Welcome to the Biden Administration

In a week of hectic activity, the new president re-introduces Americans to the idea of government

We are now a week into the Biden administration, and President Joe Biden has set some clear and surprisingly dominant markers. Biden has kept firmly to his constitutional responsibilities in what appears to be an attempt to remind Americans of the official roles of different branches of government in our democracy. ...
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Welcome to the Biden Administration

Georgia On My Mind

The Democratic Party in Georgia has come a long way since the 1965 Voting Rights Act

“The concept of political equality...can mean only one thing—one person, one vote." ...

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Georgia On My Mind

Time for Liberals to Trust Chuck Schumer

The doubters are loud, but they may soon be quieted

Some liberals said after the 2016 election that Nancy Pelosi was the worst person to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s authoritarian reign. Turns out, they were wrong. Pelosi was exactly the leader America needed. She handed his ass to him every time they negotiated. She led two historic impeachments against ...
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Time for Liberals to Trust Chuck Schumer

American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination

Collective memories of emancipation through cultural production

————— Amanda Bellows is a Lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies at The New School’s Eugene Lang College where she teaches nineteenth century U.S. History. Her new publication, American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination was published by the University of North Carolina Press, June 2020. This book is ...
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American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination

Is Joe Biden a Socialist?

No, but conservatives forget that some “socialist” programs have worked pretty well

The Chicago Daily Tribune urged Republicans to vote against a Democratic presidential candidate in order to end “costly experiments in state socialism.” Democrats, the writer wailed, sought to “clothe the federal government with paramount power over every kind of enterprise.” A Republican slur against the $1.9 trillion economic rescue package that President-Elect ...
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Is Joe Biden a Socialist?

The 1776 Report

Past Present Podcast, Episode 264

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: A day before President Trump left office, his administration issued “The 1776 Report” on American history, which President Biden promptly repudiated upon taking office. Natalia referred to her piece at NBC Think on the report and to her book, Classroom ...
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The Fishy Origins of Brexit

From herring and the Hundred Years War to the “cod wars” of the 20th century

After four years of negotiation, it all came down to fish. Britain left the European Union on January 1, 2021–but only after a last-ditch deal secured increased quotas for Britain’s fishing industry. At first glance this minor part of the British economy appears a surprising sticking point. But, as critics have ...
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The Fishy Origins of Brexit

“A Revolution Against Interracial Democracy”

We are currently witnessing a dramatic replaying of the events that followed the U.S. Civil War, when white supremacists nullified Reconstruction

Among the early images that emerged from the attack on the capitol on Wednesday was footage of a Black Capitol Hill police officer being chased up the capitol steps as he was pursued by a mob of armed white supremacists. The video shows the police officer, armed only with a ...
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“A Revolution Against Interracial Democracy”

The Problem Isn’t Fascism – It’s Democracy in America

Trump wasn’t an aberration: he only renewed our nation’s bitter, uncivil war over whether a clear majority of its people want to forge a multiracial republic of equals

In his inaugural address on January 20, Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, declared that “Democracy has prevailed” because “the will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.” But Biden also conceded, with good reason, that “democracy is fragile.” After all, ...
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The Problem Isn’t Fascism – It’s Democracy in America