You can tell a society’s political priorities by how it spends money. It would cost an estimated $10 billion a year in order to eliminate homelessness in the United States. Instead, the United States recently sent $40 billion to Ukraine.
The Democracy We Deserve
•
A lot can and will change between now and 2024, but currently the frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican nominations are the same exact septuagenarians who ran last time. And one of them is about to become an octogenarian. Whatever else the United States is, it’s not a great example for the rest of the world. Either, or both of these guys, could easily die on the campaign trail.
I’m Going to Need a Little Bit of That Money Back
•
Republicans oppose abortion rights in Congress, but Democrats have the chance to codify abortion into federal law when Obama had a 60-vote supermajority in the US Senate. He chose not to do so, saying that it was a low priority. He also made it a low priority to push through his supreme court pick, Merrick Garland, because he assumed that Hillary Clinton would beat Trump.
Hanging on the Flimsiest of Hopes
•
Joe Biden’s latest approval ratings for president Joe Biden are 33%, which is pretty much a deal killer for a reelection campaign. Two out of three Democrats don’t even want the president to run again. He is changing his hopes on the fact that 92% of Democrats would vote for him over Donald Trump, but of course, 92% of Democrats would vote for a rutabaga over Donald Trump. Besides, who are these 8%?
Great Replacement
•
Tucker Carlson of Fox News has been amplifying the so-called “great replacement” theory that has been circulating in the far-right fringes of American politics. The argument is that there is an elaborate plot to accelerate the demographic trends that are leading to a country that has a lower percentage of white Americans. Implicit is the racist assumption that this would be a terrible thing.
Cosplay Democrats
•
When it comes to abortion rights, as with so many other issues, Democrats engage in performative rather than actual meaningful action. Mainly they are interested in your votes and your money, and they are unwilling to do anything substantial to get them.
Rights, Camera, Inaction
•
The Supreme Court overturning of the abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade has many activists wondering how abortion and other rights that are being taken away can be restored. The answer is through hard, prolonged, difficult, self-sacrificing work that most people on what passes for the American Left are unwilling to undertake.
Political Fairytales, 2022 Midterm Edition
•
Democrats say they have a plan to restore abortion rights and enact gun control: make gains in the 2022 midterm elections. But there’s absolutely no reason to believe that that anything more than a pipe dream. To the contrary, Republicans will probably control both houses next year.
Yesterday’s Abortion Clinic Is Tomorrow’s Gun Shop
•
The abortion debate is rife with irony and controversy. Among them is the fact that conservative states that ban abortion because of their “culture of life” also tend to have very liberal gun laws. Maybe there’s a solution for red-state women who need to terminate pregnancies.
We Need a Bulwark to our Bulwark
•
White House officials say it’s necessary to engage with the brutal kingdom of Saudi Arabia because it’s a bulwark to the power of Iran in the Middle East. But what if Saudi Arabia is worse than Iran?
