Social discord, frequently inflamed by proliferating versions of identity politics, is becoming more prevalent.
.. what if public discontent is a reasonable response to a misguided and complacent elite consensus?
.. American political theatre stages ever shriller battles over increasingly trivial matters.
.. We believe that recognizing failures and encouraging new ideas are not betrayals of American “optimism” but are instead healthier expressions of it.
.. Today, the celebration of “disruptive” technological innovation is virtually unanimous. Why then is corporate and government investment in basic research in decline? Why is productivity stagnating?
.. we are told that more and more jobs will be lost to automation, and that the “new economy” will be a highly bifurcated service economy. But if “average” is truly over, what does that mean for an American republic predicated on a strong and independent middle class
.. Yet the most conspicuous global phenomenon of the present time would appear to be the resurgence of nationalism
.. Can nationalism be leavened by justice—or even be essential to it—rather than being abandoned to its worst expressions?
.. Was meritocracy fated to produce social stratification? Or are we privileging certain forms of merit while excluding others?
.. Have the permanent campaigns of identity politics on the left and the “culture wars” on the right concealed the true content of our common citizenship?
.. The promise of America is no longer being realized as it once was. Revival and realignment are critically needed.
Republicans and Medicaid Expansion
For all of the thermonuclear reactions in the press, the just-barely-started Trump administration hasn’t really had an unfixable mistake yet. Yes, the rollout of the executive order on immigration and refugees was a mess from start to finish, but the administration has the option of a mulligan and they’re taking it. (In retrospect, don’t even bother trying to enact a controversial change without your own attorney general in place to defend it legally.)
.. Strategists at Goldman put the mood of the market this way: “We are approaching peak optimism.” They forecast the S&P 500 will hit a high in the next month or so but end the year lower than where it is now as investors push back expectations for the timing of the tax cuts.
.. Ironically, some states are buying into the Medicaid expansion just as Republicans start talking about replacing it. In Kansas, the state House just voted to expand eligibility, 81-44.
.. Some might grumble that this is taking away Obamacare-era subsidies for purchasing insurance and replacing them with Trumpcare (or whatever the replacement is called) tax credits for purchasing insurance. But Walker seems pretty convinced that this is better if it is part of an overall emphasis of getting people into the workforce:
.. When governors are given the ability to really reform Medicaid and our other assistance programs, when I say it’s the same or better, I mean we help somebody get into the workforce. Now they’ve got an employer-based plan, or they’re making enough to be able to afford the co-pays or the premiums on that. They’re better off than they were before. The government just giving them something, even in the form of a subsidy, isn’t necessarily good for them. We can find a better alterative. It doesn’t mean we’re giving you more money, but rather we’re giving you more ability to earn and live a better life.
.. we were suddenly informed that because of a security sweep by the Secret Service, we all had to leave – meaning, everyone on “Radio Row” – every host, guest, producer, and technician had to clear out, even if they were supposed to be on the air.
.. CPAC didn’t have this problem when Republicans didn’t run anything in Washington!
Obviously the Secret Service needs to able to ensure a secure environment, but this felt like a massive failure of logistics and foresight. Radio stations pay big bucks to set up a mobile studio at CPAC. It’s probably some of their busiest days of the year; CPAC brings together a small crowd of potential guests in one place. Panel discussions were effectively canceled because no one could get through the checkpoints in time. There’s a good chance one of those panels was on effective communication and the need for conservatives to get their message out… and no one could actually hear it because of the sudden, unannounced security protocols.
Justin Trudeau’s Message to U.N.: ‘We’re Canada and We’re Here to Help’
Two hallmarks of Mr. Trudeau’s government since it took power 10 months ago have been admitting Syrian refugees and promising action on climate change.
While he raised both of those issues in his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Trudeau also used the occasion to underscore another two of his favorite themes: optimism and internationalism.
.. Instead, he used much of his time to challenge other politicians for, in his view, exploiting anxiety.
“Fear has never created a single job or fed a single family,” Mr. Trudeau said. “People want their problems solved, not exploited.”
A Referendum on America’s Identity
Jim Wilson, a 65-year-old retired white police officer in Chillicothe, Ohio, who responded to the survey, is one of them. “We’re losing the core family unit, I think, or [there’s] moral decline by both parents being gone and children don’t have the values that they did at one time,” he said. And he added, “People today don’t have a nest egg of any kind. A majority of people you see are living from check to check. [If] there is one sickness, one illness, one mistake, you stub your toe, [then] you lose everything you have.”
..Almost exactly three-fourths of both Clinton and Trump supporters say it’s harder to get ahead today. But Trump supporters are much more pessimistic about the next generation’s chances. Just 17 percent of them think today’s kids will have more opportunities than today’s adults; a resounding 56 percent of them expect them to have fewer opportunities, with the remaining roughly one-fourth expecting no change. “Well, if it keeps on going the way we’re going now, you get to be my age, you’re just done,” said Wilson, the retired Ohio police officer. “You don’t have a chance to have a nest egg, to retire on … I mean, right now if I was 21 years old today, and I just got married, I would terribly concerned on bringing children into the world the way it looks like it’s headed under the past leadership we’ve had.”
.. Although 83 percent of Clinton voters are positive about more women working outside the home, only 50 percent of Trump backers agree. Intriguingly, the women supporting Trump are more negative about this development than the men, the poll found.