Michael, I first saw your writing a while back when someone from Instapundit linked to your post. I really enjoy reading what you have to say. It has had an impact on my thinking. Thank you. I had a little chuckle at the comment in your response to brian - "so long as the big corps make money, then they are both whores negotiating the tax burden." Sums it up really well.
"I notice that I am not as outraged as I should be" - I deeply empathize. But I suspect that more outrage might make your analysis less cogent. Thanks again for being a force for sanity.
Social media gives fringe groups the opportunity to no longer be dis-organized street games and leaders in groups end of nations need to be fully aware of the impact of their words. As a sociologist who studies and understands minority and majority group dynamics and the power differentials between groups, there is a lot of racist, homophobic, misogynistic people in power who are making laws and policies that only benefit the groups they belong to. These prejudiced people can not represent, protect or serve minorities the same way they do their own groups. We also have a situation where there’s a vast majority of American citizens who do not understand what the government is and certainly not understand how it’s supposed to function because we don’t offer political science government or civic courses the way that we need to in high school and junior high. There are three things of society needs in order to function: 1. Quality education so that people can learn to think critically, develop a basic skills of reading and writing and problem-solving, and to develop marketable skills so they can get the jobs that they desire.2. People need to have livable wage jobs, so they do not have to rely upon social services such as housing assistance and food stamps, but in order to do that employers are going to have to understand that profit over people mentality does not work for the nation. Also when you pay people a livable wage they can also pay taxes. 3. The final thing that’s society needs to function is access to quality healthcare which includes access to affordable nutritious food so people are healthy enough to work and to enjoy their life. We have to understand we don’t live on island don’t want to wear selves, and as much as I love being an individual I have an obligation not only to my family but to my community and my nation as well as people in other countries. I’m not sure how to educate people to get them to understand that we live on one planet but more people need to make that realization and start building bridges instead of bombs.
Excellent writing, as always. I have a quibble however, Trump did not destroy the integrity of the GOP, he revealed that there was never any integrity there. I have labored for decades under the illusion that the GOP actually had principles, but Trump has shown that their only devotion is to power.
The failed integrity of the GOP has left conservatives homeless. The result is hard to describe because we are too close to the Trump years and because both parties are populist. Don't forget that both parties fielded over a dozen candidates each and all of the primaries and major media debates became manipulated beauty contests, not real clashes if ideas. The failed integrity of the Dems has turned the blue wave into a puddle. There is nobody like either JFK or LBJ on the left today. Bill Clinton and Charles Schumer are the elder statesmen? Progressives have the Left by the balls and it's self-evidently self-destructive. So basically both parties have defaulted to the Neoliberal gambit. So long as the big corps make money, then they are both whores just negotiating the tax burden. Everything is government by poll, not by principle. And who on the blue team has remembered their anti-trust roots when Parler was collusively trashed?
I'm not opposed to populism, the Constitution is a populist document. But if the "conservative" movement isn't going to, y'know, CONSERVE, then what do we need them for?
The question for me is "where do we go from here?"
Michael, I first saw your writing a while back when someone from Instapundit linked to your post. I really enjoy reading what you have to say. It has had an impact on my thinking. Thank you. I had a little chuckle at the comment in your response to brian - "so long as the big corps make money, then they are both whores negotiating the tax burden." Sums it up really well.
"I notice that I am not as outraged as I should be" - I deeply empathize. But I suspect that more outrage might make your analysis less cogent. Thanks again for being a force for sanity.
Social media gives fringe groups the opportunity to no longer be dis-organized street games and leaders in groups end of nations need to be fully aware of the impact of their words. As a sociologist who studies and understands minority and majority group dynamics and the power differentials between groups, there is a lot of racist, homophobic, misogynistic people in power who are making laws and policies that only benefit the groups they belong to. These prejudiced people can not represent, protect or serve minorities the same way they do their own groups. We also have a situation where there’s a vast majority of American citizens who do not understand what the government is and certainly not understand how it’s supposed to function because we don’t offer political science government or civic courses the way that we need to in high school and junior high. There are three things of society needs in order to function: 1. Quality education so that people can learn to think critically, develop a basic skills of reading and writing and problem-solving, and to develop marketable skills so they can get the jobs that they desire.2. People need to have livable wage jobs, so they do not have to rely upon social services such as housing assistance and food stamps, but in order to do that employers are going to have to understand that profit over people mentality does not work for the nation. Also when you pay people a livable wage they can also pay taxes. 3. The final thing that’s society needs to function is access to quality healthcare which includes access to affordable nutritious food so people are healthy enough to work and to enjoy their life. We have to understand we don’t live on island don’t want to wear selves, and as much as I love being an individual I have an obligation not only to my family but to my community and my nation as well as people in other countries. I’m not sure how to educate people to get them to understand that we live on one planet but more people need to make that realization and start building bridges instead of bombs.
Excellent writing, as always. I have a quibble however, Trump did not destroy the integrity of the GOP, he revealed that there was never any integrity there. I have labored for decades under the illusion that the GOP actually had principles, but Trump has shown that their only devotion is to power.
The failed integrity of the GOP has left conservatives homeless. The result is hard to describe because we are too close to the Trump years and because both parties are populist. Don't forget that both parties fielded over a dozen candidates each and all of the primaries and major media debates became manipulated beauty contests, not real clashes if ideas. The failed integrity of the Dems has turned the blue wave into a puddle. There is nobody like either JFK or LBJ on the left today. Bill Clinton and Charles Schumer are the elder statesmen? Progressives have the Left by the balls and it's self-evidently self-destructive. So basically both parties have defaulted to the Neoliberal gambit. So long as the big corps make money, then they are both whores just negotiating the tax burden. Everything is government by poll, not by principle. And who on the blue team has remembered their anti-trust roots when Parler was collusively trashed?
I'm not opposed to populism, the Constitution is a populist document. But if the "conservative" movement isn't going to, y'know, CONSERVE, then what do we need them for?
The question for me is "where do we go from here?"