Democracy & Transition to Authoritarianism
Restoring liberal democracy is more important than winning policy fights
Finally, pundits are focusing less on policy victory or convincing voters that their political adversaries are evil, and more on the issue of whether our liberal democracy can be saved, and if so,...
Merging economic and political leverage in a unique historic moment
As we watch the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) use its power to stifle political dissent, we should step back and look at the story of how we got here. It is a story about the simultaneous...
My Ethical Double Standard
I don't normally do confessional posts on this blog, so please ignore this one if it's not your cup of tea. But this ties back to how to preserve our deteriorating democracy. The confession is that...
How to get a deeper understanding of our political dysfunction
Readers of this blog are regularly subjected to my whining about people ignoring what empirical social science research has to say about the roots of our political dysfunction. đ  In the Internet...
At this point, is there any reason NOT to label todayâs GOP “fascist”?
In Climate of Contempt I lament the way todayâs political information environment breeds so much interpartisan fear, anger, and distrust that we "under-attend[] to the health of our democratic...
How fast are the radical fringes growing?
One of the consequences of our balkanized, fractured, and insular information environment is that fringe political movements can grow more efficiently, away from public view. People who share the...
The Gerrymander Wars Were Avoidable
This yearâs gerrymandering wars are a predictable consequence of the forces that are driving our political polarization: not the bogeymen imagined by populists on the left and right, but rather the...
Catholicism, the Court & the Future of Climate Politics
Growing up in Rochester, New York in the 1960s and 70s most of my friends were Catholic. My family didnât attend church, so most of what I learned about the Bible came from overhearing my friends...
“There’s reason in the kindness”
A few weeks ago was graduation weekend at the University of Texas, during which I had the occasion to walk from the law school (in the northeast corner of campus) to an appointment at the business...
Problem-solving > Blame
It is no secret that ideological and social media have amplified the worst of human nature in many ways. One away it does this is to supercharge the human instinct to blame a group for the bad acts...
An Old Lie That Never Goes Away
The indiscriminate cuts to the executive branch being made by Elon Muskâs DOGE operation are crippling the governmentâs ability to provide essential public goods to consumers, and to protect...
How Does It End? Five Politics Book Reviews — Part 4, Dialogue & Debate
[This is the last post in a multi-part look at new books addressing what we know, and don't know, about today's politics. Part 1 is here; part 2 is here; and part 3 is here.] The Final Book: Focus...
Government by Grievance
"All culture is Internet culture.â â Taylor Lorenz (technology and media writer) The first two months of the second Trump administration are best understood as a kind of retributive lashing out at...
Money, Leverage and Politics
I recently began teaching a course on the regulation of ânetworks, platforms and public utilities,â using a 2022 casebook by the same name. It is from a group of progressive legal scholars who are...
Hiding Illegality in Plain Site
Much of the energy world is waiting on the Trump Administration to disperse funds that Congress directed to be used to support specific types of energy projects. The Administration's withholding of...
Political Disagreement as Apostasy
Slogans, acronyms, and memes rise and fall quickly on social media. I recently saw that the term âFAFOâ was trending on Twitter. Not knowing what it was I clicked on it. Though none of the posts...
Are We Failing the Marshmallow Test?
Whatever the outcome of today's voting, we will learn something from it. And I will post some reactions to specific races and what they signify for stronger climate policy on 11/10 and succeeding...
Why My Book’s Political Predictions Might Turn Out To Be Wrong (#2) — âWill Voters Be Scared Straight?â
One of the recurring themes in Climate of Contempt is that while modern media doesnât change human nature, it does amplify the worst aspects of human nature in powerful ways. The book recommends...
Intentional vs. Unintentional Fake News
In chapter 4 of Climate of Contempt I summarize the academic literature showing how (1) online platform algorithms mislead and anger us, and (2) political persuaders use that anger to push us toward...
World Values Survey & the Energy Transition
The most recent version of the World Values Survey (WVS) came out a little more than a year ago. The Economist had a particularly lucid and useful explanation of its conclusions, including some...
Pesky Pluralism, Part 1
One feature of the modern information environment is that it allows conspiracies and utopian fantasies of the left and right to grow undisturbed by reality. Utopian ideas are often the product of...
Transitions To Authoritarianism Sneak Up On Us — Part 2
In an earlier post I noted the growing list of scholars who warn of parallels between historical transitions from democracy to repressive dictatorships, on the one hand, and U.S. politics today, on...
âOrganizing Hatredsâ Is Bad For The Organizer – Part 2
In last chapter of Climate of Contempt, I argue that the future of the energy transition is intertwined with the future of liberal democracy. I write in chapter 6 that only voters can peacefully...
Transitions To Authoritarianism Sneak Up On People
One of the central implications of the analysis in Climate of Contempt is that the energy transition is inextricably intertwined with U.S. political dysfunction. In chapter 6 I cite scholars who...