Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Past Present Podcast, Episode 266

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been stripped of her committee assignments due to her outspoken support of outlandish theories, from QAnon to school shootings to “space lasers” causing forest fires. Niki referred to Michelle Goldberg’s New York Times opinion ...
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

All the Political World’s a Stage

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will put Republicans, Democrats, and the idea of justice on trial too

On the 9th of February, the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will begin: the outcome is all but assured. Although Trump himself will likely be exonerated, neither political party will be easily freed from the burden brought upon them by his presidency. The trial will be a test and ...
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All the Political World’s a Stage

A Few Remarks on Outing

In August and September 2020 a lively discussion about another case of “outing” of a public figure, i.e. disclosing a person's sexual orientation against their will, entered Polish public debate. This time, Jan Kanthak, a MP from the conservative party “United Poland” (Solidarna Polska), was outed by Michał Kowalówka, a local ...
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A Few Remarks on Outing

John Stuart Mill and the Successful Failure of Liberalism

A political philosopher for our troubled times

The scholarly world has recently gone in for grand narratives of decline. The similarly-titled How Democracies Die and How Democracy Ends share a transatlantic frisson of horror at illiberal democracy, while offering different diagnoses of the problem. The erosion of liberal democratic norms, exacerbated by parties’ failure to choose centrist candidates, or liberal democracy's ...
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John Stuart Mill and the Successful Failure of Liberalism

Confronting the World Wide Threat of Right Wing Authoritarianism

If we don’t hang together, we will surely hang separately

Our effort to create and nourish a “world-wide committee of democratic correspondence” began long before the coronavirus laid waste to our world. And as a world-wide network, our efforts have always involved a strong online component. For the web affords our far-flung group many opportunities for the sharing of ideas ...
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Confronting the World Wide Threat of Right Wing Authoritarianism

Break Up the Tech Monopoly

No corporation should be so big or systemically important that it can credibly threaten to cut an entire nation off from the news

Australian leaders want Google to pay news outlets for articles the tech giant serves up to users. In response, Google threatened to pull its search engine from the entire country. Not just news, but democracy is at stake. Google’s threat sounds absurd. But it actually happened. And Google wasn’t alone: Facebook also ...
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Break Up the Tech Monopoly

Larry King

Past Present Podcast, Episode 265

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: TV and radio legend, Larry King, died last week at the age of 87. We discussed some of the retrospective pieces King’s sixty-year career produced, like this 2010 feature in the New York Times, and this 1988 article in the ...
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Patriotism’s Dilemma

Lessons from The Godfather

The idea of patriotism – love of country – is an ancient one.  It goes back to the Greek word patris (place of one’s ancestors) and the Latin patria (fatherland).  Like every form of love, patriotism is partly determined by the object of its affection.  Is love of country unconditional – ...
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Patriotism’s Dilemma

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