Politics Archives - Page 89 of 105

Blue Monday

Why a Green New Deal is a Great Idea

It links public responsibility, ecological sanity, and economic justice at a moment of manifest political irresponsibility

January 14, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

We are now entering the fourth week of Donald Trump’s most recent historic achievement in the ongoing horror show that is his presidency: the federal government has for all intents and purposes ceased to function. Damon Linker summarized it well in a recent column: In a little under three weeks, the shutdown has ...

Blue Monday

On Calls to Impeach the Motherfucker

The Democratic Party needs a “dialectic” between the words of Tlaib and the words of Pelosi

January 7, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“We’re gonna impeach the motherfucker.” Thus declared Rashida Tlaib last Thursday night while speaking at a MoveOn event just hours after being sworn in as a new Congresswoman. A shitstorm of controversy ensued. Across the political spectrum Tlaib was denounced for her “vulgarity.” The New York Times headline reporting on her statement neatly summed up the response of ...

Democracy

When Is a Lie a Lie?

Trump, Journalism, and Objectivity

January 1, 2019 • by Ian Olasov

Public Seminar is pleased to announce that Ian Olosov's essay, originally printed at Public Seminar on March 13 2017, was one of four essays to win of the American Philosophical Association 2018 Public Philosophy Op-Ed contest. Congratulations Ian! It is neither fake news, nor really even new news, that the press is struggling ...

Blue Monday

Trump Unleashed

End-of-Year Thoughts on the Chaos That is Trumpism

December 31, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“Yes, Trump’s foreign policy is a chaotic, incoherent, dangerous mess. Yes, he is clearly and manifestly unfit for office, and should have been removed a long time ago . . . But I find Trump’s persistence in following his electoral mandate against so much Establishment pressure in this particular respect ...

Blue Monday

John Kelly Is a Present Danger to the Republic

With all due respect

December 10, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

The White House has finally announced that Chief of Staff John Kelly will be stepping down by the end of the year. Kelly has arguably been fairly feckless in his discharge of his White House duties. But he has nonetheless often been regarded by pundits as “an adult in the ...

John Kelly Is a Present Danger to the Republic

Feature

How An Anti-LGBT Agenda Helped Secure Bolsonaro’s Election Victory

What does the election of a right-wing president mean for Brazilian democracy?

November 29, 2018 • by Gustavo Gomes da Costa Santos

This October, Brazilians went to the polls to choose a new president in the most polarized election since the end of military rule in 1985. In a highly fragmented election between 13 candidates, Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), a right-wing retired captain known for his homophobic, racist ...

How An Anti-LGBT Agenda Helped Secure Bolsonaro’s Election Victory

Blue Monday

Cindy Hyde-Smith, or Mississippi God Damn!

Why the history of white supremacy matters for the last Senate election of 2018

November 26, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

On Tuesday November 27 -- tomorrow -- voters in Mississippi will go to the polls to choose their next U.S. Senator in a runoff election pitting incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, a far-right Republican and Trump supporter, against Mike Espy, a moderate Democrat who served as Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton ...

Cindy Hyde-Smith, or Mississippi God Damn!

Feature

Chief Justice Roberts to the Rescue?

Or, how the relationships between conservative idealism and realism may serve the public good

November 23, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

I wrote this last week, but almost as soon as I did, I had second thoughts. I read an early draft of Peter Dreier comprehensive, “What Should American Progressives Learn From the Mid-terms?” in which he thoroughly demonstrated the depth and breadth of the Democrats’ victory in the elections. Perhaps given the dimensions of ...

Democracy

Not from the Left, Nor from the Center – But From Below

By mobilizing at the grassroots, Democrats successfully outflanked the GOP by crafting resistance into a coherent agenda

November 20, 2018 • by Sidney Tarrow

But these were only the most visible -- and the most national -- expressions of a wave of movements. Much of the energy that produced the Democratic victories of November 2018 rose up beneath the radar of the national press. As Lara Putnam and Theda Skocpol wrote in a New Republic article ...

Not from the Left, Nor from the Center – But From Below

Democracy

The Soviet Roots of Democratic Crisis in Latvia

As the country falls under populist rule is it a change — or an old story?

November 20, 2018 • by Maija Spurina

A New York Times article by Andrew Higgins paints a troubling picture of Latvia falling under populist rule. Higgins' concern is based on the results of the recent elections that makes possible a coalition between what he calls a "pro-Russian" and anti-establishment parties. Although his summary of the election results is accurate, ...

The Soviet Roots of Democratic Crisis in Latvia

Democracy

Further Thoughts on Putting Liberal Democracy First

Why we need consensus on the democratic left to defend liberal institutions

November 16, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

I’ve been obsessively writing about the dangers of Trump and Trumpism for the past two years. This obsession has taken over my Facebook feed, originally intended as a way to showcase my band; has completely hijacked my first sabbatical leave in 20 years; has transformed me into a very active ...

Democracy

Politics, Pessimism, and Populism

We have lost the sense of the possible that social democracy injected into postwar liberal democracy

November 15, 2018 • by Sheri Berman

The rise of right-wing populism is probably the most pressing problem facing Europe today. Many analysts, including myself, have linked the rise of populism to the decline of the social democratic or center-left. Many traditional social democratic voters now vote populist; social democracy’s embrace of a “kinder, gentler” neoliberalism opened a policy “space” ...