Locally, statewide, and nationally, Trump & those who flacked his tax bill, and those who also pushed corporate welfare schemes (Foxconn, WEDC, Whitewater CDA), promised growth, growth, growth! How odd that these men — politicians, movers-and-shakers, developers, landlords, and public relations types — seem to have missed the mark: The World Bank sees U.S. growth stumbling from…
America
America, City, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
One Year
by JOHN ADAMS •
For all the discussion of politics over these last three years, America now comes to a critical year ahead. In these next twelve months, we’ll see primaries, conventions, a general election, and thereafter possible challenges to, and necessary defenses of, the constitutional order. When was there another year so important to America as 2020 looks…
America, History, Television, Wisconsin
On the American Experience: McCarthy
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tonight, on the American Experience on PBS, an episode on Sen. Joe McCarthy: McCarthy chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator who came to power after a stunning victory in an election no one thought he could win. Once in office, he declared that there was a vast conspiracy threatening America…
America, Blogging, History
But We Never Went Away…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Writing at NiemanLab, Joanne McNeil offers a prediction for 2020 in A return to blogs (finally? sort of?): One reason we might see a resurgence of blogs is the novelty. Tell someone you’re starting a new newsletter and they might complain about how many newsletters (or podcasts) they already subscribe to. But tell them you’re…
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Rep. Adam Schiff’s Closing During Wednesday’s Impeachment Debate
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Boosterism, Never Trump, Politics, Travel
Conservatives against Trump Establish The Lincoln Project
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m a libertarian, not a conservative, and yet one wishes the best for The Lincoln Project, a national conservative effort to defeat Donald Trump: We do not undertake this task lightly nor from ideological preference. Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain. However, the priority for all patriotic Americans must be a shared fidelity…
America, Authoritarianism, Education, Law, Trump
More Dangerous Than More Dangerous
by JOHN ADAMS •
At the Washington Post’s Plum Line, Greg Sargent writes that William Barr’s deceptions are more dangerous than you think. It’s an excellent post about Barr’s attempt to validate Trump’s lies (about Russia, Ukraine, election interference). Sargent’s assessment is even less favorable for the future – and so more ominous – than he writes. Sargent is right…
America, Congress, Impeachment, Trump
The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Authoritarianism, Babbittry, Bigotry, Boosterism, City, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Mendacity, Never Trump, Politics, Resistance, Trump
Forget the Tender Feelings of a Pernicious Faction
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes about the political divide in For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin [Richland Center], the impeachment fight is a symbol of broken politics. The story establishes a false equivalence between those who support impeachment and those who oppose it, as though the conflict between these views…
America, History, Holiday
A Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863
by JOHN ADAMS •
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail…
America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Putin, Trump-Russia
Statement and Testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill
by JOHN ADAMS •
These many years, across generations, many (including libertarians) have wanted peaceful relations abroad, but have found instead a relentless, scheming dictatorship under the Soviets and, not longer after, under Putin. This question in foreign policy confronted us: what is to be said, what is to be done, about imperialistic dictatorships? Some (including sadly some isolationist…
America, City, Impeachment, Law, Liberty
Statement and Testimony of Gordon Sondland, American Ambassador to the European Union
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an oft-repeated saying that all politics is local. It’s false, at least in our time: in hamlets, villages, towns, and cities our politics is national (and constitutional). In fairness, I’ve always inclined to this view, but it would be better to be wrong than to be proved right under these conditions. It should be…
America, City, Never Trump, Trump
Yet Again, All Eyes on Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin is a small state, yet an important one – in these recent years she has played a significant role in the political life of the country. As one would not wish to live other than in Whitewater, so one could not wish for more valuable ground on which to fight the political conflict of…
America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Mendacity, Newspapers, State Capitalism
What the New Dealers Got Right – What Whitewater’s Local Notables Got Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s sound reason to doubt that the New Dealers’ economic solutions to the Great Depression were effective, but there’s no doubt that Roosevelt’s Brain Trust was hard-working, smart, and candid in its description of America’s economic problems. For a critical assessment of the New Deal, written accessibly, see The Forgotten Man: A New History of…
