Traditional capitalism is dead. It has been for a while. As far as the really big money and power is concerned, the traditional industries, manufacturing, construction, and transportation, with their long-standing tension between capital and labor, were replaced by finance beginning in the 1980s. Finance is an interesting “industry” because, for all its self-importance, obscene … Read more
Our institutions of democracy and law have been under vicious attack for years now – that is from within, not from without the United States. And these vicious attacks are unsustainable and unendurable. They’ve already taken their toll on American democracy and American law in their impact, and the consequence of their impact, on the … Read more
It appears that democracy in the United States may have survived the 2022 election. Perhaps even more important than the Democrats keeping control of the Senate is the fact that all 13 election-denying Republican candidates, in 6 battleground states, for governor, secretaries of state, and attorneys general, lost their races. (The Arizona Attorney General race, … Read more
The Republicans are now quite far along in their plan to take the US Presidency in 2024 regardless of the outcome of the popular vote. This statement is not alarmist or pessimistic. The evidence is in plain view for all who have the eyes to see it. First of all, we need to remember that, … Read more
The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness. George Washington, January 9, 1790 American democracy is in very serious trouble. Our “great experiment” could very well come to an end with the election of 2022 or 2024. If the Republicans retake Congress, as the media keeps … Read more
The United States of America was founded on three moral principles: 1. the rule of law, 2. the power of truth, and 3. the right of equal opportunity for all. The American Republican Party, at the behest its billionaire masters (and the right-wing media controlled by those billionaires), has been chipping away at all three … Read more
The First Russian Revolution of 1905 failed (though it did lead to some reform). Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (better known as Lenin) called it the “The Great Dress Rehearsal.” In 1917 Lenin came back from exile and founded Soviet Russia, which eventually became the Soviet Union in 1922. Adolf Hitler’s 1923 “Beer Hall Putsch,” an attempted … Read more
America is badly divided. Trust in our basic institutions — government, business, the schools, the media, even religion — has seriously eroded. The Founders of our country wanted the various colonies to be united (hence the name, United States). They adopted the motto “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of Many, One) for the new country. After … Read more