Thank you for being a champion of democracy and freedom.
I lived 8 years in China. One thing I learned while there is that anyone who believes in democracy like I shouldn’t assume the benefits of democracy are obvious. My Chinese friends were generally content with autocratic government as in their lifetimes, their own autocratic government had guided them to generally increasing living standards and opportunities.
After being back in America for a while I had forgotten that lesson, but Trump’s re-election taught it a second time. Lots of Americans have given up on democracy. Given up on freedom and individual rights, due process for all.
So I think we do need to argue for democracy. Why it’s important to protect everyone’s right to express themselves even those that we find vile. Why the law must apply to everyone instead of one set up rules for the favored and another set for the disfavored. Why losers need to respect the results of elections and why winners shouldn’t abuse power to undermine the fairness of the next election. Why economic growth relies on innovations, enterprise, and an educated populace.
Sure, you can start with Biden and his decision to run, but the rot goes deeper. The party that never stops shouting about “saving democracy” has spent years undermining democracy within its own ranks. If the DNC really wants to understand why they keep losing, even to someone as beatable as Trump, they need to take a hard look in the mirror.
Go back to 2016. Bernie Sanders was on track to take the primary, but the party elites decided he wasn’t “electable” whether due to his socialist leanings, his Jewish heritage, or just fear of losing control. So they let Hillary bail out the DNC of bankruptcy, and surprise, surprise, she suddenly surged.
Fast forward to 2020, and we saw the same playbook. Biden, a weak candidate from the start, rose from the ashes on Super Tuesday, as if resurrected by design. And let’s be honest, they knew Biden’s cognitive decline well before he stumbled on that debate stage. Was the entire game to prop him up, block RFK Jr or other possible candidates and then swap in someone “safe” late in the race when he inevitably gaffed? There’s an argument to be made.
The truth is, they don’t trust their own voters to choose the candidate they want. Until the Democrats become the party of democracy in practice, not just in branding, any so-called “autopsy” is just public-facing spin. It’s mental masturbation for optics, nothing more.
Except the party's voters did choose Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2020. Biden rose from the ashes on Super Tuesday because the calendar was better for him, other candidates occupying similar lanes decided to drop out and endorse him as the best chance to beat Trump, and the primary voters voted for him. Its not very complicated. Nor is 2016. Hillary got more votes. A lot more votes. I don't even know what you are suggesting about her surging only after giving the DNC a loan, or what Bernie being "on track to take the primary" means, but party elites didn't make her the nominee, the voters did, and you sound more like Trump when he was trying to steal the 2020 election than someone who respects democratic outcomes in practice.
Hillary was the nominee in 2016 because she got more primary votes. Biden was the nominee in 2020 because he got more primary votes. Take a good hard look in that mirror yourself and stop trying to illegitimatize the voters when they don't choose your preferred candidate.
The record isn’t hard to find if you want to look. Donna Brazile, who ran the DNC as interim chair, revealed that Hillary’s campaign bailed the DNC out of bankruptcy in 2015 with at least 20 million dollars through the Hillary Victory Fund.
Because of that agreement, her team also had pre-primary control over hiring, messaging, budgeting, data, and digital strategy. Anything the DNC released had to be approved by her campaign. Brazile said she couldn’t even issue a press release without their sign-off.
When WikiLeaks exposed emails showing anti-Sanders bias, top officials resigned in a puff of smoke, including main honchos Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Amy Dacey, Brad Marshall, and Luis Miranda.
So yes, Hillary got more votes on paper. But with the party machine acting as her campaign headquarters before a single vote was cast, it’s fair to question if voters were truly choosing or just picking from what the machine chose for them.
Not sour grapes on my part as Bernie wasn’t my horse in this race, but if I had my chips on him at the poker table, I’d be flipping cards like Ace Rothstein in Casino, knowing the dealer stacked the deck.
I see the same in Poland. Democracy advocates have lost three consecutive presidential elections (this is fifteen years!!!) because they refuse to learn anything. Why do they keep shouting how they're protecting democracy while making the same mistakes over and over again? Pathetic.
The End Around: More Bad News for the Orange Cheeto
Cheeto has evaded public scrutiny over his sordid sexual predatory behavior for years First the Access Hollywood tapes, then the E Jean Carroll rape civil settlement, then the conviction in the Stormy Daniels escapade, but even his MAGA base can’t stomach the perverse pedophilia story hidden in the Epstein files In March the FBI was tasked to see how much Cheeto was mentioned in the files and with so many mentions, Cheeto decided to shut down the release of the files But then with the fallout with his compadre, Musk dropped the bomb that instigated the attention of MAGA about Cheeto’s involvement
On MSNBC last night O’Donnell interviewed Bradley Edwards primary attorney for the Epstein victims Edwards detailed how his clients have never been given due consideration by DOJ in their desire to have the files exposed to the public
Rep Ro Khanna, one of the lead Representatives in the subpoena of the files by the Congressional Oversight Committee, said in a later interview that the committee would like to hear from Edwards representing the Epstein victims Edwards also expressed that there is a lot of discovery information that between his office and the defense attorneys for Epstein a lot of information could be released without even having the DOJ release the files that they have
It appears that the public doesn’t need a distrustworthy DOJ led by the Orange Cheeto Congress can just subpoena the already existing records from the involved attorneys in the Epstein case
Biden beat Trump in the debate on issues and received record contributions the day after the debate. MANY OF US WHO ARE DEMOCRATS UNDERSTOOD THE COMMITMENT AND LOVE HE HAD FOR AMERICA AND WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO SUPPORT HIM. I believe he had jet lag and had taken cold medicine before the debate, which caused his exhaustion. People do not understand the grueling schedules imposed on presidents (excluding Trump). It changes the debate when we focus on the Russian interference in the election and recognize that the Democrats didn’t lose.
We did lose. Biden had an obligation to be at his absolute best at that debate and even if you are right about jet lag and cold medicine then he should have worked less to be in top shape for the debate. He is a good man, but he screwed up.
In his recent interview, Hunter Biden confirmed the jet lag and medication effect. That said, the schedule of a president is unrelenting and I agree it was the right decision and time for Kamala to step in.
From the first European invasions of this hemisphere to the present, we have been divided between egalitarian and anti-egalitarian cultures. Using the chess metaphor, let's call them black and white. The anti-egalitarians, White, moved first. The Jamestown Virginia colonists 1609-1610 were gentlemen who did not know how to farm or do manual work, and who starved and resorted to cannibalism. They came here with the European cultural disease of moral collapse and this culture has remained a major factor in the USA through the centuries to this moment.
We are not seeing a moral collapse and inequality unique to this moment. A tragedy of the United States is that the anti-egalitarian culture continues to attract new generations. So we pro-Democracy people need to face this reality. Our obstacles include and are not limited to the wealth, power, aggressiveness, and organized hostility of the anti-egalitarian Americans. It is in fact a culture war.
Some of us are inclined and qualified to address the cultural problem. Ultimately, I am afraid that the evidence shows the anti-egalitarian power and policies are killing the planet. We may not be able to prevent the irreversible tipping point. On the other hand, the authoritarian state of China is leading the world in the installation of solar power, although they still buy Russian oil, as does India.
So we must see the revival of Democracy and the rule of law within the context of a planetary mortal crisis, not only a human moral crisis. The world order that Trump et al are destroying is like the world order that was destroyed by World War I, and the world order that was destroyed and replaced by World War II. It was the Rooseveltian world order of currency, trade, Keynesian economics, and a degree of egalitarianism on which we want to build.
Like many others, I've been thinking about the problem of inequality in voting since Citizens United, 2010 and McCutcheon v FEC 2014. Here are some thoughts about how to recover voting rights by getting big money out of US politics.
Federal Level
People like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Angus King, Bernie Sanders, Elissa Slotkin state that they take no SuperPAC money. SuperPACs are a bone cancer of democracy. Can these Democrats convene a meeting to create strategies to overcome or render mute Citizens United. AOC, for example, has a densely populated lower class to middle class district and she took the seat from a Democrat. She took 0 PAC money per Open Secrets.
State Level
Here's where I think some power lies. States and big cities can pass laws requiring transparency and proof of independence from candidates and ballot measure. And cities can provide public matching funds - the Brennan Center points to New York City's small donor public match - the Public Campaign Finance program. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/answer-citizens-united-becoming-reality
Good read Garry. Happy to see you are still as committed as ever. I saw you presenting at my university in Leuven when I was still a student, bought your book at the time, and have been (very) passively following your moves since. Good to see you are still writing and I do think your writing has improved :)
G- you may be under the “political” category. If your opinion differs I support that. However, I felt similarly at the beginning and realized you can curate your category and suggestion and read all the most class and honest news/article/poetry.
If we want to have honest debate, let's start with statement that "The Next Move" is non-partisan. On one occasion, that I read, where you had something positive to say about Trump, you spend more time apologizing for having something nice to say about Trump, than actually saying you had to say. Doesn't sound "non-partisan". I might be wrong, but first we need to figure out what are we debating about? Format of the debate is secondary. Suggest the specific positions we want to debate.
Thank you for being a champion of democracy and freedom.
I lived 8 years in China. One thing I learned while there is that anyone who believes in democracy like I shouldn’t assume the benefits of democracy are obvious. My Chinese friends were generally content with autocratic government as in their lifetimes, their own autocratic government had guided them to generally increasing living standards and opportunities.
After being back in America for a while I had forgotten that lesson, but Trump’s re-election taught it a second time. Lots of Americans have given up on democracy. Given up on freedom and individual rights, due process for all.
So I think we do need to argue for democracy. Why it’s important to protect everyone’s right to express themselves even those that we find vile. Why the law must apply to everyone instead of one set up rules for the favored and another set for the disfavored. Why losers need to respect the results of elections and why winners shouldn’t abuse power to undermine the fairness of the next election. Why economic growth relies on innovations, enterprise, and an educated populace.
Sure, you can start with Biden and his decision to run, but the rot goes deeper. The party that never stops shouting about “saving democracy” has spent years undermining democracy within its own ranks. If the DNC really wants to understand why they keep losing, even to someone as beatable as Trump, they need to take a hard look in the mirror.
Go back to 2016. Bernie Sanders was on track to take the primary, but the party elites decided he wasn’t “electable” whether due to his socialist leanings, his Jewish heritage, or just fear of losing control. So they let Hillary bail out the DNC of bankruptcy, and surprise, surprise, she suddenly surged.
Fast forward to 2020, and we saw the same playbook. Biden, a weak candidate from the start, rose from the ashes on Super Tuesday, as if resurrected by design. And let’s be honest, they knew Biden’s cognitive decline well before he stumbled on that debate stage. Was the entire game to prop him up, block RFK Jr or other possible candidates and then swap in someone “safe” late in the race when he inevitably gaffed? There’s an argument to be made.
The truth is, they don’t trust their own voters to choose the candidate they want. Until the Democrats become the party of democracy in practice, not just in branding, any so-called “autopsy” is just public-facing spin. It’s mental masturbation for optics, nothing more.
Except the party's voters did choose Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2020. Biden rose from the ashes on Super Tuesday because the calendar was better for him, other candidates occupying similar lanes decided to drop out and endorse him as the best chance to beat Trump, and the primary voters voted for him. Its not very complicated. Nor is 2016. Hillary got more votes. A lot more votes. I don't even know what you are suggesting about her surging only after giving the DNC a loan, or what Bernie being "on track to take the primary" means, but party elites didn't make her the nominee, the voters did, and you sound more like Trump when he was trying to steal the 2020 election than someone who respects democratic outcomes in practice.
Hillary was the nominee in 2016 because she got more primary votes. Biden was the nominee in 2020 because he got more primary votes. Take a good hard look in that mirror yourself and stop trying to illegitimatize the voters when they don't choose your preferred candidate.
The record isn’t hard to find if you want to look. Donna Brazile, who ran the DNC as interim chair, revealed that Hillary’s campaign bailed the DNC out of bankruptcy in 2015 with at least 20 million dollars through the Hillary Victory Fund.
Because of that agreement, her team also had pre-primary control over hiring, messaging, budgeting, data, and digital strategy. Anything the DNC released had to be approved by her campaign. Brazile said she couldn’t even issue a press release without their sign-off.
When WikiLeaks exposed emails showing anti-Sanders bias, top officials resigned in a puff of smoke, including main honchos Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Amy Dacey, Brad Marshall, and Luis Miranda.
So yes, Hillary got more votes on paper. But with the party machine acting as her campaign headquarters before a single vote was cast, it’s fair to question if voters were truly choosing or just picking from what the machine chose for them.
Not sour grapes on my part as Bernie wasn’t my horse in this race, but if I had my chips on him at the poker table, I’d be flipping cards like Ace Rothstein in Casino, knowing the dealer stacked the deck.
I see the same in Poland. Democracy advocates have lost three consecutive presidential elections (this is fifteen years!!!) because they refuse to learn anything. Why do they keep shouting how they're protecting democracy while making the same mistakes over and over again? Pathetic.
The End Around: More Bad News for the Orange Cheeto
Cheeto has evaded public scrutiny over his sordid sexual predatory behavior for years First the Access Hollywood tapes, then the E Jean Carroll rape civil settlement, then the conviction in the Stormy Daniels escapade, but even his MAGA base can’t stomach the perverse pedophilia story hidden in the Epstein files In March the FBI was tasked to see how much Cheeto was mentioned in the files and with so many mentions, Cheeto decided to shut down the release of the files But then with the fallout with his compadre, Musk dropped the bomb that instigated the attention of MAGA about Cheeto’s involvement
On MSNBC last night O’Donnell interviewed Bradley Edwards primary attorney for the Epstein victims Edwards detailed how his clients have never been given due consideration by DOJ in their desire to have the files exposed to the public
Rep Ro Khanna, one of the lead Representatives in the subpoena of the files by the Congressional Oversight Committee, said in a later interview that the committee would like to hear from Edwards representing the Epstein victims Edwards also expressed that there is a lot of discovery information that between his office and the defense attorneys for Epstein a lot of information could be released without even having the DOJ release the files that they have
It appears that the public doesn’t need a distrustworthy DOJ led by the Orange Cheeto Congress can just subpoena the already existing records from the involved attorneys in the Epstein case
Biden beat Trump in the debate on issues and received record contributions the day after the debate. MANY OF US WHO ARE DEMOCRATS UNDERSTOOD THE COMMITMENT AND LOVE HE HAD FOR AMERICA AND WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO SUPPORT HIM. I believe he had jet lag and had taken cold medicine before the debate, which caused his exhaustion. People do not understand the grueling schedules imposed on presidents (excluding Trump). It changes the debate when we focus on the Russian interference in the election and recognize that the Democrats didn’t lose.
We did lose. Biden had an obligation to be at his absolute best at that debate and even if you are right about jet lag and cold medicine then he should have worked less to be in top shape for the debate. He is a good man, but he screwed up.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thiswillhold/p/she-won-part-iv-and-so-did-hillary?r=g2c2k&utm_medium=ios
In his recent interview, Hunter Biden confirmed the jet lag and medication effect. That said, the schedule of a president is unrelenting and I agree it was the right decision and time for Kamala to step in.
From the first European invasions of this hemisphere to the present, we have been divided between egalitarian and anti-egalitarian cultures. Using the chess metaphor, let's call them black and white. The anti-egalitarians, White, moved first. The Jamestown Virginia colonists 1609-1610 were gentlemen who did not know how to farm or do manual work, and who starved and resorted to cannibalism. They came here with the European cultural disease of moral collapse and this culture has remained a major factor in the USA through the centuries to this moment.
We are not seeing a moral collapse and inequality unique to this moment. A tragedy of the United States is that the anti-egalitarian culture continues to attract new generations. So we pro-Democracy people need to face this reality. Our obstacles include and are not limited to the wealth, power, aggressiveness, and organized hostility of the anti-egalitarian Americans. It is in fact a culture war.
Some of us are inclined and qualified to address the cultural problem. Ultimately, I am afraid that the evidence shows the anti-egalitarian power and policies are killing the planet. We may not be able to prevent the irreversible tipping point. On the other hand, the authoritarian state of China is leading the world in the installation of solar power, although they still buy Russian oil, as does India.
So we must see the revival of Democracy and the rule of law within the context of a planetary mortal crisis, not only a human moral crisis. The world order that Trump et al are destroying is like the world order that was destroyed by World War I, and the world order that was destroyed and replaced by World War II. It was the Rooseveltian world order of currency, trade, Keynesian economics, and a degree of egalitarianism on which we want to build.
Like many others, I've been thinking about the problem of inequality in voting since Citizens United, 2010 and McCutcheon v FEC 2014. Here are some thoughts about how to recover voting rights by getting big money out of US politics.
Federal Level
People like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Angus King, Bernie Sanders, Elissa Slotkin state that they take no SuperPAC money. SuperPACs are a bone cancer of democracy. Can these Democrats convene a meeting to create strategies to overcome or render mute Citizens United. AOC, for example, has a densely populated lower class to middle class district and she took the seat from a Democrat. She took 0 PAC money per Open Secrets.
State Level
Here's where I think some power lies. States and big cities can pass laws requiring transparency and proof of independence from candidates and ballot measure. And cities can provide public matching funds - the Brennan Center points to New York City's small donor public match - the Public Campaign Finance program. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/answer-citizens-united-becoming-reality
I welcome your thoughts.
We have so little time.
Good read Garry. Happy to see you are still as committed as ever. I saw you presenting at my university in Leuven when I was still a student, bought your book at the time, and have been (very) passively following your moves since. Good to see you are still writing and I do think your writing has improved :)
G- you may be under the “political” category. If your opinion differs I support that. However, I felt similarly at the beginning and realized you can curate your category and suggestion and read all the most class and honest news/article/poetry.
I very much welcome your essays. I don’t always agree and that keeps me from giving up chess and just throwing dice - metaphorically.
If we want to have honest debate, let's start with statement that "The Next Move" is non-partisan. On one occasion, that I read, where you had something positive to say about Trump, you spend more time apologizing for having something nice to say about Trump, than actually saying you had to say. Doesn't sound "non-partisan". I might be wrong, but first we need to figure out what are we debating about? Format of the debate is secondary. Suggest the specific positions we want to debate.
Nonsense. This is fighting the last war. It will never happen again. Move on.
"move on" means "do not learn"