An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy
The future of democracy in the United States is in danger. We are writers, academics, and political activists who have long disagreed about many things. Some of... Read more.
Hearing George W. Bush in 2021
While not forgetting his disastrous presidency It has been quite a while since I paid much attention to George W. Bush. And I had no particular interest in what... Read more.
Does the Biden Administration Represent a New Beginning for American Democracy?
While the scales might be heavily “weighted in favor of disaster,” there are reasons for a certain hopefulness These remarks were presented as a lecture at the... Read more.
Thinking About The Crisis of Liberal Democracy Through a Polish Lens
A Symposium on The End of the Liberal Mind: Poland’s New Politics, edited by Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura (Kultura Liberalna Foundation: Warsaw, 2020) Symposium... Read more.
Symposium Introduction
The End of the Liberal Mind: Poland’s New Politics, edited by Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura (Kultura Liberalna Foundation: Warsaw, 2020) That liberal democracy... Read more.
Republican Attacks on Voting Rights Are Racist and Hostile to Democracy
Resistance to these Republican assaults can and should take a number of forms. The Republican Party’s assault on constitutional democracy continues unabated.... Read more.
Putting Liberal Democracy First Has Never Been More Important
It is hard to see how our current injustices can be repaired without working through and then “democratizing” these liberal democratic institutions.... Read more.
Citizens Defending Democracy Are Being Shot on the Streets of Myanmar.
We should support them On February 1 there was a military coup in Myanmar. As citizens have protested the abrogation of their country’s recent democratic election–through... Read more.
Can The Republican Party Successfully Orbanify the U.S.?
Some comparative reflections on the exceptional vulnerability of American democracy Photo by European Parliament This past year the U.S. experienced a transfer of... Read more.
Confronting the World Wide Threat of Right Wing Authoritarianism
If we don’t hang together, we will surely hang separately In his latest Substack post, Democracy Seminar convener Jeff Goldfarb announced that we “will... Read more.
The Day After?
We have much work yet to do The mainstream media—very cautious, very authoritative in such things—have now called it. The votes have been... Read more.
We Will Be Lucky if Biden Actually Becomes the President-Elect
But this election is not over, and even the best case scenario is pretty dismal Photo credit: ‘Biden For President’ I have never thought this would be... Read more.
Now Is Not the Time to Polemicize Against A Broad Anti-Trump Coalition
In politics timing is everything. All intelligent political criticism proceeds from this premise. Unintelligent criticism not so much. The next three months will... Read more.
Is Some Version of Our Future Now Playing Out on the Streets of Minsk?
Protest actions in Minsk (Belarus), August 16, 2020 (Source: WikiCommons) A contest over the legitimacy of an election and the illegitimacy of an autocrat is currently... Read more.
Securing the November U.S. Election
The urgent task for all democrats “To support the Ins when things are going well; to support the Outs when they seem to be going badly, this, in spite of... Read more.
Rebirth of a Nation?
There is a dangerous method to Trump’s racist madness Donald Trump is doubling down on his racism and xenophobia. This is widely acknowledged, and condemned, by... Read more.
This is Not a Temporary Crisis
Jeffrey C. Isaac in conversation with Tomasz Sawczuk This post was originally published in Polish and in English by Kultura Liberalna. Tomasz Sawczuk: The United... Read more.
The Power and Limits of Partisanship in the Struggle to Defeat Trumpism
A Critical Response to Osita Nwanevu’s “Bipartisanship Won’t Save Us” The New Republic’s Osita Nwanevu is a consistently sharp and often provocative... Read more.
Sustaining Democratic Opposition to Trumpism
Why the Democratic Party Must Support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez It has long been understood by most political commentators that the fate of democracy in the U.S.... Read more.
Further Thoughts on Antifa
Counter-Violence is not Self-Defense Last week I published a piece that received a great deal of attention: “Antifa is Not a ‘Terrorist Organization,’... Read more.