We live in an age of change. New phrases and new concerns appear every day. Transgenderism. The menace of insurrectionists. One of the more subtle entrants is “whataboutism.” I don’t recall hearing this phrase until a couple of years ago. Now it appears everywhere. What does it mean? According to the whataboutism haters at the … Continued
Bragging about his restoration of the pre-Trump neoliberal foreign policy, Joe Biden proudly declared “America is back.” What this means in practice is that barely a month into Biden’s term, America is back to bombing Syria for alleged provocations by Iranian-backed militias. While ordinary Americans on both the Left and Right are wary of dreams … Continued
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country broke apart. Russia remained the strongest player, led by Boris Yeltsin, a popular reform leader who stood up to Communist coup leaders in 1991. Yeltsin also was popular in the United States because he continued Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of reform and ended the deadly brinksmanship … Continued
I recently watched and can strongly recommend the Russian movie, “Dear Comrades!” It portrays a little-known 1962 massacre of protesting Soviet workers. The Soviet Union, by that time, was supposed to be liberalizing. Nikita Khrushchev condemned Stalin and visited the United States. Several years earlier, there had been an amnesty of most political prisoners. Yet, … Continued
One of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s first actions after confirmation has been to order a “60 day stand down” to combat extremism. This follows the widespread and mostly baseless establishment fantasy that “right-wing extremists” and “white supremacists” are running rampant and pose some immediate threat to the country. The details and definitions will ultimately determine … Continued
This week the Democrats reminded us that all their pious concerns for government overreach and the importance of civil liberties are just talk. When they were out of power, we heard calls for defunding the police. Similarly, they pilloried ICE’s enforcement of immigration laws as modern day Gestapo tactics. Donald Trump, we were warned, would … Continued
After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government employed various counterterrorism measures in an atmosphere of panic. Some made sense and stood the test of time, such as vetting airline passengers or banning knives on planes. Others were abandoned and memory-holed as ineffective and wasteful, like the Iraq Campaign. The Right focused on the failure … Continued
The domestic spying, impeachment, and election irregularities of the Trump presidency matter because of what they tell us about the managerial system. All the public talk of democracy is for show; the whole point of the bureaucracy and the party system is to prevent any popular, democratic movement that would threaten the ruling class’ privileges. … Continued
In spite of the media’s pearl clutching over Wednesday’s events on Capitol Hill, let’s not forget that America began in a revolution. America’s Founders deliberately risked their “lives, fortune, and sacred honor” to make the United States a free and independent republic. After the new nation was established, things alternated between long periods of stability … Continued
It is hard not to be happy about the end of 2020. Many people have said it has been the worst year ever, both personally and for the country. How could the next year be worse? One might easily have had the same thoughts at the end of 1938, where the Great Depression sunk to … Continued
