January 2012
28 posts
“At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, [the military] exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach.”
—
President Obama
So we have a straight up call for fascism in the middle of the State of the Union and no one blinks an eye? And I’m not talking about “Republicans want people to show IDs to vote” fascism, I’m talking real life, “The state is supreme and it its the duty of the individual to support it’s ambitions” fascism, the militarized view of citizenship that was all the rage during the 1930s.
It’d be ludicrous to say Obama is a fascist, but this is a darkly revealing glimpse into how he views the relationship between citizens and their government.
The Once and Future Liberalism →
the-american-interest.com
Our real choice, however, is not between blue or pre-blue. We can’t get back to the 1890s or 1920s any more than we can go back to the 1950s and 1960s. We may not yet be able to imagine what a post-blue future looks like, but that is what we will have to build. Until we remove the scales from our eyes and launch our discourse toward the future, our politics will remain sterile, and our economy will fail to provide the growth and higher living standards Americans continue to seek. That neither we nor the world can afford.
Walter Russell Mead, writing in The American Interest, has one one of the most clear-eyed and honest assessments of the political crossroads America finds itself at present. The problem rises above party politics or even political philosophies; the world we have built our institutions for simply no longer exists, and we must adventurously rethink our society and it’s structures.
Seriously, everyone should read this.
Tucker Max Gives Up the Game: What Happens When a Bestselling Player Stops Playing? →
forbes.com
Apparently Tucker Max stopped being an asshole and went into therapy and is now quietly, happily domesticated. This article is far more interesting than it has any right to be.
The New American Divide →
online.wsj.com
Over the past 50 years, that common civic culture has unraveled. We have developed a new upper class with advanced educations, often obtained at elite schools, sharing tastes and preferences that set them apart from mainstream America. At the same time, we have developed a new lower class, characterized not by poverty but by withdrawal from America’s core cultural institutions.
…
Over the past 50 years, that common civic culture has unraveled. We have developed a new upper class with advanced educations, often obtained at elite schools, sharing tastes and preferences that set them apart from mainstream America. At the same time, we have developed a new lower class, characterized not by poverty but by withdrawal from America’s core cultural institutions.
Well, this is depressing.
What Would New York Look Like With a Smaller Financial Sector? →
theatlantic.com
Post-Guiliani, New York has been a very good place to be rich, a very good place to be poor, and a very difficult place to be in between. If the financial industry really did slim down to size, that might well reverse. That might make it a more middle class city. But it would be very difficult for a more middle class city to support New York City’s cost structure. Since it would be pretty hard to rip out the subways and bridges, and it’s illegal to renege on your pension promises, I suspect that the welfare state would take most of the burden. But not quietly
Play
Officially back on track as of today. Doc says all clear. Ends an 8-month period of extreme patience and a real head trip… Back to it… See you soon.
YEAH BRO
Ro.me →
ro.me
Amazing interactive film rendered in HTML5. Chrome browser required.
Listen
Monologist Mike Daisy performing an excerpt of his one man show, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. He recounts his investigation into the working conditions of Foxconn factories (the company in charge of manufacturing iPhones, Xboxes, laptops…) He performed an abridged version on NPR’s This American Life.
