Author: Douglas Brooks

I don’t know how many of you could bear to watch the Comey hearings. They are even more disturbing than what’s going on with Gorsuch. With Gorsuch you’ve the feeling of being utterly ripped off. The ONLY question for this normanrockwell knockoff white guy doing his best to pretend he has a heart is,...

I’m taking this personally. I share a surname with both self-alleged “moderate” David Brooks of The NY Times and Arthur C. Brooks, who turns up on its pages on the weekends and spends most of his time pretending to be an intellectual. This having to disclaim relationship caused by the sheer accidents of surname...

American identity is in truth complex, rich, and defies reduction.  But when did that ever stop us?  Let’s look for our monothetic marker, that one thing we share across our political, economic, and nationalist identity.  How’s this one?  We think we’re great, even if we’re not willing to say exceptional.  We not only tell...

American conservative ideology has got a certain rabid appeal, I mean it goes right after base emotions and ideas. To respond requires we get out of the passing lane and take the traffic seriously. Speeding by we say to ourselves that people should be responsible to take care of themselves. Why should the working...

An Exercise in Two Americas, It’s a Values DifferencePrioritizing Profits I care about wealth, and we all need some. As fortunate as I have been to have a steady job, my arithmetic skills are sufficient to realize that my personal retirement plan is called “working unto death.” We make our choices, I’ve made mine....

Understanding WealthcareA Foundation of Republican Social Values and Economic Policy#wealthcare You gotta know who you are dealing with. So here’s a primer that explains how Republicans, like Paul Ryan and the rest, think about the purpose of government. Wealthcare is their interpretation of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, it is how we “form...

Understanding Ryan and Tea Party Healthcare How does any adult in the 21st century believe that the radical conservative Tea Party view of health care is an option? My focus here is on Republicans today who object even to Ryan’s plan. Their view is simple: no government involvement is ever warranted, allow market forces...

America would be in free fall were the Resistance not the floor.The sum of the polls puts the President’s* popularity at about 44%. These are historic lows but we also know what the polls told us about the elections. (See 538.) What can we count on these days? First, the bright news is the...

More resistance strategy.Understanding the Conservative’s Rock Solid Selfishness What’s at stake in our political stalemate is a conflict of values.  We like to think that values are things we share.  But, in fact, it’s on matters of value that we most likely differ, even to irreconcilability.  It’s important then to try to think in...

Responding to a Post-Literate WorldTrumpspeak is Easy, What About Talking to Trump Supporters Why do we in the factual world find the alt-factual so impervious to argument or to, you know, facts? We need a language to reach them because they are expert at creating their own memes. I don’t mean Trumpspeak. There are...