Tag Archives: politics

The Danger and the Opportunity

Posted on June 21, 2026 by gdkrenz

We are at a cusp in American history, a moment of crisis and opportunity. Trump is increasingly out of touch with reality, now alienating even parts of his base. But the Trump machine, the GOP machine, the Fox/Sinclair media machine … Continue reading →

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A Follow-up on the Bloomsday Thought

Posted on June 20, 2026 by gdkrenz

I’ve been thinking more about Ulysses and Leopold Bloom’s comment about history. “History,” he says, “is no life for man and woman!” “History means violence and hatred — the opposite of love. Let’s see if we can unpack this a bit more. … Continue reading →

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A Bloomsday Thought

Posted on June 16, 2026 by gdkrenz

Happy Bloomsday! If you are among the uninitiated, that means that today, June 16, is the day on which James Joyce’s Ulysses is set in 1904, the day in which the book’s protagonists — Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom — … Continue reading →

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The Shell Game About Social Security “Insolvency”

Posted on June 14, 2026 by gdkrenz

Robert Reich on his Substack has an excellent, brief piece on Social Security, which as usual is again under assault by Republicans, who are arguing that to make the program solvent, benefits must be cut and the age of eligibility … Continue reading →

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Misunderstanding Postmodernity (Gary Krenz)

Posted on June 8, 2026 by gdkrenz

I hope that readers will allow a little leeway for me to vent about a pet peeve: pundits and sometimes even supposed scholars pointing the finger at “postmodernism” as an explanation of our woes: loss of respect in institutions; loss … Continue reading →

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Inequality and the National Debt (Gary Krenz)

Posted on May 13, 2026 by gdkrenz

On his Substack, Robert Reich provides this brief but important commentary on the national debt: “Psst: What No One Will Tell You About the National Debt (But I Will).” Reich notes that the national debt has now crossed the “once-unthinkable … Continue reading →

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The Right’s Demonization of Democracy (Gary Krenz)

Posted on May 10, 2026 by gdkrenz

An ongoing canard on the Right and among MAGA types is that the United States is “not a democracy but a republic.” This piece by Barbara Clark Smith of the Smithsonian Institution is a fine, concise historical review of the relationship of … Continue reading →

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Democracy and the Progressive (Gary Krenz)

Posted on May 5, 2026 by gdkrenz

Following up on Dan’s important post about The Sorrow and the Pity, I’d like to draw attention to this piece by Seva Gunitsky at Persuasion: “The Incels are Taking Over.” Gunitsky, the George Ignatieff Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto, reviews the … Continue reading →

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Time to “Orban” Trump (Gary Krenz)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by gdkrenz

There has been much good commentary on Magyar’s decisive victory over Orban in Hungary. It will take some time to sort out various lessons, but as Anne Applebaum suggests in this piece, “Illiberalism is not Inevitable,” in The Atlantic, perhaps … Continue reading →

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Dems, Please Meet the Moment! (Barb Krenz)

Posted on April 11, 2026 by barbkrenz

In this abhorrent moment in our nation’s history, we are reminded that a crazy man can accomplish great evil…but only if he is aided and abetted by people who are malleable enough to let their own morality slip away in … Continue reading →

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