Despite much lofty rhetoric portraying the United States as a democracy (in which the people rule), this nation, in fact, has often resembled a plutocracy (in which the wealthy rule).
Browsing: Opinions
The New “Great Dying” Deserves Our Attention and Action
From Gulf of America to mass expulsion of “illegals” (people of color) to continuing genocidal complicity in Gaza to whatever the daily news brings us…welcome to Trump America! Welcome to the small-minded, white nation so many long for, free once again from those large, inconvenient values – e.g., the Declaration of Independence – that keep disrupting the way things are supposed to be.
At home, on the other hand, the Trump administration liquidated the voting board of the United States Institute of Peace last month, a prelude to destroying its operation in a subsequent invasion by DOGE crusaders who were accompanied by armed police to protect Musk’s minions from unarmed fellow citizens at work. With USIP’s board eradicated and its staff terminated, the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State signed papers commandeering USIP’s assets, then ordering that its home—across Constitution Avenue from the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall—be reassigned to the General Service Administrative for unspecified alternative purposes.
The History They Fear is the Truth We Carry
America is widely known for having created its own dangerous cocktails. No, these cocktails have nothing to do with drinking alcohol. Specifically, this American cocktail is comprised of ignorance and a double shot of racism. However, both ignorance and racism can cause negative consequences. Those who choose to consume America’s Dangerous Cocktail can be motivated to engage in interpersonal racism, such as bullying, verbal harassment, and even physical violence.
As millions of retirees, persons with disabilities, and other beneficiaries try to cope with DOGE cuts to Social Security (website outages, inordinate wait times on the phone or in person, complete non-service for many), one group stands particularly vulnerable.
Both these types have emerged with Donald Trump’s 90-day pause in his tariff war, after the stock market had lost several trillion dollars in value. They belong to the same fantasy world in which election defeats are fraudulent, legitimate lawsuits are witch hunts, judges who rule against them are crazy Marxists, and foreign students who protest are terrorists and must be deported.
But sometimes the news of the day simply feels too absurd, too strange, to seriously address, like Trump’s comment the other day as he sat next to Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House: “You know how I feel about the Gaza Strip. I think it’s an incredible piece of important real estate.”
President Carter’s words, upon signing the bill to create the U.S. Department of Education in 1979, ring louder today than ever before.