear-view mirror.

There is no more potent demonstration than the still-reverberating election results of November 8, 2016. Abrasive and callous though it was, Donald Trump actually stumbled upon the roots of our national frustrations. He parlayed disaffected elements of American society into an a patchwork coalition just effective enough to prevail in the electoral college.

What began as a quixotic quest of a self-promoter ended with undeniable proof that a populist movement can gain traction, a painful but potent example for a community-based, cross-trickle economy. Ironic as it is, Trump’s election leaves no doubt that with energetic teamwork and effective planning, the “Assembly Line Party” that I have long envisioned can contribute to steering our neighborhoods and our state and perhaps the nation towards the greater economic parity that springs from vibrant local economies.

People who think this is a far reach would do well to recall the events in Flint in 1936-37 when exploited auto workers rallied behind Walter Reuther to spawn the birth of the union movement in America.

So, we will hold an exciting event in Spring 2017 at Detroit’s Eastern Market, we’ll also be promoting a new force at the grassroots level through local economies. The  evolution of the Assembly Line Party will once again shine a bright spotlight on the working men and women of Detroit. With the participation of prominent community leaders, entertainers, and local political figures and celebrities alongside working men and women, the event will be the springboard for communicating our message that the Assembly Line Party can be the party for parity in America.