Highbrow Magazine - 2020 elections https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2020-elections en A Guided Tour of MAGA Country in ‘The Storm Is Here’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21977-guided-tour-maga-country-storm-here <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="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 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/1jan6.jpg?itok=7cAUxjuq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1jan6.jpg?itok=7cAUxjuq" 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><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Storm is Here: An American Crucible</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Luke Mogelson</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Penguin</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>360 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Luke Mogelson was living in Paris in April 2020, when, as he recounts in <em>The Storm is Here, </em>“It started in Michigan.” There, anti-lockdown protestors swarmed the state capitol, demanding relief from what they saw as “draconian” Covid-19 prevention methods, such as wearing masks. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Seeing how much this menacing protest resembles the January 6<sup>th</sup> insurrection in Washington D.C., it certainly seems like the start of danger brewing. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Of the many so far unaccounted-for crimes of his administration, few are as pernicious as the way Donald Trump and his corrupt ilk have warped reality and called basic truths into question. Whether Trump caused the right-wing wave or expertly rode it, his shamelessness and grifter tendencies have diminished the office of the presidency. He also hastened the collapse of civility and any impulse among his followers to cooperate with so-called “enemies of the state” (that is, anyone who disagrees with him).</span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2jan6_0.jpg" style="height:607px; width:399px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">All this pales against the attempted coup d’état of January 6. And here is where <em>The Storm is Here </em>offers valuable boots-on-the-ground reportage of what happened that day, and in the tumultuous year preceding it.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Mogelson, a veteran <em>New Yorker </em>writer, returned to the U.S. in May 2020 and began reporting on MAGA activity (and protests against MAGA) across the U.S. In this way, bringing together different moments of our recent, troubled past, he offers fresh insights and details only possible from being on the front lines. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For example, at the riots exploding in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd, he writes about a Black Lives Matter protestor’s confrontation with the police:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Bringing out a Sharpie from her bag of supplies, she started writing the phone number for a local bail fund on people’s arms. A young officer trained his gun on her and held it there … The scene is seared in my memory. Half-hidden behind his body armor and his helmet and his face visor, the young officer is almost not a person—almost a generic uniform, another badge. But as he points the gun at Simone, there is also something definitely human in his posture and his eyes. What makes him so frightening is that he is so frightened.”</span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3jan6.jpg" style="height:366px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Embedded among civilian militias like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Mogelson crafts arresting portraits of individuals falling under the sway of Trump and his cohorts. And while he and the rest of us couldn’t have anticipated January 6<sup>th</sup> in all its gory details, it’s not surprising that he finds himself caught up in the crowd’s violent assault on the Capitol:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Seconds later, the entrance gave. The officers caught in the breach fought desperately to fend off the mob while more Trump supporters attacked them from behind. One man repeatedly whacked an officer on the head with a length of plastic conduit wrapped in an American flag. Besieged from the front and the rear, the police could do little other than attempt to stay on their feet while using their bodies as obstacles to slow the stampede.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In <em>The Storm is Here, </em>we meet men and women who are furious with the federal government, with the decline in our quality of life, and with “elites” on both coasts who—in their view—do all they can to keep people down. In this respect, Mogelson’s reportage is especially significant, giving a voice to MAGA protestors, including some of the most violent among them. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Many other books analyze the causes and repercussions of right-wing extremism. Luke Mogelson takes us into the middle of it and gives it a human face. The results aren’t pretty.</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>Lee Polevoi</em>, Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic, is the author of </em>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash, <em>forthcoming in 2023.</em></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> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Image Sources:</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--TaptheForwardAssist (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_Capitol_Storming_IMG_7939.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--DonkeyHote (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/51210156975" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Penguin</em></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="/maga" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">maga</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="/january-6" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">january 6</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/storming-capitol" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">storming of the capitol</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/maga-protestors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">maga protestors</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/right-wing-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the right wing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/presidency-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the presidency</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">Lee Polevoi</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> Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:50:40 +0000 tara 11481 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21977-guided-tour-maga-country-storm-here#comments What Joe Biden’s Victory Means for Race Relations, the Supreme Court, and U.S. Foreign Policy https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11020-what-joe-biden-s-victory-means-race-relations-supreme-court-and-us-foreign-policy <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 Sat, 11/07/2020 - 18:24</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/2joeandjillbiden_bidenforpresident_-_creative_commons.jpg?itok=PhqjGkLp"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2joeandjillbiden_bidenforpresident_-_creative_commons.jpg?itok=PhqjGkLp" width="480" height="320" 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><em>The American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>President Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time, he dragged policy on an array of issues in a dramatic new direction.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Three scholars discuss what a Biden presidency may have in store in three areas: race, the Supreme Court, and foreign policy.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>--Brian J. Purnell</strong></p> <p><em>Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College</em></p> <p><strong>--Morgan Marietta</strong></p> <p><em>Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell</em></p> <p><strong>--Neta C. Crawford</strong></p> <p><em>Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Boston University</em></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1blacklivesmatter_anthony_quintano-flickr_1.jpg" style="height:401px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Racism, policing, and Black Lives Matter protests</strong></p> <p><em>Brian Purnell, Bowdoin College</em></p> <p>The next four years under a Biden administration will likely see improvements in racial justice. But to many, it will be a low bar to clear: President Donald Trump downplayed racist violence, egged on right-wing extremists and described Black Lives Matter as a “symbol of hate” during his four-year tenure.</p> <p>Indeed, according to polls, most Americans agree that race relations have deteriorated under Trump.</p> <p>Still, Biden is in some ways an unlikely president to advance a progressive racial agenda. In the 1970s, he opposed busing plans and stymied school desegregation efforts in Delaware, his home state. And in the mid-1990s he championed a federal crime bill that made incarceration rates for Black people worse. He bungled the hearings that brought Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court by allowing Republican senators to dismiss Anita Hill’s damming testimony of Thomas’s sexual harassment and by failing to allow other Black women to testify.</p> <p> </p> <p>But that was then.</p> <p> </p> <p>During the 2020 campaign, Vice President Biden consistently spoke about problems stemming from systemic racism. Many voters will be hoping that his actions over the next four years must match his campaign words.</p> <p> </p> <p>One area that the Biden administration will surely address is policing and racial justice. The Justice Department can bring accountability to police reform by returning to practices the Obama administration put in place to monitor and reform police departments, such as the use of consent degrees. More difficult reforms require redressing how mass incarceration caused widespread voter disenfranchisement in Black American and Latino communities.</p> <p> </p> <p>“My administration will incentivize states to automatically restore voting rights for individuals convicted of felonies once they have served their sentences,” Biden told the <em>Washington Post</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p>The killing of George Floyd earlier this year reinvigorated talk of addressing systemic racial discrimination through fundamental changes in how police departments hold officers accountable for misconduct and excessive force. It is unclear how far President Biden will walk down this road. But evoking the words of the late civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, he at least suggested at the Democratic National Convention that America was ready to do the hard work of “rooting out systemic racism.”</p> <p> </p> <p>President Biden can help address how Americans think about and deal with unexamined racial biases through reversing the previous administration’s executive order banning anti-racism training and workshops. In so doing, President Biden can build on psychological research on bias to make American workplaces, schools and government agencies equitable, just places.</p> <p> </p> <p>Making progress fighting systemic racism will be a slow, uphill battle. A more immediate benefit to communities of color could come through President Biden’s COVID-pandemic response – the Trump administration’s failure to stanch the spread of coronavirus has led to deaths and economic consequences that have disproportionately fallen on racial and ethnic minorities.</p> <p> </p> <p>On matters of race relations in the U.S., most Americans would agree that the era of Trump saw the picture worsen. The good news for Biden as president is there is nowhere to go but up.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1supremecourt_supremecourtdotgov.jpg" style="height:472px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The Supreme Court</strong></p> <p><em>Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Despite the fact that American voters have given Democrats control of the presidency, the conservative Supreme Court will continue to rule on the nature and extent of constitutional rights.</p> <p> </p> <p>These liberties are considered by the court to be “beyond the reach of majorities,” meaning they are intended to be immune from the changing beliefs of the electorate.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, appointees of Democrats and Republicans tend to have very different views on which rights the Constitution protects and which are left to majority rule.</p> <p> </p> <p>The dominant judicial philosophy of the conservative majority – originalism – sees rights as powerful but limited. The protection of rights recognized explicitly by the Constitution, such as freedom of religion, speech, press and arms, will likely grow stronger over the next four years. But the protection of expansive rights that the Court has found in the phrase “due process of law” in the 14th Amendment, including privacy or reproductive rights, may well contract.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Biden administration will probably not agree with the Court’s future rulings on voting rights, gay rights, religious rights or the rights of noncitizens. Ditto for any rulings on abortion, guns, the death penalty and immigration. But there is little a President Biden can do to control the independent judiciary.</p> <p> </p> <p>Unhappy with what a strong conservative majority on the court may do – including possibly overturning the Affordable Care Act – many Democrats have advocated radical approaches to altering what the Court looks like and how it operates, though Biden himself has not stated a clear position.</p> <p> </p> <p>Suggested options include term limits, adding a retirement age, stripping the jurisdiction of the court for specific federal legislation, or increasing the size of the Court. This strategy is known historically as court packing.</p> <p> </p> <p>Ruth Bader Ginsburg opposed expanding the court, telling NPR in 2019 that “if anything would make the Court look partisan, it would be … one side saying, ‘When we’re in power, we’re going to enlarge the number of judges, so we would have more people who would vote the way we want them to.’”</p> <p> </p> <p>The Constitution does not establish the number of justices on the court, instead leaving that to Congress. The number has been set at nine since the 1800s, but Congress could pass a law expanding the number of justices to 11 or 13, creating two or four new seats.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, this requires agreement by both houses of Congress.</p> <p> </p> <p>The GOP seems likely to maintain a narrow control of the Senate. A 50/50 split is possible, but that won’t be clear until January when Georgia holds two runoff elections. Any of the proposed reforms of the Court will be difficult, if not impossible, to pass under a divided Congress.</p> <p> </p> <p>This leaves the Biden administration hoping for retirements that would gradually shift the ideological balance of the Court.</p> <p> </p> <p>One of the most likely may be Justice Clarence Thomas, who is 72 and the longest-serving member of the current Court. Samuel Alito is 70 and Chief Justice John Roberts is 65. In other professions, that may sound like people soon to retire, but at the Supreme Court, that is less likely. With the other three conservative justices in their 40s or 50s, the Biden administration may be fully at odds with the court for some time to come.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1irannucleardeal_state_department_-_wikipedia.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Foreign policy and defense</strong></p> <p><em>Neta Crawford, Boston University</em></p> <p> </p> <p>President-elect Biden has signaled he will do three things to reset the U.S.‘s foreign policy.</p> <p> </p> <p>First, Biden will change the tone of U.S. foreign relations. The Democratic Party platform called its section on military foreign policy “renewing American leadership” and emphasized diplomacy as a “tool of first resort.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Biden seems to sincerely believe in diplomacy and is intent on repairing relations with U.S. allies that have been damaged over the last four years. Conversely, while Trump was, some say, too friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a “terrific person,” Biden will likely take a harder line with Russia, at least rhetorically.</p> <p> </p> <p>This change in tone will also likely include rejoining some of the treaties and international agreements that the United States abandoned under the Trump administration. The most important of these include the Paris Climate Agreement, which the U.S. officially withdrew from on Nov. 4, and restoring funding to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.</p> <p> </p> <p>If the U.S. is to extend the New START nuclear weapons treaty, the arms control deal with Russia due to expire in February, the incoming Biden administration would likely have to work with the outgoing administration on an extension. Biden has also signaled a willingness to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal jettisoned by Trump, if and when the Iranians return to the limits on nuclear infrastructure imposed by the agreement.</p> <p> </p> <p>Second, in contrast to the large increases in military spending under President Trump, President Biden may make modest cuts in the U.S. military budget. Although he has said that cuts are not “inevitable” under his presidency, Biden has hinted at a smaller military presence overseas and is likely to change some priorities at the Pentagon by, for instance, emphasizing high-tech weapons. If the Senate – which must ratify any treaties – flips to Democrats’ control, the Biden administration may take more ambitious steps in nuclear arms control by pursuing deeper cuts with Russia and ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.</p> <p> </p> <p>Third, the Biden administration will likely continue some Bush, Obama, and Trump foreign policy priorities. Specifically, while a Biden administration will seek to end the war in Afghanistan, the administration will keep a focus on defeating the Islamic State and al-Qaida. Biden has said he would reduce the current 5,200 U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 1,500-2,000 troops operating in the region in a counterterrorism role. The Biden administration is likely to continue the massive nuclear weapons modernization and air and naval equipment modernization programs begun under the Obama administration and accelerated and expanded under President Trump, if only because they are popular with members of Congress who see the jobs they provide in their states.</p> <p> </p> <p>And like Bush, Obama and Trump before him, the Biden administration will prioritize the economic and military threats it believes are posed by China. But consistent with its emphasis on diplomacy, the Biden administration will likely also work more to constrain China through diplomatic engagement and by working with U.S. allies in the region.</p> <p> </p> <p>Biden’s long foreign-policy record signals how he’ll reverse Trump, rebuild old alliances, and lead the pandemic response</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1kamalaharris_gage_skidmore-creative_commons.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This article was originally published in <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-wins-experts-on-what-it-means-for-race-relations-us-foreign-policy-and-the-supreme-court-149327" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Conversation</a></em>. It’s republished here with permission under a Creative Commons license. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Biden For President (<a href="https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/b4e63a81-eb96-494e-b22b-4bc92e3aea8e" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Creative Commons</a>)</em></p> <p><em>--Anthony Quintano (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/49984521671" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--State Department (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Negotiations_about_Iranian_Nuclear_Program_-_the_Ministers_of_Foreign_Affairs_and_Other_Officials_of_the_P5%2B1_and_Ministers_of_Foreign_Affairs_of_Iran_and_EU_in_Lausanne.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikipedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/justices.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">U.S. Supreme Court</a></em></p> <p><em>--Gage Skidmore (<a href="https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/539e068a-ddea-4cb1-b91b-bd39357145e1" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, 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="/biden-wins" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">biden wins</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden-victory" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Joe Biden victory</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-elect-joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">President-elect Joe Biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kamala-harris" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kamala harris</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/white-house" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">White House</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/presidential-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">presidential elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/supreme-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supreme Court</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-lives-matter" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black lives matter</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/racial-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">racial justice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-foreign-policy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american foreign policy</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="/jill-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jill biden</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">Brian J. Purnell, Morgan Marietta, and Neta C. Crawford</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> Sat, 07 Nov 2020 23:24:39 +0000 tara 9960 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11020-what-joe-biden-s-victory-means-race-relations-supreme-court-and-us-foreign-policy#comments A New Path Forward for the Democratic Party https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10772-new-path-forward-democratic-party <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, 08/02/2020 - 22:20</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/1joebiden_gage_skidmore_-_flickr.jpg?itok=clCCzVht"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1joebiden_gage_skidmore_-_flickr.jpg?itok=clCCzVht" width="480" height="321" 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"><div>  <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from <a href="http://theopportunityagenda.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Opportunity Agenda: A Bold Democratic Plan to Grow the Middle Class</a> by Winston Fisher and Sly James (<a href="https://mascotbooks.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Mascot Books</a>). Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p>For Democrats, it’s both the worst of times and, by some measure, our most hopeful moment in a decade. We may not control the White House, the Senate, or the Supreme Court for the time being. But the public’s decidedly mixed reaction to President Trump (we’re doing our best to be generous here) combined with a Republican agenda that alienates huge swaths of the electorate, points to a seemingly inevitable Democratic renaissance. If the results of the 2018 midterm elections offer a window into how future contests are likely to turn out, Democrats are poised to bounce back strong.</p> </div> <p> </p> <p>But our prospects raise two big questions. First, is embracing a message that virulently opposes President Trump’s agenda sufficient to propel us forward <em>even after Trump is no longer on the ballot</em>? Second, even if that <em>is</em> a winning campaign strategy right now, what do we intend to do in office once we’re back in power?</p> <p> </p> <p>These two questions, while separate, are indelibly intertwined. If the American people react to Donald Trump’s presidency with even a fraction of the disgust and anger the two of us feel, he’s almost sure to be a one-term president. But if we intend to sustain a Democratic governing majority over the long term, we’ll need an agenda (and an accompanying narrative) that stands on its own. Without a compelling message, we won’t be able to hold on to the power that the public’s revulsion to Trump may help us win. Then we’ll be back at square one.</p> <p> </p> <p>From where we sit, we don’t believe that Democrats have yet begun to grapple in earnest with this quandary. In our zeal to castigate President Trump time and time again, we’ve failed to come to terms with the fact that, in recent elections, our ideas haven’t resonated with vast segments of the American electorate. If more people were invested in our incumbent agenda—if they liked our existing ideas—Trump wouldn’t have been remotely competitive in 2016. We should have trounced the Republicans in the 2016 presidential election.</p> <p> </p> <p>Don’t get us wrong: We believe Democrats have plenty of good ideas—many of which would surely improve hardworking families’ lives. But we also think that certain elements of our governing philosophy are well past stale. So, in the pages that follow, we’ll introduce a new platform, what we like to call an “Opportunity Agenda” for “Opportunity Democrats.” Our aim is to help steer the Democratic Party back to power in a way that sets us up for long-term success.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2slyjamesbook.jpg" style="height:600px; width:401px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Let’s begin by facing the music. Whether or not they represent good policy ideas, there’s nothing “new” in proposals to guarantee Medicare for All, or to raise the minimum wage, or to provide more generous family leave to new parents. The electorate has heard our candidates hawk this stuff for decades. President Trump’s incompetence may be his undoing. But on a substantive level, Democrats today are still selling the same fundamental agenda we had on offer in 2016, even if some of the ideas are a bit more strident.</p> <p> </p> <p>What are we supposed to do to turn things in a new direction? Admit the truth: We need to refresh our agenda. Some will claim that the 2018 midterms proved that the old stuff is good enough—that we should just stay the course. But that’s simply wrong. Democrats swept control of the House in 2018 primarily because voters were disgusted with President Trump. We didn’t generate the landslide so much as we benefited from the GOP’s implosion. To make a basketball analogy, we didn’t steal the ball or block a shot and run a fast break. We simply caught the rebound.</p> <p> </p> <p>Not that there’s anything wrong with that—per se. By some measure, that’s how opposition parties always find their way back to power. But Democrats will never make long-term reforms if our success depends on the GOP’s failure. We need an affirmative strategy that establishes a majority, regardless of what the GOP is saying. We need a slate of fresh, new ideas that, on its own, convinces a majority of voters to support our candidates for office. If Democrats are going to get beyond “catching the rebound,” we believe we’ve got to take the party in an entirely different direction.</p> <p> </p> <p>This book began as a collaborative project between two people who, on paper, appear to have very little in common. One of us is a New Yorker—the other’s from the Midwest. One of us is a businessman, and the other has spent the last decade as a big city mayor. One of us is the spitting image of Denzel Washington—the other is not. And while we’re both young, one is nearly a quarter century older than the other. (We won’t say which.)</p> <p> </p> <p>For all our differences, we share one central conviction: We believe the Democratic Party is due for a major disruption. It’s not that we think the party should abandon its goals—we still want to help hardworking families achieve the American Dream. But we’re both convinced that, to get our country pointed in the right direction again, Democrats need to rethink our approach.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3slyjamesbook.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Here’s our <em>opportunity</em>. Millions of Americans—most Democrats, lots of independents, and even some Republicans—could be convinced to join a broad coalition if someone painted them a compelling picture of the way forward. Unfortunately, after decades of listening to our tired messaging, whole swaths of America have pigeonholed the Democratic Party as so obsessed with growing government that we’ve lost sight of the greater good.</p> <p> </p> <p>Our stale ideas are particularly inept for economic growth. Two things about the American job market are crystal clear. First, technology and globalization have left many hardworking people feeling exceptionally vulnerable. Breadwinners today hope to maintain the American Dream for the next generation—to ensure their children and grandchildren have it a bit better. But they fear that they’ll hand off a world in which future generations aren’t even able to sustain today’s lifestyle. Remarkably enough, even during periods of low unemployment, many Americans are concerned about the prospect of <em>downward </em>mobility. At the same time, we know that prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, employers struggled to fill open positions—members of the workforce simply don’t have the skills they require. In other words, amid a glut of demand, the workforce still fears being left behind.</p> <p> </p> <p>Something has gone dreadfully wrong. Even after the economy recovers from the pandemic, it’s likely many people will still fear they won’t have the skills needed for the jobs that emerge.</p> <p> </p> <p> Have Democrats offered any breakthrough ideas to help equip a vulnerable workforce for the jobs of tomorrow? Not that we’ve heard. Even if we <em>do</em> have good ideas, we’ve failed to message them so voters understand what we want to accomplish. We’re too hung up on our old agenda. We’re too accustomed to preaching the old “big government” gospel.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4trumphillary_gage_skidmore_-_wikimedia.jpg" style="height:412px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Does America have the capacity to resolve the mismatch? Unquestionably. If our universities, colleges, and community colleges establish programs to retrain Americans stuck in (soon-to-be) obsolete professions, we could boost millions into higher-paying, more productive jobs. But they aren’t moving fast enough to meet the evolving demands of the country’s businesses. <em>That’s </em>the sort of problem our agenda needs to address <em>head on.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Take one specific illustration: The president of the City University of New York’s (CUNY) LaGuardia Community College recently revealed that she had invested more than two years—thousands of dollars’ worth of staff time—procuring a single piece of software. The purchase had to win approval from one layer of bureaucracy…then the next. From the college’s own faculty. From CUNY. From the State Department of Education. Rather than focus on improving education, they were compelled to navigate a series of bloated bureaucracies.</p> <p> </p> <p>For Democrats, that anecdote is a political disaster; it burnishes the public’s sense that the very institution we tend to champion— government—is hopelessly inept. Our failure to bear down on this is both a substantive and reputational disaster. Even if Democrats champion education reform, we’re held responsible for nurturing these unwieldy bureaucracies that prevent students from getting the training they need. We need an agenda that demonstrates that we’re going to solve this kind of real-world problem. And we need voters to hear us make that argument time and time again.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now, Democrats can go on talking about the issues that have long been at the top of their agenda—many have real merit. But the sort of red tape entangling LaGuardia Community College is rampant all across the country. Voters know that America’s “systems” aren’t working for them—higher education, healthcare, infrastructure, or criminal justice. And for many Americans, bureaucratic bungling has a larger impact on life than any single issue that’s made its way into the Democratic bailiwick; it frames their view of government writ large. As a party, we haven’t convinced the public that we’re capable of fixing the underlying problems. We’re not even telling voters that fixing these problems is at the top of our agenda. Is it any wonder they’re not enamored with us?</p> <p> </p> <p>Red tape isn’t the sole issue holding us back. But we do believe that it’s indicative of a larger problem. The incumbent Democratic agenda fails to address the challenges facing middle- and working-class families <em>from their perspective</em>. We too often endorse government-only solutions when their experience is that the private sector also has a role to play<em>. </em>We need to center our ideas on something else altogether: opportunity. And rather than remain caught in an ideologically driven approach, we need simply to present ideas that will solve the problems that voters grapple with in their everyday lives.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4slyfisherbook.jpg" style="height:600px; width:400px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from <a href="http://theopportunityagenda.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Opportunity Agenda: A Bold Democratic Plan to Grow the Middle Class</a> by Winston Fisher and Sly James (<a href="https://mascotbooks.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Mascot Books</a>). Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bios:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Sly James</strong> is the former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, and responsible for overseeing the city’s renaissance. Throughout his tenure, James moved the needle on universal pre-K, spearheaded the construction and expansion of a streetcar line, and successfully passed an $800 million infrastructure package. He has also served on numerous boards and commissions, including The Missouri Board of Law Examiners, the Economic Development Corporation, and as president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. Mr. James previously authored the critically acclaimed autobiography A Passion For Purpose, a mantra by which he based his tenure as mayor and his life.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Winston C. Fisher</strong> is a partner at Fisher Brothers, a real estate firm based in New York City, and CEO of AREA15, an experiential retail and entertainment company. Fisher also serves as co-chair of Gov. Cuomo’s New York City Regional Economic Development Council and is active in civic and policy organizations and higher education institutions, including the Center for an Urban Future, the Real Estate Board of New York, and Syracuse University.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Image Sources:</em></strong></p> <p><em>--Courtesy of Mascot Books</em></p> <p><em>--Gage Skidmore (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/48605395292" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Gage Skidmore (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trump_%26_Clinton.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, 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="/opportunity-agenda" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">The Opportunity Agenda</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sly-james" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sly James</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/winston-fisher" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Winston Fisher</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democratic-party-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the Democratic Party</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</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="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/middle-class" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">middle class</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democratic-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democratic voters</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="/hillary-clinton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hillary Clinton</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></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sly James and Winston C. Fisher</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, 03 Aug 2020 02:20:20 +0000 tara 9730 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10772-new-path-forward-democratic-party#comments U.S. and China Prepare for a New Cold War https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10665-us-and-china-prepare-new-cold-war <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, 05/25/2020 - 14:03</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/1trumpjinping.jpg?itok=yoAI5Vdc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trumpjinping.jpg?itok=yoAI5Vdc" width="480" height="320" 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>Opinion:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>In September 2005, before an audience of some of the most powerful business figures in the United States, then-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick unveiled his “responsible stakeholder” formula for China’s global engagement.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>China is big and growing… For the United States and the world, the essential question is how will China use its influence…. We need to urge China to become a responsible stakeholder in that system.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>This is how the China as a “responsible stakeholder” template for the West’s conduct of relations with an emerging power was born. It was not a superpower at that stage, but a rising one.</p> <p> </p> <p>Later in that same speech, Zoellick added:</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Many Americans worry that the Chinese dragon will prove to be a fire breather. There is a cauldron of anxiety about China.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>If there was a “cauldron of anxiety” then, it is “cauldron of paranoia” now as the U.S. slips towards a new Cold War.</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s not there yet, but the possibility of a permafrost can’t be discounted. This would include a decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese economies and a deepening technology war in which competing technologies would seek to get the upper hand inside and outside cyberspace. It would also include an arms race.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1chairmanmao.jpg" style="height:399px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rising animosity</strong></p> <p>Washington’s campaign to deprive China’s telecommunications giant Huawei from access to U.S.-designed microchips for its artificial intelligence processors, mobile phones, and networking capabilities is aimed squarely at denying the Chinese company a technological edge.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Huawei decision is one of several designed to squeeze Chinese access to U.S. technology, and in the process disrupt global supply chains.</p> <p> </p> <p>China regards the U.S. campaign against Huawei as highly provocative, if not war by another means.</p> <p> </p> <p>These are sobering moments as the world contemplates getting dragged into a “cauldron” of superpower tension not witnessed since the 1950s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Middle-sized players like Australia risk getting trampled. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is discovering to the cost of his country’s agriculture and mining sectors that it is better to stay out of the way of bull elephants in a global jungle. His ill-advised solo intervention in calls for an independent inquiry into a pandemic has backfired as China picks off vulnerable Australian exports for reprisals.</p> <p> </p> <p>An American “cauldron of anxiety” has spilled over.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The U.S. problem</strong></p> <p>I was in that New York City hotel ballroom for the Zoellick speech as North American correspondent for the <em>Australian Financial Review</em>. I had no doubt it was a significant moment in America’s attempts to address an emerging challenge from an economically resurgent China, but this challenge needed to be kept in proportion.</p> <p> </p> <p>Bear in mind China’s president at the time was the cautious bureaucrat, Hu Jintao. The country had not yet left behind paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s advice to colleagues that when it came to demonstrating China’s newfound might, it was better to “hide your capabilities, bide your time”.</p> <p> </p> <p>It was seven years before the “China first” Xi Jinping became China’s most powerful leader since Deng, and possibly since Mao Zedong himself.</p> <p> </p> <p>Zoellick’s speech was delivered more than a decade before a New York property developer named Donald Trump became an “America first” president ill-equipped to deal with complexities involved in managing a relationship with a surging China.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s mixture of bombast, bellicosity, prejudice, impulsiveness, and apparent lack of a sense of history makes him particularly ill-suited to cope with the world’s biggest foreign policy challenge since the Second World War.</p> <p> </p> <p>That includes the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. That conflict could be managed by a policy of containment and mutually assured destruction.</p> <p> </p> <p>At a time when the Western alliance cries out for leadership, America is consumed, even torn apart, by internal divisions. Those divisions are likely to be rubbed raw in this year’s presidential election, in which China will be the focus of the sort of fearmongering that characterized American internal debates about the Soviet Union in the 1950s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s contribution to that debate in the midst of a pandemic may not be surprising given his intemperate use of language generally, but in the circumstances, it was shocking nevertheless.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is what Trump tweeted on May 20:</p> <p><em>Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the “incompetence of China”, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Let that sink in. The latest occupant of the Oval Office, successor to some of the great figures of world history, has accused China of being responsible for “mass worldwide killing.”</p> <p> </p> <p>China’s mishandling of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic deserve investigation and censure, but Trump himself bears responsibility for his own “incompetence” and that of his administration in managing America’s response to the crisis.</p> <p> </p> <p>In its early stages, he declared the virus would simply vanish. He used the word “hoax,” allegedly cooked up by his political enemies, to dismiss the contagion. As a consequence, valuable time was lost in responding.</p> <p> </p> <p>America now has the worst record globally in dealing with the pandemic. Things being equal, this will constitute a significant drag on Trump’s re-election prospects, hence his flailing about in search for scapegoats.</p> <p> </p> <p>Leaving aside American domestic politics – the Democrats will not want to be accused of being soft on China in a presidential election cycle – the much bigger question is the extent to which the pandemic will disrupt, even overturn, a globalizing world.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2trumpjinping.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>A new, shaky world order</strong></p> <p>The journal <em>Foreign Policy</em> has made a useful contribution to the debate in its latest issue – <em>The Great</em> <em>Decoupling</em> – in which it seeks to frame what is happening now historically. History is not kind to a process in which states decouple, pull up the drawbridges, roll back trade and investment ties and, in the United Kingdom’s case, depart a trading bloc that had served it well.</p> <p> </p> <p>America is far from the only nation state succumbing to the forces of nationalism and populism. It is a worrying trend for open-market trading countries like Australia, dependent on increasing economic integration.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is how <em>Foreign Policy</em> framed issues involved in what it perceives to be a disrupted moment in history in which a status quo power is being obliged to confront the reality of challenges to its brief moment as a hyperpower following the fall of the Berlin Wall.</p> <p> </p> <p>The threat of the great decoupling is a potentially historic break, an interruption perhaps only comparable to the sundering of the first huge wave of globalization in 1914, when deeply intertwined economies such as Britain and Germany, and later the United States, threw themselves into a barrage of self-destruction and economic nationalism that didn’t stop for 30 years. This time, though, decoupling is driven not by war but peacetime populist urges, exacerbated by a global coronavirus pandemic that has shaken decades of faith in the wisdom of international supply chains and the virtues of the global economy.</p> <p> </p> <p>This scenario might be regarded as alarmist, even implausible, given difficulties that would arise in dismantling a highly integrated global economy. However, if a pandemic and response to it are a guide against the background of growing tensions between the U.S. and China, the implausible becomes possible.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the past week, Trump has opined about “cutting off the whole relationship” with China. He has also speculated about not repaying US$1 trillion in debt to China.</p> <p> </p> <p>These are ridiculous statements, but the fact that an American president in an election year could say such things is indicative of the sort of atmosphere that prevails in a country where a populist leader has been wounded by his own ineptitude.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, if the 2016 U.S. presidential election demonstrated anything, it was that a significant proportion of the American electorate will embrace an “America First” mindset that is antagonistic to the outside world.</p> <p> </p> <p>Nationalistic Sinophobes on Trump’s immediate staff feed his populist impulses and his anti-China rhetoric at the risk of deepening a global recession or even depression.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Foreign Policy</em> quotes Zoellick liberally 15 years after his “responsible stakeholder” speech. His warnings today bear repeating in view of pressures in America to throw in the towel on engagement with the world’s largest population, second-largest economy, and a permanent member of the UN Security Council.</p> <p> </p> <p>If we have another pandemic, or environmental issues, or financial sector issues, or Iran, or North Korea, how effective are you going to be if you don’t have a working relationship with China?</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Tony Walker is an Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia).</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This article was originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/beware-the-cauldron-of-paranoia-as-china-and-the-us-slide-towards-a-new-kind-of-cold-war-139023" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Conversation</a>. Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Shelah Craighead (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/48162296741" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Whitehouse.gov</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Whitehouse.gov (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mao_Zedong,_Zhang_Yufeng_et_Richard_Nixon.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--PAS China (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Donald_J._Trump_visits_China_2017_(38427499221).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, 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="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/united-states" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">United States</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china-us-relations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">china-u.s. relations</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/xi-jinping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">xi jinping</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="/cold-war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cold war</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chaiman-mao" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chaiman mao</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/richard-nixon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Richard Nixon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/state-department" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">State Department</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-world-order" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new world order</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">Tony Walker</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, 25 May 2020 18:03:28 +0000 tara 9571 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10665-us-and-china-prepare-new-cold-war#comments GOP Voter Suppression and the Threat to Democrats https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9490-gop-voter-suppression-and-threat-democrats <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, 12/02/2018 - 13:08</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/3blackvoters_1.jpg?itok=004gp9PO"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3blackvoters_1.jpg?itok=004gp9PO" width="480" height="350" 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>This is an excerpt from an article originally published in the Louisiana Weekly. Read the rest <a href="http://www.louisianaweekly.com/gop-voter-suppression-poses-grave-danger-to-democrats-in-2020/">here</a>. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>New Jersey Democratic Senator Corey Booker flatly called the Georgia gubernatorial election a theft for GOP winner Brian Kemp. This was not partisan hyperbole. Thousands of eligible votes weren’t registered, were tossed, discounted, or ignored. The process was only slightly less muddled and outrageous in Florida, where there were also widespread reports of irregularities, incompetence, fraud and manipulation.</p> <p> </p> <p>The result in both states was that Democratic contender Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Andrew Gillum in Florida didn’t make history by being the first black governor in their states. Instead they made history by being embroiled in rancor and controversy over the vote process. The brutal reality, though, is that no matter how many votes Gillum and Abrams got or would have gotten in a fair process where all the votes were allowed and counted, their defeat was almost preordained before the first shout of voter fraud was made in their races.</p> <p> </p> <p>Voter suppression is a well-documented fact of life in American politics. The GOP has welded it as a potent weapon to assure its continued domination of American politics. The even more terrifying reality is that voter suppression has the force of law behind it. Kemp in Georgia was the crudest example of that. As secretary of state, he could legally make the call about which votes could and couldn’t be counted. The lawsuits that were filed against his blatant voter suppression were at best stopgap efforts to blunt some of the damage. They did absolutely nothing to change the legal authority Kemp had to make the call about the voting process.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/14trumphat_0.jpg" style="height:446px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The voter suppression ploys the GOP employs in a variety of other stats include closing polling places limiting voting hours, a rigid requirement for ID, and outright purging voters from the rolls if they haven’t voted in a recent election. These were all upheld by various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. With few exceptions, the other GOP voter suppression ploy of tightly gerrymandering districts to make it impregnable to a Democratic contender has also been let stand in court challenges. This combined with the control of the vote process by GOP governors and GOP-controlled legislatures in Florida and Ohio, the two states that virtually determine who sits in the Oval Office, heighten the danger to Democrats in 2020.</p> <p> </p> <p>But it’s the legality of voter suppression that is the tough nut to crack. Its impregnability was made possible by the GOP’s crass, cynical, but stupendously successful assault on the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. In 1981, despite some grumbles and idle threats to oppose its renewal from a few in the Reagan administration, President Reagan dutifully signed the renewal legislation.</p> <p> </p> <p>A quarter-century later, a core of House Republicans stalled the legislation for more than a week and demanded that hearings be held. They used the same old argument that it punishes the South for past voting-discrimination sins, and they didn’t like the idea of bilingual ballots again. Despite the challenge, President Bush signed the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2006. The renewal by two conservative GOP presidents seemed to assure that any effort to scrub the Voting Rights Act from the federal books was a pipe dream.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4voters_0.jpg" style="height:402px; width:602px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>It wasn’t. The GOP demanded that the High Court scrap the act as outdated, discriminatory, and a blatant federal intrusion into states’ rights. GOP state attorney generals in several states endorsed the challenge.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Supreme Court obliged. In a landmark ruling, it dumped the key requirement that Southern states get “preclearance” from the Justice Department before making any changes in its voting rights laws and procedures.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This article originally published in the November 26, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This is an excerpt from an article originally published in the Louisiana Weekly. Read the rest <a href="http://www.louisianaweekly.com/gop-voter-suppression-poses-grave-danger-to-democrats-in-2020/">here</a>. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><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="/voter-suppression" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voter suppression</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/stacey-abrams" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">stacey abrams</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/andrew-gillum" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">andrew gillum</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">GOP</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights-acts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting rights acts</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African Americans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hispanics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hispanics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minority-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minority voters</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 class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 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">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </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, 02 Dec 2018 18:08:30 +0000 tara 8395 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9490-gop-voter-suppression-and-threat-democrats#comments