One of the paradoxes of American electoral politics is the obsession with making sure that your vote is counted—i.e., tallied—rather than working to ensure that our votes actually count by being taken into account by elected representatives.
It’s a tradition that goes back at least to the Vietnam War: when the United States finally admits it’s losing a war, it calls for peace talks but, in order to try to get a better position at the negotiating table, ramps up the killing machine right beforehand. It’s not fooling anyone and it only makes the adversaries angry, but they’re trying the same thing in Iran.
For Americans on the Left, especially Boomers and Gen Xers who remember the actual activism of the 1960s and 1970s, there’s a longing to see their children follow the example of students in France and throughout Europe, who are leading inspiring demonstrations and confronting police fearlessly in their quest to build a better society.
Democrats are poised to win the midterms. But it’s only because voters want to send a message: they’re angry at the Republicans for not using their majority to improve their quality of life. Democrats are just as likely to ignore the anger of the voters—and face their wrath in the not-too-distant future.
When confronted with an outrageous act of violence by their government, many Americans complain by saying that it’s “un-American” and “not who we are.” By definition, however, whatever we actually let our government do is exactly who we are.
Eager to add to his administration’s reputation as bloodthirsty even by American standards, Donald Trump initially signed off on the livestreaming of the execution by firing squad of Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter. Hasan killed 13 people—a tiny fraction of those killed by each American president.
The nation is suffering from a serious case of Trump exhaustion. Every day, we wake up to a new outrage. Many Americans are reacting with anger; others are tuning out of politics altogether.
For the price of a single Hellfire missile, you can send an American through a public four-year college. Yet we keep making the wrong choice.
The Cornell University alleged gang-rape case, and the online controversy around it, is the latest example of fear between the sexes: women afraid of men, and men afraid of women. No wonder young people aren’t dating, or having sex, at the same rates as in the past.
Customer service has never been worse or more irritating to American consumers, who must suffer countless indignities like A.I. phonemail trees that don’t recognize their voices. The only way out, for those who are willing to publicize their plight, is to go public on social media.
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