Author Archives: Bosco O'Brian

Radical? Let’s Talk About Radical.

Yes, the Democratic Party is broad. It is diverse. It is sometimes unruly. But… Brian Griffin Mar 14, 2026 For years now, we have heard the same political refrain: the Democratic Party is “radical.” It is a convenient line, repeated so often that some people accept it without much reflection. But step back and lookContinue reading “Radical? Let’s Talk About Radical.”

Carried on the Autumn Breeze

The autumn light grows gentle now, gold drifting through the trees. Leaves of yellow, red, and fire are stirring in the breeze. They loosen from the summer branch that held them safe so long, then rise into the open airlike notes within a song. Once I believed the turning leaves were whispers of goodbye. TheContinue reading “Carried on the Autumn Breeze”

Statement by Brian D Griffin | Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council

October 27, 2025 | CINCINNATI, OH—I am urgently speaking out today on behalf of working people across this community and this state. Every day, people get up at dawn, punch the clock, care for their families, stretch every dollar in tight budgets, and still do everything they can to make ends meet. And now theirContinue reading “Statement by Brian D Griffin | Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council”

Stockholm Syndrome and the Labor Movement

Stockholm Syndrome describes how hostages sometimes identify with their captors, believing cooperation or small concessions might spare them greater harm. In today’s labor movement, we see echoes of that same instinct. Too often we find ourselves nuzzling up to the very forces that are cutting us down, hoping to soften the blow. But it willContinue reading “Stockholm Syndrome and the Labor Movement”

From Bartlet to McAvoy: America’s Dream and Its Reckoning

When Aaron Sorkin gave us President Josiah Edward Bartlet in The West Wing (1999), he gave Democrats a dream. Bartlet was brilliant and flawed, moral and principled. He made politics feel noble again. He quoted scripture and Nobel economics in the same breath, believing government could still be smart, decent, and good. For a partyContinue reading “From Bartlet to McAvoy: America’s Dream and Its Reckoning”

Diminished by Every Death: Guns, Rhetoric, and the Soul of America

Charlie Kirk’s assassination is tragic, but it is not an isolated wound. Daily gun deaths, toxic rhetoric, and unchecked access to weapons are hollowing out our nation — and we refuse to act. “No man is an island. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” John Donne wrote those words fourContinue reading “Diminished by Every Death: Guns, Rhetoric, and the Soul of America”

A Call to the Constitutional Conservatives of My Time

There was a time when Republicans prided themselves on being the party of the Constitution. A time when words like accountability, limited government, and fidelity to the rule of law meant more than party loyalty. The Republican Party I grew up with would never have tolerated, let alone celebrated, the abuses we now see fromContinue reading “A Call to the Constitutional Conservatives of My Time”

Labor Day Is Not a Holiday. It’s a Battle Cry.

Last year, 5,283 American workers were killed on the job. They died in fields and factories, in construction zones and warehouses, on highways and hospital floors. When you add work-related illnesses—cancers, respiratory diseases, long-term exposures—the toll soars to over 140,000 lives lost. That’s more than the population of a mid-sized American city, wiped out inContinue reading “Labor Day Is Not a Holiday. It’s a Battle Cry.”