The norm of accepting defeat and peacefully relinquishing power is the foundation of modern democracy. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt Something is very wrong with America. Donald Dodo’s* BIG LIE about the 2020 election continues to have a dangerous, corrupting, and corrosive influence on our people and on our democratic institutions. It is absolutely astonishing … Read more
Something seems to have broken with capitalism. Albert Edwards Albert Edwards is an economist for the Societe Generale investment bank. He is concerned that capitalism is no longer working as it should. During a time of a slowing economy – with higher commodity prices and a labor shortage (as during the 4th quarter of 2022) … Read more
If Republican voters would pay attention to what their party really does when they have power, they would never vote the way they do. The Republican Legislative agenda has actively worked against the interests of American working families since the 1930s. The modern American right was born to defend the anti-majoritarian preferences of reactionary business … Read more
Early in the morning of January 7th, 2023, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had finally made enough concessions to the fringe members of his conference to buy their votes. They finally allowed him to become the Speaker of the House (at least for a few months). Part of the ceremonial transfer of power in the House required … Read more
The world is full of lies. Deliberate, insidious, corrosive lies. They come from many quarters: commerce, politics, the media. They have many sources: the evil, the manipulative, the selfish, and the ignorant. The “very elect” have been, and are being, deceived by these lies, which have been carefully constructed to masquerade as the truth. Those … Read more
Incumbent Utah Senator, Mike Lee, currently running for re-election, has a scary-looking TV commercial out that shows a bleak, photoshopped image of the President and starts, “This is Joe Biden’s America.” The voice then goes on to whine about “Inflation” blah, blah blah, “immigrants,” blah, blah, blah. The first lie here is that President Biden … Read more
The small rodent known as the lemming is often used as a metaphor to represent someone who mindlessly follows a crowd toward catastrophe. This is because it is commonly believed that lemmings commit mass suicide every few years by jumping off a cliff and drowning. The metaphor is useful because there are, indeed, people who … Read more
The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s center. Winston Smith (in the book 1984 by George Orwell) As an amateur rock climber in my younger days, I can tell you from personal experience that climbers are highly aware of gravity. The … Read more