In Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Classics, New York, p. 144-145, [1963], 2006), Hannah Arendt, making note of Heinrich Himmler‘s ‘change of heart’–as German defeat loomed in the Second World War–with regards to the Final Solution, as he considered suspending the mass killings at Auschwitz, writes: It was aboutContinue reading “Hannah Arendt On The Rehabilitation Of George W. Bush”
Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Trump Campaign Rallies And Presidential Imagery
Donald Trump kicked off the 2020 election season with a campaign rally in Florida last night. These campaign rallies enable Trump to keep lines of communication–besides his Twitter account–open to his faithful; they rejuvenate his ego, one presumably battered by the endless ridicule heaped on him by his political opponents; they enable him to switch fromContinue reading “Trump Campaign Rallies And Presidential Imagery”
Wanted: Presidential ‘Leadership’ In North Dakota (#NODAPL)
As I have noted on this blog before (here and here), America is not done with Native Americans yet. You might have imagined that banishment to impoverished reservations was the final insult to historical injury, but apparently much work, like the denial of clean drinking water–the provision of which in certain communities seems increasingly beyondContinue reading “Wanted: Presidential ‘Leadership’ In North Dakota (#NODAPL)”
Demonizing Organized Labor And The Road To Fascism
The word ‘union’ occurs five times in Jedediah Purdy‘s Jacobin essay ‘How Trump Won.’ On the first two occasions, Purdy invokes unions as part of an analysis of the demographics of Trump voters: [U]nion voters abandoned the Democrats dramatically Clinton was much weaker than Obama with union-household voters: he won them 58–40, she only 51–43.Continue reading “Demonizing Organized Labor And The Road To Fascism”
The 2016 Elections: Chronicles Of A Disaster Foretold
In October 2008, I went door-knocking in Wilkes-Barre, PA–for the Barack Obama campaign. (Earlier, I had donated a total of $100 to the Obama campaign, making two contributions of $50 each.) I was assigned a map of a neighborhood, along with names and addresses and an indicator of whether earlier in the election season, theContinue reading “The 2016 Elections: Chronicles Of A Disaster Foretold”
The ‘But The Supreme Court’ Argument For Hillary Clinton
One ‘hold-your-nose-and-vote-for-the-lesser-evil’ argument currently making the rounds for the Hillary Clinton candidacy–ostensibly intended to address the ‘schism’ in the Democratic Party, among the ‘Left’ and ‘progressives’–goes something like this. Vote for Hillary Clinton, even if you disagree with many of her policies, do not consider her entirely trustworthy, and would much rather vote for BernieContinue reading “The ‘But The Supreme Court’ Argument For Hillary Clinton”
No Happy Endings To This Election Season
Barack Obama was elected US president in 2008. With approximately fifty-three percent of the popular vote and a 365-173 electoral college margin over his rival, John McCain. His party, the Democrats, commanded a 235-278 majority in the US House of Representatives, and a 57-41 majority in the US Senate. Despite this electoral and popular mandate,Continue reading “No Happy Endings To This Election Season”
Bernie Sanders’ Campaign And The First-Past-The-Post System
It is a truism in electoral democracies that the electoral system–the particular methodology used to convert the individual choices of voters into a composite social choice–is a key determinant of electoral outcomes. Does the system allow you to rank all candidates by order of preference or does it ask you to only pick one candidate,Continue reading “Bernie Sanders’ Campaign And The First-Past-The-Post System”
Contra Paul Starr, Presidential Elections Are Not Just About Electing Presidents
Paul Starr kicks off the latest production from the ‘Bernie Sanders is not a real candidate, merely a symbolic one’ brigade with the following assertions: I have a strange idea about presidential primaries and elections: The purpose is to elect a president. And I have a strange thought about primary voters: They have a choice betweenContinue reading “Contra Paul Starr, Presidential Elections Are Not Just About Electing Presidents”
Was Charlie Hebdo ‘Mocking’ The Death Of Alan Kurdi?
Charlie Hebdo has offended again. A recently published cartoon titled “So Close to His Goal”, shows Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose tragic drowning death sharply focused the world’s attention on the desperation of the migrant crisis in Europe, lying face down on the sand near a billboard featuring Ronald McDonald and advertising a 2-for-1Continue reading “Was Charlie Hebdo ‘Mocking’ The Death Of Alan Kurdi?”
Samir Chopra 