Category: Politics

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Chris Rabb for US Congress

  By Elections, Politics

For the last ten years, I’ve mostly not endorsed candidates in Democratic primaries. The organization I headed, Pennsylvania Policy Center (PPC), prohibited staff members from making such endorsement. Having left the organization in February, I am now free to make such endorsement. And it gives me great pleasure that the first candidate for Congress I can endorse is Chris Rabb who is running for Congress in the 3rd district. Before telling you whyt I support Chris, I also want to note that if Chris were not running, I would enthusiastically support Sharif Street. Sharif and I got to know each other when we both ran and lost in the primary race  for Council at Large in 2007. I came to admire him then. And I’ve admired his work as a State Senator and worked closely with him during the last ten years. Sharif is a progressive Democrat. But I support… Continue reading

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Obedience is Never the Right Response in America

  By Resisting Trump, US

I am seeing one comment after another from right wing men who say that Renee Good and Alex Pretti would be alive if they only “obeyed.” This is not only the wrong response it is an un-American response. In America, we don’t and shouldn’t blindly obey. We vindicate our rights only by exercising them, which means: We speak out, we ask questions, we reject orders from people with no authority to issue them and especially when those orders are contrary and confused. And even when we are wrong, government has to respect our rights and humanity by only acting with violence when absolutely necessary to protect someones life. And that was not the case when Good and Pretti were killed. And, in contemporary America, women don’t and shouldn’t blindly obey men. Women can only vindicate their equality by rejecting the demand to obey. And decent men respect women who do… Continue reading

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By Trump’s logic

  By Politics, Tump, US

After the shooting of the two national guardsmen, Trump has called for a review of every immigrant who received a green card. By Trump’s logic, every single right-wing American should be investigated to determine if their citizenship should be revoked. They are, after all, the sources of far more violent crime than any other group. Continue reading

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It is Trump’s Fault that Two National Guard Members Were Shot in DC.

  By Tump

Trump is responsible for the shooting of two members of the national guard in multiple ways. —The national guard should not have been deployed to DC and —The Afghans should not have lost their special immigration status promised them at the end of the long war we fought on their country and —The shooter has legal status granted by the Trump administration. Continue reading

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Trump’s Greatest Threat is to the Idea of Civilized Life Itself

  By Fascism, Philosophy, Political philosophy, Racial Justice, White Supremacy and Structural Racism

To understand Trump and his politics and what we have to do to stop it, we must recognize that he is ultimately a threat to the central idea of human political and social achievement, that human beings do better when everyone is included and our aim is the collective good of all. Let me start with one example, and then return to this general point. There is an interesting and complicated discussion in Machiavelli’s Discourses about whether it is better, when one is in a conflict with another state, to fight abroad or at home. There is a lot to be said on both sides when it comes to conventional war. But when it comes to dealing with infectious disease, isn’t it obvious that it’s better to fight abroad? That is, we protect our own citizens from infectious diseases by helping other countries contain outbreaks of them in their own… Continue reading

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The best, uncertain case for Harris

  By 2024, Elections and Voting, US

I hope this is my last long post on the Democratic candidate for president. I’m going to do something here that may surprise some of you. I’m going to make the best argument I can for why I think Biden should step down. And in doing so, I’m going to respond to some of the claims I made the other day against him doing so. I’m doing this for a few reasons. One is that this is how I think. I always look at issues from a number of sides. Another related one is that I’m still remain unsure about what the right path forward is and the only way I’m going to be sure is by making the best case on both sides. And frankly, none of you who have been arguing with me the post has done a very good job of making that case or responding to… Continue reading