Wednesday, December 18, 2024

On Substance and Signaling, in Trumpland, Topeka, and Beyond

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[This is an extensively rewritten version of an essay I wrote for Kansas newspapers last Sunday .] In a recent substack post , my old frien...
Thursday, November 07, 2024

Still Processing the Day Before Yesterday

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Yesterday I did as I have regularly done for 16 years now , and replaced my Wednesday morning, post-Election Day classes with an open conver...
Wednesday, November 06, 2024

Not a Mea Culpa, But Like Unto It

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When Trump won in 2016, I was genuinely flummoxed—disappointed and angry and frustrated as well, of course, but mostly just confused. It sig...
Monday, November 04, 2024

Some Thoughts on the Republican Donald Trump, and All the Other Republicans, Mormon or Otherwise, I Know (and Sometimes Love)

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[Note: this is a long and very party-centric set of musings for the day before the presidential election ends and the real electoral and leg...
Monday, September 16, 2024

Dear Mormon Voters of the American West (But Actually, Mainly Just Arizona): Let's Try This One More Time, Okay?

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[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] The presidential election campaign will come to an end 50 days from today. A lot could change in 50 day...
Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Two Short(ish) Thoughts About Socialists and other Nice People to my North

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Minnesota isn't Ontario, of course, and Tim Walz isn't a secular Jew and bass player who became passionately devoted to hard and pro...

How Informational Overload Destroyed American Democracy (Maybe)

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[A slightly different version of this essay appears in Current .] James Davison Hunter's new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cul...