The retreat of liberalism goes on
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
As communism seemingly disappeared from view at the end of the 1980s, in a sudden and unexpected blow-out, there was plenty of triumphalism around in the west.  The most infamous was perhaps that of Francis Fukuyama, a US state department career man turned historian.  He got his publishing break with a book called “The End of History and the Last Man”.  The end of communism, he suggested, meant that man’s ideological evolution, the very stuff of history, was over. Western liberalism had won.  Nothing seemed to appear on the horizon to challenge its by then unquestioned do ..read more
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Trump's More Than Lewinsky Moment
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
It's always a busy time for the Donald.  Today alone he is defending his new tariff system and agreeing to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, where they will engage in personal diplomacy since Trump hasn't actually got any advisers who know anything about North Korea. Despite the shrill insistency of news about Trump, it appears there is still space for porn star Stormy Daniels to keep popping up.  This is the person who Trump's lawyer allegedly paid $130,000 to in order to stop her revealing her liaison with Trump at the height of the 2016 election. Republicans and evangelic ..read more
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Amidst the turmoil, Trump can count major successes
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
From Dan Balz in the Washington Post today, this assessment of the credit side of President Trump's ledger makes for encouraging reading if you're a conservative, and should give you pause for thought if you're a liberal who thought that Trump's bizarre, maverick style might spell his doom: "That’s not to say the president hasn’t had successes or made progress in changing the course of policy in the aftermath of the administration of President Barack Obama. He signed a huge tax cut. The economy is in good shape, unemployment is at a low level, and the stock market, despite some recent downs a ..read more
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Who's voting,for whom and where? US election analysis talk
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
The next concrete vote on Trump isn't until November, but pollsters and election wonks are all analysing the data furiously to see if the Democrats will ride a wave back to congressional power, or whether Trump and the Republicans will in fact be able to dig down further and secure a counter-cycle triumph. This election analysis and discussion from Politico is fascinating and a must read for students of American politics ..read more
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Shooting Schoolkids and mis-using the Second Amendment
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
The wording of the famous Second Amendment to the US Constitution is this: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed". My students and I saw it just a few days ago, the faded writing on the Bill of Rights displayed in the National Archives still visible. I was puzzled for a while, as in the document this is actually the fourth amendment, but it turns out the first two weren't ratified, thus pushing the famous arms amendment up to number 2 in the ranks. I've read it a number of times, and ..read more
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Republican Power and Evangelical Influence
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
1.  The Republicans have been accused of "turbo-charged" gerrymandering in order to hold on to their state and federal offices, and the two states which seem to critics to exemplify their approach are Pennsylvania and North  Carolina.  The New York Times provides, as might be expected, excoriating commentary on both situations, suggesting that Republicans are no longer just about holding power but about de-legitimising their opponents. At stake are not just hundreds of state legislative seats, but also control of the House of Representatives, which Republicans currently hold by ..read more
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Dems still look good for mid-terms - WaPo
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
From the Washington Post's "Plumline" blog, some still optimistic points about the Democrats' chances in November: * DEMS POUR MONEY INTO STATE LEGISLATIVE RACES: The New York Times reports that a Dem-aligned group led by former attorney general Eric Holder is set to pour big money into obscure state legislative races across the country in 2018: The group [is] determined to deny Republicans so-called trifectas in state governments — places where a single party controls the governorship and an entire legislature … The group’s list of high-priority states includes most of the cr ..read more
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Let the Brexiteers in
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
The Sunday Times runs a piece today about the frustration of hard-Brexit minded Tory MPs, and their desire for a "dream team" of Johnson, Gove and - of course - Rees-Mogg, to come in and run things. Remain minded Tories should probably consider the same thing.  As Theresa May's government lurches around trying to find a strategy, or a vision, or anything at all, it becomes increasingly apparent that there is no value to the Remainer wing in her continued leadership. Mrs. May's poor negotiating situation can be put down to her need to have been more Brexit than the Brexiters initially, i ..read more
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Lead or Go. Still discussing May
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
The conservative weekly "The Spectator" is influential - and widely read - in Conservative Party circles, so it can hardly be good news for May that its well-connected political editor, James Forsyth, has written the cover story under the stark demand that she "Lead or Go". This debate doesn't seem to be getting any quieter, even as May is in China trying to secure trade deals.  The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg commented on the febrile atmosphere in Westminster on this morning's Today programme (here, go to 1:09:06 for Nick Robinson's start), noting that Tory MPs were daily changing their m ..read more
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May survives another turbulent week. Again.
Politics Etc.
by Giles Marshall
3y ago
Like Mark Twain’s death, reports of Theresa May’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Unlike the legendary writer’s death rumours, however, these are more frequent and relentless. Quite how a person of little obvious political skill or charisma, and seemingly little personal support, has managed to soldier on in Britain’s highest political office during a period of more or less consistent crisis, will be as much a matter for political psychologists as historians in the future. For now, it is enough to occupy ourselves with the return of that perennial British favourite, “Will Theresa Surv ..read more
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