“Make America Great Again” is the slogan for Donald Trump’s phenomenally popular presidential campaign. With it, Trump has tapped a deep well of frustration among American conservatives about the direction of the country under President Barack Obama. This longing for...
No Peace Through Politics
They were supposed to be different: Republicans for peace, conservatives against empire, leading a grassroots insurrection to overthrow the neocons and restore the Republic. It was Mr. Libertarian goes to Washington. Mr. Frodo goes to Mordor. Yet, when the chips were...
Dateline: Election Day 2012
For the better part of two years the campaign saga has pounded the surf of our daily lives like a relentless black tide. Now, in a matter of hours, polling places at last will close, with either President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney emerging victorious at the other...
Before the Election:
A Pattern of Provocations
The news that the administration has agreed to one-on-one talks with Iran will no doubt be brought up at the upcoming foreign policy debate, with Mitt Romney averring this is yet more evidence of the Obama administration’s “weakness.” Talking, you see, is weakness:...
Imperialism as Spectacle
In Rome, the spectacle of gladiators fighting in the great Colosseum was a popular outlet for plebeian energy, allowing the masses to give full-throated expression to their frustration and anger by projecting it into the arena. In between bouts they would throw a few...
Karen Kwiatkowski’s Primary Mission
At first blush, Karen Kwiatkowski might read like a puzzle: she spent over twenty years in the military, but today is one of its biggest critics. She is running as a Republican, but can’t stand what the party has become. She wants to represent her conservative...
Mitt Romney: In Your Heart, You Know He’s A Loser
Corruption and the Citizen, American-Style
I have long nurtured this thoroughly depressing conviction that the United States, far from being a shining city on the hill, has become one of the most corrupt of nations. Why does America have more lawyers than the rest of the world combined? It is because the...
Running Against Islam
Every political season has its hot-button issues. There’s race, abortion, lunar colonies. But the hottest hot-button issue these days, judging from comments by Republican presidential hopefuls as well as what happened during the 2010 midterm elections, is Islam. Islam...