Political Backwash
/Nuff said
Political Backwash
“[D]ictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems—freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning…tremendous complex and difficult questions,”
Bradley McDevitt added 4mo
Eisenhower
Those of us who advocate for peace are not blind to the atrocities Hamas committed on October 7. But without the ideological filter that holds them as irredeemably evil, we are able to see a larger set of circumstances. We are able to ask, “What are the conditions that bred such an outlash? What breeds that kind of desperation?” We are not satisfie... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 2mo
Relations with the former colonial world now have switched to the opposite extreme and the Western world often exhibits an excess of obsequiousness, but it is difficult yet to estimate the size of the bill which former colonial countries will present to the West and it is difficult to predict whether the surrender not only of its last colonies, but... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 4mo
Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Harvard, 1978
Looking thus at the state of the country, I know of no better use to
which I can put this sacred day, I know of no higher duty resting upon me,
than to enforce my views and convictions, and especially to hold out to
reprobation, the short sighted and ill judged, and inefficient modes adopted
to suppress the rebels. The past may be dismissed with a sing... See more
which I can put this sacred day, I know of no higher duty resting upon me,
than to enforce my views and convictions, and especially to hold out to
reprobation, the short sighted and ill judged, and inefficient modes adopted
to suppress the rebels. The past may be dismissed with a sing... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 5mo
Fredrick Douglass’speech on the 4th of July, 1862
The capacity to act in concert for a public-political purpose is what Arendt calls power. Power needs to be distinguished from strength, force, and violence (CR, 143–55). Unlike strength, it is not the property of an individual, but of a plurality of actors joining together for some common political purpose. Unlike force, it is not a natural phenom... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 4mo
Power is derived from community.
So what is Loper Bright actually about?
Loper Bright overrules a Reagan-era Supreme Court decision known as Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council (1984), which held that when a federal statute delegating policymaking authority to an agency is ambiguous, courts typically should defer to the agency’s reading of that statute rather than trying ... See more
Loper Bright overrules a Reagan-era Supreme Court decision known as Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council (1984), which held that when a federal statute delegating policymaking authority to an agency is ambiguous, courts typically should defer to the agency’s reading of that statute rather than trying ... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 5mo
1 did not intend for this to become a politically charged space, but WTF!?!
In infants, the chief causes of outrageous behavior — impulsivity, grandiosity, attention-seeking, and a sense of entitlement — are considered normal, but in adults they’re key symptoms of the “cluster-B” personality disorders. All four such disorders — narcissistic, histrionic, antisocial and borderline — are characterized by overemotionality and ... See more
Gurwinder • The Rise of Neotoddlerism
Bradley McDevitt added 3mo
Paine rejected the idea that any man could be born to rule others, and he ridiculed the idea that an island should try to govern a continent. “Where…is the King of America?” Paine asked in Common Sense. “I’ll tell you Friend…so far as we approve of monarchy…in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free count... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 5mo
The Worst 36 Hours For Democracy Since the 1930s, America on Dictatorship’s Brink, and Civilizational Risk
the issue.theissue.io
Bradley McDevitt added 5mo
Required reading for politically minded . . . scratch that. Just read it. If you’re interested in avoiding the inevitable pogroms that will likely swallow each user on this platform.
Hannah Arendt powerfully explained “the constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people who can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and w... See more
Bradley McDevitt added 3mo