An occasional list of links to thought provoking commentary on the condition our condition is in. I hope over the New Year's week to deliver some "shards" in three parts of which this is the first, more or less US-centric installment.
... I diagnose my condition these days as "depleted." The four months of working to preserve a chance for democracy and freedom through the election has taken something out of me that awaits replenishment. Meanwhile, some offerings ...
Jonathan Chait from New York Magazine:
Despite everything, there is still a robust constituency in this country for leaders who are not overtly crazy.
Sarah Longwell, defenestrated Republican, publisher of The Bulwark, and addict of the wisdom of focus groups:
With Republicans embracing moral nihilism, Democrats should endeavor to seize the high-ground. Already, the parties are realigning not just on questions of policy, but on questions of character. ... I know our political culture is awash in cynicism these days, but there is still a market for decency. Something I heard over and over again from swing voters explaining why they couldn’t vote for Trump was, “How can I teach my kids how to be decent when the President of the United States behaves this way?” Plenty of Americans still crave moral leadership—or, at a minimum, elected officials they’re not embarrassed to have their children see on the news.
Whatever Democrats can do to facilitate labor organizing and increase access to higher education will simultaneously advance social justice and improve the party’s long-term electoral prospects.
Teri Kanefield at her own site, Books, Law, and Politics:
Democracy cannot be saved with autocratic means because the very act of adopting autocratic means destroys democracy. That’s what makes it hard. Democracy is saved with more democracy. Autocracy is created by rule-breaking. ... My advice: Ignore the rage merchants and learn to distinguish expert opinions from emotional reactions. Rage creates apathy and hopelessness and people who are apathetic and hopeless have a hard time finding the energy to do the work required to save democracy.... Learn to love rule of law with all its frustrations and imperfections.
Jill Filipovic at The Guardian:
The American reaction to the supreme court’s radical decision on abortion rights is a telling hint of what’s to come. The court summarily taking away a fundamental, long-held, and oft-utilized civil right is incredibly uncommon; it hasn’t happened in my lifetime, or my mother’s lifetime. While most of the rest of the world is moving toward broader respect for human rights, including women’s rights, and expanding abortion alongside a greater embrace of democratic norms, the US is in league with only a tiny handful of nations in making abortions harder to get, and in newly criminalizing them. The nations that are cracking down on abortion rather than expanding abortion rights have one thing in common: a turn from democracy and toward authoritarian governance.
Tom Nichols at The Atlantic responding to Herschel Walker's Senate candidacy:
... the real problem lies with the voters. The Republicans are getting the candidates they want. This is not about partisanship—it’s about an unhinged faux-egalitarianism that demands that candidates for office be no better than the rest of us, and perhaps even demonstrably worse. How dare anyone run on virtue or character; who do they think they are? ... This is a tragedy of insecurity, because what it really means is that GOP voters don’t think very much of themselves. At some point, some of them may realize what they have done, but by then it’s too late. The only thing worse than making a mistake is admitting it was a mistake, and facing the humiliation of being a sucker.
Kevin Drum at Jabberwocking:
Practically all the evidence suggests the United States is fundamentally a strong country right now. Probably the strongest in the world, and with the brightest future. It's extraordinary to think of just how good a place it could be if only we could figure out a way to overcome the debilitating fear that so many people still have of progress and change.
Michael Gerson in the Washington Post
Many progressives feel cheated by a political system rigged by the Founders against them. Many religious conservatives feel despised by the broader culture and in need of political protection. In the United States, grievance is structural and is becoming supreme.
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| UniteHERE canvassers and voters they've delivered to polls |
The Democratic Party’s voters (not necessarily its leaders) are what we want America to be. They are diverse on a number of dimensions, unified around laudable goals such as reducing economic and racial inequality, and actively trying to make the United States the best nation it can be.
Carlos Lozada in the New York Times
One of the great questions of this time has always been whether Trump changed the country or revealed it more clearly. The answer is yes; it is both. He changed America by revealing it. On Jan. 6, Trump was the man who could win the country back for those who yearned for him long before they imagined him. If he can’t do it, someone like him will do. Or someone like him, perhaps, but more so.
Dana Milbank at the Washington Post
I admit I’ve thought about where my family might go if the worst happened here. But we’re not going anywhere. The only choice is to stay and fight for our liberal democracy. As my rabbi, Danny Zemel, put it on Kol Nidre: “If there is a Jewish message for our time, it is to support our great experiment with every fiber of our being.”... If it isn’t safe here, it won’t be safe anywhere.
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo:
... history doesn’t end. We hear a lot about how we might lose our democracy in this election. No going back. That’s not how things work. We might lose it. Or, to be more specific, we might enter a period of degraded or superficial democracy in which the trappings and structures remain more or less in place but are fundamentally subverted. But if we lose it … well, then we’ll have to work on getting it back. This isn’t happy talk or Pollyannaish thinking. It’s reality. History doesn’t end. No matter how bad things get there’s a next day when you have to figure out what you do next. Nothing is ever fully solved or fully lost.
Happy New Year!
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