2024 Archives

It’s as difficult to disentangle racism from birtherism as it is tough to separate the Three-Fifths Compromise from the Electoral College. The Three-Fifths Compromise gave a larger share of representation in Congress to slave states. And because the Electoral College reflects the makeup of Congress, one could argue that were it not for slavery, George W. Bush and Donald Trump never would have become president. Slavery has been the single largest defining factor in the history and arc of American politics. That salient “peculiar institution” is responsible for the Second Amendment and for the Electoral College working the way it does.

They don't want to tweak government; they want to burn it down and start over from scratch… Today, following both Vance's and Trump's speeches at the RNC, the future trajectory of America if they're elected is pretty clear. First, it's important to acknowledge that this is no longer your (or my) father's GOP. Vance is the pre-packaged, well-massaged "product" of a group of Silicon Valley billionaires who are enamored of the writings of Ayn Rand and David Koch's Libertarian movement. Trump has made it clear he's happy to go along with the Galt's Gulch crowd, particularly if it makes him more money. These men (they're nearly all men) are revolutionaries with little regard for political history or norms. Think Mao, Lenin, Pol Pot, or Mussolini. They don't want to tweak government; they want to burn it down and start it over from scratch. Rebuild it as a completely different system of governance.

It’s the second-most ancient form of governance humanity knows, described in detail in works both modern and ancient, dating all the way back to ancient Sumeria, China, Mesoamerica & Europe… “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” —Thomas Paine, The Crisis, December 23, 1776 Marjorie Taylor Greene told Republicans at the RNC this week that Donald Trump “will make us wealthy.” What’s she really saying? And who is “us”? A lot of words get thrown around to describe what we can expect with a MAGA Republican administration at full strength. From “authoritarian” to “fascist” to “Christian Nationalist” and worse. However, most of these words and phrases have — for most Americans — no specific meaning and so are often just considered either a cheap slur or hyperbole. But the reality is that the MAGA wing of the GOP (now fully in control of the Party) and the rightwing billionaires who fund the think tanks and networks that keep it alive do have a very specific idea about how America should be governed. And there’s nothing new or modern about it.

Will Trump & the RNC repudiate authoritarianism and instead embrace bipartisanship and world peace? Or are they going to continue driving the GOP down the fascist road? Historian Douglas Brinkley told the story on CNN Sunday morning about how after President Ronald Reagan was shot, when he woke up in the hospital, he told a friend nearby that the experience had transformed him, that he was now going to dedicate his life to peace. Not only did he not once blame the shooting on Democrats; Reagan instead largely followed through on that promise.