Happy independence day to the greatest country I've had the privilege of knowing (and I've known a few).
Despite legitimate and imagined grievances, I hope you will join me in actively THINKING HARD how we can protect it because- make no mistake- if America weakens no other nation UK, France, NZ, Australia, Sweden) will survive as a liberal democracy.
This is my first 4th of July after gaining my American citizenship on January 25th. It wasn't an easy decision because India doesn't allow dual citizenship. Giving up my Indian passport was heart breaking, but as a mediator and peacebuilder I've learned that everything good comes at a price. Life is nothing but tradeoffs- and this has been a big one for me.
America is where my life is now and I am totally committed to the best values of this country. Just as I wouldn't want people to judge me by my worst qualities or mistakes, I wouldn't judge America by its worst moments- as so many seem eager to do. It breaks my heart to see native born Americans- and recent immigrants, students and visitors alike- spew hatred towards this country.
Tellingly, I didn't receive even a single Happy Independence day message today- whereas from 1995-2005 when I lived here my inbox was always filled with 4th of July greetings. This doesn't augur well for us as a nation. How can we protect something if we don't love or celebrate it? Would you try to save your marriage by attacking your spouse?
So, at this moment of existential danger I feel a special responsibility towards my adopted nation. If you believe your elected government is too 'EVIL' to support- you don't want a democracy- you only want your own little dictatorship. Remember the commies and their "dictatorship of the proletariat"?
Anger, protest and resistance ain't going to help us save ourselves in a world that has slipped out of American control. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's rise, and the global backlash against the pro-immigration, diversity elite, attacking Trump is a waste of energy. As I've been teaching for years- American salvation requires rethinking the democratic contract between citizens and the government. Attacking yesterday's grievances are a dangerous distraction when tomorrow's extinction is just around the corner. Never were JFK's words more relevant "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".
Frankly, we should ask ourselves if "We the People" are good enough for American Democracy. Perhaps if Independence has to mean anything at all, we need to dedicate ourselves to becoming worthy of the highest values of the United States of America, not gripe about the lowest. We should celebrate the flawed people who gave so much so that YOU and I can complain about this visionary, brilliant (and spectacularly flawed) nation.
We desperately need more IDIOTS like you ( our Village woukd benefit greatly).To be very clear welcome fellow citizen and keep doing what you are doing and expressing yourself as the rest of us hopeless lovers of freedom. Happy fourth and may you enjoy many many more.
Yascha - Obama1 (I voted for him) was a fair effort for Progressives. He sought to represent us all - while the GOP was not fair to him. Obama2 (I voted for him again) shifted his focus toward the social elevation of the civil rights marginalized. Bernie sought to shift this to Coke Classic Marxism - class struggle - while Hilary doubled down on Obama identity politics. Meanwhile, the Academy churned out eager young Marxists to castigate us all with the new viral weapon of social media. Trump’s win created the devil’s bargain of the Left: its young activists would supply the resistance time + energy if the old centrists would supply access to the institutions it led. This created a super-charged focus and rapid distribution of extreme Leftist dogma the centrists severely underestimated in its deep unpopularity. Trump2 is the repudiation of this cycle. This overreach. He leads the immuno response of the normal people in this country. The boring people. The ones the Left stopped caring about. The ones the Left actively attacked. Calling us racists, and bigots, and deplorable, and every “phobe” they could possibly remember from Yale Humanities. This is why Trump wins. He is the radiation for the cancer of the Left. That actively attacked the healthy bone and tissue of this nation’s polity. It’s why the Left tries in vain to tweak messages for men. We know they hate us. No lip sticking that pig. Trump’s shift back to the needs of the many vs the Left’s needs of the few feels sickening like chemotherapy makes you nauseous and loses your hair. But cancer isn’t our norm. It is the social sickness we must overcome so the body doesn’t die.
While I appreciate the very interesting insights into the mind of how a supposed "normie" voter becomes a MAGA cult member....there is one thing you will never be able to answer with basic facts. Trump's economic policies, specially his entire approach of his second term is a direct assault on the very people he claims to stand up for. The BBB legislation signed today will do more to hurt his own rural conservative base than anything the most imagined liberal Democrat dreamed up on Fox news could do. But here is something to consider....as dangerous and evil I as and many other progressives know trump to be....he at least is starting to hurt the very ignorant, entitled muricans that think this country only belongs to them. Each rural hospital that closes, each farmer that goes out of businesses from tariffs or immigrant labor being removed does more to satisfy my coastal, elite hatred of you people than anything Obama could have done. And that is the great Irony...trump is really not hurting the economic basis of the liberal city class...he is hurting his own cult members...for that I am grateful.
Thanks Dave. I guess I would say that I (personally) am not in the MAGA cult (which undeniably is a thing). I’ve never voted Trump (in 3 opportunities) as I always recognized how divisive he is. I, personally, do not wish to actively participate in the aggressive dividing up of our country. For Trump is a “wartime” leader and not a unifier. He was hired by 77 million people, democratically, to do exactly what he’s doing. This is the part Progressives can’t quite get their heads around: he’s not breaking democracy; he’s fulfilling it. He promised ALL OF THIS. For years. Publicly. In rallies, in debates, in TV ads, in social media. Even after a failed coup and being convicted on 36 counts - 77 million people voted FOR him. To deport millions. To levy punitive tariffs. To bring down the woke madrassas like Harvard and Columbia. All of it. Every single bit. Now, you might argue that these 77 million fellow Americans are stupid, ignorant, low information, low attention span or simply didn’t mean it. But you can’t argue that he’s breaking democracy. What all thinking people SHOULD be questioning is…why? What is it about Progressive dogma, and Democratic leaders who offer it, that is so repulsive that 77 million people vote for DONALD TRUMP instead? Why is the (D) brand so toxic, so deeply unpopular, so revolting that millions of ex-Ds abandoned ship and a man so incredibly unqualified to unite our country was chosen instead? The answers to that are both economic and social - but the reality on the ground is this will lead to civil war. The hot kind. It’s clear that Progressives won’t accept these provocations from Trump for long (indeed, he is engineering his optics to be maximally provocative to liberals while trapping them into responding maximally distastefully). Progressives are fast migrating to the “fighting wing” of the party - AOC, Bernie, Mamdani, who will carry the fight to MAGA. If any of these win in 2028 - and seek to use the same authoritarian powers Trump has seized for himself (as OF COURSE they will ax that will be the new norm), armed MAGA, and our security forces purged under four years of Pete Hegseth, will simply not go along. I’m sure you see this inevitable dynamic as the most likely outcome too. I don’t want this any more than you do. I mourn the loss of civility and our descent into partisan hell as much as you. What comes next will be something dramatically different than what we’ve had. Just as Rome was never the same post Julius Caesar and the five year civil war after the Ides of March. Rome didn’t fall under Augustus - but it was never a republic again. That is, most likely, America’s fate. We will still be mighty - both at home and abroad - but significantly different. And AGI will be a factor in it all that none of us see clearly yet. This is the broad arc of history and we are living through a turbulent transitional epoch. We are all witnesses and commenters.
I agree that he promised this chaos and "we" voted for it...at least the last time in terms of the popular vote. That being said, many folks now seem legitimately seem shocked that the level of extreme, dictatorial authoritarian tactics would actually happen like they have been compared to his first term. I disagree that "cultural leftism" is to blame for why so many seemingly moderate or even progressive people have become more right wing. Most of the data and media trends in the US -like those found globally in other countries that point directly to social media algorithms. South Korea -which does have a much stronger set of democratic institutions that the US- has even greater political polarization via geography and gender. Another factor is the simple sad reality of grift. There are numerous former "leftists" like Matt Tiabbi, Rogan, Batya Ungar-Sargon and even previously apolitical influencers like JP Sears and The Cartier Family who almost oversight turned into pro-Maga propagandists. That highly implies a heel-turn based on financial incentive. The same is now true of Big Tech. The other thing to consider is that for some people fascist movements offer a permission structure to embrace the most selfish, base profane behavior. I can attest as someone with a wife who was a former refugee that some of my own relatives have openly admitted that trump "Made it OK to say the truth" which implies a belief that he and his movement represents a cultural trend of in which ironically...the MAGAs have become the new rebels and "anti establishment" despite being the led by wall street and corporate elite and having the most elitist economic policies. As a history teacher, its a fascinating if frightening time to be alive...but I at least do admit I take a sick pleasure in watching the suffering of those very people who actually think Trump and the GOP are helping them.
"I agree that he promised this chaos and "we" voted for it..."
What is wrong with this statement is that it ignores just how profoundly ignorant and disengaged tens of millions of Americans are. Take immigration. Since Trump has begun his lawless and often unconstitutional efforts to deport, he hopes, tens of millions of immigrants, I have repeatedly heard Trump supporters say "I voted for him because he said he would deport the criminals." That is exactly what Trump is doing, but the disconnect is that those who are now shocked, have a very different definition of what a criminal is. Anyone who paid attention to Trump and understood his deep racism would have understood that the second an immigrant crossed the U.S. border, Trump and Miller, his main adviser on deportation, considered every one of them a criminal. People who are inattentive or who rely on wishful thinking set themselves up to be shocked by someone like Trump. Yes, he's doing what he said he would and what his most devoted MAGA followers want him to do, but they weren't enough to get him elected and many of the votes that put Trump over the top, had no real idea of what he planned.
Much the same can be said of inflation. Anyone who voted for Trump to bring down inflation was living in a fantasy world. The first problem was they don't understand inflation, apart from it means rising costs, and its causes and cures are a mystery to them. Trump said he would tame inflation on "Day One." He had no such intention and obviously doesn't care at all about inflation other than if it causes him to lose support. His answer to that is to warn companies that they should not raise prices and he is "watching" them. An implicit threat, that given his behavior is not really implicit at all.
What do we have now? A burgeoning police state with ICE's budget now larger than that of the Marine Corps. Federalized national guard troops in Los Angeles under the phoniest of pretenses. Immigrants being brutalized, deported to prisons, even those who are not convicted of any crimes, and most striking of all, deported to war-torn, countries notorious for human rights violations. Even American citizens are not safe, and that has been a problem with America's past mass deportations. Trump now wants to strip nationalized citizens, who have every bit as much right to be here as I do, a native born American, of their citizenship, especially if there is any evidence that they disagree with him.
Inflation? Trump's tariffs and other inane policies threaten to increase inflation significantly once they go into effect. Trump's ignorance is mindboggling, but he doesn't care about the ability of Americans to afford food or housing. The price of gasoline, a big pre-election complaint, is rising as well. Americans bought a pig in a poke, but the real tragedy is that the poke was always transparent. Every minimally well-informed voter knew exactly what was in that poke.
Now, Trump's budget bill will cause immeasurable harm, but it is all in keeping with the "values" of a man who values only himself, his wealth, and his power.
Right. The schadenfreude you feel for the suffering of Trump supporters is shared by them for your “liberal tears”. This is the chronic and deep disdain we feel for our fellow countrymen. We aren’t neighbors any longer. We’re enemy combatants. In the vein of Northern Ireland 🇮🇪. Or Bosnia. 🇧🇦 Or Iraq 🇮🇶. Or Uganda 🇺🇬. Or Syria 🇸🇾. Or countless other places where neighbor turned on neighbor and ended up butchering them with the white hot rage of a thousand suns. This is where we go. The world has shown this sad, absurd movie time and again. And what are we fighting for again that makes this so worth it? Deporting illegals? Trans rights? Smashing the patriarchy? Abortion rights decided by states? Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going? 😳
I didn't think much of your earlier comment and even less of this one. You obviously read into comments whatever you want to without regard for what they actually say. There is nothing in my comment about schadenfreude or about how I personally feel about those who voted for Trump. You've simply made that up. The observation that people are ignorant is not a statement of judgment about their status as people, but it is a factual observation about what they did.
Rather than schadenfreude, I feel sorry for those who voted for Trump out of the mistaken believe that he cared about them, their problems, or that he would do anything to satisfy their hopes. It is both sad and tragic that millions of Americans don't spend the necessary time to inform themselves adequately in order to vote responsibly.
LB: " Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going?"
I don't know where we're going and neither do you. I have never physically hurt anyone in my life, I own a grand total of zero firerams, and I have no intention of butchering anyone. What I do know is that democracy is worth fighting for, though one hopes that will not ever get to the point where violence is involved. However, the majority of political violence in the US comes from the Right and the president regularly extols the virtues of violence and on January 6, 2021 incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol.
Human rights are worth fighting for and my preferred way of fighting for anything is through persuasion and peaceful protest. There is nothing about me that resembles in any way the examples you gave of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, Uganda, or Syria. The overwhelming threat of and use of force comes from Trump and his supporters. There are really no meaningful comparisons between the Right and Left in the US. There are, to my knowledge, no equivalents of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other right wing militias who have no understanding of what democracy is or what it takes to support it. If they did, they wouldn't be in militias, toting their insecurity and inadequacies around in the form of semi-automatic rifles.
As for despising one's opponents, that doesn't happen unless those opponents are trying to dominate others, deny human beings their basic rights, and behave in a a lawless and unconstitutional manner as Trump has repeatedly. Increasingly, what should be our last line of defense against what Trump is doing is, in reality, aiding and abetting him -- the Supreme Court's radical six person majority. As former appeals court judge and conservative icon, Michael Luttig recently observed, the Trump v. United States decision was, in his words, the worst Supreme Court decision in American history. That is just one of the growing number of SCOTUS decisions that are not simply far outside the mainstream, but well outside the realm of rational, democracy supporting decisions. Two members of the Court's majority are utterly corrupt, both as a matter of basic conduct and as a matter of judicial behavior. Alito and Thomas refuse to recuse themselves in cases where it is not simply a matter of the appearance of a conflict, but the conflict is real and obvious. Judge Luttig, whose political positions are very unattractive to me, also pointed out that his friend, Chief Justice Roberts is leading the court on a path to lawlessness.
LB: " And what are we fighting for again that makes this so worth it? Deporting illegals? Trans rights? Smashing the patriarchy? Abortion rights decided by states? Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going?"
You are talking about issues that not only violate human rights and common decency, but have and will result in the needless deaths of people. Your minimization of those issues is troubling indeed since it reveals that you really have no understanding of what is at stake.
Deportation of immigrants? This is not simply an issue of deporting immigrants. Trump and Miller are deporting people who have a legal right to be here and they are doing it without due process of law. Citizens have been deported, one of whom is a 4-year-old child with stage 4 cancer, who was deported without her medication. She may well die as a result. Trump is, with the blessing of the SCOTUS majority, deporting people to countries to which they have no connection, probably don't speak the language, and which are guilty of human rights violations. Yes, that is worth fighting.
Abortion rights? It is not merely a question of abortion rights, but women are suffering and dying because they are denied medical care that any civilized society would provide. Apparently, innocent deaths don't bother you.
Trans rights? Transgender people are human beings who entitled to the same respect and rights that every person is owed. Denying their existence is not merely cruel, it is a form of psychological violence that should be abhorrent to every decent human being. It doesn't matter if you or anyone else approves of them or believes that there are only two sexes, if for no other reason that that contention is a lie. The hermaphrodite I met in Arizona when I was trying to rent a kayak for a friend is not either male or female, but a combination. Many people have abnormal genetic makeups which makes their status anything but cut and dried. You can pretend that isn't so, but you're wrong and whatver brought you or anyone to believe that is, as a matter of science and medicine, wrong. For those who don't approve of homosexuality, whether it is because of the teachings of a far from error-free Bible or simply because it makes them uncomfortable because it isn't "natural," I always ask them to explain to me if they are heterosexual why they are attracted only to the opposite sex. The reality is no one can answer that question in a meaningful way. People are attracted to the people they are attracted to and there isn't and doesn't have to be an explanation for why that is. To say "it's because that is normal or natural" is pure nonsense and not an answer at all. I'm straight, my best friend is gay. And neither preference requires explaining.
I could go on for hours, but I suspect there is no point. I doubt if there is anything anyone could say to you that would get you to see that everything you mentioned (and more) is worth fighting for. Ideally, that will be done with words and votes, but if it becomes violent, the overwhelming likelihood is that it will come from the Right. Trump has already introduced violence into the mix and those who are opposed to him have overwhelmingly been peaceful.
The only economic policies of my lifetime that were a deliberate and direct assault on our economy and freedom and education and lives were the shutdowns I endured here in Portland Oregon, under Democrat leadership at the national, State and local level .. my favorite music clubs and restaurants here and back in my previous home of Austin TX, always hanging on by a thread, finally closed down - in some cases the owners took the bailout money and ran. The historic neon-lit Chicken n' Dumplings restaurant on historic Highway 30 along the Gorge was particularly sad.
Oh, did I mention liberty? I gently, on my first post ever, on my Nextdoor app, tried to assure an anxious neighbor she has little cause for concern (nor need for her to call the cops) over her sighting of a couple walking a dog across her street sans masking. I was immediately and unceremoniously kicked from the app, by some anonymous moderator, with no recourse for appeal or expectation of explanation. I voted for and against Reagan and Obama, one time each. Never again. Never again ... for a Democrat. Even if they reform .. it would be like voting for a 'reformed' Nazi Party.
Bob: "The only economic policies of my lifetime that were a deliberate and direct assault on our economy and freedom and education and lives were the shutdowns I endured here in Portland Oregon, under Democrat leadership at the national, State and local level"
That is pure nonsense. Based on what you've written, I can only assume that you believe you have the right to pose a health threat to other people because wearing a mask, or practicing social distancing, having to forego attending a mass gathering that becomes a super-spreader event is the end of freedom. People died because they went to public gatherings without regard for any preventive measures, but one no dies because they can't go to their favorite music club. One of the things that was routinely ignored during the pandemic was the status of the immuno-supressed who are extremely susceptible to infection and serious, even fatal disease. You're still alive today, despite the temporary inconvenience you suffered during the pandemic. Was that inconvenience so onerous that others should die so that you can live you life without any temporary limitations?
The United States, thanks to Trump and his devoted followers and vaccine opponents, had one of, if not the worst COVID-19 record among developed countries. Those who refused to be vaccinated died at rates significantly higher than those who were vaccinated. I'm severely immuno-suppressed as a result of medications I have to take, but I never got COVID-19 during the main run of the pandemic. I did, however, become infected by my sister who came to visit me in 2024 and ignored the fact of my status and was extremely careless. She socialized with others without taking any precautions and unsurprisingly became infected and gave it to me. I was well-vaccinated and boosted, so although the disease lingered for a long time, and caused me considerable suffering, I survived.
Bob: " I voted for and against Reagan and Obama, one time each. Never again. Never again ... for a Democrat. Even if they reform .. it would be like voting for a 'reformed' Nazi Party."
I'm sorry but the level of ignorance contained in those words would be unbelievable if that kind of lunacy hadn't become so common. Please, reread what you've written and seriously consider how to gain a sense of proportion.
Yes, I remember well how Nazi's kicked people off their Nextdoor app in what was the greatest violation of human rights imaginable and certainly the worst thing Hitler and the Nazis ever did. (Or I would remember that if there had been apps in the 30s and 40s. I'm also all too aware of all the people Democrats have executed in gas chambers.
It is impossible to take seriously anyone who writes a sentence like the one in which you compare Democrats to Nazis. You really should consider seeking help.
"The Dumpling place closed down....now I'm MAGA forever" Seems logical. Its amazing to see how covid really broke so many peoples brains like yours even though Trump basically allowed it to spread and was the guy who pushed for those bailouts that you just mentioned. I can see why you were kicked off of your nextdoor app....you probably think a mask mandate was no different then throwing Jewish children into ovens...
It is always something of a shock to read a comment like that of "Bob," who, as you say, seems to equate temporary inconveniences with mass extermination. I don't know how to communicate with people like that. Tragically, now the country has many of them.
This piece is a stream of conscience walk around a center of understanding where a toe is dipped every now and then but never really breaks through to true understanding.
“And it is certainly true that Trump replaced Obama’s optimism and faith in America with a hostility to the country’s political traditions and an apocalyptic vision of its present condition.”
Well, no. The apocalyptic vision is what has been defeated… as made evident by your coastal and big-city media and Democrat political elite’s demonstrated tendencies during the pandemic.
You gave evidence to your flaw… you say you love the country but generally still suffer some insecurity that you don’t belong. I would do the amateur psychological analysis to say that you have in common what most of my well-off, upper class liberal progressives friends demonstrate… some base insecurity or resentment that they either don’t fit in, have not achieved or have been given all that they feel they deserve, or are otherwise so brilliantly ambitious to gain more power and status without taking the risks and doing the hard work to start and grow some enterprise in the productive economy.
It is that Hedonic Treadmill thing… studies have proved that the more people have the more they want. Trump supporters have less and want less. But their interest in just a bit more of the resources flowing to the 10% causes the 10% to go to war with them to prevent it. And everything about the Democrat platform and agenda today is to support that outcome… to not only stop the bottom 80% from sharing more in the total resource pie that they have been cut from over the last 40 years, but to ultimately destroy their ability to ever try again.
The top 10% own 88% of the stock market. The bottom 80% own 8%.
The 10% elite lefties can grasp the math and accept the justification of the position of the bottom 80%… but if it risks them being able to purchase that third vacation property or risks them being knocked off their seat of power and influence, they are in for the resistance.
Trump is the President for the bottom 80%. Biden was the President for the top 10%. Thank God that on this day we celebrate a country that was founded on the principle of life, liberty and happy for all… but with focus on that bottom 80%.
Are you serious? This is the president that just passed a big beautiful bill that cut healthcare for the poor while giving massive tax cuts to those earning above 500k a year
No. That is not at all true. Stop getting your "information" from the liberal media bubble. It is a basket of lies.
HOW DO YOU KNOW DEMOCRATS ARE LYING ABOUT THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL? THEIR LIPS ARE FLAPPING.
Republicans are not cutting taxes for the wealthy: the bill only maintains the status quo tax plan with a few changes like increasing the fed tax deduction to $40k which helps people in high real estate blue states.
Republicans are not cutting spending on Medicaid or food stamps; the House and Senate bills merely slow those programs’ (unsustainable) rate of growth. Republicans accomplish this by implementing modest work requirements for able-bodied adults, by pushing back on a scheme states use to inflate federal Medicaid spending, and by asking states to be more diligent in identifying fraud. The CBO forecast of who would “lose” Medicaid by 2034 shows a population of able-bodied adults who aren’t complying with the work requirement, illegal migrants, and people who qualify for other subsidized coverage.
Republicans are not hiking energy prices: they are killing the subsidies of the Green New Bill that is based on the higher energy costs of Democrats climate crisis fraud.
Such a sad puppy you are, barking at the world through the window, parroting the barks of real dogs that actually know the feeling of the sun and rain, wind and snow. Your shining moment will be the day you finally get to eat the face of your dead master.
Thank you. I respect a lot of Yascha’s work, but this essay made me want to send him the world’s tiniest violin. It’s a high school senior essay reflecting on how much life has changed since his “youth.” You know so little about this country from your short time here; don’t mistake being an American with some role in a movie. Yascha, you live in a bubble. Get out and live in the rest of the country. Even in the bluest places, life is full of patriotism right now. Flags, parties, happy fourth greetings. The vast majority of people do not in any way feel like we’re living in dark times. Seriously, grow up, man.
Among many other basic mistakes, you conflate the "cultural elite" (which of course exists), with the financial elite, with which it only slightly overlaps. You're absolutely right that income inequality is dangerous and getting worse, but somehow you believe that Trump will ameliorate it - when his BBB only entrenches it and makes it much worse. And when the working class is further immiserated by his policies you'll continue to blame the so-called cultural elite and call it the deep state, since you won't blame the source of the problem: DJT and his enslaved Republican party.
The finacial elite and cultural elite are 80% the same today. The financial elite don't necessarily believe the same things, but they will exploit them to foment conflict that prevents shared outrage at them for looting the country to an empty shell.
Trump derangement serves them well.
If not the MAGA agenda, then how do these problems get repaired?
Its rarely a good idea to do something you KNOW wont work bc you dont know what will. The maga agenda is nothing new, nor are the results it will produce.
So if their are no new ideas to pursue, we're left with the old, and their are certainly old societal structures that work much better than what we have or will have with trump. Thats the conversation we all need to be having, instead of this incessant bickering.
You do much better when you speak your own thoughts(ive even liked a comment or two of yours:/) rather than regurgitate a bunch of ideological bs. You should stick to the one and not do the other at all, bc the grass on both sides of the fence has been well-trodden and impoverished. Havent we had enough of the banal shibboleths?
Trump is a needed corrective to many excesses. I am so tired of liberals who never take responsibility for pushing people into corners. Very happy to impose their will in everyone and are shocked when people finally push back. How many illegals are in the country now? 40 million? How many Americans are working lower wages because they are forced to compete with these illegals? How many extra house seats do Democrats have? 20? I’m very well traveled, and pro immigration, who has been push into an anti immigrant position by people who insist borders don’t matter. I’m sorry, but there is something that it is to be an American and I want that preserved and respected.
Yascha, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences and perceptions. I’m an old man now, 77 years old. If I had been in the classroom, asked by a lecturer about public figures I admire, first I would have asked “living and dead...”? Of people in the past I wld have mentioned the Adams presidents, John and his son John Quincy; Abraham Lincoln; Frederick Douglass and Timothy Dwight Weld; the Roosevelt presidents, TR and FDR; into JFK and post-presidential Jimmy Carter. General Smedley Butler. Other writers I might acknowledge, as well. Of today’s figures, living. I would mention AOC and Sheldon Whitehouse, Judge Michael Luttig, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, Anand Giridharadas (after seeing his interview with Judge Luttig). I would like to be as brave as Vladimir Zelensky and as wise as the Sufi Sheikh with whom I have studied for over 50 years. I am perhaps a product of my time, but I wonder if the absence of heroes isn’t to some extent an expression of lack of awareness of public figures. But also, we rarely hear about the truth-tellers from the media so how could these young people know about truth? During the Civil War Frederick Douglass observed that the confederates were waging war on humanity, by which he meant that they were fighting to deny humanity to lAfrican Americans. Hitler did the same thing in the 1930’s and 40’s, it appears Netanyahu is doing the same today and Trump and those around him are trying to do the same thing in America: to wage war against what it means to be human--to be born inn the “seed-form” of God's qualities of Justice, Compassion, Trustworthiness, Love, Gratitude, and Wisdom. These attributes-- the traditional virtues are the primal mold for our humanity. This is a time when the inhuman, dehumanizing is trying to eliminate the human and the kind and the just. It may be one battle in an ancient and on-going war that is waged both externally among men and women in politics and societies and within the human heart which struggles in the battle between conscience and whim. I hope and pray we are all capable of doing better.
It’s very interesting that you seem to trace American optimism only through 2007-2008. You state that after that, “a very different tune started to play.”
And yet, you cite no reason for that change at that time.
Instead, you skip ahead to Trump as a “corrupting influence.”
But what happened between 2008 and 2015, when Trump was elected?
“Notwithstanding Obama’s skeptical stance toward American exceptionalism,” indeed.
I think a lot of people had expectations of Obama that were not fulfilled. Obama promised to represent all Americans and, when he tried to do that, a lot of people on the left were disappointed in him. I believe that was the beginning of the end of any kind of unity (that and the Tea Party).
You should watch Poker Face if you aren't doing so. It's very much in the spirit you describe the shows you watched when you arrived as being in. Maybe its outlook is anachronistic but it doesn't seem that way to me.
I am not giving up on us! Never! Happy 4th to all! Stay strong, love your neighbor and keep the faith! We have gone through a lot worse and survived. We’ll get through this too if we all keep at it with love and dignity in our hearts ! ❤️
Many good points here, but you do (frequently) have a habit of undermining them with tendentious assertions.
You footnote as an example of President Trump's disdain for civic traditions his highjacking of correspondence from the Social Security Administration for partisan gain. Given your residential tenure here, do you recall the first president to weaponize major legislation to such political ends?
Google "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Signs", touting "shovel ready" projects, for the first significant example of this, promulgated under your hero Barack Obama.
I do agree that each president is an inversion of his predecessor, but you've the substance swapped - it was Obama's promise to "fundamental transform America" which gave rise to a successor who promised to "Make America Great Again", precisely because of the former's rejection of American exceptionalism. It is that ideological strain -- not anything Trump for which advocates -- which is abberant in the long arc of American history.
Karl Popper had a line in The Open Society and its Enemies. I'm going to botch it, but I remember the spirit very clearly.
We cannot "prove" the superiority of the open society, of democracy etc. We have to _choose_ it. That is, there is no birthright or arc of justice or divine plan to support humanism and the civic rules and institutions that support it. Only humans choosing to believe in them, choosing to uphold them.
I choose this, and I can tell you do, too. And we will have to keep choosing it until others realize they want to choose it, too, if for no other reason than that they finally accept that the other choices are all dead ends.
The prologue and the republished original essay are sincere (in fact earnest) in their expressions of love for,and now concern, for the author’s adoptive country. I, too, came here at about the same age as the author (or perhaps just a bit older) but have lived in this country twice as long as him. I have lived and worked here longer than anywhere else. I have also married an American and my children have known no other country than this one (other than through their travels).
Yet I am amazed at my cold-heartedness towards the United States. I don’t know what it is. I don’t feel this is home to me. There is an emotional connection to the land, its history, a sense of sharing in a collective memory that is completely absent.
So for that reason I find expressions of love and gratitude towards this country unmoving. They do not move me while I do not for a moment doubt their sincerity.
This place is never anyone's home. America as an idea is sadly built upon the worst of human instances disguised as the most noble. It has no rooted culture and no internal qualities that exceed base material gain. As someone who left earlier this year and never intends to come back, I can say that I feel like I finally found two things that most Americans never truly get....piece of mind and stability...
YM: "But his political legacy is to have taken the Republican Party from an American tradition of conservatism towards something more closely resembling a European tradition of right-wing reaction;"
I fear you have missed the actual trajectory of the Republican Party over the past 45 years. Reagan began the march toward despising our government. Newt Gingrich brought an abrupt end to any idea that the two parties shared both a past and a future. In 1995, with Gringrich as Speaker of the House, the Republican Party set off on a new course, one of scorched earth opposition. Over time it got worse and by the time Barack Obama took office Republicans were dedicated to the complete failure of government under Democratic leadership. One example, the ACA, was essentially a heavily Republican influenced program designed to offer health insurance to the many millions who had not been able to either qualify due to pre-existing conditions or afford the high cost of private insurance for those not covered by employment-related insurance. Democrats constantly sought ways to attract the votes of Republicans who were more than willing to contribute suggestions to make the program worse, but in the end not a single Republican voted for that important legislation.
Another huge step in the abandonment of democracy and good government came when Mitch McConnell refused to allow a moderate SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland, to have even committee hearings. In the end, the seat was effectively "stolen" from a Democratic president and the people his election represented. Adding insult to injury, McConnell then, in a complete reversal of his rationale for denying Garland a seat or hearings, rushed Amy Bryant through the confirmation process. Those two appointments set the stage for what we have today, a SCOTUS majority with a clear partisan agenda, not the slightest respect for stare decisis, and a vision of a country ruled by a president effectively above the law.
By the time Trump took office in 2017. the Republican Party was already corrupt and fertile ground for an authoritarian takeover. So, no, Trump didn't exactly take the GOP anywhere, he simply completed a process that was already in underway. Is his end goal more radical than the pre-Trump Republicans intended? Perhaps, but maybe not. Their lack of respect for free and fair elections and dominance by minority rule was well-established before Trump's arrival. Now, even if many Republicans are uneasy about Trump's lawlessness, they don't show any signs of that being the case. We hear Republicans like Josh Hawley, Bill Cassidy, and Lisa Murkowski express deep misgivings, even outright opposition to some of Trump's plans, but, in the end, they do what Republicans have become best known for doing -- they fall in line and give their king what he wants. The country and democracy be damned.
I’ve been an American for just over 80 years now. That means that I’m also a plank owner in the first generation in human history to grow up knowing we had finally achieved one of mankind’s darkest dreams - the power to utterly destroy any of our enemies in a matter of moments, and in the process almost certainly ourselves as well.
When I was born, exactly nine months after D-Day, when the greatest coalition in human history combined together in the largest overwater invasion in human history, to begin the final defeat of the greatest evil in human history and end the greatest man-made catastrophe in human history, America through an unprecedented social, economic, and industrial effort had become the Arsenal of Democracy. Further, thanks to our geographical location, we emerged from that catastrophe with our nation physically and structurally intact. Almost immediately we turned around and gave vast aid to help Europe, including Germany rebuild her shattered economies and infrastructure. A bit later, we would again combine with other like-minded nations to conduct the greatest airlift in human history in order to keep half a city from the clutches of the world’s most dangerous autocrat, a man who had overseen the deaths of some 30 millions of his own people in pursuit of his paranoid fantasies and lust for power and control.
80 years later those moments in time seem so distant as to make one wonder that it can be encompassed in one lifetime. Indeed, except for the very earliest years of my life, I’ve seemed to live through a continuing series of political, social, and economic storms.
It is not that such storms are new either to the world or to us (US). Being 80, I could actually have talked to a man who fought in the greatest internal storm in our own history. And a man who fought in that storm could have talked to a man who fought in the storm out of which we emerged as a nation and been present in New York to hear Washington’s first Inaugural. That’s how short our history really is.
So it is not unexpected that perhaps our problem is that we just haven’t been around long enough to get Novus Ordo Seclorum right.
But there is one major difference between our present tempest and all the others that preceded it. Now we have twice elected a president who is one of the major instigators of the storm instead of being the one working to calm it. So if we are to have a fighting chance to emerge as unscathed as possible, our primary focus has to be first counteracting his control of Congress, (2026)and then getting him removed from power (2028). But removed Constitutionally. All other considerations must be secondary.
Happy independence day to the greatest country I've had the privilege of knowing (and I've known a few).
Despite legitimate and imagined grievances, I hope you will join me in actively THINKING HARD how we can protect it because- make no mistake- if America weakens no other nation UK, France, NZ, Australia, Sweden) will survive as a liberal democracy.
This is my first 4th of July after gaining my American citizenship on January 25th. It wasn't an easy decision because India doesn't allow dual citizenship. Giving up my Indian passport was heart breaking, but as a mediator and peacebuilder I've learned that everything good comes at a price. Life is nothing but tradeoffs- and this has been a big one for me.
America is where my life is now and I am totally committed to the best values of this country. Just as I wouldn't want people to judge me by my worst qualities or mistakes, I wouldn't judge America by its worst moments- as so many seem eager to do. It breaks my heart to see native born Americans- and recent immigrants, students and visitors alike- spew hatred towards this country.
Tellingly, I didn't receive even a single Happy Independence day message today- whereas from 1995-2005 when I lived here my inbox was always filled with 4th of July greetings. This doesn't augur well for us as a nation. How can we protect something if we don't love or celebrate it? Would you try to save your marriage by attacking your spouse?
So, at this moment of existential danger I feel a special responsibility towards my adopted nation. If you believe your elected government is too 'EVIL' to support- you don't want a democracy- you only want your own little dictatorship. Remember the commies and their "dictatorship of the proletariat"?
Anger, protest and resistance ain't going to help us save ourselves in a world that has slipped out of American control. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's rise, and the global backlash against the pro-immigration, diversity elite, attacking Trump is a waste of energy. As I've been teaching for years- American salvation requires rethinking the democratic contract between citizens and the government. Attacking yesterday's grievances are a dangerous distraction when tomorrow's extinction is just around the corner. Never were JFK's words more relevant "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".
Frankly, we should ask ourselves if "We the People" are good enough for American Democracy. Perhaps if Independence has to mean anything at all, we need to dedicate ourselves to becoming worthy of the highest values of the United States of America, not gripe about the lowest. We should celebrate the flawed people who gave so much so that YOU and I can complain about this visionary, brilliant (and spectacularly flawed) nation.
Much love,
Ashok
We are so lucky as a country to have you here among us! Welcome!!
What a sweet thing to say, Thank you, Kristin!
We desperately need more IDIOTS like you ( our Village woukd benefit greatly).To be very clear welcome fellow citizen and keep doing what you are doing and expressing yourself as the rest of us hopeless lovers of freedom. Happy fourth and may you enjoy many many more.
Thank you, Clarity- something else we desperately need. We "hopeless lovers of freedom" need to work together!
Yascha - Obama1 (I voted for him) was a fair effort for Progressives. He sought to represent us all - while the GOP was not fair to him. Obama2 (I voted for him again) shifted his focus toward the social elevation of the civil rights marginalized. Bernie sought to shift this to Coke Classic Marxism - class struggle - while Hilary doubled down on Obama identity politics. Meanwhile, the Academy churned out eager young Marxists to castigate us all with the new viral weapon of social media. Trump’s win created the devil’s bargain of the Left: its young activists would supply the resistance time + energy if the old centrists would supply access to the institutions it led. This created a super-charged focus and rapid distribution of extreme Leftist dogma the centrists severely underestimated in its deep unpopularity. Trump2 is the repudiation of this cycle. This overreach. He leads the immuno response of the normal people in this country. The boring people. The ones the Left stopped caring about. The ones the Left actively attacked. Calling us racists, and bigots, and deplorable, and every “phobe” they could possibly remember from Yale Humanities. This is why Trump wins. He is the radiation for the cancer of the Left. That actively attacked the healthy bone and tissue of this nation’s polity. It’s why the Left tries in vain to tweak messages for men. We know they hate us. No lip sticking that pig. Trump’s shift back to the needs of the many vs the Left’s needs of the few feels sickening like chemotherapy makes you nauseous and loses your hair. But cancer isn’t our norm. It is the social sickness we must overcome so the body doesn’t die.
May i call you " DOCTOR " for you have diagnosed much of what ails us and the causes of the disease? Well done.
While I appreciate the very interesting insights into the mind of how a supposed "normie" voter becomes a MAGA cult member....there is one thing you will never be able to answer with basic facts. Trump's economic policies, specially his entire approach of his second term is a direct assault on the very people he claims to stand up for. The BBB legislation signed today will do more to hurt his own rural conservative base than anything the most imagined liberal Democrat dreamed up on Fox news could do. But here is something to consider....as dangerous and evil I as and many other progressives know trump to be....he at least is starting to hurt the very ignorant, entitled muricans that think this country only belongs to them. Each rural hospital that closes, each farmer that goes out of businesses from tariffs or immigrant labor being removed does more to satisfy my coastal, elite hatred of you people than anything Obama could have done. And that is the great Irony...trump is really not hurting the economic basis of the liberal city class...he is hurting his own cult members...for that I am grateful.
Thanks Dave. I guess I would say that I (personally) am not in the MAGA cult (which undeniably is a thing). I’ve never voted Trump (in 3 opportunities) as I always recognized how divisive he is. I, personally, do not wish to actively participate in the aggressive dividing up of our country. For Trump is a “wartime” leader and not a unifier. He was hired by 77 million people, democratically, to do exactly what he’s doing. This is the part Progressives can’t quite get their heads around: he’s not breaking democracy; he’s fulfilling it. He promised ALL OF THIS. For years. Publicly. In rallies, in debates, in TV ads, in social media. Even after a failed coup and being convicted on 36 counts - 77 million people voted FOR him. To deport millions. To levy punitive tariffs. To bring down the woke madrassas like Harvard and Columbia. All of it. Every single bit. Now, you might argue that these 77 million fellow Americans are stupid, ignorant, low information, low attention span or simply didn’t mean it. But you can’t argue that he’s breaking democracy. What all thinking people SHOULD be questioning is…why? What is it about Progressive dogma, and Democratic leaders who offer it, that is so repulsive that 77 million people vote for DONALD TRUMP instead? Why is the (D) brand so toxic, so deeply unpopular, so revolting that millions of ex-Ds abandoned ship and a man so incredibly unqualified to unite our country was chosen instead? The answers to that are both economic and social - but the reality on the ground is this will lead to civil war. The hot kind. It’s clear that Progressives won’t accept these provocations from Trump for long (indeed, he is engineering his optics to be maximally provocative to liberals while trapping them into responding maximally distastefully). Progressives are fast migrating to the “fighting wing” of the party - AOC, Bernie, Mamdani, who will carry the fight to MAGA. If any of these win in 2028 - and seek to use the same authoritarian powers Trump has seized for himself (as OF COURSE they will ax that will be the new norm), armed MAGA, and our security forces purged under four years of Pete Hegseth, will simply not go along. I’m sure you see this inevitable dynamic as the most likely outcome too. I don’t want this any more than you do. I mourn the loss of civility and our descent into partisan hell as much as you. What comes next will be something dramatically different than what we’ve had. Just as Rome was never the same post Julius Caesar and the five year civil war after the Ides of March. Rome didn’t fall under Augustus - but it was never a republic again. That is, most likely, America’s fate. We will still be mighty - both at home and abroad - but significantly different. And AGI will be a factor in it all that none of us see clearly yet. This is the broad arc of history and we are living through a turbulent transitional epoch. We are all witnesses and commenters.
I agree that he promised this chaos and "we" voted for it...at least the last time in terms of the popular vote. That being said, many folks now seem legitimately seem shocked that the level of extreme, dictatorial authoritarian tactics would actually happen like they have been compared to his first term. I disagree that "cultural leftism" is to blame for why so many seemingly moderate or even progressive people have become more right wing. Most of the data and media trends in the US -like those found globally in other countries that point directly to social media algorithms. South Korea -which does have a much stronger set of democratic institutions that the US- has even greater political polarization via geography and gender. Another factor is the simple sad reality of grift. There are numerous former "leftists" like Matt Tiabbi, Rogan, Batya Ungar-Sargon and even previously apolitical influencers like JP Sears and The Cartier Family who almost oversight turned into pro-Maga propagandists. That highly implies a heel-turn based on financial incentive. The same is now true of Big Tech. The other thing to consider is that for some people fascist movements offer a permission structure to embrace the most selfish, base profane behavior. I can attest as someone with a wife who was a former refugee that some of my own relatives have openly admitted that trump "Made it OK to say the truth" which implies a belief that he and his movement represents a cultural trend of in which ironically...the MAGAs have become the new rebels and "anti establishment" despite being the led by wall street and corporate elite and having the most elitist economic policies. As a history teacher, its a fascinating if frightening time to be alive...but I at least do admit I take a sick pleasure in watching the suffering of those very people who actually think Trump and the GOP are helping them.
"I agree that he promised this chaos and "we" voted for it..."
What is wrong with this statement is that it ignores just how profoundly ignorant and disengaged tens of millions of Americans are. Take immigration. Since Trump has begun his lawless and often unconstitutional efforts to deport, he hopes, tens of millions of immigrants, I have repeatedly heard Trump supporters say "I voted for him because he said he would deport the criminals." That is exactly what Trump is doing, but the disconnect is that those who are now shocked, have a very different definition of what a criminal is. Anyone who paid attention to Trump and understood his deep racism would have understood that the second an immigrant crossed the U.S. border, Trump and Miller, his main adviser on deportation, considered every one of them a criminal. People who are inattentive or who rely on wishful thinking set themselves up to be shocked by someone like Trump. Yes, he's doing what he said he would and what his most devoted MAGA followers want him to do, but they weren't enough to get him elected and many of the votes that put Trump over the top, had no real idea of what he planned.
Much the same can be said of inflation. Anyone who voted for Trump to bring down inflation was living in a fantasy world. The first problem was they don't understand inflation, apart from it means rising costs, and its causes and cures are a mystery to them. Trump said he would tame inflation on "Day One." He had no such intention and obviously doesn't care at all about inflation other than if it causes him to lose support. His answer to that is to warn companies that they should not raise prices and he is "watching" them. An implicit threat, that given his behavior is not really implicit at all.
What do we have now? A burgeoning police state with ICE's budget now larger than that of the Marine Corps. Federalized national guard troops in Los Angeles under the phoniest of pretenses. Immigrants being brutalized, deported to prisons, even those who are not convicted of any crimes, and most striking of all, deported to war-torn, countries notorious for human rights violations. Even American citizens are not safe, and that has been a problem with America's past mass deportations. Trump now wants to strip nationalized citizens, who have every bit as much right to be here as I do, a native born American, of their citizenship, especially if there is any evidence that they disagree with him.
Inflation? Trump's tariffs and other inane policies threaten to increase inflation significantly once they go into effect. Trump's ignorance is mindboggling, but he doesn't care about the ability of Americans to afford food or housing. The price of gasoline, a big pre-election complaint, is rising as well. Americans bought a pig in a poke, but the real tragedy is that the poke was always transparent. Every minimally well-informed voter knew exactly what was in that poke.
Now, Trump's budget bill will cause immeasurable harm, but it is all in keeping with the "values" of a man who values only himself, his wealth, and his power.
Right. The schadenfreude you feel for the suffering of Trump supporters is shared by them for your “liberal tears”. This is the chronic and deep disdain we feel for our fellow countrymen. We aren’t neighbors any longer. We’re enemy combatants. In the vein of Northern Ireland 🇮🇪. Or Bosnia. 🇧🇦 Or Iraq 🇮🇶. Or Uganda 🇺🇬. Or Syria 🇸🇾. Or countless other places where neighbor turned on neighbor and ended up butchering them with the white hot rage of a thousand suns. This is where we go. The world has shown this sad, absurd movie time and again. And what are we fighting for again that makes this so worth it? Deporting illegals? Trans rights? Smashing the patriarchy? Abortion rights decided by states? Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going? 😳
I didn't think much of your earlier comment and even less of this one. You obviously read into comments whatever you want to without regard for what they actually say. There is nothing in my comment about schadenfreude or about how I personally feel about those who voted for Trump. You've simply made that up. The observation that people are ignorant is not a statement of judgment about their status as people, but it is a factual observation about what they did.
Rather than schadenfreude, I feel sorry for those who voted for Trump out of the mistaken believe that he cared about them, their problems, or that he would do anything to satisfy their hopes. It is both sad and tragic that millions of Americans don't spend the necessary time to inform themselves adequately in order to vote responsibly.
LB: " Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going?"
I don't know where we're going and neither do you. I have never physically hurt anyone in my life, I own a grand total of zero firerams, and I have no intention of butchering anyone. What I do know is that democracy is worth fighting for, though one hopes that will not ever get to the point where violence is involved. However, the majority of political violence in the US comes from the Right and the president regularly extols the virtues of violence and on January 6, 2021 incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol.
Human rights are worth fighting for and my preferred way of fighting for anything is through persuasion and peaceful protest. There is nothing about me that resembles in any way the examples you gave of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, Uganda, or Syria. The overwhelming threat of and use of force comes from Trump and his supporters. There are really no meaningful comparisons between the Right and Left in the US. There are, to my knowledge, no equivalents of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other right wing militias who have no understanding of what democracy is or what it takes to support it. If they did, they wouldn't be in militias, toting their insecurity and inadequacies around in the form of semi-automatic rifles.
As for despising one's opponents, that doesn't happen unless those opponents are trying to dominate others, deny human beings their basic rights, and behave in a a lawless and unconstitutional manner as Trump has repeatedly. Increasingly, what should be our last line of defense against what Trump is doing is, in reality, aiding and abetting him -- the Supreme Court's radical six person majority. As former appeals court judge and conservative icon, Michael Luttig recently observed, the Trump v. United States decision was, in his words, the worst Supreme Court decision in American history. That is just one of the growing number of SCOTUS decisions that are not simply far outside the mainstream, but well outside the realm of rational, democracy supporting decisions. Two members of the Court's majority are utterly corrupt, both as a matter of basic conduct and as a matter of judicial behavior. Alito and Thomas refuse to recuse themselves in cases where it is not simply a matter of the appearance of a conflict, but the conflict is real and obvious. Judge Luttig, whose political positions are very unattractive to me, also pointed out that his friend, Chief Justice Roberts is leading the court on a path to lawlessness.
LB: " And what are we fighting for again that makes this so worth it? Deporting illegals? Trans rights? Smashing the patriarchy? Abortion rights decided by states? Is any of this worth where we’re inevitably going?"
You are talking about issues that not only violate human rights and common decency, but have and will result in the needless deaths of people. Your minimization of those issues is troubling indeed since it reveals that you really have no understanding of what is at stake.
Deportation of immigrants? This is not simply an issue of deporting immigrants. Trump and Miller are deporting people who have a legal right to be here and they are doing it without due process of law. Citizens have been deported, one of whom is a 4-year-old child with stage 4 cancer, who was deported without her medication. She may well die as a result. Trump is, with the blessing of the SCOTUS majority, deporting people to countries to which they have no connection, probably don't speak the language, and which are guilty of human rights violations. Yes, that is worth fighting.
Abortion rights? It is not merely a question of abortion rights, but women are suffering and dying because they are denied medical care that any civilized society would provide. Apparently, innocent deaths don't bother you.
Trans rights? Transgender people are human beings who entitled to the same respect and rights that every person is owed. Denying their existence is not merely cruel, it is a form of psychological violence that should be abhorrent to every decent human being. It doesn't matter if you or anyone else approves of them or believes that there are only two sexes, if for no other reason that that contention is a lie. The hermaphrodite I met in Arizona when I was trying to rent a kayak for a friend is not either male or female, but a combination. Many people have abnormal genetic makeups which makes their status anything but cut and dried. You can pretend that isn't so, but you're wrong and whatver brought you or anyone to believe that is, as a matter of science and medicine, wrong. For those who don't approve of homosexuality, whether it is because of the teachings of a far from error-free Bible or simply because it makes them uncomfortable because it isn't "natural," I always ask them to explain to me if they are heterosexual why they are attracted only to the opposite sex. The reality is no one can answer that question in a meaningful way. People are attracted to the people they are attracted to and there isn't and doesn't have to be an explanation for why that is. To say "it's because that is normal or natural" is pure nonsense and not an answer at all. I'm straight, my best friend is gay. And neither preference requires explaining.
I could go on for hours, but I suspect there is no point. I doubt if there is anything anyone could say to you that would get you to see that everything you mentioned (and more) is worth fighting for. Ideally, that will be done with words and votes, but if it becomes violent, the overwhelming likelihood is that it will come from the Right. Trump has already introduced violence into the mix and those who are opposed to him have overwhelmingly been peaceful.
So, this story from Axios today doesn’t reflect your POV? 😳
https://www.axios.com/2025/07/07/democrats-trump-resistance-violence-congress
The only economic policies of my lifetime that were a deliberate and direct assault on our economy and freedom and education and lives were the shutdowns I endured here in Portland Oregon, under Democrat leadership at the national, State and local level .. my favorite music clubs and restaurants here and back in my previous home of Austin TX, always hanging on by a thread, finally closed down - in some cases the owners took the bailout money and ran. The historic neon-lit Chicken n' Dumplings restaurant on historic Highway 30 along the Gorge was particularly sad.
Oh, did I mention liberty? I gently, on my first post ever, on my Nextdoor app, tried to assure an anxious neighbor she has little cause for concern (nor need for her to call the cops) over her sighting of a couple walking a dog across her street sans masking. I was immediately and unceremoniously kicked from the app, by some anonymous moderator, with no recourse for appeal or expectation of explanation. I voted for and against Reagan and Obama, one time each. Never again. Never again ... for a Democrat. Even if they reform .. it would be like voting for a 'reformed' Nazi Party.
Bob: "The only economic policies of my lifetime that were a deliberate and direct assault on our economy and freedom and education and lives were the shutdowns I endured here in Portland Oregon, under Democrat leadership at the national, State and local level"
That is pure nonsense. Based on what you've written, I can only assume that you believe you have the right to pose a health threat to other people because wearing a mask, or practicing social distancing, having to forego attending a mass gathering that becomes a super-spreader event is the end of freedom. People died because they went to public gatherings without regard for any preventive measures, but one no dies because they can't go to their favorite music club. One of the things that was routinely ignored during the pandemic was the status of the immuno-supressed who are extremely susceptible to infection and serious, even fatal disease. You're still alive today, despite the temporary inconvenience you suffered during the pandemic. Was that inconvenience so onerous that others should die so that you can live you life without any temporary limitations?
The United States, thanks to Trump and his devoted followers and vaccine opponents, had one of, if not the worst COVID-19 record among developed countries. Those who refused to be vaccinated died at rates significantly higher than those who were vaccinated. I'm severely immuno-suppressed as a result of medications I have to take, but I never got COVID-19 during the main run of the pandemic. I did, however, become infected by my sister who came to visit me in 2024 and ignored the fact of my status and was extremely careless. She socialized with others without taking any precautions and unsurprisingly became infected and gave it to me. I was well-vaccinated and boosted, so although the disease lingered for a long time, and caused me considerable suffering, I survived.
Bob: " I voted for and against Reagan and Obama, one time each. Never again. Never again ... for a Democrat. Even if they reform .. it would be like voting for a 'reformed' Nazi Party."
I'm sorry but the level of ignorance contained in those words would be unbelievable if that kind of lunacy hadn't become so common. Please, reread what you've written and seriously consider how to gain a sense of proportion.
Yes, I remember well how Nazi's kicked people off their Nextdoor app in what was the greatest violation of human rights imaginable and certainly the worst thing Hitler and the Nazis ever did. (Or I would remember that if there had been apps in the 30s and 40s. I'm also all too aware of all the people Democrats have executed in gas chambers.
It is impossible to take seriously anyone who writes a sentence like the one in which you compare Democrats to Nazis. You really should consider seeking help.
"The Dumpling place closed down....now I'm MAGA forever" Seems logical. Its amazing to see how covid really broke so many peoples brains like yours even though Trump basically allowed it to spread and was the guy who pushed for those bailouts that you just mentioned. I can see why you were kicked off of your nextdoor app....you probably think a mask mandate was no different then throwing Jewish children into ovens...
It is always something of a shock to read a comment like that of "Bob," who, as you say, seems to equate temporary inconveniences with mass extermination. I don't know how to communicate with people like that. Tragically, now the country has many of them.
This piece is a stream of conscience walk around a center of understanding where a toe is dipped every now and then but never really breaks through to true understanding.
“And it is certainly true that Trump replaced Obama’s optimism and faith in America with a hostility to the country’s political traditions and an apocalyptic vision of its present condition.”
Well, no. The apocalyptic vision is what has been defeated… as made evident by your coastal and big-city media and Democrat political elite’s demonstrated tendencies during the pandemic.
You gave evidence to your flaw… you say you love the country but generally still suffer some insecurity that you don’t belong. I would do the amateur psychological analysis to say that you have in common what most of my well-off, upper class liberal progressives friends demonstrate… some base insecurity or resentment that they either don’t fit in, have not achieved or have been given all that they feel they deserve, or are otherwise so brilliantly ambitious to gain more power and status without taking the risks and doing the hard work to start and grow some enterprise in the productive economy.
It is that Hedonic Treadmill thing… studies have proved that the more people have the more they want. Trump supporters have less and want less. But their interest in just a bit more of the resources flowing to the 10% causes the 10% to go to war with them to prevent it. And everything about the Democrat platform and agenda today is to support that outcome… to not only stop the bottom 80% from sharing more in the total resource pie that they have been cut from over the last 40 years, but to ultimately destroy their ability to ever try again.
The top 10% own 88% of the stock market. The bottom 80% own 8%.
The 10% elite lefties can grasp the math and accept the justification of the position of the bottom 80%… but if it risks them being able to purchase that third vacation property or risks them being knocked off their seat of power and influence, they are in for the resistance.
Trump is the President for the bottom 80%. Biden was the President for the top 10%. Thank God that on this day we celebrate a country that was founded on the principle of life, liberty and happy for all… but with focus on that bottom 80%.
Are you serious? This is the president that just passed a big beautiful bill that cut healthcare for the poor while giving massive tax cuts to those earning above 500k a year
No. That is not at all true. Stop getting your "information" from the liberal media bubble. It is a basket of lies.
HOW DO YOU KNOW DEMOCRATS ARE LYING ABOUT THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL? THEIR LIPS ARE FLAPPING.
Republicans are not cutting taxes for the wealthy: the bill only maintains the status quo tax plan with a few changes like increasing the fed tax deduction to $40k which helps people in high real estate blue states.
Republicans are not cutting spending on Medicaid or food stamps; the House and Senate bills merely slow those programs’ (unsustainable) rate of growth. Republicans accomplish this by implementing modest work requirements for able-bodied adults, by pushing back on a scheme states use to inflate federal Medicaid spending, and by asking states to be more diligent in identifying fraud. The CBO forecast of who would “lose” Medicaid by 2034 shows a population of able-bodied adults who aren’t complying with the work requirement, illegal migrants, and people who qualify for other subsidized coverage.
Republicans are not hiking energy prices: they are killing the subsidies of the Green New Bill that is based on the higher energy costs of Democrats climate crisis fraud.
Such a sad puppy you are, barking at the world through the window, parroting the barks of real dogs that actually know the feeling of the sun and rain, wind and snow. Your shining moment will be the day you finally get to eat the face of your dead master.
Ofc no one will want to adopt you, then:(
WTF? Take another hit of what you re vaping and try again.
Arf arf! Grrr...
Details please. Which provision provided exactly what?
Thank you. I respect a lot of Yascha’s work, but this essay made me want to send him the world’s tiniest violin. It’s a high school senior essay reflecting on how much life has changed since his “youth.” You know so little about this country from your short time here; don’t mistake being an American with some role in a movie. Yascha, you live in a bubble. Get out and live in the rest of the country. Even in the bluest places, life is full of patriotism right now. Flags, parties, happy fourth greetings. The vast majority of people do not in any way feel like we’re living in dark times. Seriously, grow up, man.
Among many other basic mistakes, you conflate the "cultural elite" (which of course exists), with the financial elite, with which it only slightly overlaps. You're absolutely right that income inequality is dangerous and getting worse, but somehow you believe that Trump will ameliorate it - when his BBB only entrenches it and makes it much worse. And when the working class is further immiserated by his policies you'll continue to blame the so-called cultural elite and call it the deep state, since you won't blame the source of the problem: DJT and his enslaved Republican party.
The finacial elite and cultural elite are 80% the same today. The financial elite don't necessarily believe the same things, but they will exploit them to foment conflict that prevents shared outrage at them for looting the country to an empty shell.
Trump derangement serves them well.
If not the MAGA agenda, then how do these problems get repaired?
Its rarely a good idea to do something you KNOW wont work bc you dont know what will. The maga agenda is nothing new, nor are the results it will produce.
So if their are no new ideas to pursue, we're left with the old, and their are certainly old societal structures that work much better than what we have or will have with trump. Thats the conversation we all need to be having, instead of this incessant bickering.
You do much better when you speak your own thoughts(ive even liked a comment or two of yours:/) rather than regurgitate a bunch of ideological bs. You should stick to the one and not do the other at all, bc the grass on both sides of the fence has been well-trodden and impoverished. Havent we had enough of the banal shibboleths?
Trump is a needed corrective to many excesses. I am so tired of liberals who never take responsibility for pushing people into corners. Very happy to impose their will in everyone and are shocked when people finally push back. How many illegals are in the country now? 40 million? How many Americans are working lower wages because they are forced to compete with these illegals? How many extra house seats do Democrats have? 20? I’m very well traveled, and pro immigration, who has been push into an anti immigrant position by people who insist borders don’t matter. I’m sorry, but there is something that it is to be an American and I want that preserved and respected.
Right, like who agreed to this project?
Yascha Mounk:
"for the first time, we're trying to build these diverse democracies, and that causes some problems."
Who is "we"?
https://www.persuasion.community/p/mounk
Yascha, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences and perceptions. I’m an old man now, 77 years old. If I had been in the classroom, asked by a lecturer about public figures I admire, first I would have asked “living and dead...”? Of people in the past I wld have mentioned the Adams presidents, John and his son John Quincy; Abraham Lincoln; Frederick Douglass and Timothy Dwight Weld; the Roosevelt presidents, TR and FDR; into JFK and post-presidential Jimmy Carter. General Smedley Butler. Other writers I might acknowledge, as well. Of today’s figures, living. I would mention AOC and Sheldon Whitehouse, Judge Michael Luttig, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, Anand Giridharadas (after seeing his interview with Judge Luttig). I would like to be as brave as Vladimir Zelensky and as wise as the Sufi Sheikh with whom I have studied for over 50 years. I am perhaps a product of my time, but I wonder if the absence of heroes isn’t to some extent an expression of lack of awareness of public figures. But also, we rarely hear about the truth-tellers from the media so how could these young people know about truth? During the Civil War Frederick Douglass observed that the confederates were waging war on humanity, by which he meant that they were fighting to deny humanity to lAfrican Americans. Hitler did the same thing in the 1930’s and 40’s, it appears Netanyahu is doing the same today and Trump and those around him are trying to do the same thing in America: to wage war against what it means to be human--to be born inn the “seed-form” of God's qualities of Justice, Compassion, Trustworthiness, Love, Gratitude, and Wisdom. These attributes-- the traditional virtues are the primal mold for our humanity. This is a time when the inhuman, dehumanizing is trying to eliminate the human and the kind and the just. It may be one battle in an ancient and on-going war that is waged both externally among men and women in politics and societies and within the human heart which struggles in the battle between conscience and whim. I hope and pray we are all capable of doing better.
It’s very interesting that you seem to trace American optimism only through 2007-2008. You state that after that, “a very different tune started to play.”
And yet, you cite no reason for that change at that time.
Instead, you skip ahead to Trump as a “corrupting influence.”
But what happened between 2008 and 2015, when Trump was elected?
“Notwithstanding Obama’s skeptical stance toward American exceptionalism,” indeed.
I think a lot of people had expectations of Obama that were not fulfilled. Obama promised to represent all Americans and, when he tried to do that, a lot of people on the left were disappointed in him. I believe that was the beginning of the end of any kind of unity (that and the Tea Party).
You should watch Poker Face if you aren't doing so. It's very much in the spirit you describe the shows you watched when you arrived as being in. Maybe its outlook is anachronistic but it doesn't seem that way to me.
I am not giving up on us! Never! Happy 4th to all! Stay strong, love your neighbor and keep the faith! We have gone through a lot worse and survived. We’ll get through this too if we all keep at it with love and dignity in our hearts ! ❤️
Many good points here, but you do (frequently) have a habit of undermining them with tendentious assertions.
You footnote as an example of President Trump's disdain for civic traditions his highjacking of correspondence from the Social Security Administration for partisan gain. Given your residential tenure here, do you recall the first president to weaponize major legislation to such political ends?
Google "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Signs", touting "shovel ready" projects, for the first significant example of this, promulgated under your hero Barack Obama.
I do agree that each president is an inversion of his predecessor, but you've the substance swapped - it was Obama's promise to "fundamental transform America" which gave rise to a successor who promised to "Make America Great Again", precisely because of the former's rejection of American exceptionalism. It is that ideological strain -- not anything Trump for which advocates -- which is abberant in the long arc of American history.
An empire in decline is dangerous
Bingo.
Beautiful work.
Karl Popper had a line in The Open Society and its Enemies. I'm going to botch it, but I remember the spirit very clearly.
We cannot "prove" the superiority of the open society, of democracy etc. We have to _choose_ it. That is, there is no birthright or arc of justice or divine plan to support humanism and the civic rules and institutions that support it. Only humans choosing to believe in them, choosing to uphold them.
I choose this, and I can tell you do, too. And we will have to keep choosing it until others realize they want to choose it, too, if for no other reason than that they finally accept that the other choices are all dead ends.
The prologue and the republished original essay are sincere (in fact earnest) in their expressions of love for,and now concern, for the author’s adoptive country. I, too, came here at about the same age as the author (or perhaps just a bit older) but have lived in this country twice as long as him. I have lived and worked here longer than anywhere else. I have also married an American and my children have known no other country than this one (other than through their travels).
Yet I am amazed at my cold-heartedness towards the United States. I don’t know what it is. I don’t feel this is home to me. There is an emotional connection to the land, its history, a sense of sharing in a collective memory that is completely absent.
So for that reason I find expressions of love and gratitude towards this country unmoving. They do not move me while I do not for a moment doubt their sincerity.
This place is never anyone's home. America as an idea is sadly built upon the worst of human instances disguised as the most noble. It has no rooted culture and no internal qualities that exceed base material gain. As someone who left earlier this year and never intends to come back, I can say that I feel like I finally found two things that most Americans never truly get....piece of mind and stability...
Precious words. Thank you.
YM: "But his political legacy is to have taken the Republican Party from an American tradition of conservatism towards something more closely resembling a European tradition of right-wing reaction;"
I fear you have missed the actual trajectory of the Republican Party over the past 45 years. Reagan began the march toward despising our government. Newt Gingrich brought an abrupt end to any idea that the two parties shared both a past and a future. In 1995, with Gringrich as Speaker of the House, the Republican Party set off on a new course, one of scorched earth opposition. Over time it got worse and by the time Barack Obama took office Republicans were dedicated to the complete failure of government under Democratic leadership. One example, the ACA, was essentially a heavily Republican influenced program designed to offer health insurance to the many millions who had not been able to either qualify due to pre-existing conditions or afford the high cost of private insurance for those not covered by employment-related insurance. Democrats constantly sought ways to attract the votes of Republicans who were more than willing to contribute suggestions to make the program worse, but in the end not a single Republican voted for that important legislation.
Another huge step in the abandonment of democracy and good government came when Mitch McConnell refused to allow a moderate SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland, to have even committee hearings. In the end, the seat was effectively "stolen" from a Democratic president and the people his election represented. Adding insult to injury, McConnell then, in a complete reversal of his rationale for denying Garland a seat or hearings, rushed Amy Bryant through the confirmation process. Those two appointments set the stage for what we have today, a SCOTUS majority with a clear partisan agenda, not the slightest respect for stare decisis, and a vision of a country ruled by a president effectively above the law.
By the time Trump took office in 2017. the Republican Party was already corrupt and fertile ground for an authoritarian takeover. So, no, Trump didn't exactly take the GOP anywhere, he simply completed a process that was already in underway. Is his end goal more radical than the pre-Trump Republicans intended? Perhaps, but maybe not. Their lack of respect for free and fair elections and dominance by minority rule was well-established before Trump's arrival. Now, even if many Republicans are uneasy about Trump's lawlessness, they don't show any signs of that being the case. We hear Republicans like Josh Hawley, Bill Cassidy, and Lisa Murkowski express deep misgivings, even outright opposition to some of Trump's plans, but, in the end, they do what Republicans have become best known for doing -- they fall in line and give their king what he wants. The country and democracy be damned.
The term smug rage encapsulates the moment almost painfully so.
I’ve been an American for just over 80 years now. That means that I’m also a plank owner in the first generation in human history to grow up knowing we had finally achieved one of mankind’s darkest dreams - the power to utterly destroy any of our enemies in a matter of moments, and in the process almost certainly ourselves as well.
When I was born, exactly nine months after D-Day, when the greatest coalition in human history combined together in the largest overwater invasion in human history, to begin the final defeat of the greatest evil in human history and end the greatest man-made catastrophe in human history, America through an unprecedented social, economic, and industrial effort had become the Arsenal of Democracy. Further, thanks to our geographical location, we emerged from that catastrophe with our nation physically and structurally intact. Almost immediately we turned around and gave vast aid to help Europe, including Germany rebuild her shattered economies and infrastructure. A bit later, we would again combine with other like-minded nations to conduct the greatest airlift in human history in order to keep half a city from the clutches of the world’s most dangerous autocrat, a man who had overseen the deaths of some 30 millions of his own people in pursuit of his paranoid fantasies and lust for power and control.
80 years later those moments in time seem so distant as to make one wonder that it can be encompassed in one lifetime. Indeed, except for the very earliest years of my life, I’ve seemed to live through a continuing series of political, social, and economic storms.
It is not that such storms are new either to the world or to us (US). Being 80, I could actually have talked to a man who fought in the greatest internal storm in our own history. And a man who fought in that storm could have talked to a man who fought in the storm out of which we emerged as a nation and been present in New York to hear Washington’s first Inaugural. That’s how short our history really is.
So it is not unexpected that perhaps our problem is that we just haven’t been around long enough to get Novus Ordo Seclorum right.
But there is one major difference between our present tempest and all the others that preceded it. Now we have twice elected a president who is one of the major instigators of the storm instead of being the one working to calm it. So if we are to have a fighting chance to emerge as unscathed as possible, our primary focus has to be first counteracting his control of Congress, (2026)and then getting him removed from power (2028). But removed Constitutionally. All other considerations must be secondary.