You don't have to be a radical leftist to protest injustice. Most people taking to the streets right now an not Antifa or even radicals. They are people with a justified sense of anger and a desire to do something about it. They are Real America!
You agree with the protestors, you'll find plenty of examples on-line of protestors doing noble and heroic things. Think the protestors are nothing more than Antifa scum? You'll have this assumption reinforced when all of your friends post pictures and video of masked rioters breaking windows and flipping cars. Think the police are heroes? You'll get all kinds of footage of police being heroic. Think the police are fascist scum? Yeah. You'll be able to download outrageous acts of brutality.
The nation state is going the way of the dodo. Either a transnational capitalist class will structure power relations throughout the world, or a global democratic movement will step up and demand justice. Which would you rather see happen?
What if The Wall had never been built? What lessons might this teach us in the real world?
The Corporatocracy Strikes Again The recent Supreme Court decision in the McCutcheon case really should come as no surprise at this point. It is clear that the branch of government that is least accountable to the public should take the lead in securing the so called rights of the corporate elite. This is one more... Continue Reading →
Soldiers are imbued with war's transcendent purpose, and despair when it is all for naught In the 1960's young American men were, once again, called to duty to protect their country from tyranny. In this case, the imminent threat was an innocuous rural nation called Vietnam. Many Americans had never heard of this place, but... Continue Reading →
Or…The Vietnam Iraq Syndrome I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty satisfied watching President Obama twisting himself into myriad contortions to justify US military intervention in Syria. I'm satisfied because I see this as one further step in a paradigm shift in which Americans reject the legitimacy of war and militarism altogether. The long march... Continue Reading →
The US Should Stop Blaming Snowden for its Own Inequities As a teacher I hear all kinds of excuses for failure. A student, with typical adolescent melodrama, bemoans how difficult my tests are and how I'm ruining his grade. You see, I'm the reason that he is failing. It's not the fact that, instead of... Continue Reading →
And the role of the military and preserving democracy Figure 1: Can Egyptian democracy rely on military overlords? I have been watching the new uprising in Egypt with some fascination and trepidation. The source of my conflict is in the role of the military in protecting the nascent democracy. It is clear that the... Continue Reading →
