BLOG Post #275: Saving Democracy 24 Sep 2020 Friends call it “impotent rage.” I share it. How is it possible that the president of a democratic country can get away with announcing, well in advance of an election,…
BLOG Post #274: Defeating a Demagogue: A Reminder from History 22 Sep 202021 Sep 2020 It may be small comfort as we watch Donald Trump try to cheat and bully his way to a second term, but a recent study of his demagogic predecessor, Senator…
BLOG Post #272: The Election: Concerns, Confidence, Candidates 31 Aug 202031 Aug 2020 Five things that worry me about the election: • Biden’s declining support among Latinos; • Trump’s law-and-order appeal amidst violence and destruction of property in protest marches; • Domination of…
BLOG Post #270: The World Bank’s Poverty Illusion 12 Aug 202016 Aug 2020 What would you estimate is the minimum amount of money you need to get by every day? $100? $50? The figure, of course, depends very much on where you live…
BLOG Post #266: Banana Republic or Constitutional Democracy? The US Military May Decide 24 Jun 202023 Jun 2020 Donald Trump’s appearance at the West Point graduation ceremonies a few weeks ago reminded some observers of the Class of 1986. That one class included several Trump appointees: Mark Esper…
BLOG Post #265: Voting for the Human Interest: An Invitation to Readers 12 Jun 2020 We’re in a new and dangerous era now, described by Stephen Heintz, CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as one in which capitalism, the nation-state, and representative democracy have all…
BLOG Post #264: America’s Tiananmen? 5 Jun 20206 Jun 2020 "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."--Sinclair Lewis Yesterday, June 4, is usually best remembered for the 1989 suppression in Beijing…
BLOG Post #263: Donald Trump’s Stealth Attack on America 2 Jun 20201 Jun 2020 Donald Trump has made the calculated decision to let the pandemic play out without need of a federal plan for disease treatment and economic recovery. Over 100,000 deaths mean nothing…
BLOG Post 260: The Coming New World Disorder 3 May 20202 May 2020 After the demise of the Soviet Union and the US intervention that crushed Saddam Hussein’s attack on Kuwait in 1991, President George H. W. Bush pronounced a new world order.…
BLOG Post #254: India’s Failed Democracy 22 Jan 202021 Jan 2020 Citizenship Denied India is often billed as the world’s biggest democracy. But that title has worn thin: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is becoming a nationalist state home to…
BLOG Post #246: Will Trump Leave Quietly? 24 Oct 201923 Oct 2019 On October 23, about two dozen unhappy Republican congress members stormed a closed hearing that was part of the impeachment inquiry, determined to show their loyalty to Trump (who knew…
BLOG Post #245: Overreach, the Achilles Heel of Autocrats 6 Oct 20196 Oct 2019 It Has Happened Here and Everywhere It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the democratic wave sweeping Europe in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. It seems…
BLOG… Post #240: Our Racist President 31 Jul 201930 Jul 2019 "Donald Trump lost the election because he veered so far off course from what it means to be a decent person, to be a leader, and to be an American.…
BLOG Post #235: Impeach Trump 19 Jun 201918 Jun 2019 In a blog about a year ago (Post #212) entitled “Some May Call It Treason,” I referred to Donald Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia and the possibility that he has…
APB APB: It’s War! 17 May 201917 May 2019 We’re at war, and I don’t mean in the Middle East. I’m referring to the war that the Trump administration, with support from an army of state and local legislators,…