623 Comments

Day 51, going on Day 52 of this nightmare of Putin holding center stage as if he was the leader of the Ringling Bros. Circus. The Ukrainians had a victory of sinking the death ship and bravo to them! They deserve many more victories as they are fighting with all of their might and soul to hold onto what they have.

I want our government to guide the Ukrainians in hunting down Putin and his allies until they do not breathe another breath. Biden was in the room when Osama bin Laden suffered that defeat by our brilliant soldiers. It can happen again. I want to see Trump scrambling up a tree as the indictments come after him and his allies. I want to see the Senate of seditionists shivering with fear that information of their whereabouts on Jan. 6th and before, reveal their evil plot. We were a bleeding nation for 4 god-awful years. Now we are looked upon as savior of other nations. Finland and Sweden should be immediately let into NATO. I pray they receive entry.

Expand full comment

"Trump hates debates not least because his knowledge of political topics is weak"

That's being charitable; I'd say "non-existent" rather than "weak."

However, I'm fairly sure the ReThugly-cans and ultra-wealthy don't care as long as they can "continue to pocket disproportionate shares of the national wealth" and impose their morally bankrupt, racist and inhumane policies on the rest of us. (Speaking as a female POC myself)

Expand full comment
Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

From what I know the Koch brothers are still in business in Russia, on a large scale, and in oil and gas. Clean energy is surely an existential threat to a lot of rich people.

Expand full comment

I made the argument elsewhere earlier this week that all authoritarians are ultimately losers because of their incompetence. One cannot find an authoritarian system in history that did not ultimately fail, due to the collective weight of incompetence. The incompetent leader - who may have the savvy to take power but has no understanding of the way the system he has conquered operates, attracts first opportunists and then sycophants. None of these will promote an actual competent person to a position of responsibility, for fear of their incompetence being exposed (a good example is noted incompetent Hermann Goring's promotion of actually-competent fighter pilot Adolf Galland to command the German air defense force. Every decision Galland made only exposed Goring's incompetence, while Goring's sycophancy to Hitler - who had no real understanding of how a war machine operates despite his claims of military genius - undermined Galland's attempts to implement sound strategy and tactics and adoption of technology that would aid the defense. The German defense continued to crumble and in the end Goring fired Galland and tried to assign him where he would be killed, because he could no longer stand being shown up. The rest of the German war machine was similar; their greatest success was momentary in the summer of 1940 when they defeated France, but the incompetence of the Nazi leadership undermined everything else afterwards.

The same can be seen with Putin's Russia, which is about as incompetent as the last 50 years of the Romanovs, during which they were defeated by the Turks in 1877, the Japanese in 1904 and the Germans in all battles between 1914-1917, with the rot extending to the point the regime fell easily and was then overthrown by the Bolsheviks. Putin, the failed mid-level Chekist, really has no idea how things actually work, and the people he surrounds himself with are incompetent sychophants who are afraid of him. He has no chance of attracting any competent person who might help him, since he couldn't accept their help if he did bring them on.

Expand full comment

Now let me get this straight: We can't tax Musk because his money isn't actually "money", but actually tied up in stocks and investments and whatever else. His billions are actually in property and whatnot, so he can't be expected to use his money towards fixing infrastructure or the environment. But he can just buy Twitter.

Goddammit, bring out the guillotines.

Expand full comment

When we talk about the Commission on Presidential Debate, it is anything but nonpartisan. It is purely bipartisan. There is a big difference. Ask Gary Johnson. All its key members are former Republican and Democrat party leaders. The two party system continues to give us the choice of the lessor of two evils. It is now driving the two parties to the far left and far right leaving the huge middle unrepresented. The two party system is not part of the Constitution which does not mention parties at all. We need something better. A way to start is to support ranked choice voting which actually gives women and minorities better representation. We, the People, ALL of us this time!

Expand full comment

How do we convince our fellow Americans that it’s important that our President know the difference between NATO and the EU? One would think that the church leaders would condemn not only Putin’s actions but also those politicians who refuse to condemn them.

Expand full comment

Today is my 80th birthday. Thanks to HCR I am finally comprehending the hows and whys of contemporary power plays, political philosophies, and all the (semi-)human people who have been tearing my heart apart. I pray that HCR, her coterie of practical intellectuals and teachers, and all of YOU will continue in strength and love to make the workings of powers clear, to guide and influence public thought and action.

Expand full comment
Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

A couple of cavils.

1. That word AU-THOR-IT-AR-I-AN-ISM may suit scholars but political action can't use such top-heavy terms. Can't someone here come up with better?

2. While it is true that democratic institutions provide many safeguards against ill-judged and unjust wars and the general abuse of military power, everything that President Eisenhower, in WW2 Supreme Allied Commander Europe, had to say about the dangers inherent to the power of America's "military-industrial complex" in the message he left the country on leaving the presidency has been shown to be true ten thousand times over.

Vietnam, the second Gulf War, the decades-long occupation of Afghanistan are only prime examples of American military hubris, promoting military action and hardware for their own sake.

I and friends used the words "rats living in a big cheese" in another context, but I can't help feeling that it fits the Pentagon bureaucracy perfectly... As for the ironclad doctrine of American exceptionalism, which places the US military above international law while everyone else is subject to it... that has amounted to an incitement to crime and has spawned would-be titans and their vile adventures everywhere.

BEWARE, beware of oversimplification!

Expand full comment

Maybe democracies don't go to war against each other, but being a democracy, sadly, has not prevented the US from joining or initiating pointless and devasting wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Expand full comment

Thank you Heather.

“Yellen said, “we ought not wait for a new normal. We should begin to shape a better future today.”

Yup.

Expand full comment

"Sometimes furious swarms of coin

Skewer and devour abandoned children."

I just warned against oversimplification. Yet those terrible lines from Lorca's Poet in New York say it all.

Flesh and blood against the total tyranny of money and inhuman power.

Flesh and blood cry out for protection.

Today Pandora has too many boxes -- look, look at the satanic tide that has gushed forth from that opened onto Ukraine.

Don't let Elon Musk open more.

Don't let ANYONE open more -- resist, RESIST!

Expand full comment

If DJT runs in 2024, and if he wins, it will bring disaster to America and our allies around the world. He has no regard for treaties or the rule of law. He is already a stain on America's image, and considering our history; we don't need any more stains.

Expand full comment

Thank you Professor, for sharing that “Grauer and Tierney also note that the ability of people in a democracy to protest means leaders cannot fight unpopular wars and stay in power, and that democratic countries do not tend to go to war with other democracies. Grauer and Tierney argue that the need to gain public support for wars makes it hard for democratic leaders to fight other democracies toward which their people might have good feelings, or that can put up strong resistance.” Friends, how many of you marched and held signs and protested wars? I’m honored to be counted as the resistance against the Vietnam and Iraq wars. However I was protesting the Wars, not our young soldiers who were either drafted or believed the lies leading up to combat. I can’t hold a “no war” sign for this war and I’m grateful there is a NATO and that USA has returned to alliances after TFG tried to destroy our Democracy.

Expand full comment

When I was a kid, we had a World Book encyclopedia (easier for adolescents than the erudite Britannia). Being a nerd even then, I would sometimes come home from school and leaf through it. I remember that the article on Hitler had a photo of him with a caption that read, “His slogan was ‘Divide and conquer.’ He was defeated by nations that learned to unite and conquer.” How true. And today, right here in USA we are confronted by those who would divide and conquer. And like the Allies in WWII, we shall conquer if we unite—not on particular issues, but in defense of debate and democracy. (How ironic that Republicans would walk away from presidential debates.). We shall conquer because of debate. In disagreement over particular issues we can find our strength, while the authoritarians go off on false paths once again. So let’s stop bemoaning our fate or trembling at the power of our adversaries, but go forward to a better and brighter day.

Expand full comment

Dr. Richardson,

I can feel your strain and stress through your writing about the stuggle for Democracy. I hope you keep writing and I use your writing far and wide (with unknown effect).

But, one thing I would offer is this: IF the USA swings so that the rich, white, spoiled party boys are in total control instead of just mostly in control (like now), then, that's just the way it is.

The good thing about hearing the weather forecast as sunny, then, cutting the hayfield, then, watching it rain on it the very next day, ruining feed for the winter for the cattle?

You realize that a LOT of things are out of your control and that the fastest way to keeping going effectively is to accept the existing reality without too much angst and .....

...keep moving. With as little angst and emotion as possible. Keep moving and doing....

So, once in while, think about what you will do once we DO swing to a dictatorship by spoiled, rich, often drunk, white boys who have no morals and no boundaries on behavior and actions. What will we do assuming they don't get us all killed in the first two weeks through nuclear war.

What will you do? Just make sure you have a plan.

Because, the probability is very far from zero that those "boyz" will soon be running the US Government completely in the near future.

And, it won't be the first time the boyz have been in control of the US government either.

Expand full comment