Highbrow Magazine - politics https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/politics en ‘The First Step’ Explores Van Jones’s Efforts for Prison Reform https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23420-first-step-explores-van-jones-s-efforts-prison-reform <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 02/17/2023 - 19:00</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1firststepfilm.jpg?itok=ER1Ieioy"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1firststepfilm.jpg?itok=ER1Ieioy" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Van Jones has been working for civil rights since the early 1990s, and over the decades, he’s been featured in the media and garnered criticism from both sides of the political aisle.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The First Step” documents Jones’s struggle to organize people from different backgrounds in order to pass a bipartisan bill on criminal justice, as well as exploring who Jones is in his own life.</span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Jones has a background in grassroots activism and has worked towards taking major steps in prison reform for a long time. His background is truly interesting, and you slowly piece together that for all the good he’s done, he also has a tendency to get overexcited and put his foot in his mouth. Jones’s best work involves talking to people who have been affected by the flawed prison system and have personal experience in dealing with addiction. There are many compelling stories here, and seeing how people turn their pain into action is what makes this documentary gripping. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2firststepfilm.jpg" style="height:366px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Throughout the film, you see how Jones’s willingness to speak to prominent conservative figures in order to establish common ground draws criticism from those on the left. Their stance is that involving conservatives who voted for Donald Trump only cheapens their efforts and absolves them from taking part in a regime that is against social justice. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Jones answers these criticisms by acknowledging that years of dealing with people staying within their own tight circles has resulted in little change. He sees the value in understanding the very people who would usually oppose the efforts of those he works with. It’s an interesting perspective and it’s easy to feel frustration the way Jones does when many people choose to oppose his efforts purely because of optics and stubbornness. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The First Step” does a good job of showing a balanced depiction of who Jones is. He isn’t perfect and made a lot of mistakes when he worked with the Obama administration. Despite working in politics for so long, he still has trouble choosing his words carefully and needlessly upsetting his supporters by getting chummy with conservatives like Jared Kushner. In many ways, he is his own worst enemy, but it does make him more interesting and relatable, because he comes off as an authentic human being trying to do good in the world.</span></span><br />  </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3firststepfilm.jpg" style="height:366px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I didn’t know much about the First Step Act, so watching this was a great way to learn both sides of the issue and the story of how it came to pass. Van Jones is an intriguing figure at the center of this film, and watching this film was like observing a character study, where you sympathize with the protagonist in some parts and side with the people criticizing him in others. “The First Step” is well-edited and does a great job of telling an important story in a compelling fashion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Ulises Duenas is a senior writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/first-step" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">The First Step</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/first-step-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">First Step Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison-reform" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison reform</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/van-jones" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">van jones</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison-system" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison system</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/activism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">activism</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/grassroots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">grassroots</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-addiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug addiction</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prisoners" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prisoners</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/law-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the law</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ulises Duenas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-videos field-type-video-embed-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div class="embedded-video"> <div class="player"> <iframe class="" width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/G2Xe3ThKXs8?width%3D640%26amp%3Bheight%3D360%26amp%3Bautoplay%3D0%26amp%3Bvq%3Dlarge%26amp%3Brel%3D0%26amp%3Bcontrols%3D1%26amp%3Bautohide%3D2%26amp%3Bshowinfo%3D1%26amp%3Bmodestbranding%3D0%26amp%3Btheme%3Ddark%26amp%3Biv_load_policy%3D1%26amp%3Bwmode%3Dopaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> </div> </div></div></div> Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:22 +0000 tara 11684 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23420-first-step-explores-van-jones-s-efforts-prison-reform#comments We Believed Our Constitution Would Always Protect Us - Until It Didn’t https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11153-we-believed-our-constitution-would-always-protect-us-until-it-didn-t <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 01/04/2021 - 12:04</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1_vote_statue_of_liberty-pxfuel_0.jpg?itok=HWNSk2Le"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1_vote_statue_of_liberty-pxfuel_0.jpg?itok=HWNSk2Le" width="450" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>For so many years, we were rightfully proud how the world was looking to America as the prime example of good governance with its principles enshrined in a great Constitution, the envy of many other countries. Now, in the span of just a few years, our belief in the infallibility of our political system has been shaken to the core by a leadership that stretched its powers way beyond the limits imposed by our constitution, while breaking many of our norms of moral behavior. How did our leaders get away with flagrant abuses of power, interfering with our justice system, undermining our sacred elections, shameless nepotism and relentless attacks on our rights of free expression?</p> <p> </p> <p>Why did our constitutional institutions fail to prevent these violations of our cherished principles? Why did our famed “checks and balances” not kick in to stop these excesses? It left many of us wondering whether our constitutional protections are really as effective as we like to believe. Are we now discovering that there are, perhaps, flaws in our Constitution and in our government setup overly ambitious politicians can use, <em>and actually have used,</em> to bypass the protections that these institutions are meant to give us?</p> <p> </p> <p>The good news is that the basic government structure our Founding Fathers had designed over 230 years ago is still serving us well. The problems we have seen during the past few years are not the fault of our Constitution’s basic concepts, but rather the belated effects of some of the very uncomfortable compromises that our Framers were forced to make in order to accommodate the divergent interests of the first 13 states. The trouble is that some of these old compromises have recently been turned into tools to undermine our democratic institutions.</p> <p> </p> <p>How so?</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1foundingfathers_painting_by_howard_chandler_christy_-_wikimedia.jpg" style="height:387px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Take for example, the allocation of Senate seats. The smaller states insisted on a form of protection so the larger states could not overpower them, and so the Framers reluctantly gave them two Senate seats for each irrespective of their population. At that time, when the differences in size were not really so large, this was not unreasonable, but now this rule has led us into the untenable situation where our five smallest states, with a combined population of less than 1 percent of our total, have the same voting power as the five largest, with over 40 percent.</p> <p> </p> <p>This imbalance has been cunningly exploited to thwart efforts to reign in the excesses by our executive branch, while forcing the appointing of judges and top administration posts based on their ideologies rather than their professional qualifications. We need to find a more realistic way to apportion Senate seats before it will do more damage to our democracy.</p> <p> </p> <p>The most acrimonious arguments among our Founding Fathers erupted about how much power to give to the office of president. On the one hand, they were deadly afraid that a president with too much power could one day maneuver to make himself a monarch, who could potentially take away people’s newly won freedom. After all, they had just risked everything in fighting to rid themselves of the oppression by the British monarchy. But on the other hand, they were facing the mundane problems of communication and traveling — their mail would take weeks, and travel was at best at the speed of a horse. That meant a lot of latitude had to be given to the president so he could take decisive actions in urgent matters, when consultation with other government members was not possible in a timely manner.</p> <p> </p> <p>These communication issues were real problems in their time and are the main reasons why they finally decided to grant an extraordinary range of powers to our president, from taking a number of unilateral actions, such as ruling by decree after declaring a “national emergency,” making or breaking international agreements, deploying the military, and hiring or firing heads of government agencies. No other modern democracies are giving anywhere near as much power to their top leaders because now those old communication problems no longer exist.       </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2congress_lawrence_jackson-whitehousedotgov.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Of course, our Founding Fathers also installed limits to our president’s decision-making such as the requirement to seek after-the-fact Senate approval for unilateral presidential decisions. This turned out to be highly ineffective -- what is the Senate to do when the president has already taken actions that are in fact irreversible? And how can you expect a lopsided Senate to reprimand its own leaders?</p> <p> </p> <p>With the communication difficulties they were facing in their days, our Founding Fathers had no choice but to give this extraordinary range of powers to the president. However, this was then, and in today’s world, with instant communication and speed of travel, the reasons for a concentration of power in a single person simply no longer exist. Instead, we have seen how easy it is for a president to abuse his powers for his own ends. It is time to limit these excessive powers before they, once again, could be used to endanger our democracy.</p> <p> </p> <p>Then our Framers found themselves entangled with the thorny question of how to elect the president. There were those who wanted to have Congress do the selecting, while others wanted a popular vote. That motion was squelched quickly as it pointed to the problem with the mail. However, there was another much more insidious argument -- elitists as they were, our Founding Fathers simply doubted that the “masses” would possess the information and discernment necessary for such a weighty decision as the election of president. Thus, the Electoral College was born with electors appointed by the states, each state free to set its own voting procedures for its delegates. This led to a patchwork of inconsistent rules, opening opportunities for voter manipulation and “back-room dealings” -- we are seeing this playing out right now.</p> <p> </p> <p>The worst part, however, is that the Electoral College has, several times, elevated a candidate into our highest office even after losing the popular vote. In fact, it has happened twice in our own lifetime, putting doubts into our minds about our time-honored concept of “one citizen, one vote.” We can ill afford such a flagrant devaluation of our sacred voting rights. We need to get rid of this undemocratic anachronism before greater damage will be done to our faith in our election system.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1trumpandhillary_0.jpg" style="height:337px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>To sum up, some of the compromises that our Founding Fathers had to make may have been necessary at the time they formulated our Constitution but the reasons for these compromises simply no longer exist. As recent events have shown, these obsolete compromise provisions can be exploited by less-than-trustworthy politicians to undermine our democratic institutions -- a clear and present danger to the future of our republic.</p> <p> </p> <p>Of course, it will not be easy to make these changes because they can only be made by the very people who owe their position of power to those anomalies. It will take a heroic effort to convince those in power to put their patriotic duties above their narrow self-interests, but we could never forgive ourselves if we fail to even try.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Wolfgang Mack </em></strong><em>witnessed his country’s slide into dictatorship while growing up in Nazi Germany. After surviving the war, he studied engineering and economics in Germany and Austria before moving to the United States under a post-graduate Fulbright scholarship. Mack managed multiple industrial enterprises in countries under strict dictatorships, later representing industry associations and becoming a lecturer and serving on several nonprofit boards. He is now retired and resides with his wife in Seattle. Mack is the author of </em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Parallels-Autocracy-Nations-Their-Liberty/dp/0578636263/" style="text-decoration:underline"><em>Parallels in Autocracy: How Nations Lose Their Liberty</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Painting by Howard Chandler Christy (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scene_at_the_Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jcxjl" style="text-decoration:underline"><em>Pxfuel</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Lawrence Jackson (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline"><em>Whitehouse.gov</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Donkey Hote (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hillary_Clinton_vs._Donald_Trump_-_Caricatures.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-constitution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. constitution</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/founding-fathers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">founding fathers</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bill-rights" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">bill of rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american government</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wolfgang Mack</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 04 Jan 2021 17:04:12 +0000 tara 10087 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11153-we-believed-our-constitution-would-always-protect-us-until-it-didn-t#comments Sue Coe’s Combustible Art Takes on Donald Trump https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11046-sue-coe-s-combustible-art-takes-donald-trump <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/photography-art" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Photography &amp; Art</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:06</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1suecoe.jpg?itok=FORDqNcp"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1suecoe.jpg?itok=FORDqNcp" width="337" height="450" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Sue Coe is a true Cassandra for our times.  But unlike the proverbial canary in the coal mine, she is no victim.  She has willingly put herself in the thick of the swamp since the 1980s and through the alchemy of her social protest art, emerged if not triumphant, a prophet we cannot afford to ignore.</p> <p>The current exhibition of her works at  GSE, Galerie St. Etienne in New York City, “It Can Happen Here”, is available in its entirety online, with an essay that not only introduces the reader to her political obsessions but provides a historical overlay of the ills of a society that has so often put profits above individual lives. In her scathing linocuts and graphite depictions, she has tackled it all—systemic racism, income inequalities, the lack of healthcare, global warming, police brutality, a rising and insidious fascism, the ravages of plagues, from AIDS to the COVID virus, and—Donald Trump.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2suecoe.jpg" style="height:450px; width:360px" /></p> <p>Born in Staffordshire, England, in 1951 to blue-collar parents, she was able to take advantage of free higher education available through the Labour Party.  On a scholarship, she trained as an illustrator at the Royal College of Art.  While there, It might have been two American sisters she met who brought her to New York—--“they wore no makeup and had long wild hair, they were like aliens, they were so…I wanted to go to that planet where they came from.” Arriving in 1972 with $100 in her pocket, she went straight to the <em>New York Times</em>, which gave her an illustration job on the spot.  The rest is history, as they say.</p> <p> A laser-sharp political awareness doesn’t flourish in a vacuum and studying at the Workshop for People’s Art had exposed her to the poster art and library sources that fueled her imagination.  If the likes of Rembrandt, Goya, and Kathe Kollwitz filled her nascent eyes, expressionist Otto Dix and social muralist Jose Clemente Orozco heightened it further.  She visited prisons, AIDS wards, even slaughterhouses to peel the layers of her vision clean.  Although studying the results, I question whether she ever greeted the world with rose-colored glasses.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3suecoe.jpg" style="height:450px; width:361px" /></p> <p>One of the earliest works that made her reputation in the East Village art scene is <em>How to Commit Suicide in South Africa</em> (1983).  Critic Donald Kuspit hailed her as “the greatest living practitioner of a confrontational, revolutionary art.” South African apartheid was a worthy subject, but she couldn’t ignore the Anglo-American politics of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.  She had witnessed police brutality in London as well as here, and her 1986 painting <em>Traffic Violation</em> shows officers beating a man for “driving while black.” Her <em>Police State</em> (1986) is another example of burgeoning abuses of power in the name of law and order.  <em>We Are All in the Same Boat,</em> a stark hand-colored woodcut from (2005) is also an oft-used expression of the artist.</p> <p>Wood carving as an art form has been long established but often overlooked in its ability to evoke strong emotional responses in the viewer.  Notable practitioners in recent history include Frans Masereel, a Belgian active in anti-war movements during World War I, put urban corruption in high relief with his graphic novel, <em>The City</em>.   Another contemporary who excelled in the art was the great German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, whose experiments brought the form to a new level.  For Coe, “Carving strips away what was lovely about my drawings, all those intricate tones, down to raw content. It removes my pride in clinging to technique, down to the urgency of what needs to be said. It matches my rage, slashing away at the wood or linoleum and seeing the chips fall.”</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4suecoe.jpg" style="height:354px; width:450px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The tragic prevalence of the coronavirus on everyone’s mind is understandable, but Coe’s awareness of plagues as subject matter is almost eerily prescient.  In 1997 she produced <em>Deadly Virus (Monkey Business)</em> followed by her 2004 series <em>Fowl Plague</em>, documenting how one such pathogen jumped from chickens to a Vietnam populace. </p> <p><em>Doctor MAGA</em> (2020) is a brilliant depiction of Trump in the guise of a medieval plague doctor.  Another, <em>The Dim Reaper</em> (2020) shows him egging on practices that help spread the virus. Coe explained that her relief printing—linocut and woodcut—was perfect for her Trump and COVID work because the ancient technique is well-suited to digital reproduction.  I might add, ideal for the increase in viewers she consistently attracts.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5suecoe.jpg" style="height:373px; width:450px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>There are other examples of her satirical, lacerating treatment of Trump, one even depicting his misogynistic treatment of women.  <em>Unpresidented</em> (2017) shows Trump attacking the Statue of Liberty, grabbing lasciviously at the folds of her skirt.  The metaphor is perfectly clear.</p> <p>The title of the exhibition takes its genesis from Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel, <em>It Can’t Happen Here</em>. Written while the world was in the throes of the Great Depression and Hitler’s rise, the novel describes the rise of a American fascist.  Coe’s linocut <em>It Can Happen Here (Trump)</em> (2016)<em> </em>in the fall of 2016 depicts Trump tearing up the U.S.  Constitution.  Hillary Clinton was widely believed to be the winner then but once again, Coe’s unnerving talents as an oracle tell the real story.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/6suecoe.jpg" style="height:450px; width:356px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Some may call her a revolutionary, others a humanitarian, and still others--especially those who are familiar with the profound influence of her art--a national treasure.  Coe’s exhibitions, awards and publications are too numerous to mention.  A few:  Coe was elected into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Academy_of_Design" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" title="National Academy of Design">National Academy of Design</a> in 1993. <em>Sheep of Fools,</em> Coe's collaboration with Judy Brody, was Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2005. She was awarded the 2015 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Caucus_for_Art_Lifetime_Achievement_Award" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" title="Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award">Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts award</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Caucus_for_Art" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" title="Women's Caucus for Art">Women's Caucus for Art</a>, for her dedication to art and activism.</p> <p><em>New York Times</em> columnist Frank Bruni, in the wake of the current presidency, wrote “I can’t look at America the same way.”  Sue Coe makes sure we don’t look away.   </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/7suecoe.jpg" style="height:450px; width:357px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>(Founded in 1939 by Otto Kallir (1894-1978), the <a href="https://gseart.com/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Galerie St. Etienne</a> is the oldest gallery in the United States specializing in Austrian and German Expressionism. It has mounted the first American one-person shows of such artists as Erich Heckel (1955), Gustav Klimt (1959), Oskar Kokoschka (1940), Paula Modersohn-Becker (1958) and Egon Schiele (1941). The gallery is also known for its expertise on Käthe Kollwitz. The current director, Jane Kallir, has written over 20 books and is the leading authority on Egon Schiele.)</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Source:</strong></p> <p><em>All images courtesy of the artist and Galerie St. Etienne</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sue-coe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sue Coe</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/galerie-st-etienne" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">galerie st. etienne</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-art" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political art</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/activisim" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">activisim</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/british-artists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">british artists</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-statements" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political statements</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sandra Bertrand</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Images courtesy of the artist and Galerie St. Etienne</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 18 Nov 2020 15:06:54 +0000 tara 9989 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11046-sue-coe-s-combustible-art-takes-donald-trump#comments Steve Bannon, the Right-Wing Prince of Darkness, on Politics and Fate https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11006-steve-bannon-right-wing-prince-darkness-politics-and-fate <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 11/02/2020 - 10:46</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1stevebannonfilm.jpg?itok=B19koOqq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1stevebannonfilm.jpg?itok=B19koOqq" width="320" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>For a few years, few figures in American politics could match the controversial mystique of Steve Bannon while also gladly playing the heel. He appeared as a man who had accomplished the impossible, who had cheated reality, and won by herding a political neophyte into the top elected office in the free world.</p> <p> </p> <p>That mystique -- and controversy -- still cling to the movie producer, investor, and political adviser. With his one-time employer Donald Trump now in the fight for his electoral life, and Bannon embroiled not only in a fraud case but the uproar of the discovery of a computer alleged to be Hunter Biden’s, now is an opportune time to revisit Bannon and look for that vital spark imparted on the 2016 Trump candidacy through the lens of Errol Morris's documentary <a href="https://watch.topic.com/movies/AXTle2uO4r0T_3NQjTxA?display=still"><em>American Dharma</em> (available on topic).</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Morris’s interview with Bannon starts out with a discussion of <em>Twelve O'Clock High</em> starring Gregory Peck, which proceeds into a discussion of dharma. For Bannon, “Dharma is the combination of duty, fate, and destiny. For me to fulfill my Dharma, I have to fulfill my duty.” This push to destiny could even mean one's ultimate destruction, giving one a window into how Bannon coped with a rough break with the president. Despite Bannon's initial statements that a certain “touchy-feely” bearing of man prevents this <em>amor fati</em>, the viewer is later confronted with a tale of how Bannon was raised in a community that sent many of its young to die in the Vietnam War only to witness, decades later, the same country where his daughter's West Point Volleyball uniform was made.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2stevebannonfilm.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>If this almost schizoid split between the embrace of emotion while pushing for a stolid embrace of fate minutes earlier seems an impossible feat, Morris proceeds to usher Bannon through other positions that seem completely contradictory.</p> <p> </p> <p>And we can even see some of these seeming contradictions in Bannon's life: moving through a cavalcade of elite institutions while, simultaneously, having an affinity for outsider heroes. The viewer is left with a collection of sharply contrasting images, but they only make sense when the metaphorical camera pans out to view not the pictures as individuals but the whole they comprise.</p> <p> </p> <p>While Morris challenges Bannon on these seeming inconsistencies, he doesn't try to move in the other direction: trying to amass, through his own questioning, the picture composed of these images.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hearing Bannon describe the United States as on course for a revolution that ultimately cannot be avoided reminds one of reading Michael Anton's <em>The Flight 93 Election</em>. But years later, an almost apocalyptic present leaves the viewer wondering what good charging the cockpit has done the passengers. We see a Bannon who is content with his ministrations: He sees a United States that must first be made sick to be cured of its illness. One is made to wonder if, like pyrotherapy, the cure may be worse for the patient than the underlying disease.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3stevebannonfilm.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Adam Gravano is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/errol-morris" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Errol Morris</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/steve-bannon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">steve bannon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-dharma" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">American Dharma</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-documentaries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new documentaries</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/right-wing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">right wing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/conservatives" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">conservatives</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. politics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hunter-bidens-laptop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">hunter biden&#039;s laptop</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">elections</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Adam Gravano</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">All images courtesy of topic</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 02 Nov 2020 15:46:38 +0000 tara 9948 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11006-steve-bannon-right-wing-prince-darkness-politics-and-fate#comments The Importance of the 2020 Election: How to Save Our Democracy https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10838-importance-election-how-save-our-democracy <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 09/07/2020 - 13:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1_vote_statue_of_liberty-pxfuel.jpg?itok=Blm8vZ-i"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1_vote_statue_of_liberty-pxfuel.jpg?itok=Blm8vZ-i" width="450" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from Mac Regan’s new book, </em>The 2020 American Revolution<em>. Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Citizens know that things are amiss. The country’s historical formula for success—combining Constitutional values, democracy, and capitalism—is out of balance and increasingly unable to adapt.</p> <p>Americans are socially divided, unsure of the future, and politically polarized. Government leadership is partisan, unable or unwilling to address the nation’s issues, and mired in hostile and often misleading dialogue. Businesses prioritize stock price, short-term profits, and political influence over the drivers of long-term success— job creation, increased wages, worker training, and contributions to community and society.</p> <p>Internationally, America is at odds with long-standing allies, less likely to stand up to human-rights abusers, and confrontational with major trading partners. Tweeted threats and saber-rattling have replaced bipartisan diplomacy.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1macregan.jpg" style="height:600px; width:375px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>It remains to be seen whether the Trump legacy will be one of draining the swamp and making America great or creating a deeper morass of increased income inequality, environmental degradation, and trade policies and tariffs that reduce Americans’ ability to sell their products while simultaneously increasing their own costs.</p> <p>It seems certain that the 2020 presidential and congressional elections will be the most ferociously contested, costly, and consequential in memory. If America’s founding patriots could tweet from the grave, they would warn us about the destabilizing potential of a failure to address the ills that threaten our historical values. This scorecard includes legacy racial segregation and ethnic intolerance (aren’t all created equal?), religious fundamentalism (what about separation of church and state?), increasing wealth and income inequality (does this “promote the general welfare”?), disproportionate and often harmful influence of the wealthy and powerful on our elected representatives (is this government “of the people, by the people”?), and radicalization of both major political parties (is this aiding “a more perfect Union”?).</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2joe_andjillbiden_anthony_quintano_-_flickr.jpg" style="height:334px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>That said, a majority of citizens acknowledge our problems, are passionate about many issues, and enjoy large tracts of middle-ground consensus. But it is unclear if they will vote in sufficient numbers (particularly in congressional and gubernatorial elections) to negate the impact of highly organized and well-funded cadres of uncompromising, win-at-all costs conservatives and liberals. It is also unclear how voters, in the era of fake news, compromised social media, and information overload will systematically sort through dizzying amounts of information and disinformation to allow a well-informed vote.</p> <p>Reasserting the primacy of citizens and aligning our representatives to the “general welfare” are the central challenges of the 2020 elections. It is said that Americans love a fight or a show. The 2020 elections will be both. However, citizens will not advance America via partisan disagreement or by watching from the sidelines.</p> <p> </p> <p>The stakes are high. Do we want increasing wealth inequality and imbalances in power and influence, social fracturing and unrest, deterioration of the natural environment, subpar economic growth, inability to change and respond to problems, increased risk of financial and trade market collapses, unchecked political corruption and cronyism, loss of access to opportunity, and inadequate future supplies of workers?</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/bidenobamatrump_cristian_l_ricardo_-_usmarinecorps-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:571px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>After years of legislative and social gridlock, these failings are at a critical stage. But irreversible damage to our historical values, our democracy, and our capitalism can be avoided. The last line of defense now, as in 1776, is citizens who can make informed decisions and have the patriotic courage to sacrifice, compromise, and overcome bias in the service of America. The 2020 revolution for America will depend on objectivity and critical thinking rather than firelocks and cannons; it will be fought among candidates with big policy and philosophical differences rather than against an oppressing foreign power; and it will be decided by voter turnout rather than military victory.</p> <p>The previously politically disengaged, independents, moderates, millennials, and crossover centrists will determine the 2020 election. Failure of these groups to participate and make a well-informed choice will leave America at the mercy of its political pols. Citizen patriots must do their most fundamental job: vote.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2macregan.jpg" style="height:500px; width:332px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from Mac Regan’s new book, </em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/2020-American-Revolution-Decision-Support/dp/05786250" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The 2020 American Revolution</a><em>. Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Mac Regan spent 35 years as a consultant and executive for Mercer, a large multinational corporation, before attending the Graduate Master of Arts Program (GMAP) at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University), where he honed his understanding of the U.S. from a global perspective. He has written, researched, and spoken extensively on the imbalances in the American system of constitutional values, democracy and capitalism, and is the author of <a href="http://globalcitizenpatriots.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Global Citizen Patriots</a> in addition to his newest book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/2020-American-Revolution-Decision-Support/dp/0578625083" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">The 2020 American Revolution</a>.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Courtesy of the author</em></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jcxjl" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Pxfuel</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Anthony Quintano (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/50100512043" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Cristian L. Ricardo (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barack_Obama,_Donald_Trump,_Joe_Biden_at_Inauguration_01-20-17_(cropped).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mac-regan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mac Regan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-american-revolution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">The 2020 American Revolution</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-presidential-election" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 presidential election</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democracy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democracy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. government</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american voters</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting rights</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/constitution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the constitution</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/civil-rights" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">civil rights</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Mac Regan</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 07 Sep 2020 17:50:24 +0000 tara 9813 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10838-importance-election-how-save-our-democracy#comments Celebrity Politicians Are Nothing New in America https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9411-celebrity-politicians-are-nothing-new-america <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 10/22/2018 - 09:02</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1pappyodaniel.jpg?itok=KrnQph_h"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1pappyodaniel.jpg?itok=KrnQph_h" width="480" height="381" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>On Palm Sunday in 1938, W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel was hosting his radio show from Fort Worth, Texas, when he<a name="_GoBack" id="_GoBack"></a> asked his listeners: “Should I run for governor?” O’Daniel professed that a blind man had written to him saying that Texas needed to kick out “professional politicians” and instead elect a governor who was of and for the people, trustworthy, and a good Christian.</p> <p> </p> <p>Three weeks later, O’Daniel announced that he was running in the Democratic primary for governor (this was before the Republican and Democratic parties had switched platforms). Using the Ten Commandments as his platform and with the slogan “Pass the biscuits, Pappy!,” O’Daniel came ahead of 11 rivals to secure the Democratic nomination and in January of 1939,  thousands of Texans <a href="https://reason.com/archives/2016/02/25/before-trump-there-was-pappy">came</a> to see “Pappy” being sworn in as the 34<sup>th</sup> governor of the the Lone Star state.</p> <p> </p> <p>O’Daniel’s governorship marked what is probably the first instance of a “celebrity” turning to politics in America. Celebrity status back then was restricted to the mediums of television and radio. By the mid-1930s, O’Daniel was a beloved radio presenter and a household name in Texas, and he provided what was apparently a much-needed change in the Texan political landscape. Yearning for something new, Texans voted O’Daniel into the office of governor twice.</p> <p> </p> <p>And celebrity politicians are not only nothing new, they’re also not uniquely American. The Philippines has a substantial list of celebrities turned politicians, one of the most famous being Joseph Estrada. A prolific film actor who starred in over 100 films, Estrada successfully ran for president of the Philippines in 1998. India, not to be bested, boasts an impressive list of celebrity politicians, and the practice is so common that there’s an ongoing <a href="https://thetempest.co/2018/01/31/news/we-welcome-celebrities-into-politics-but-are-they-good-politicians/">joke</a> among fans of Indian celebrities that the next logical step for any successful movie star is to turn to politics.</p> <p> </p> <p>But America’s relationship with celebrity politicians, which dates back to more than half a century, is one that is deeply rooted in the all-American belief that all politicians will be just that: politicians. This was exemplified, of course, not so long ago during the contentious 2016 presidential elections. It wasn’t only Republicans who rebuffed the establishment by nominating and eventually electing as president a reality television personality with no political experience; Democrats, too, saw a brief but powerful insurgency when Bernie Sanders became a dangerous contender and gained a cult following of voters, who were presumably rejecting the institution that the Clinton political dynasty represented. </p> <p> </p> <p>Our current glaring example aside, perhaps some of the most recognizable celebrity politicians in America have been President Ronald Reagan and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though it must be noted that Reagan’s celebrity may not have helped him secure the White House, but the governorship of California instead.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1arnold.jpg" style="height:339px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>A <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/reagan-nominated-for-governor-of-california">liberal</a> New Deal Democrat during his youth, Reagan became a moderately successful Hollywood actor where he polished his “good boy” characters in B-film westerns. After eventually switching parties in the 60s, Reagan secured the Republican nomination and served for two terms. This is most likely what lent him the political clout and national recognition to boast of his experience when he ran for the presidency, even after his first two attempts were unsuccessful. Reagan also helped move the political center more towards the right, and his governorship was a good display of the rise of populism.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, classifying “populism” can be dodgy at best, certainly within the context of celebrity politicians, if only because not all celebrities are inherently populists. There is no telling for sure if Mark Zuckerberg or Oprah, for example, would run as populists if they ever fancy to hold public office (as opposed to Oprah running as a liberal à la Bernie Sanders, which is more likely; and Zuckerberg… the jury is still out on that one). Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger was as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2003/08/27/schwarzenegger-the-radical-moderate/ad865a7f-1a4c-463f-9e63-9a0482257ca2/?utm_term=.abfa5d0f27b3">centrist</a> as they come, though his campaign and eventual election are prime examples of celebrities using their fame and recognition as powerful tools within their platforms.</p> <p> </p> <p>When “The Arnold” ran for governor, Californians were deeply unhappy with the leadership at the time. So much so, that Democratic governor Gray Davis was <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-california-recall-schwarzenegger-20131006-dto-htmlstory.html">recalled</a> and ousted from office. Constituents were reeling from the electricity <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/policies/legislation/california/subsequentevents.html">crisis</a> that had gripped the state as well as a budget stagnancy created, in part, by the <a href="http://www.sf-info.org/history/d15/dot-com-bubble">bust</a> that was the dot-com bubble. The recall procedure in California does not <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_recall_in_California">require</a> primary elections. Instead, any person who collects 65 signatures and pays the filing fee could run for office.</p> <p> </p> <p>This meant that, in true California fashion, the race for governor was really a bit of a circus. One-hundred-thirty-five candidates, from all walks of life, were crammed in the <a href="https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-0af6e2829d3c011d1a3fc53bb616182e.webp">ballot</a>. Former child star Gary Coleman was a contender, as was 101-year-old Mathilda Spak as a write-in <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Campaign-for-the-ages-OLDEST-CANDIDATE-There-s-2596918.php">candidate</a>—her major supporters were 99 Cents Only Store shareholders, who fronted her the $3,500 filing fee. The most <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/arianna-huffington-the-most-upwardly-mobile-greek-since-icarus/">upwardly</a> mobile Greek since Icarus, Ariana Huffington, also entered the race as an independent, as did adult film actress Mary Carey who would go on, more than a decade later, to nominate herself to be Donald Trump’s running mate in a NSFW photo shoot. Former Republican congressman Michael Huffington, meanwhile, who had revealed he was bisexual after his divorce from Ariana in 1997, announced he would not run for governor and publicly <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/07/huffington.recall/">endorsed</a> Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the midst of this carnival-like election process, Schwarzenegger used his celebrity status to embark on a campaign tour on board his “Total Recall” bus, a cheeky name that served the double purpose of evoking his hit action film and to poke fun at the all but inevitable recall that Governor Davis was facing (how perfect!). Using a true populist approach, Schwarzenegger <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKXhwLKNJo">asserted</a> in campaign ads that politicians were not doing their jobs. And in a stunning display of ironic foreshadowing, he ran under the <a href="https://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2003/09/14/Schwarzenegger-calls-for-unity-from-California-conservatives/stories/200309140028?abnpageversion=evoke">slogan</a> “Let’s bring California back,” presumably as another cheeky allusion to his famous one-liner from the Terminator film.</p> <p> </p> <p>The parallels can be striking: only five days before election day, the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/02/local/me-women2">broke</a> the story that at least six women were alleging Schwarzenegger had groped and humiliated them sexually. In October 7, 2003, Davis was successfully ousted and Schwarzenegger won the race for governor of California, with 43 percent of women voting for him.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1cynthianixon.jpg" style="height:361px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Throughout U.S. history, there has been a substantial number of celebrities who have made a bid to hold public office, some successful and some not. Shirley Temple lost a primary race in California for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; retired professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was the governor of Minnesota and served as the mayor of Brooklyn Park before that; Clay Aiken ran for a congressional seat in a North Carolina district, which he lost; and Clint Eastwood was the mayor of Carmel, California, in the '80s.</p> <p> </p> <p>This trend may appear somewhat asinine. What would drive celebrities to go into politics when they already have wealth, recognition, and a strong following? But all those elements prove to be helpful when running for office, which is why politics may seem like a logical next step. While campaigning, politicians strive to make a connection with their constituents, to become recognizable, and to drive their market value up as someone noteworthy. Celebrities already enjoy all of those things, so it may be easier for them to accumulate votes.</p> <p> </p> <p>Part of running a campaign is also acting the part, and actors can be pretty good at that. Celebrities can have more talent in front of audiences, generally; and they may be more apt to deal with scandals more deftly, in part because the public assumes that scandals are simply part of their lives. Reagan himself was a skilled performer who <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Celebrity-Politics-Darrell-M-West/dp/0130943258">used</a> a combination of theatrics and performance in radio and television pseudo-events to basically play the part of a president.</p> <p> </p> <p>Yet, these same useful assets may prove to be a double-edged sword because celebrity, inevitably, brings scrutiny. Al Franken, for example, was a widely popular senator before he resigned when a photograph surfaced. The photograph had been taken three years before he became a U.S. senator, when Franken was touring the world doing comedy sketches and promoting his books. The picture depicts Franken in a military plane, smiling mischievously to the camera, as he gropes—or is about to grope, or is pretending to grope—radio host Leeann Tweeden’s breasts while she slept. And while Franken’s actions were certainly reprehensible and the backlash was well-founded and well-placed, it’s hard to imagine if the photograph would have seen the light of day if Franken had not been a high-profile comedian before his time in the Senate (or, shortsightedly, if he had been in any position to have been part of such a scenario in the first place).</p> <p> </p> <p>And if Americans have proven anything over the past 15 years is that they are fickle voters, if something is to be taken from the many unsuccessful bids for office of celebrities-would-be-politicians. Voters, it turns out, also don’t particularly like when celebrities run for office, at least in America. In fact, most people <a href="https://thetylt.com/culture/should-celebrities-stay-out-of-politics">believe</a> that celebrities shouldn’t get involved in politics at all, even to offer endorsements.  Sixty-three percent of those polled believe that celebrities are out of touch with the average American; even if some of them had modest upbringings or rose from poverty, people believe that celebrities now live within a bubble of wealth and fame and are therefore removed from the struggles of middle-class America. Others believe that, while celebrities can get involved in politics, they shouldn’t push specific agendas or <a href="https://pagesix.com/2016/11/12/why-celebrity-endorsements-didnt-help-hillary-at-all/">tell</a> people how to vote.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is perhaps the biggest hurdle that Cynthia Nixon had to overcome when she unsuccessfully challenged Andrew Cuomo for governorship of New York. Nixon was born in New York City and was raised by a single mother in a one-bedroom apartment in the Upper West Side, where she attended a New York City public school. And while she had never held public office before she challenged Cuomo, she had been a political activist for many years on issues that New Yorkers would seemingly care about, such as LGBT rights, education, and women’s rights. Yet, while Trump’s lack of political experience seemed to be an asset, Nixon was called a neophyte with no skills to lead. Though this comparison is probably unfair; Nixon was, after all, fighting an uphill battle with Cuomo’s political experience, family legacy (his father Mario was a three-term governor of New York), and $30 million budget. Besides, Cuomo is <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/04/17/andrew-cuomos-popularity-ties-record-low-siena-poll/523108002/">generally</a> well-liked, even when his popularity is at a record low. But then we have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenging Joe Crowley, so who knows what voters really want, after all.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1oprah.jpg" style="height:328px; width:626px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Then there’s also the indelible fact that sometimes celebrities simply do not make good politicians. In 1987 Ilona Staller was elected to the Italian parliament. A former porn actress who used the stage name “La Cicciolina” (loosely, Little Tubby Woman), she was once married to Jeff Koons and had a proclivity to deliver political speeches with one of her breasts exposed. Staller infamously <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/08/22/Porn-star-lawmaker-offers-to-submit-to-Saddam/5597651297600/">offered</a> to sleep with Saddam Hussein at the outset of the Gulf War in exchange for world peace and to resolve the crisis in the Middle East. She was <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/star-porn-whatever-became-italys-cicciolina-1104912">not</a> reelected when her term was up in 1991. Following charges of corruption, Joseph Estrada became the first Asian president to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/14/news/the-impeachment-of-estrada-day-of-political-tumult-in-manila.html">impeached</a> after a congressional debate that reportedly lasted just five minutes. Nevertheless, in a political comeback that would make Roy Moore jealous, Estrada now serves as the mayor of Manila. </p> <p> </p> <p>On his part, O’Daniel was an ineffective governor. He did not raise the old-age pension or abolish the poll tax and the sales tax, as his campaign had promised. He did, however, have a penchant for <a href="http://www.tpr.org/post/pass-politics-pappy-part-4-odaniel-senate">blaming</a> everyone else for the fact that he never did anything—from the media to other politicians to his fellow state legislators—especially during his radio show, which he continued to host throughout his governorship. He was known for submitting legislation that he knew would not pass: O’Daniel blamed legislators for defeating his pension plan, even though he refused to raise taxes to pay for it; his <a href="http://www.historynet.com/american-schemers-w-lee-pappy-odaniel.htm">measure</a> to limit taxes on oil and gas forever (yes, <em>forever</em>), which would have required an amendment to the state constitution, also did not make the cut and his legislators got the blame for that as well. As a senator, he <a href="https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKodaniel.htm">campaigned</a> against civil rights and against pro-trade unions. He <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LTvPDAAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA48&amp;lpg=PA48&amp;dq=communist-controlled+New+Deal+lee+o%27daniel&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=R1tb3MJT7I&amp;sig=8k19wF0-UVOaqHVWLCbUMtZZaD4&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiMvJ-9j9_dAhWidt8KHU3FB4oQ6AEwBXoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=com">scorned</a> the “communist-controlled New Deal” and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hYUrXmQgmV0C&amp;pg=PT441&amp;lpg=PT441&amp;dq=restoration+of+the+supremacy+of+the+white+race+lee+o%27daniel&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=9b7DPMvhmj&amp;sig=in2yHd0nFBRfVMHYPfft9LzBFJs&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjMjoOBkN_dAhUSJt8KHdsYBcgQ6AEwA3oECAI">demanded</a> the “restoration of the supremacy of the white race.” </p> <p> </p> <p>O’Daniel retired after his second term as U.S. senator but then tried to run for governor twice more, losing both times. Whether voters learned from their mistakes or were simply weary of another celebrity-turned-politician is hard to tell, given who currently sits in the Oval Office. Because “Pappy” O’Daniel, the radio superstar who was as close to a celebrity as America had back then and as abortive a leader as they come, was indeed elected to the U.S. senate not once but twice.  </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Angelo Franco is</em> Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief features writer.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/celebrity-politicians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">celebrity politicians</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/arnold-schwarzenneger" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">arnold schwarzenneger</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cynthia-nixon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cynthia nixon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/oprah" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Oprah</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ronald-reagan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ronald Reagan</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/al-franken" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">al franken</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/andrew-cuomo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">andrew cuomo</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fame" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fame</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Angelo Franco</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 22 Oct 2018 13:02:14 +0000 tara 8319 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9411-celebrity-politicians-are-nothing-new-america#comments Hillary Clinton Channels Her Inner Sixties https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5944-hillary-clinton-channels-her-inner-sixties <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 08/07/2016 - 16:13</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/15hillary.jpg?itok=7Dl0LkBA"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/15hillary.jpg?itok=7Dl0LkBA" width="480" height="247" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Adapted from an article originally published in Political Wire.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>To me at least, one of the most memorable lines of conventions past is when the Reverend Jesse Jackson, speaking at the 1988 Democratic gathering in Atlanta, sought to explain that he is a far more complex person than his media caricature would suggest. “You see me on TV,” he said, “but you don’t know the me that makes me me.”</p> <p> </p> <p>In many ways that can apply to all of us, but especially to politicians whose personae and character are mediated through the images we see and the news we consume. We like to think that these images say everything about the people we elect, that they give us real insight into what drives them and who they are. But maybe Jesse Jackson was right: what we imagine about politicians may say more about us than about them.</p> <p> </p> <p>I thought of the Jackson quote because of the riddle inside the enigma that Hillary Clinton has been to so many of us over the years. And I began to wonder if the chattering class that gets paid princely sums to pontificate has gotten her all wrong. Perhaps we’ve misinterpreted those characteristics that pundits and critics alike have labeled as guarded, defensive, calculating, and secretive — a Machiavelli in heels, as so many have called her.</p> <p> </p> <p>And here’s why. Hearing her biography over and over during the Democratic convention confirmed one undisputed fact about her: she’s not only “from the Sixties,” as she said at a Democratic debate last year, but she’s of the Sixties. And she’s of a very specific side of the Sixties, the earnest activists who wanted to transform the world by digging deep into policy and challenging outdated norms and practices.</p> <p> </p> <p>For these activists, the popular phrase “question authority” had both a political and personal meaning — political because they were going up against an entrenched society built on values they wanted to change, and personal because they distrusted anyone whose ego seemed greater than the movement of which they claimed to be part. These were behind the scenes types, the activists who toiled away at the Legal Services Corporation or went South as Hillary Clinton did to challenge school segregation. Participatory democracy was their mantra, and they suspected anyone who tried too hard to lead. They looked askance at the class presidents as more image than substance, they believed virtue and not public relations would yield results, and when journalists wanted to write about them, they said no, write not about us but about what we do.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/14hillary.jpg" style="height:477px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Ours is a culture in which celebrity is a career. Contestants on The Apprentice or Survivor hire agents, show up on game shows, and get paid on the speaking circuit. So we simply assume that people do things for the fame, not the substance, for the power, not the morality. Now Hillary Clinton is a public figure, and in an era of wall-to-wall PR it’s hard to argue that she’s not playing the game.</p> <p> </p> <p>But perhaps she simply backed into it. Perhaps she’s that Sixties activist at heart who preferred behind-the-scenes advocacy and the humility of action — but got drawn into politics as a result of her husband’s career. Perhaps she is a reluctant politician, not a Machiavellian schemer. Perhaps she sees the presidency as a vehicle for change, not a driving ambition. And perhaps because we are so accustomed to politicians who thrive on attention, we are simply mistaking her discomfort with the process as arrogance. It may well be that the Hillary of 2016 remains the activist driven by her inner Sixties.</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s been said that the close-up photograph of a century-and-a-half ago changed the relationship we have with our presidents, turning it from a civic to an emotional connection — that we see their image and then project onto them our own hopes and desires, fears and uncertainties. So perhaps Jesse Jackson was right. We may have seen him on TV. But “you don’t know the me that makes me me.” Something to think about as we make our judgments about the woman who may become president of the United States.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Adapted from an article originally published in Political Wire.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>A former speechwriter and strategist for causes, candidates, and members of Congress, Leonard Steinhorn has written two books on American politics and culture and frequently writes for major print and online publications. He is currently a professor of communication at American University and a CBS News political analyst.</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hillary-clinton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hillary Clinton</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bill-clinton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bill Clinton</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/activists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">activists</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sixties" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the sixties</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/presidential-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">presidential elections</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Leonard Steinhorn </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 07 Aug 2016 20:13:53 +0000 tara 7095 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5944-hillary-clinton-channels-her-inner-sixties#comments Why Americans Still Don’t Understand Net Neutrality https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4577-why-americans-still-don-t-understand-net-neutrality <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:46</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1netneutrality.jpg?itok=3kodb5Pm"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1netneutrality.jpg?itok=3kodb5Pm" width="480" height="266" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Most Americans don’t understand the idea of net neutrality and can’t identify its significance as a platform, as <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/17/net-neutrality-update-dude-needs-vacation/">multiple polls</a> from groups like the Glover Park Group and Public Opinion Strategies have shown, yet when President Barack Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission <a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/11/10/obama-calls-on-the-fcc-to-back-internet-net-neutrality-rules-pundits-react">in November</a> to promote the issue, crusaders from both parties took a stand. The problem? Cat-searching Web surfers and blogging moms alike still don’t understand net neutrality, but now the issue is a political one and the uninformed individual is required only to choose a familiar side: red or blue.</p> <p> </p> <p>Enter Ted Cruz, the sometimes sweetheart of Tea Party Republicans with a terrifying gift for tweeting unforgettably stupid one-liners, and his social media denouncement of Obama’s November 10<sup>th</sup> call-to-action. On Facebook, Cruz wrote that net neutrality is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-net-neutrality-is-obamacare-for-the-internet-2014-11">equivalent to Obamacare</a> for the Internet, and that the Internet shouldn’t operate at the speed of government – probably no one is arguing with that last point, but Cruz’s argument that net neutrality is the “biggest threat to the Internet” is the perfect example of the issue’s branding, or lack thereof, and the cloud of confusion that surrounds it. For Republicans, Cruz’s argument has defined net neutrality as an antagonist of the free market – a staple of the conservative diet – instead of its true identity as a proponent.</p> <p> </p> <p>To Cruz and his party, net neutrality restricts freedom, but what does it really do? Currently, the Internet is a free-for-all in which Internet service providers (ISPs) can enter into financial agreements with certain Websites – Comcast and Netflix, for example, have a financial agreement so that the video streaming Website can have better access to customers. If net neutrality isn’t enforced, those in favor of it fear that such deals will continue to be made and that larger companies will overpower their smaller, start-up counterparts and crush innovation altogether. Specifically, net neutrality advocates suspect ISPs will pay for prioritized access to consumers and have an unfair advantage, or even worse that certain Internet users will possess the ability to pay for faster service, creating a wealth-based space in a once equally accessible plane.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the face of such fear, Obama asked the FCC to reclassify the Internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, meaning that the Internet would be treated like a public utility. Under the new classification, ISPs would no longer be able to give certain websites an advantage over others by slowing down or speeding up a user’s access. If the FCC were to follow Obama’s recommendation, consumers would pay a single fee to ISPs and receive equal access to the entire Internet without interference from providers, meaning that nonprofits and schools (or any otherwise financially handicapped institution) would have as much access to the Internet as a Wal-Mart tycoon.</p> <p> </p> <p>In its true form, net neutrality seems like a Republican’s wet dream - an unregulated and open market motivated by competition – but the party can’t be bothered to do its research, instead relying on President Obama to make the first move and using his so-called socialist agenda (or whatever word-du-jour they choose) to make their own sound bites seem valid.</p> <p> </p> <p>Unfortunately, when Obama made note of his support for net neutrality, he made the issue a party platform and widened the partisan gap – in short, he gave the now Republican-run Congress a once obscure force to fight against.</p> <p> </p> <p>Knowing conservatives would grasp at the chance to counter him, why would Obama bring up a topic he hasn’t really mentioned since his original 2008 presidential campaign? Well, he has nothing to lose with only two years left in office and a Republican-controlled Congress. Some have suggested that the president is now searching for areas of common ground between parties, since resolving stalemates in Washington with such a divide would be nearly impossible, but the seemingly uncontroversial topic has created bigger problems for Obama in the past few months than anticipated.</p> <p> </p> <p>Already, the GOP has issued a letter challenging the FCC’s authority on the issue of net neutrality, which would have been more or less ignored had Obama not unearthed the topic. Despite the Republican party’s petty games, concession must be made for the occasional moderate: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for negotiating a last-minute deal with Majority Leader Harry Reid and saving the country from defaulting on its debt, or Senator Lindsey Graham for oft making bipartisan deals at the White House and criticizing the Tea Party strand. In an interview with the <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=481&amp;sid=11500850"><em>Associated Press</em></a>, Republican Senator Bob Bennett slammed the radical Tea Partiers for hijacking the GOP and leading the party aimlessly.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2netneutrality.jpg" style="height:386px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>“At the moment there is not a cohesive Republican strategy of this is what we’re going to do,” Bennett said. “And certainly among the Tea Party types there’s clearly no strategy of this is what we’re going to do.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Perhaps, then, there should be a distinction between Congressional Republicans – whom the Tea Party has romanced – and the GOP. In fact, four of five Republicans opposed the idea of allowing broadband access providers to charge Websites or streaming video services for faster speeds, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/12/wonkbook-polling-shows-even-republicans-overwhelmingly-support-net-neutrality/">according to one poll</a> conducted by the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication. A second poll conducted by Vox Populi for the Internet Freedom Business Alliance found the same results – those who identified as “very conservative” adamantly opposed any kind of monopolization of the Internet. Four of five Republican respondents even argued that Congress should take action against such a possibility. In that case, Congressional Republicans appear not to be representing their constituents, but their corporate endorsers like Verizon and Comcast.</p> <p> </p> <p>As early as 2011, Verizon admitted unabashedly that it had donated to Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. The company also donated money to the general House Tea Party Caucus, according to <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1726212/tech-and-tea-party-why-verizon-and-att-are-donating-republicans"><em>Fast Company</em></a>. AT&amp;T was also found to have donated nearly $400,000 to members of the House Tea Party Caucus, including House Majority Leader John Boehner. In 2013, Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen endorsed Tea Party Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, in addition to Comcast donating heavily to Boehner, OpenSecrets reported.</p> <p> </p> <p>Finally, not willing to risk its ambitions on the stalemate that is Capitol Hill, Verizon explicitly took down the FCC by suing the organization for its first batch of net neutrality rules. It’s clear, then, when ISPs so vehemently organize against net neutrality that Congressional Tea Party Republicans would focus their “aimless” efforts on guaranteeing their personal funding – that is, fighting net neutrality.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now, fresh-faced and holding Congressional majority, the Tea Party’s next move will no doubt be a reaction to the impending FCC vote on net neutrality rules in February. Though lawmakers are unsure exactly what steps they’ll take, Republican staffers have suggested that legislation <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-lay-plans-to-fight-fccs-net-neutrality-rules-1420405643">blocking reclassification</a> of the Internet as a public utility and cutting the FCC’s budget is not out of the question. A kind of Congressional veto, the Congressional Review Act, is a seldom used but applicable tool that Congress could also use to void any major FCC rule.</p> <p> </p> <p>Despite the potentially black future of an Internet bureaucracy in which ISPs have the power to censor content (like when Verizon blocked NARAL Pro-Choice America’s text messages) or bundle websites like cable packages (an International package that might include BBC News or Hollywood access for viewing Netflix and YouTube), there is hope.</p> <p> </p> <p>Writing for a three-judge panel following the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to overrule the FCC’s original net neutrality rules, U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel noted that the organization does have the power to regulate broadband companies, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-14/verizon-wins-net-neutrality-court-ruling-against-fcc.html">Bloomberg reported</a>. However, the trick is finding the right legal framework for its open-Internet regulations.</p> <p> </p> <p>FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to announce a new set of net neutrality rules in February.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Emily Smith is a contributing writer at</em></strong><strong> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/net-neutrality" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">net neutrality</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/internet" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">internet</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fcc" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">FCC</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/comcast" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">comcast</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/netflix" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Netflix</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/web-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the web</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Emily Smith</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:46:36 +0000 tara 5629 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4577-why-americans-still-don-t-understand-net-neutrality#comments How Dynasties Shaped American Politics https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4431-how-dynasties-shaped-american-politics <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 11:31</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1kennedys.jpg?itok=oKJCH9s_"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1kennedys.jpg?itok=oKJCH9s_" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://punditwire.com/2014/11/07/dynasties/">PunditWire.com</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Average voter turnout in the 2014 elections is reported to be the lowest since World War II. There are doubtless many reasons for this poor showing, but I’m going to suggest a provocative one: namely, that the American people aren’t voting because they are coming to accept the dynastic principle when it come to filling public offices.</p> <p> </p> <p>For a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal, this country has produced a remarkable number of political dynasties. John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, was the son of second president John Adams. Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president, was the grandson of ninth president William Henry Harrison. And, of course, President George W. Bush, our 43rd president, is the son of George H.W. Bush, our 41st president.</p> <p> </p> <p>And let’s not forget the Kennedys: John Kennedy was president, brother Bobby was attorney general and candidate for president, and Teddy Kennedy was a senator and candidate for president before he took that wrong turn off Chappaquiddick bridge. Bobby’s daughter Kathleen was lieutenant governor of Maryland and later an unsuccessful candidate for governor. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy Roosevelt’s irrepressible, sharp-tongued daughter, once said of the Kennedys that the world had not seen a family like them since the Bonapartes.</p> <p> </p> <p>Alice was in no position to make wisecracks about ruling families. She belonged to one herself. Her father and Franklin Roosevelt were distant cousins. Not only that, Teddy was the uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR’s wife.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Taft family of Ohio produced a president — William Howard Taft, who served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after he left the White House – and also three senators, two representatives and a lieutenant governor. The Frelinghuysens of New Jersey have served in either the House or Senate for six generations. Other families with long record in office include the Chafees of Rhode Island and the Bayhs of Indiana.</p> <p> </p> <p>More recently, Andrew Cuomo succeeded his father as governor of New York. Rep. John Sarbanes, who represents Maryland’s third district in Congress, is the son of former senator Paul Sarbanes. The elder Sarbanes represented the third district himself between 1971 and 1977.</p> <p> </p> <p>Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution once calculated that about 700 U.S. families had sent two or more members to Congress. According to him, political dynasties “are all over the place.”</p> <p> </p> <p>University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato seconded Hess. “What has happened to the American republic?” he exclaimed. “How does it differ from a banana republic where a couple of dominant families often run everything for generations?</p> <p> </p> <p>Fortunately, the dynastic principle is not absolute. It suffered at least two setbacks in the last elections. Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, was decisively beaten in her own campaign for senator from that state. Also, Jason Carter, grandson of former president and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, failed in his own gubernatorial bid.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/johnadams.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p>But these would appear to be the exceptions. In Connecticut, Teddy Kennedy Jr., son of the late Massachusetts senator, won a seat in the Connecticut state senate. In Texas, George P. Bush– nephew of President George W. Bush, grandson of President George H.W. Bush, and son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush–was elected state land commissioner by a whopping 60 percent of the vote.</p> <p> </p> <p>Meanwhile, George P.’s father Jeb is a possible presidential candidate in 2016, as is former first lady Hilary Clinton.</p> <p> </p> <p>Where will it all end?</p> <p> </p> <p>In medieval England, the rival houses of York and Lancaster claimed the crown, touching off more than thirty years of bloody civil war. The succession was finally settled when the last Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, killed the last Yorkist king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Henry then cemented the peace by marrying a Yorkist princess, uniting the two houses. If Chelsea Clinton and George P. Bush were not already married to other spouses, the nation’s power brokers could arrange a marriage of convenience between the two and eliminate the need for future presidential elections altogether.</p> <p> </p> <p>Maybe the voters who stayed at home on election day were the smart ones.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Hal Gordon, who wrote speeches for the Reagan White House and Gen. Colin Powell, is currently a freelance speechwriter in Houston. Web site: <a href="http://www.ringingwords.com/">www.ringingwords.com</a>.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://punditwire.com/2014/11/07/dynasties/">PunditWire.com</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-dynasties" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political dynasties</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/dynasties" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">dynasties</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american politics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-families" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political families</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bushes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the bushes</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kennedys" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the kennedys</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jfk" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jfk</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rfk" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rfk</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/teddy-kennedy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">teddy kennedy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/midterm-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">midterm elections</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Hal Gordon</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 10 Nov 2014 16:31:10 +0000 tara 5407 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4431-how-dynasties-shaped-american-politics#comments The Political Crisis That Will Determine Thailand’s Future https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3443-political-crisis-will-determine-thailand-s-future <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 02/17/2014 - 10:22</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1thailand.jpg?itok=H0OBEcOA"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1thailand.jpg?itok=H0OBEcOA" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/02/thailand-has-reached-political-fork-in-the-road.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p>BANGKOK -- At a recent rally here denouncing the caretaker government of Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party, Nga Nguyen, a Vietnamese tourist, looked down from the overpass of the Asok train station at thousands of protesters and shook her head. "Vietnam has no democracy, and Thailand is throwing it away," she said. "It makes you wonder if it's a real democracy at all."</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s a fair question to ask, given the ongoing political crisis Thailand finds itself in. Ever since the military coup of 2006 that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand had been sailing in uncharted waters. Though a divisive figure in Thai politics, Thaksin was democratically elected in 2001. He won re-election by a landslide with the highest voter turnout in Thai history, in 2005. A populist and a multibillionaire, he’d done more for the rural population than all his predecessors combined, introducing effective policies to alleviate rural poverty by half in only four years, and, equally enticing, implementing universal health care.</p> <p> </p> <p>A pro-Thaksin prime minister was popularly elected to office in the general election in 2007. But that victory was short lived as election results were met by massive protests in Bangkok, amid claims of election fraud. Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) – referred to as “yellow shirts,” they chose that color to honor Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej – blocked the airport for days and stranded nearly 250,000 tourists. The constitutional court, under pressure to get the country moving again, agreed with the yellow shirts (who represented the urban, educated and white-collar class) and disqualified the pro-Thaksin prime minister.</p> <p> </p> <p>Worse, by appropriating the symbol of the monarchy, the yellow shirts effectively eradicated the neutral ground from which the monarchy usually played its best role, as a mediator between at-odds factions. In turn, their protest was met by “red shirts,” who in 2010 emerged from the rural areas and spread out around the Thai capital, blocking roadways and entrances to upscale shopping malls during a month-long protest that brought the Thai government to the brink of collapse. The government responded to the redshirt uprising with military crackdowns, but that didn't stop Thaksin's party to win another election: this time, it was Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck, who took the helm with a landslide election victory in 2011.</p> <p> </p> <p>Since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, it has experienced many coups and counter-coups. Yet the monarchy traditionally held enormous power, providing much needed constancy and balance. King Bhumibol Adulyadej played a central role in the most pivotal moments during Thailand’s transition to a democratic system. In 1992, with the country at a standstill amid unprecedented pro-democracy protests, he summoned the leaders of the two opposing parties. Both men appeared together, on their knees in front of the king, in a televised event that helped ease the way to a free election.</p> <p> </p> <p>The days of a neutral monarchy now seem a thing of the past. An ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej is 87 years old and hasn't recently been seen in public. His heir apparent, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is perceived by many as the wrong choice and lacks the gravitas and respect his father enjoyed. Whether the monarchy is relevant or even helpful in restoring balance to the current crisis is debatable. With its power eroded among the peasantry, thanks largely to the Pheu Thai party, the monarchy increasingly throws its support behind the yellow shirts or the Democrat Party, and in the process, further isolates itself from the country’s rural poor.</p> <p> </p> <p>For too long the city of Bangkok has floated in a kind of First World wealth – replete with sky trains, high rises, luxury condos and marbled mega malls – while its rural populace stayed stilted in the mud of Third World poverty. Perhaps the greatest fiction The Land of a Thousand Smiles has managed to tell itself and the rest of the world is that it is a bona fide democracy. But behind that infamous smile is an ancient feudal system that was built on the roan backs of peasants for a millennium.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2thailand.jpg" style="height:453px; width:292px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>That system relied on the lower class's continual servitude and, in some way, their acceptance of a deeply embedded caste system in which reverence for the king, who is accorded god-like status, carried over to reverence for anyone occupying a higher social strata. The caste and status consciousness, as construed by a simplified if misunderstood religious idea in which past karmic debts sent one to a permanent level of society, is so deeply ingrained that it is reflected in the Thai language itself.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, that old superior-inferior fiction is eroding and eroding fast. In the last decade or so, what was once remote and rural has been integrated with the rest of the world, thanks in large part to the distribution of electricity to even the most remote areas – provided from sparsely populated Laos next door with its mega hydroelectric dams – which brought TV, radio, Internet and the cheap and ubiquitous cell phones, information being the true form of democracy. Those who once lived in isolated thatched huts are thus now highly aware of the wide urban-rural gap, and possess a deep and growing sense of injustice.</p> <p> </p> <p>What Thaksin and his political party, Pheu Thai, gave the long suffering rural population was a sense of upward mobility, and a vision of shared governance. Critics point out that this has been done at the expense of tax-paying middle class Thais. The party’s rice-subsidizing scheme, they say, is not sustainable, and in fact, has turned some farmers against the government, which hasn't been able to come up with all the money to pay them as promised.</p> <p> </p> <p>But it is also certain that with a majority of the rural poor politically awakened, the Democrat Party needs to deal with their long grievances rather than merely plotting protests and coups. "As long as it insists that losers in democratic elections are under no obligation to accept the results," warns an editorial in the <em>Economist</em>, "Thailand will slide downhill."</p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/3thailand%20%28IRRI%20images%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>On the other hand, the old tug of war between rural-urban factions doesn’t have to be one. Given so much at stake, an opportunity for constitutional reform with real shared power is possible. The alternative, after all, is far worse: economic ruin, political impasse, and a potential for civil strife that will leave the Land of a Thousand Smiles grimacing for years to come.</p> <p> </p> <p>Phou, a 45-year-old taxi driver who declines to share his last name, came to Bangkok from northwest of Chiangmai. He's part of the Isan population, affiliated with Laos, an ethnicity frowned upon by many in the capital. Nevertheless the Isan dominate Thailand's northwestern region and are increasingly active voters. He thinks the protesters who want to bring down the Shinawatra government are "crazy." In broken English, he tried to explain how Thailand's political seesaw won't ever end unless poor, rural people like him are given a voice. "Bangkok is so rich. Everywhere outside, so poor." He said. "Poor people support Shinawatra."</p> <p> </p> <p>And what if the protestors manage to bring down the government? "Red Shirt," he said, face stern and eyes narrow, "come back. [We'll have] big protest, more than yellow shirt."</p> <p> </p> <p>Thus, for now at least, continues the political tug of war.</p> <p> </p> <p>Author Bio:</p> <p><em>Andrew Lam is editor at New America Media and the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora," "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres," and "Birds of Paradise Lost," a collection of short stories about Vietnamese refugees on America's West Coast, which won the Pen/Josephine Miles Literary award.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/02/thailand-has-reached-political-fork-in-the-road.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thailand" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Thailand</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thailand-demonstrations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">thailand demonstrations</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-turmoil" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political turmoil</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-cirisis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political cirisis</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bangkok" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bangkok</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thai-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">thai government</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thai-people" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">thai people</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; IRRI Images (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 17 Feb 2014 15:22:17 +0000 tara 4285 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3443-political-crisis-will-determine-thailand-s-future#comments