I have rediscovered Voltairine de Cleyre recently, or maybe I should just say “discovered.” I had previously known her only from quotes and pocket-sized bios. Listening to an audiobook of essays, however, I am learning of the artfulness that keeps her famous more than a century after her death in 1912.
Tag: authoritarian
Complexity Resists Control – So Become More Complex
Have you ever tried to use finely instrumented computer? Fly a plane? Manage the sound mix of 20 microphones at a live concert? What about hitting a nail with a hammer? All of these activities involve the use of tools, but the first three are far more complex than driving home a nail. Complexity makes control more difficult. This is true with physical tools, and it is also true with humans.
Erratic Behavior
Isn’t it odd when someone known for erratic behavior erratically does something with which an observer agrees, suddenly that erratic behavior becomes the mark of “stable genius?” On the other hand, the action becomes betrayal. Check out Senator Lindsey Graham, for instance.
Bullying’s Cure is Fighting Back
Schools decry bullying, often getting the community involved. It’s a halfhearted effort at best. Schools can’t eliminate bullying without undermining their own system since it’s based on authoritarianism — socially accepted bullying.
Yep, These People are Stone Cold Crooked
Maybe Joe Biden was just worried about corruption in Ukraine and not throwing his vice-presidential weight around to protect his son. Maybe Donald Trump is just worried about corruption in Ukraine and self-dealing by American politicians, rather than cynically abusing his presidential power to have foreign governments torpedo his political opponents. OK, now let’s get back to the real world where, as Lord Acton wrote, “power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Will the DNC Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory Yet Again?
President Donald Trump faces an exceedingly narrow path to re-election in 2020. In order to beat him, the Democratic nominee only needs to pick up 38 electoral votes. With more than 100 electoral votes in play in states that Trump won narrowly in 2016 — especially Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida — all the Democrats have to do is pick a nominee ever so slightly more popular than Hillary Clinton.
Politics versus Policy in the New “Public Charge” Rules
If the US government is going to regulate immigration at all (I don’t believe that it should, and the Constitution says it can’t), “pay your own way or go away” doesn’t sound like an unreasonable rule.
Education Needs Separation From State
Once again we approach that saddest time of the year: when the majority of parents send their kids back to school; back into the local government concentration day-camps. If you’re someone who mistakes schooling for education you probably believe this is good.
Kamala Harris: Trump, But with Darker Skin and Better Hair
More interesting than Harris’s sudden ascent is how she managed it: By ripping a page out of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign playbook.
The “Solution” to Flag-Burning is Simpler Than a Constitutional Amendment
If flag-burning is really a “problem,” it’s a problem with a simple solution: If you don’t want to burn a flag, don’t buy a flag, soak it in kerosene, and set it on fire. If you do want to burn a flag, don’t steal someone else’s flag, and don’t burn a flag on the private property of someone who objects, or in a way that creates a danger to others (in a dry forest, for example). Either way, don’t try to tell people what they may or may not do with pieces of cloth they rightfully own.