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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 ( 1412 )
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Is America Ready for Democracy?
Churchill supposedly said democracy is the worst system, except for all others. I’ve said the problem of democracy is voters.Democracy has always been a pillar... Read more
Posted on 27 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
On Beauty
There is no beauty in nature.Meaning that beauty is purely a human construct. If we see something in nature we call beautiful, that’s only because we see it... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump’s Rape . . . Of ABC News (Relax and Enjoy It?)
This story might seem a mere blip amid a tsunami. But it’s actually highly portentous.Trump sued ABC News for defamation, and ABC has agreed to settle, handing... Read more
Posted on 21 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Yuval Noah Harari’s “Nexus” — The Challenge of (Earthly) Alien Intelligence
(A condensed version of my Nov. 26 Albany Library book talk)Historian Yuval Noah Harari’s 2024 book, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks From the... Read more
Posted on 18 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Lunatics Take Over the Asylum
American politics has long harbored a subculture of crazy. Historian Richard Hofstadter wrote a famous 1964 essay about its “paranoid style. Read more
Posted on 15 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Fall of the House of Assad
When the “Arab Spring” exploded in 2011, my high schooler daughter was fascinated (setting the path for her career). I recall our discussing Syria’s civil war... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
President Biden’s Final Report Card
First, disclosing my biases: I was a lifelong Republican, opposing Biden’s sort of politics, but then became a Democrat, contributing heavily in 2020 and ’24... Read more
Posted on 10 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
MAGA as an “Alternative Morality”
Columnist David Brooks has addressed the idea that Trumpism isn’t exactly “morally challenged” but rather “represents an alternative moral system.” Which... Read more
Posted on 06 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Feh
At the New York State Writers Institute’s annual Albany Book Festival, a panel discussion on “girls coming of age” was cancelled. Read more
Posted on 04 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
How Low Can America Sink?
Trump has tapped Charles Kushner as ambassador to France. Father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Apart from the garden-variety nepotism, I will quote... Read more
Posted on 02 December 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
What Now for Democrats and Republicans? The Purple Banana
“Telling the Truth 2024” was the fifth in a series of public forums hosted by the New York State Writers Institute since the 2016 election, with our “post-truth... Read more
Posted on 30 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump and Rule of Law
The Daily Show’s John Stewart recently mused that Republicans play chess while Democrats . . . “are in the nurse’s office with their balls glued to their... Read more
Posted on 27 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Congressional Penis Crisis
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is crusading on one of the Great Issues of Our Time: bathroom admittance.Pushing legislation that would bar... Read more
Posted on 25 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
“Speaking Truth to Power” — My Conversation with Gov. Hochul
“Speaking truth to power” is a cliche I hate. But then New York Gov. Kathy Hochul phoned me. I’d been given advance notice for this fund-raising call.She began... Read more
Posted on 23 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Kakistocracy and Kolosocracy
The word du jour is kakistocracy. From the Greek, the opposite of aristocracy, it means rule by the worst.Certainly applicable to Trump’s appointees like... Read more
Posted on 21 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Global Big Picture
Henry Kissinger is supposed to have said that nations have no permanent friends, only interests. However, even interests can change; the world is never... Read more
Posted on 18 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
America Being Made Great Again
Two centuries ago, one U.S. party died out, and a new opposition hadn’t yet gotten going. So that strifeless interval was called “The Era of Good Feelings.”... Read more
Posted on 15 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Cri De Coeur *
My gosh how I’ve loved you!Beautiful, exalted, noble,I loved you all my life,With a flame burning pure;My gosh how I’ve loved you,Like a shining city on a... Read more
Posted on 13 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Why Harris Lost
A seeming political realignment, shattering the Democrats’ longtime coalition. So now the reckoning, soul-searching, backbiting, finger-pointing.If only... Read more
Posted on 12 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
“We Carry Their Bones” — A Florida Horror Story
This book by anthropologist/archeologist Erin Kimmerle relates her authorized official investigations at the site of the Dozier School, a “reform school” in... Read more
Posted on 10 November 2024 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY