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MY BLOGS
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The Rational Optimist
http://www.rationaloptimist.wordpress.com/
Commentary of Life, Society, Politics, and Philosophy
LATEST ARTICLES ( 1303 )
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Understanding History’s Meaning
(My Black History Month essay)America is a divided country — two sides seeing things very differently. Naturally enough that includes history. Interpreting the... Read more
Posted on 26 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Get Your Shot — Please
Millions around the country struggle with non-user-friendly systems, desperately trying to schedule their covid vaccinations. While millions of others refuse th... Read more
Posted on 22 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
End the Filibuster
I previously wrote that Democrats, in power, should refrain from exercising it in ways that might look illegitimate — that is, like Republicans have. Read more
Posted on 20 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
My Zoom Short Story Reading Saturday 1 PM
Hi,At 1 PM tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 20, on zoom, The Hudson Valley Writers Guild will have public readings of three prize winning short stories from its recent... Read more
Posted on 19 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Plague
It starts with rats, coming out, bloodily dying, all over. Of course it’s the plague. Literally; the Bubonic Plague, the Black Death that devastated Europe in... Read more
Posted on 17 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Biden’s “Buy American” Mistake
Trumpers persist in caricaturing President Biden as some kind of mentally defective fool. One Facebook graphic even denying that such a man could have gotten... Read more
Posted on 15 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Trial
In Kafka’s novel The Trial, Josef K is charged with a crime no one ever specifies. It ends with his execution.Trump’s trial is the inverse. His crime obvious. I... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Lessons from Myanmar’s Coup
Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book, The End of History, heralded liberal democracy’s apparent final triumph, fulfilling basic human aspirations. But alas, bad people... Read more
Posted on 10 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
What is Philosophy About?
What is the true nature of reality? The meaning of life? How should one live? I read a collection of essays (The Power of Ideas) by philosopher Isaiah Berlin... Read more
Posted on 07 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Biden Restoring America’s Moral Sanity
Tuesday I saw a news clip of President Biden, masked, at his desk, announcing a task force “to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration... Read more
Posted on 04 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Understanding the China Problem
Henry Kissinger wrote a 624-page book, On China. Here’s a shorter take.China’s imperial dynasty was overthrown in 1911. Violent turmoil followed as warlords,... Read more
Posted on 01 February 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Impeachment: to Vote Or Not to Vote
Republicans call the impeachment unconstitutional because Trump’s already out of office. They’re wrong. He was impeached while still president; and the... Read more
Posted on 31 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
American Democracy and the Big Lie
In November 1918, Germany’s military situation had become hopeless. Support for the Kaiser collapsed, he fled, and a new democratic government came in and signe... Read more
Posted on 29 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Wear a Mask — Please
It’s not something being forced on you. It’s being asked of you. For your own health and safety, and everyone around you. Nobody has “freedom” to do as they... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump’s Great New Idea: the Patriot Party
QAnoners called it “The Storm.” The long-awaited gotterdammerung when heroic Trump would at last spring his trap and destroy the insidious Satanic deep-state... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Alexei Navalny: Courageous Hero
In a world full of cynicism and falsehood, Alexei Navalny stands out as a true hero for the ages.Long Vladimir Putin’s chief nemesis, with space for political... Read more
Posted on 22 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
January 20: America’s Light Rekindled
The only presidential inauguration I ever got an engraved invitation to was Nixon’s in 1969. I didn’t go. Covid sidelining Biden’s was a big disappointment. Read more
Posted on 20 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Cult of the Leader: Khomeini, Hitler, Big Brother, Trump
The news photo was unnerving. Trump’s January 6 rally — with three big screens looming over the crowd, imaging the center of his face, colored deep red, eyes... Read more
Posted on 19 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Free Speech and America’s Escalating Crisis of Trumpist Insanity
Trump’s 2016 election put America, and what it represents, into a crisis that has only escalated. Every time we think we’ve seen the bottom, we’re proven wrong. Read more
Posted on 17 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Caste: America’s Deep Problem
Isabel Wilkerson’s book The Warmth of Other Suns, about Blacks leaving the Jim Crow South, was inspiring. Her new book Caste is dispiriting. Read more
Posted on 14 January 2021 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY