The world view narrative of my life time has been Soviets, now Russians, bad, Americans good. The truth is much more nuanced and most importantly is that it’s not all Americans good and Russians bad, as Terry Cowan describes in a timeline that corresponds to a good chunk of my life.
I do know that Eisenhower warned about the wealth gathering of the military industrial complex that I cannot help but feel is behind much of what we do. I know that American involvement in Vietnam was not accepted to a majority of Americans. And I know that weapons of mass destruction was a false pretext to our invasion of Iraq. These don’t sum up to a trustworthy American side of the narrative.
Krugman, and all other pundits, need to get this through their head: there will not be another federal election in the U.S. in the manner we have come to expect. The sooner they figure this out and start saying it, the better. You don’t go through all the trouble of destroying things only to have someone else come along four years later to put it all back together. Threats to Trump and his guys that they will piss off voters are not threats.
Everything I see so far from the “press” and other media outlets seem to assume that upcoming elections are a threat to the Republican majority. All of these references appear to assume that future elections will be legitimate, but I think that assumption is dangerous. Do you think that neither Trump nor his supporters learned from 2020? For that matter, is Congress really relevant? If Democrats had a majority right now, would it matter?
I am afraid that we need to start talking more about liberty and what it actually means as it has been taken for granted and distorted to mean much. For me, agency such as described by Annie here in the section titled Radical responsibility, is fundamental to what I think is liberty.
Finished reading: Low Anthropology by David Zahl 📚
Anthropology is the study of humanity, in other words it is a study of us as humans. In this book the author suggests we tend to have a high view of ourselves, which he calls a high anthropology, whereas we would benefit from a more realistic view of ourselves that he calls low anthropology.
Yesterday and Monday we enjoyed a spring thaw that has turned to lower temps and some snow flurries. Ah, but yesterday was glorious.
Hello From Worldland
I wrote this post using Wordland, which is a new app developed by Dave Winer. It appears to focus on writing posts to Wordpress. Just made an edit, need to remember to push the post button. Like the little editing popup that appears when I select text.
The Republic Has Failed; Why Does It Matter?
Much of what I am seeing written about the state of the United States seems to be in the context of “Democracy is failing” or a “Constitutional Crisis” is imminent or present. The correct description of the United States as defined by the Constitution is a republic with self rule by a representative democracy.
The reality is that the republic, the one for which our flag stands (remember the pledge of allegiance) has failed. It failed when citizens and our representatives forgot or no longer valued the form of self government that has been in place. Our attitudes and inaction about the insurrection on January 6 is the clearest sign that the Republic has failed. Today we the citizens of the United States value power over liberty and our liberty exists to the extent it aligns to dictates of those in power.
Our conversations and writing on this topic need to transition to, why does it matter that the Republic has failed? The reality is, most people don’t think it matters because they have not yet recognized or acknowledged how their life has been impacted. Particularly Republicans and particularly those who support Trump.
My answer for why it matters is ironic. It matters because without the representative democracy of the Constitution the MAGA movement (or conservative movement) could not exist. Tyranny allows no opposition, thus had it been in place MAGA could not have done what it is currently doing. The Republic is what has allowed you to have your day, enjoy it but know that without it there will be no other opposition.
When the time comes that the “new” U.S. Government does something you do not like there will be nothing that you can do about it. The “elites” have determined Democracy is too inefficient and they think a more efficient government is controlled by a dictator, and they would be right. Freedom has been the purpose of the Republic, and inefficiency is a feature not a bug. However, the elites and their corporate/startup world view know what is best for them and have convinced you its better for you, and this will all work so long as you accept and comply with their dictates, their interpretation of current laws and their new laws.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, in a reply to questions from her readers about faith wrote:
I guess I just no longer think of faith as intellectually assenting to theological propositions, or as regularly confirming in myself that I believe all the wildest stories in the Bible are literally, factually, historically accurate. Faith functions in my life as something closer to gravity than ideology.
I like her description of faith as something closer to gravity than ideology.
Sitting in the living room, drinking coffee and doing my morning reading on this holiday while the winter wind howls in the background.
Enjoying the beauty of fresh snow.
What we are now witnessing is the consequences of not valuing humility and empathy.
The phrase “Christian Nationalism” is as oxymoron as “Roman Catholic.” Diana Butler Bass’s Sunday Musings based on the text of the lectionary readings this week (Psalm 1 and Luke 6:17-26) drives home my point.
Nothing about “Christian Nationalism” is consistent with Jesus as he says in Luke 6:20, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” and then later in Luke 6:24, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Does this sound like Jesus is talking about the United States?
Of course, the phrase “Christian Nationalism” is only an oxymoron if “Christian” is truly associated with Christ and Jesus. The problem is that Christianity as understood by the vast majority of people around the world is more of a reflection of it’s founder, the Roman Emperor Constantine, than its Christos namesake.
Digital Colonialism
Tripp Fuller has written an essay titled “The New Colonialism: Power, Data, and the Transformation of Human Experience” that I commend for your reading (shared highlighted link from Readwise.)
Trip writes:
Let me take you back to a moment in history that illuminates our present situation. In its early days, the internet was envisioned as something radically different from what it has become. It emerged from a unique fusion of military pragmatism and countercultural idealism – a publicly funded network imagined as a tool for human freedom and cognitive enhancement. Those early pioneers dreamed of a decentralized space where information could flow freely, uncontrolled by any single authority.
But over three decades, we’ve witnessed what scholars call a “triple revolution”: the commercialization of the internet, the rise of mobile devices that keep us constantly connected, and the emergence of social media platforms that mediate our relationships. This transformation has fundamentally altered the nature of digital space in ways that undermine genuine human connection.
Tripp goes on to note that there has been a systematic pattern employed by the social networks that “eerily mirrors historical conquest.” Later he writes:
But perhaps the most telling parallel lies in how this new colonial class views its own power. In 1899, Rudyard Kipling wrote of the “white man’s burden” – the supposed moral duty of colonizers to “civilize” the colonized. Today, we hear echoes of this same patronizing ideology when tech leaders speak of “connecting the world” or “making the world more open and transparent.” The language has changed, but the underlying assumption remains: that a small, privileged class has the right – even the duty – to reshape how billions of humans live and connect.
Most concerning is a loss of our autonomy, instead how we see the world is being shaped by our digital overlords:
This erosion of autonomy is particularly evident in how platforms shape our understanding of the world. The algorithms that determine what news we see, what perspectives we encounter, and what information we consider credible are optimized not for truth or understanding, but for engagement. This creates what tech critics call “reality tunnels” – personalized versions of the world that can differ dramatically from person to person, making shared understanding increasingly difficult. There’s a reason so many of us think family and friends live in a different world - they do and it is a feature, not a bug in the system.
What to do? Tripp reminds us that what we have is not how the Internet was intended to be:
To understand how we might resist digital colonialism, we must first remember that the internet wasn’t always a colonized space. Those early pioneers, many steeped in the revolutionary spirit of 1960s California, envisioned something radically different from what we have today: a decentralized space where information could flow freely, uncontrolled by any single authority.
Tripp’s conclusion starts:
The challenge we face isn’t simply technical or political – it’s fundamentally about what it means to be human in an age of algorithmic governance. When platforms reduce our complex social lives to data points, when algorithms shape our perceptions and choices, when our most intimate moments become resources for extraction, we lose something essential to human flourishing: our capacity for genuine autonomy and authentic connection.
The path forward requires us to develop digital wisdom – a way of engaging with technology that preserves our essential humanity while benefiting from digital tools. This means creating rituals and practices that help us maintain our autonomy while participating in digital life. It means building platforms and networks that serve human flourishing rather than corporate profit. Most importantly, it means remembering that we are not passive subjects in this new colonial regime, but active agents capable of shaping its future.
Isn’t penalizing the Associated Press because it doesn’t agree with the government’s unilateral proclamation of a name for an international body of water a violation of the First Amendment? Government penalizing the press for something they say or write is literally the reason why the First Amendment exists.
I get that social networks force this type of publishing, but I don’t get why anyone really wants to do it. If you write more than a paragraph publish it on a web page then share a link.
BTW, I wrote this post using Drafts on my iPad Mini, which I still think is the best tool for sharing links on micro.blog. To create a link like the one above I first copy it to the clip board, select the text of it in my post and press the Link button above the keyboard. The correct markdown syntax and the URL are correctly placed.
The question is not whether or not the United States is in a constitutional crisis, the question is whether or not the citizens care. At this point I think most citizens are in denial. A big factor is more than a majority of citizens have always had the privilege of freedom such that it has been taken for granted. We also tend to think only about ourselves and not our neighbors.
I have said before that I believe Trump’s goal is to re-institute the Gilded Age, and William McKinley is his archtype. It’s all about dismantling the New Deal and all the contraints put on capitalists.
Finished reading: The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bourgeault 📚
Why is it the case that Christianity has utterly failed at being transformative? Might that be because it’s is not whole?
