occasional reflections on culture & politics
I get it. Covid sucks, and we all – including myself – would like to return to normality. After all, don’t we have vaccines and treatments? Doesn’t psychological damage count too? How about the economy, about our democracy? Can’t we just say, this is it? Reality is what it is no matter what you wish… Continue reading #194: No, the Pandemic is Not Yet Over
It has become fashionable to talk about political polarization in the United States as if this was a new thing. There has always been heavy competition, and one side typically thinks of the other side as rather unpalatable. Has it gotten worse? Maybe. What should we do about it? Don’t feed the beast, don’t make… Continue reading #192: Biden Needs to Unite, not Demonize: In a Democracy, the “Other Side” Is Not the Enemy
Monument to the Burning of Giordano Bruno at the Campo dei Fiori in Rome.“A BRUNO – IL SECOLO DA LUI DIVINATO – QUI DOVE IL ROGO ARSE”(“To Bruno – from the age he divined – here where the fire burned”). To my shame, I must admit that to this day I have never read any… Continue reading #186: Salman Rushdie and the Case for Free Speech
I have been struggling with this for a while. Clearly, Joe Biden as President is an improvement in many ways over his predecessor, but he is certainly not perfect. In some ways, Trump may have had the right instincts on how to convince voters he could solve their problems, but the execution was dismal to… Continue reading #180: Let Biden Be Biden
The American system of government has worked for more than 240 years. It survived a Civil War, Segregation, Fascism, Communism, two World Wars, the Cold War, 9/11, and many other challenges that would have destroyed any other system. There is no other single country on the planet of comparable size and complexity that has lasted… Continue reading #125: Eliminating the Filibuster Is Political Stupidity
The gloating of the assembled dictators of the world and their cronies had a certain unintended humor in it. After a few ragtag misfits decided to play the role of domestic terrorists and invade US congress, causing a half-day of mayhem and chaos, including four casualties, the premature glee and schadenfreude coming out of Iran,… Continue reading #69: No, American Democracy Is Not Dead
Here we go again. A leading public figure is accused of untoward behavior towards a woman, but it seems politically expedient by some to not look into that behavior too closely for obviously political considerations. Where the rallying cry used to be "Believe all Women", this call seems muted now, somehow less relevant. Now, in… Continue reading #19: “Believe all Women”
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