Tag: political polarization

Politics & Culture, Uncategorized

What Kind of Country Do We Want to Be? (Part 2)

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. George Washington Last time, we explored how the radical break with the status quo that has been opened up by Donald Trump’s wrecking-ball lunacy might actually provide an opening for liberals to create their own bold project for transcending the … Continue reading What Kind of Country Do We Want to Be? (Part 2)

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Uncategorized, Politics & Culture

What Kind of Country Do We Want to Be? (Part 1)

What joins the Americans one to another is not a common ancestry, language or race, but a shared work of the imagination that looks forward to the making of a future, not backward to the insignia of the past. Lewis Lapham I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress … Continue reading What Kind of Country Do We Want to Be? (Part 1)

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Economics, Politics & Culture, Uncategorized

It’s Not Always the Economy, Stupid

Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t you think? L Frank Baum Last time, we looked at the dreaded C-word, capitalism. For this go-around, we’re going to pivot to en even more shadowy E-word, The Economy. Unlike capitalism, talk of the economy is everywhere, and it has largely been assumed that the primary role of national leadership in the US is … Continue reading It’s Not Always the Economy, Stupid

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Bigger Home Bases, Politics & Culture, Uncategorized

Battle for the Soul of America: A Three-Horse Race

You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time. Angela Davis What lies ahead? Reimagining the world. Only that. Arundhati Roy As Donald Trump sinks further into his dementia-addled, narcissistic hate bubble, and the Democratic would-be king breakers cross their fingers, toes, and every other appendage, hoping that a midterm blue … Continue reading Battle for the Soul of America: A Three-Horse Race

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Uncategorized

The Tyranny of Unserious Despots

The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Aldous Huxley As we enter the cornered-rat stage of “Trump 2.0; The Re-Deadening,” with his poll numbers tanking and the economy swirling down the drain, each day brings new outrages and tramplings of our republic. As the “Breaking News” emails continue to flood inboxes across the country, liberals have developed a Pavlovian … Continue reading The Tyranny of Unserious Despots

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Politics & Culture, Uncategorized

Asymmetric Polarization in America

They don’t love Trump because he’s strong. They love him because he makes their bitterness sacred. Because he gives them someone to blame — and someone to hurt. Garrett B. Matty Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. Friedrich Schiller Conventional mainstream(ish) punditry has it that there are radical nutbags on both extremes of the American political spectrum, and that the best path forward … Continue reading Asymmetric Polarization in America

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Uncategorized

Deadly Farce: Our Tragi-Comic Cosplay Regime

A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it. Lewis Lapham Being an American in these times is a bewildering and exhausting experience. The current Trump regime is both ridiculous and lethal at the same time, providing … Continue reading Deadly Farce: Our Tragi-Comic Cosplay Regime

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Bigger Home Bases, Economics, Modern Money Theory, Politics & Culture, Uncategorized, Universal Basic Income

De-Trumping Rural America

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

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Politics & Culture, Uncategorized

Polarization & Plutocracy: America’s Straitjacket

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

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