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Courtesy photograph<\/p>\nWhen I heard Sacramento Central Labor Council Executive Director Fabrizio Sasso speak at the first No Kings Rally, his remarks stood out immediately. He offered a clear, working-class analysis of how corporate power has reshaped American politics over the past half-century. And judging by the crowd that day, his perspective resonated deeply with many\u2014but also irritated others, especially those uneasy with criticizing the Democratic Party at a moment when it is already wrestling with internal divisions.<\/p>\n
That mix of reactions suggested his framework was worth exploring more closely, particularly for readers trying to understand why so many working people feel politically abandoned\u2014and why so many Democrats are rethinking what the party stands for.<\/p>\n
Sasso has led the Sacramento Central Labor Council since 2015. The council, the regional body of the AFL-CIO, represents more than 175 unions and roughly 170,000 workers across the region. Its role is to coordinate political action, support organizing drives, develop worker leadership, and serve as a central voice for labor on economic and community issues. Under Sasso\u2019s leadership, the council has become known for its direct engagement with voters, its focus on working-class issues, and its willingness to critique both major parties.<\/p>\n
Our conversation ranged from the 50-year corporate strategy to weaken worker power, to the rise of Democratic moderates, to the deliberate construction of culture wars\u2014and what it will take to rebuild a broad working-class movement. What follows is a condensed Q&A.<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve said corporate capitalism has spent 50 years tearing down American democracy piece by piece. If you had to point to the most blatant examples\u2014especially how they\u2019ve weakened working people\u2014what would they be?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: Yeah, so, over the last 50 years what you really see is corporate capitalists trying to take power away from working people and concentrate it among themselves at the very top. And this wasn\u2019t accidental. It was strategic.<\/p>\n
A lot of it started with attacking the labor movement. The whole push for \u201cright-to-work,\u201d especially in the Southern states, was designed to deny working people a voice on the job. That started to proliferate around the \u201960s and it continues today, even though we\u2019ve had some wins and even reversed it in one case.<\/p>\n
There came a moment when the business class\u2014the capitalist class\u2014realized they were losing ground. And once they recognized that, they really began strategizing on how to seize power back into their own hands. They did that through a couple of major things.<\/p>\n
The first is the Powell Memo. Louis Powell, a corporate attorney who later got appointed to the Supreme Court, wrote this private memo that basically laid out a strategy for how the capitalist class should take control of society. It\u2019s the framework for what we see now.<\/p>\n
Then that memo sort of paved the way for groups funded by the Koch brothers to use social issues to divide the working class. If you divide us, we\u2019re not paying attention to the bigger economic plan they\u2019re implementing.<\/p>\n
Another part of that strategy was looking for ways to privatize what was once public. You see this especially in the public sector\u2014public goods and services turned into profit centers.<\/p>\n
And then in the \u201970s, you get the Trilateral Commission pushing neoliberalism and expanded global markets. A lot of industries leave the United States in search of cheaper, more exploitable labor overseas. So you have industries failing here at home but thriving elsewhere. And the wealthy really start making gains from that.<\/p>\n
Other major moments include Citizens United, which basically lets corporations and the rich buy elections, and the monetizing of basic human needs\u2014healthcare, housing\u2014turning them into profit-driven investments.<\/p>\n
People feel this every day. It\u2019s not theoretical. It\u2019s their rent. It\u2019s their medical bill. It\u2019s their paycheck staying flat.<\/p>\n
SN&R: So, here\u2019s my recap: Roosevelt and the post\u2013World War II era lift people up, unions expand, the middle class grows. Then Powell and others say, \u201cThere\u2019s too much democracy,\u201d and we get a coordinated backlash. Can you give me a shorter summary of that shift?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: Yeah. For over 50 years, the gains made under Roosevelt\u2014the gains that helped working-class people rise out of poverty\u2014were seen as a threat to the capitalist elite. So they attacked unions. They attacked civil rights movements. They privatized public goods. They allowed more and more money into politics, which is basically seizing democracy itself.<\/p>\n
So, this is a coordinated attack that gained traction in the \u201970s with the Powell Memo and the Trilateral Commission paper, and it\u2019s been the playbook ever since\u2014through Reagan, and then even adopted by Democrats like Bill Clinton in the \u201990s.<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve said the moderates\u2014the \u201cmods\u201d\u2014didn\u2019t just fail working people; they helped the far right consolidate power. What decisions by the moderates caused the most harm?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: Yeah, so when I say \u201cmods,\u201d I mean moderate Democrats who\u2019ve embraced today\u2019s economic status quo. On social issues, a lot of them look like traditional social democrats\u2014they support choice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights. But their economic ideology is very similar to the right\u2019s. And that\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n
I always say you can\u2019t have social justice without economic justice. If your economic model is still the right-wing model, you\u2019re undermining the very social justice you say you support.<\/p>\n
So what have the mods done? They take corporate PAC money. That limits what they can say about the economic pain people are experiencing because they don\u2019t want to challenge their donors.<\/p>\n
They support privatizing what was once public\u2014education, parts of public safety\u2014echoing the right-wing narrative that government can\u2019t do anything right. Democrats should be defenders of good governance. Instead, many have surrendered that ground.<\/p>\n
They also lower expectations. They tell working-class people to \u201cbe realistic\u201d about wage gains while giving subsidies and tax breaks to the very wealthy. You see it at the local level: private developers get tens of millions in tax subsidies, and nobody demands high-wage jobs or strong community benefits in return.<\/p>\n
So yeah, the mods adopted big pieces of the corporate playbook. Once campaigns became more expensive\u2014especially after Citizens United\u2014they chased big donors. And that has starved government of the revenue it needs to function.<\/p>\n
Courtesy photograph<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve argued the culture wars weren\u2019t organic\u2014they were designed. Who designed them, and what has the working class lost while the country turns against itself?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: They were engineered by the same folks who worked for decades to weaken worker power. Think tanks, billionaires, political operatives funded by the business class\u2014the Koch network in particular.<\/p>\n
They knew productivity was rising, but wages weren\u2019t. They knew people were getting squeezed. So they needed a way to channel people\u2019s frustration away from the people actually benefiting from this system.<\/p>\n
So they weaponized guns, abortion, immigration, LGBTQ rights\u2014anything that would divide working people. All of that is intentional. And it distracts people from the fact that productivity kept going up while wages basically flatlined.<\/p>\n
They starved communities, then told people to blame immigrants or \u201cwelfare queens.\u201d That wasn\u2019t accidental either.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, you\u2019ve got billionaires on one side and homeless encampments on the other. You hear about government shutdowns and tax cuts for the rich while healthcare premiums go up for everyone else. People notice. They\u2019re starting to connect the dots. Now they just need to connect them all the way up to the people at the very top.<\/p>\n
And the whole \u201csocialism\u201d thing\u2014they say it\u2019s bad when it applies to helping working people, but when it applies to corporations or the rich, somehow that\u2019s just normal. Look at the financial crisis. Wall Street got bailed out. Regular people got sold out. It\u2019s a slogan because it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve said Trump is a symptom, not the disease. If the system doesn\u2019t change, what comes next?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: Yeah, so that\u2019s the scary part. We could follow Trump with another moderate Democrat who keeps the status quo. Someone who doesn\u2019t make the deep economic changes we need. If that happens, then yeah\u2014you\u2019re going to see another Trump. Maybe smoother. Maybe more dangerous.<\/p>\n
We could end up with a permanent oligarchy\u2014government run by billionaires and for billionaires. More criminalizing dissent. More rollback of basic rights. A democracy that only exists on paper.<\/p>\n
The other scenario is a big shift back to our core values\u2014taking care of people, lifting everyone up. But that requires a movement. We are in a democracy crisis. And democracies don\u2019t survive unless people push back.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sasso-3-1-946x1024.jpg\")
Fabrizio Sasso. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve talked about a \u201c50\/51\u201d strategy\u2014showing up everywhere, not just safe districts. What does that look like on the ground?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: Yeah, so the 50\/51 strategy\u2014here\u2019s how I see it. If people show up to a rally, they\u2019re probably ready to take the next step. And what matters is: what do they do after the rally?<\/p>\n
At the labor council, we knock on doors. We have conversations. Not just around elections but around issues\u2014healthcare, housing, wages. We ask people, \u201cHow are you doing? What\u2019s keeping you up at night?\u201d<\/p>\n
And when you talk to Trump voters? Most of them aren\u2019t extremists. They\u2019re just not seeing hope from either party.<\/p>\n
Real power comes from workers being organized\u2014union or not\u2014and being willing to withhold their labor when needed. The economy still runs on our work. And if we ever use that leverage at scale, the people at the top feel it.<\/p>\n
California\u2019s ahead, but we need other states building long-term strategies too. Mods have money. But we have people\u2014if they wake up and decide to act.<\/p>\n
SN&R: You\u2019ve organized outside California. What did you learn from those experiences?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: You learn we have a lot more in common than people think. People in red states want the same things as people here: wages that keep up, housing they can afford, healthcare that doesn\u2019t put them into debt.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s this stereotype of the Trump voter, but honestly, a lot of them just don\u2019t see hope coming from either party. They feel abandoned.<\/p>\n
And when you talk to them, the issues always come back to economics. Guns, abortion, immigration\u2014they\u2019re there, but underneath those things is economic stress.<\/p>\n
We beat right-to-work in Missouri because we talked to people, we listened, and we helped them connect the dots.<\/p>\n
Anyone can be an organizer if they\u2019re willing to listen.<\/p>\n
SN&R: For people in Sacramento who want to take action right now, what\u2019s the most important thing they can do?<\/p>\n
Fabrizio: If you care about your paycheck and your quality of life, the labor movement is a natural place to plug in. We organize around economic issues, but we also partner with immigrant-rights groups, housing groups, civil rights groups.<\/p>\n
NorCal Resist is great for immigrant-rights work\u2014ICE watch, know-your-rights trainings. ACCE does a lot around housing and tenant protections. They all need more people.<\/p>\n
And look, you don\u2019t need a perfect plan. Just take one step. Show up. Volunteer. Talk to your coworkers. That\u2019s when things start shifting\u2014when working people stop believing they\u2019re alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I heard Sacramento Central Labor Council Executive Director Fabrizio Sasso speak at the first No Kings Rally,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[54450,11232,121,54451,123,122],"class_list":["post-99755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-fabrizio-sasso","tag-no-kings-rally","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-central-labor-council","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}