We’re early in the formation of a grand coalition in opposition to Trump, but however long the task, that effort should focus on the top: Trump, his inner circle, principal surrogates, and media defenders. All in all, that’s a small group on which one may concentrate. There will be endless tactical debates about how to reach this…
Authoritarianism
America, Authoritarianism, Ethnicity, Law, Liberty, Religion
Against a Registry
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
America, Authoritarianism, Liberty, Politics, Trump
Paul Krugman Asks ‘How This Ends’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
On Twitter, Paul Krugman (@PaulKrugman) has a nine-tweet chain on possibilities after Trump becomes president. The chain begins at 1:05 PM – 6 Jan 2017 and ends at 1:16 PM – 6 Jan 2017. Here are those tweets, in order: Some musings on the next few years: We are, I’d argue, in much deeper and more treacherous…
Authoritarianism, Trump
Masha Gessen on Trump (1.8.17)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I respect Masha Gessen’s observations on Putin’s Russia, and her biography of Putin (part biography, part sketch of contemporary times) is excellent. See, among her many works, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin and Autocracy: Rules for Survival. Gessen has more recent observations on Trump as an authoritarian that are compelling. Her principal…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Kakistocracy, Law, Liberty, Trump
Distillation for a Resistance (First Edition)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
We’re early in this new political era, with a long time ahead of us, and there’s a need to get a sense of one’s bearings. (The sound way to approach the new politics that has overcome America through the three-thousand-year traditional of liberty to be found in many places, the Online Library of Liberty being…
America, Authoritarianism, Libertarians, Liberty, Politics, Trump
Wes Benedict Has a Book to Sell
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last month, the Libertarian Party’s executive director (Wes Benedict) sent me a tone-deaf, form email. I posted Libertarianism is Enough: Goodbye to the LP in reply, in which I argued that the Libertarian Party was an unworthy vessel for a liberty-oriented politics: Imagine, then, after an election in which the LP did poorly, and in which…
America, Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Language, Liberty, Putin, Russia
‘His thoughts are so correct’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Consider a letter from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, autocrat, murderer, and imperialist. Putin recently sent Trump a letter, only a few brief paragraphs, and Trump gave a statement in reply: “A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct,” Trump said in a statement. “I hope both sides are able to live up to…
America, Authoritarianism, Elections, Foreign Affairs, Liberty, Putin, Russia
Garry Kasparov on Vladimir Putin’s Election Interference and America’s Response
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Garry Kasparov‘s a great hero of mine (and of many millions across the world), not simply for his unquestioned understanding of chess, but even more for his commitment to human freedom and democratic institutions. In the audio interview below, Kasparov speaks about Putin’s manipulation of our recent election. (By the way, Kasparov’s excellent book, Winter…
America, Authoritarianism, Enforcement, Law, Liberty, Military, Tyranny
Gingrich’s Defense of a Self-Pardoning Administration: From Bad (12.19) to Much Worse (12.21)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
On the Diane Rehm Show of 12.19.16, former Speaker of the House Gingrich offered that a Trump Administration could simply pardon its own advisors to remove those advisors’ unlawful conflicts of interest: I think in the case of the president, he has a broad ability to organize the White House the way he wants to. He…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty, Trump
The Work of the Next Several Years
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Charles Blow writes of the work ahead for those many citizens who now find themselves compelled to defend their rights: I fully understand that elevated outrage is hard to maintain. It’s exhausting. But the alternative is surrender to national nihilism and the welcoming of woe. The next four years could be epochal years in the history…
Authoritarianism, Crime, Foreign Affairs, Trump, Tyranny
Someone the President-Elect Admires
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, overseer of a contentious and bloody crackdown on drug dealers and users, boasted on Monday about having personally killed criminal suspects when he was mayor of Davao City. “In Davao, I used to do it personally — just to show to the guys that if I can do it,…
America, Authoritarianism, Liberty, Russia
Alexei Navalany Announces Run for President of Russia
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If Alexei Navalany is willing to fight against Putin, in a society where Putin’s authoritarianism is much advanced, then we in America who are the fortunate & blessed heirs of a democratic tradition (where authoritarianism is yet only nascent) have no justification for reluctance to join our own fight. We’ll find those we can support, from among…
Authoritarianism, Russia
Arrest of Moscow Activists on Russian Constitution Day for Reading Their Own Constitution
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Arrest of Moscow activists on Constitution Day for reading the Constitution. Video by Radio Svoboda. https://t.co/lO7bRzS9Cu — X Soviet (@XSovietNews) December 12, 2016 ?????????? ?????????? ? ?????? ?? ?????? "?????????? ???????????". https://t.co/NMPYtkieiN pic.twitter.com/l0SqGTFmip — ????? ??????? (@SvobodaRadio) December 12, 2016
America, Authoritarianism, Labor, Liberty, Politics, Right-wing Populism, Trump
In a Principled Opposition, the Basis for a Grand Coalition
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Writing at The Week, Jeff Spross nicely summarizes Why Trump’s Cabinet poses a unique threat to the working class. Spross both explains Trump perceptively & succinctly, and in the same post implicitly holds out the prospect of a grand coalition (principled liberals, conservatives, and libertarians) to oppose him. (For an explicit call for broad opposition, from…