Category: American Exceptionalism
-
The Problem With Conservatives Is WHAT They Want To Conserve
I give conservatives full credit: they tell you who they are and what they want right up front. They want to conserve. The problems (always) start however with what they want to conserve. For one thing, it’s never the future. One can’t conserve what hasn’t happened yet. Even if one could, conservatives would refuse to…
-
So Much For A Level Playing Field…
This morning, the SCOTUS did what everyone expected it to do: it put a stake through the heart of affirmative action. Race can no longer be a factor in deciding public or private college admissions. The supposed intention: a level playing field. Strange… a level playing field was the whole POINT of affirmative action. Affirmative…
-
America Is A Great Idea Poorly Executed
While it would be neat and tidy if every first draft was the final draft, it never ever works out that way. Hell, I don’t know why we even call it “writing” when all good writing is really “re-writing”. If we had any sense, we’d call it “re-writing” to begin with so everyone understood how…
-
A Third Of Americans Are Hardcore Royalists And Always Have Been
One of our common misconceptions about how America started is that everyone living here wanted to revolt against the British. It ain’t so. “At no time did more than 45 percent of colonists support the war, and at least a third of colonists fought for the British.” That third of us never wanted to be…
-
A Culture Of Greed
America is a great human idea locked in a boss battle with the worst human instincts. A truly free society where everyone has an equal shot at happiness vs a culture of greed. That’s the battleground. We’ve always been a lab experiment of a country. On the one hand, we’re a great idea. On the…
-
We’re Overdue An “America 2.0”
America is a great idea that its founders executed poorly. In their defense, they were products of their time: white, Christian, land-owning men who believed they were the epitome of creation. They weren’t, of course. But, also in their defense, their idea had merit. Human self-government is a magnificent thing! You just have to execute…
-
How Conservatives Think
Were I a conservative, I probably would have titled this “Do Conservatives Think?” That’s because I already would have cynically dismissed them and their thinking. If I’m honest, it’s tempting. That conservative impulse lives within me. I do want the world to be how I want it to be. My problem is, the world has…
-
Damned But Not Doomed
There are times when America really does seem doomed. That is, our democratic republic seems doomed to finish its run atop history’s ash heap. A great idea kneecapped by racism, greed and just plain stupidity. The GOP‘s relentless attempts – any which way they can – to stop all oversight, investigation and prosecution of their…
-
Skepticism v Cynicism – They’re NOT The Same Thing!
Not a revelation: our news media sucks. It’s broken. And “both sides do it” (BSDI) brand journalism broke it. Not all journalists practice BSDI but enough do that their journalism prevents We The People from ever getting the truth in real time. Healthy journalism depends on skepticism. Doubt. But, hey – bring receipts? Doubt can…