LEFT IN EAST DAKOTA

 The February issue of Harper’s Magazine poses the question “Is Liberalism Worth Saving?” on its cover. The panel of four, who more or less cover the mainstream of the ideological spectru...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2023/04/leftism-is-just-exclamation-point.html

 I voted for Joe Biden and hope he wins. I’m also alarmed at the increasingly transparent alliance between the Democratic Party and influential sectors of corporate America, namely media congl...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/10/blog-post.html

 Vicky Osterweil can be well received by the same people who thought Bernie Sanders “too radical” because Osterweil’s jargonized defense of looting is not supposed to be taken seriously wh...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/09/osterweil-can-be-well-received-by-same.html

Middle class liberals went from arguing Bernie Sanders is too radical for the suburbs to supporting, at least tacitly, burning down buildings (disproportionately immigrant owned) as a political s...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/07/middle-class-liberals-went-from-arguing.html

State power (that is the ability of the state to use brute force) has increased beyond any somewhat comparable moment in history, yet the state’s ability to everyday govern has decreased to his...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/07/state-power-that-is-ability-of-state-to.html

As I write this we are about a half an hour from curfew. I’m in St. Paul. It has been hit far less than its counterpart across the river but my neighborhood, the city’s poorest and most dive...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/06/a-letter-from-saint-paul.html

I’m somewhat familiar with the story, but haven’t seen the tv series “the plot against America.” Is it any good? I’ll admit I have doubts that will be difficult to overcome. My guess is...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/05/im-somewhat-familiar-with-story-but.html

Putting South Carolina’s primary right before Super Tuesday is a stroke of genius. There is not a better state to serve as a bulwark for any left candidate who manages to do well in the first t...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/03/south-carolina-bulwark.html

The DNC changed its debate requirements so Bloomberg, who’s not even a Democrat, could participate. They’re in an open panic at this point. Klobuchar didn’t stick, she’s got a problemati...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/01/the-dnc-changed-its-debate-requirements.html

Ilhan Omar could have had a job for life in Congress, no questions asked, if she would have just kept her head down and played the part. The Minneapolis elite primarily wanted her to represent th...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/01/ilhan-omar-could-have-had-job-for-life.html

People before Trump’s Presidency: He’s going to be a dictator! The country may never recover! We must resist! This is the most important election in history!!! If you don’t vote for Clinto...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/01/people-before-trumps-presidency-hes.html

It’s fashionable for the media, political and cultural elite to define social pathologies in such a post-modern way that activist influencers can build cultural capital off of definition creep....

http://www.graemesblog.com/2020/01/its-fashionable-for-media-political-and.html

Bernie’s social democracy has a libertarian feel, not only because Sanders himself is a stout civil libertarian, but because for lots of reasons (good and bad) the US doesn’t have the same o...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/12/sanders-social-democracy-has.html

Trevor Noah has this bit (on The Daily Show) about Trump being shunned by the “cool kids” at the recent NATO gala. Don’t get me wrong, Trump is a teetotalling blowhard (the worst kind) wh...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/12/trevor-noah-has-this-bit-on-daily-show.html

As the fickle centrists continue to fold in the Democratic primaries, we are starting to see the usual suspects talk about how the system actually does work if you just get the right people invol...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/12/as-fickle-centrists-continue-to-fold-in.html

I understand polls can sometimes be about as helpful as chatting with a soothsayer, but at some level, amongst other sources, they can help discern the general mood of the country. The latest Em...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/11/revenge-of-bureaucrats.html

For what it’s worth, which admittedly isn’t much, I decided to write down why I support Bernie Sanders: People sorting out their politics right now could be forgiven for viewing the globa...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/04/vote-for-bernie.html

It seems like no one outside of the “American Conservative” is thinking about the US as a declining empire. Contrary to what some thought, Trump has no interest in scaling back the US to a �...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/03/against-empire.html

Paralleling the socially conscious corporation is the conservative critique of capitalism. Tucker Carlson, an odious character to be sure, has gone as far as saying family values are being “cr...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2019/01/the-best-man-can-get.html

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n21/william-davies/against-responsibility There is an interesting historical narrative starting to be told about the political context in which I grew up in. I rememb...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/12/against-reponsibilty.html

I’m really glad to see Paulsen and Lewis gone (especially Lewis who is particularly ghoulish), but I would be much more confident if the DFL would have kept Walz’s and Nolan’s seats. Many ...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/11/im-really-glad-to-see-paulsen-and-lewis.html

I’m listening to Christopher Hitchens’ fine collection of essays, “arguably.” I’d read many of these years ago, but had forgotten how good of a writer he was. Listening to him take dow...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/07/im-listening-to-christopher-hitchens.html

The threat to liberal values (liberal in the philosophical sense) coming from right-wing populism is pretty unconvincing considering that the self-appointed gatekeepers of those values, from EU t...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/07/the-threat-to-liberal-values-liberal-in.html

During the 1996 Russian Presidential election the Clinton administration sent advisers to secure electoral victory for Boris Yeltsin. The election was fraudulent, by all credible accounts, as th...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/07/spinning-boris.html

I just finished Leigh Phillip’s left defense of humanity, “Austerity Ecology And The Collapse-Porn Addicts.” I think it’s important to frame it that way, as one of the main point he makes...

http://www.graemesblog.com/2018/05/i-just-finished-leigh-phillips-left.html