The issue of race in America is among our deepest divides. Indeed, most Americans can’t even agree that race IS an issue. Afterall, none of us sees race anymore. History is clear on this topic– the United States has been plagued from inception to present with institutional racial discrimination and exploitation. While most agree on […]
Read more "Mike Ditka and Colorblindness"Multiculturalism has long been one of the right’s favorite slurs. It covers so much ground! In one word, conservative culture warriors get to thumb their noses at liberal academic elites and put down minorities. A classic “win-win.” This approach is not new to the Trump crowd. Moderate and establishment Republicans have been doing it for […]
Read more "The Right’s Problem with Multiculturalism (and History)"Political opinion writers are still wrestling with the question of how did we get to Trump. I suspect that we will be reading pieces like this one from David Brooks for the rest of our lives. Conservatives are especially interested in the narrative. How did the party of family values, free trade, and a muscular […]
Read more "American Populism"Every great western ends this way. The lonely and erstwhile anti-hero, equal parts brave and craven, comes to the end of their journey. They are given a choice: put down your gun, submit to the inevitable change that is coming, and live out the remainder of your days as a shadow of your former self or stick to your […]
Read more "The Maverick’s Last Stand?"Donald Trump is an incapable leader, but he has shaken the moderate right from their decades’ long slumber. Watching their party abandon all moral and political principle over the last two years has forced them to struggle with how out of touch they are. And in many cases, like here with David Brooks, they have […]
Read more "Purity of View: Cultural Capital and American Political Culture"If you are a Republican who read that title, according to Pew, chances are good that you muttered “yes.” While there is a lot to digest and react to in this report, the overwhelmingly negative attitude that Republicans and Republican-leaning Americans have developed towards higher education in the last several years is the most alarming. A […]
Read more "Does Higher Education Have a Negative Effect on America?"I’ve spent the better part of the last decade studying how Americans understand, use, and fight over competing visions of history. These culture wars have dominated our discourse about schools, students, knowledge, and our very identity as Americans. The Trumpening upended some of the traditional narratives on the topic– though I would note that these static impressions […]
Read more "The End of White Christian America?"