If change is to come, it will have to come from the margins. Wendell Berry You never change things by fighting the existing reality.To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller Before we get into what could be called a “rural strategy” for de-Trumping our non-urban areas in America, let’s do a quick recap of the overall scheme … Continue reading De-Trumping Rural America
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. Louis Brandeis Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into … Continue reading Polarization & Plutocracy: America’s Straitjacket
The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. African Proverb Over the past couple weeks, Donald Trump has rapidly ramped up his war against all things foreign, liberal, and modern. I am writing this on the morning of June 14th, so his ridiculous Kim-Jong-Donald military parade is scheduled to run concurrently with the nationwide No Kings … Continue reading Fighting Fire with Fire: Virtual vs. Embodied Tribalism
As we come down the home stretch of the shitshow that is the 2024 Presidential election, it has become clear that our problem is not just Trump, or his legion of followers, or even the entire American political system, which has tipped over completely into plutocratic servitude. What is really crippling us is a dysfunctional set of ideas, a system of zombie ideas so entrenched … Continue reading Hard to Kill: Zombie Ideas That Need Slaying
An era can be considered over when its basic illusions have been exhausted. Arthur Miller Those who are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of vivid and fixed visions, so that those who are most ignorant think they know most. Theodotus (2nd Century C.E.) There is, I think, a growing, deep, general awareness of a massive systems failure in our … Continue reading Strange Expectations: The Age of Magical Thinking Hits the Wall
The Democrats should move on from identity politics. It’s not working. They are hemorrhaging the very voters they think they’re pandering to. Bill Maher It is somewhat customary now for liberals to criticize other liberals for being overly infatuated with identity politics. Bill Maher is typical of this sort of lecturing, recently opining, “the more you obsess over identity, the more you ignore the bread … Continue reading The Problem with Bill Maher: Identity Politics as Low-Hanging Fruit
We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools Martin Luther King, Jr. Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect Chief Seattle Community is the only heaven we can reasonably look forward to, the only … Continue reading We Are Each Other’s Future
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller This past week, Donald Trump won the NH primary, all but locking up his candidacy for the fall. So we’re fated for a rematch that most Americans want no part of, and the odds are that Trump will come out on … Continue reading A Different Game: A New Liberal Playbook
Abide not with dualism, Carefully avoid pursuing it; As soon as you have right and wrong, Confusion ensues, and Mind is lost. Edward Conze The only illusion is division. Wald Wasserman As 2023 winds down, the specter of a Trump-centric 2024 looms large. Despite the general suckiness of this past year, I haven’t met too many people eager to turn the calendar page, because they … Continue reading Transcending Trumpism: Breaking the Death Grip of Dualism
Therefore the Lord said, “These people draw near to me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is but rules taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13 Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst. C.S. Lewis As anticipated, the SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade this week, bravely on a Friday afternoon … Continue reading Polarization triggers the abortion bomb
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