Democracy Archives - Page 56 of 97

Feature

Extremism in Defense of Liberty is No Vice?

Reflecting on Ends and Means: Thinking About Communism and Anti-Communism, Trumpism and Its Alternatives

December 8, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

These words were delivered just as I was coming of political age. I remember that they disturbed all the adults around me, who were fearful of Goldwater’s extremism. But I also remember wondering whether Goldwater had a point, even as I found no appeal in Goldwater’s partisan positions: against the ...

Feature

A Feminist Policy Wonk’s Memoir

A short take on Hillary Clinton’s book, What Happened

December 8, 2017 • by Daisy Hernandez

We have opinions about her. We have arguments. We have history. We call her “Hillary.” It doesn’t matter if we have ever met her (I haven’t) or if we have canvassed neighborhoods for her presidential campaign (I have). We all have ideas about Hillary. And feelings. Maybe this would be ...

Feature

Surviving Trump

Trump year 1

December 7, 2017 • by Arlene Stein

In my household, Donald Trump’s reign of error has ushered in a stream of daily conniptions. He did what? He said that? These days, Cynthia and I exchange gasps of horror as we read the morning paper over coffee. We’ve instituted Trump-free zones, such as the bedroom, where we have a mutual ...

Feature

Trump, Freud, and the Puzzle of Femininity

Our fear of the feminine might be the great riddle of democracy

December 6, 2017 • by Jill Gentile

But our president is the Greatest Repudiator. Not only has he sought to repudiate the Paris Climate Accord, UNESCO, women’s reproductive rights, and Obamacare; he has also demonstrated that he is obsessed with repudiating everything Obama. He practically revels in ignoring if not dismissing democratic values we take for granted: ...

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 ...

Feature

Grounding in Trump Time

Trump year 1

December 5, 2017 • by Tim Lacy

Since those first shocking days after the November 2016 presidential election, I’ve grounded myself by becoming, ironically, more radical and more alert to injustice. We’re now living in what I’ve taken to calling “Trump Time” -- a bizarre image of regular time wherein we’re all on alert for abuse. It ...

Feature

Why Both Parties May Regret a Government Shutdown

The continuing resolution showdown has risks for everyone

December 4, 2017 • by John Lawrence

Since Congress failed, as usual, to pass the appropriations bills by the October 1 deadline, legislators must extend existing spending levels to avoid a government shutdown. Despite the highly partisan atmosphere, virtually all extensions since 2011 have required the majority Republicans to seek Democratic votes because something less than 218 ...

Feature

Culture vs. Anti-Culture

What kind of cultural commitment provides constructive alternatives to “Tax Reform,” Access Hollywood Denial and Birther-gate Revival?

December 1, 2017 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

As I sit down to write this post, “tax reform” is on the verge of becoming the law of the land in the U.S., giving to the rich, taking from the poor, disfavoring those who work to live (including some of the relatively wealthier among us). And as Jeremy Safran ...

Feature

Becoming a Candidate Too Soon

Trump year 1

December 1, 2017 • by Victoria Saker Woeste

I ran for office two years too soon. When I was in high school, my fantasy was to be a U.S. Senator. I became a historian instead and got involved in local politics in Indiana, where we moved in 1999. Indiana went blue in 2008, and despite the rise of the ...

Democracy

Just Showing Up

Trump year 1

November 30, 2017 • by Dorothy Potter Snyder

Watching Trump win the Presidency last November, I was afraid. I posted a note on our neighborhood website in Hillsborough, NC where my husband and I had been living for just six months: "Anyone want to have coffee and talk? It doesn't matter what you look like, believe, or for ...