PUTNEY-What's to come?
Fascist movements require a constant din of vitriol, paranoia, and a long list of enemies to justify extreme measures, which include dehumanization and eventually violence.
Stephen Miller will round people up and put them in cages and camps.
Elon Musk has promised economic hardship for the majority of the American people who will come under his thumb.
I felt for Joe Biden when referring to the attempted coup and he said, “This is not who we are.” The newly elected president was trying to offer a stunned majority of Americans some false hope of normality. But, this dark side, this destructive fascistic impulse, has always been...
An often-repeated criticism of Bernie Sanders and his campaign is that he has been an independent all his political life and therefore is not a “real” Democrat. OK. Got it. But I'm not sure that would overall be a liability today for a candidate running with Democratic Party support...
Elayne Clift's piece encapsulated perfectly what's happening. The media's portrayal of the us-versus-them playbook ends up normalizing what should be abnormal. No historical contexts - or, more importantly, no policy positions - that emerge from a framework of ideals based on helping people can come from the “horse race” mentality. The power of media will certainly define the Democratic field. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, for example, is such a creation. A good-government-and-transparency-policy person takes a back seat to the most recent...
I appreciated Tim Kipp's thoughtful analysis of our current situation, but the idea of resiliency of our democratic structures as Mr. Kipp presents struck me as overly optimistic. Mr. Kipp wrote, “We will never become a pre-World War II authoritarian regime, but any further erosion of our democratic structures will only bring further harm to our most marginalized citizens.” After evaluating the health of American institutions at present, I believe Mr. Kipp misses an important point, and that is the...
There is positive political momentum right now, but it's fragile, and it needs to become more energized at the grassroots, where the Bernie Sanders bashers are at it again. There's again a misinformation campaign from Democrat leadership about Sanders' staffers being mean to women and minorities. Remember the Bernie bros? The cartoon version of the Sanders campaign that Russian Facebook propaganda pushed and ran with in 2016? It's back. A Pew poll showed that a higher percentage of Bernie Sanders...
The unfortunate situation at the Brattleboro Retreat underlines the importance of strong unions and the support of workers' rights. The display of power, disruption, and fear that management has offered as leadership is a sickening reminder of the destruction of workers' rights that has been going on since Ronald Reagan began attacking these rights 40 years ago. In this climate of fear and desperation, management exploits workers for maximum profits. Union power and influence has been steadily eroding, relentlessly attacked...
There is no such thing as a moderate Republican in the U.S. Congress. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake wrote a book brought on by a guilty conscience. Being a Republican will do that. I give him credit for expressing disgust at President Donald Trump. Flake voted for a health-insurance bill that will take away health care from tens of millions of people, yet he writes about principles. Maine Senator Susan Collins reportedly was told by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that...