James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington

Blue Monday

Brown and Blue

Further thoughts on gun violence, fascism, and resistance

February 26, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington I’m still moanin’ about the high school massacre in Parkdale, Florida. Moaning, and thinking. About guns, and politics, and history. The massacre was horrendous, but also distinctively compelling, insofar as the extraordinary response of the Marjory Stoneman ...

Blue Monday

Moanin’

On gun violence in the United States

February 19, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington There was another school shooting this past week. This one was at a high school in Parkland, Florida. A disgruntled and clearly disturbed 19-year-old former student arrived on school grounds with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, entered ...

Blue Monday

The Sidewinder

Race, resistance, and the blues

February 12, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington In the past week I have thought often about “The Sidewinder.” “The Sidewinder” is a famous jazz standard written by the late, great trumpeter Lee Morgan, which appeared on his 1964 album of the same name. ...

Blue Monday

Blue Monday: Monday Morning Blues

An introduction to my new column

February 5, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Readers of Public Seminar will know that in the past couple of years I have become a regular and indeed somewhat relentless contributor of political essays on the dangers of Trumpism and the challenges to liberal democracy. I have greatly enjoyed working with the PS staff, and have been especially happy to collaborate with ...

Feature

How Democracies Die and How They Live

January 29, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Over the past year a number of writers, myself included, have conducted an ongoing debate about the relationship between Trump, Trumpism, and authoritarianism. The debate has shed some real light on an important topic: the state of and challenges to democracy in the U.S. Yet while some illumination has broken through ...

Feature

Why Liz Watson’s Progressive Endorsements Matter

A look into Indiana’s 9th district

January 25, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Fighting for democratic ideals and for social justice must include principled thought and careful strategic calculation. In this post, Jeff Isaac demonstrates how this is done, as he links his political thought to political action in the race to unseat a particularly bad Republican Congressman, Trey Hollingsworth. -Jeff Goldfarb For well ...

Why Liz Watson’s Progressive Endorsements Matter

Feature

Why Is Trump’s Authoritarianism So Hard for Some to Recognize?

Responding to Corey Robin

January 16, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Corey Robin asks, “If authoritarianism is looming in the U.S., how come Trump looks so weak?” He has posed this question many times in the past year, and always to the same effect: Trump looks weak because he is weak, and his weakness proves that “authoritarianism” is not “looming.” Robin likes to ...

Why Is Trump’s Authoritarianism So Hard for Some to Recognize?

Feature

Against Jason Brennan’s Book

A response to ‘Against Democracy’

December 11, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

I will begin with a short prefatory comment about the occasion for this discussion at this particular moment in the intellectual history of the US. I will then outline four points in criticism of Brennan’s argument as presented in his book, whose title — Against Democracy — he is obliged, I submit, to own: ...

Feature

Neither Normalization Nor Alarmism

Responding to Ivan Krastev

December 6, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Krastev is surely right that the current situation is distinctive (indeed all situations are distinctive), and simplistic analogies to 1930’s fascism or 1970’s communism are misleading. He is also right that “alarmism” is mistaken (after all, when is “alarmism,” as opposed to “sounding the alarm,” ever a good thing?), and that the defense of democracy ...

Politics

Why Trump’s Words Were Offensive

Myeshia Johnson confirms Trump’s comments as hurtful and disrespectful

October 23, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Central to all of this was Kelly’s assertion that Trump’s words about Sgt. La David Johnson, the fallen soldier -- “he knew what he was getting into when he signed up” -- were appropriate words, which Kelly himself had been told by General Mo Dunsford when his own son was ...

Feature

John Kelly Is a Present Danger to the Republic

With all due respect

October 20, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Kelly spoke at length about the sacrifices of fallen soldiers, the duties of their military superiors, his own experiences as a commander and also as the father of a fallen soldier, and the advice he supposedly gave to Trump about how best to convey condolences to the families of fallen ...

Feature

Why I Welcome John McCain’s “Liberty Medal” Speech

McCain on the ‘meaning of American politics’

October 17, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

The Center is a bipartisan organization created by Congress to promote an appreciation for the U.S. Constitution. Its President and CEO is Jeffrey Rosen, a highly respected legal journalist. Its Chairman is Joseph Biden (previous chairs include Jeb Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush); its Executive Committee is chaired ...