Progressive thoughts and strategies for the future
I have a very vivid memory of being in a meeting hall in St. Louis in late 2007 as Obama organizers were recruiting supporters to go up to Iowa and knock on doors prior to the Iowa Caucuses the following January. The room was full of excitement, something that I did not particularly share. Part … Read moreWhy a progressive would not mind seeing Trump win Iowa
On January 27, 1998, in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky revelations, Hillary Clinton appeared on the Today show and said, “The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he … Read moreWhat we’ve learned from right wing reaction to Obama, and now Trump
Perhaps it’s always been this way; humankind has been more motivated by emotions than reason and the primary emotion that generates beliefs is fear. The more that we’re driven by fear the less space we have in our brains to try to deal rationally with issues. Two recent items from very different parts of the … Read moreThe elusive connection we have to truth
Following the attacks in Paris, Republican Presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich said that he wants to set up an agency with a “mandate” to promote what he calls “Judeo-Christian values” overseas to counter Islamic propaganda. He later likened his idea to the Cold War “Voice of America,” meaning that he wanted to combat … Read moreJudeo-Christian values? How about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights instead?
Well, not exactly. But there is something interesting that Carly Fiorina says about budgeting for the federal government that might be helpful in reassessing the U.S.’s strategy on Syria. Fiorina has called for “zero-based” budgeting. What that means is that everything is on the table. Her ideas can get very scary when applied to Social … Read moreObama could take a page out of Fiorina’s playbook on Syria
The Republican Party has strayed so far from “societal norms” or “polite company” in recent years that it has caused some to ask, “Where have the grown-ups in the party gone?” It’s a fair question, particularly when looking at those members of the Grand Old Party who are currently running for president. But it wasn’t … Read morePappy Bush and McCain gave green light to GOP extremists
Daily Kos called Joe Scarborough the “resident Republican blowhard on MSNBC.” Daily Kos and many other on the left-leaning outlets have taken Scarborough to task. Really. All Scarborough did was to assert that almost every mainstream news anchor or Sunday morning interview show is liberal. He cited a number: David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite, … Read moreScarborough’s misconceptions about liberals in the media
For some time, we have been examining why Republicans look at things so differently from Democrats. Much has been written about the Republican brain including a book by that title by journalist and author Chris Mooney. Mooney has been described as “one of the few journalists in the country who specializes in the now dangerous … Read moreWhy journalists engage in so many false equivalencies
You may have heard of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. He cites five levels of growth, beginning with what a newborn infant needs and moving on to self-actualization, which is the top level of the pyramid. Maslow describes self-actualization this way: This level of need refers to what a person’s full potential is and … Read moreMaslow’s hierarchy of needs vs. the Republican pyramid of political values
The lack of a comprehensive, government-provided safety net in America means that non-profits have to resort to bragging and begging to provide many basic services. The political season crystallizes this issue better than anything, but in a society with as much capitalism as America, it’s apparent almost everywhere. You might think that bragging and begging … Read moreAmerica’s “Brag-osphere” and “Beg-osphere”