2020 has been challenging. A global pandemic has killed over 100000 Americans and counting. The economy, already teetering on the edge from years of deregulation, mechanization, and tilted in favor of the 1%, is in shambles, with record levels of unemployment, the collapse of many small businesses and retail companies, and social distancing rules that […]
Read more "Profiles in Cowardice"In just over two weeks, former Vice President Joe Biden went from a washed-up old warhorse fading from the race to essentially having the nomination wrapped up while front-runner Bernie Sanders, ostensively the leader of the now ascendant progressive wing of the Democratic party, has been relegated to also-ran status. Most Sanders surrogates and the […]
Read more "Lessons From the 2020 Democratic Primary"I planned on taking a victory lap for calling Joe Biden’s “remarkable” comeback before his “stunning” victory on Super Tuesday last week (score one for team demographics are destiny), but the stock market tumble and the ongoing drama of whether or not COVID-19 is or is not a pandemic have overwhelmed all other stories for […]
Read more "COVID-19 and the Post-Facts Presidency"News sites are awash with “the momentum myth” and “demographics are destiny” this week in the wake of Joe Biden’s trouncing of the Democratic field in South Carolina over the weekend. Some of this is just reactionary news coverage explaining why the narrative they were so sure of for the last two months (Sanders has […]
Read more "Race and Progressive Politics"I have not published much lately. Work has been crazy. I finally took a vacation for the first time in years. But more than anything, every time I sit down to write I get about 1200 words in and start thinking about the conclusion I just feel completely depressed. Who wants to write endlessly sad […]
Read more "Purity Tests and Fractured Voting Blocs"After several exchanges with friends and family over the last two weeks, I finally forced myself to sit down and write this column. Truth be told, I am dreadfully tired of writing, talking, or thinking about President Trump. He is exactly the same as he was four years ago when he was running for office– […]
Read more "The President Must Be Impeached"It is a barely concealed secret among my close friends that I hate personal finance gurus. I think they are all frauds peddling impossible approaches to savings and investments that do little other than demoralize normal Americans and make them fear that they are going to be pennyless paupers when they retire. I think it […]
Read more "Savings Fetishes"I’ve been thinking a lot about how we live lately. Am I a success? What am I doing with my life? My birthday was last week and it seems pretty common to start thinking about these things when you only have a few more trips around the sun before you turn 40. And I already […]
Read more "A Life Well Lived"For the 22 minutes of the Democratic primary debate in Houston that I could stomach last night (I read transcripts this morning): I expect nothing to change in the poll numbers. Debates like these are completely pointless. Harris going after Trump in her opening statement was good theatre– her team seems pretty good at that. […]
Read more "22 Thoughts…"Several years ago my hometown newspaper ran a series on race in Lima, Ohio. That during a continuous political and cultural moment where so many of my family and friends were posting defenses for a variety of openly racist policies and politicians not one mentioned– even disparagingly– an earnest examination of the subject locally bothered […]
Read more "The 1619 Project"