Author: Mark Kruger

Late blooming political scientist & historian, Net engineer, programmer, technology expert, bad speler, consultant and business owner.
Futlity of Protest

The End of Protest

Marching and chanting have lost the power to move the needle. There are exceptions of course, but I contend that protest has an ever diminishing power to move us. With a few caveats (border policy on children for example) It’s hard to point to any policy changes that are a direct result of a protest movement in the last 5 years, in spite of record setting rallies and marches.

Rick Wilson’s 300 Page Diary Entry

If you are a Dem, liberal, progressive, or a conservative who thinks Trump is awful, Rick Wilson’s “Everything Trump Touches Dies” will reinforce and harden your views. It’s shock jock entertainment in written form. But other than a fan-fiction vignette with Ivanka and a weird homo-erotic fantasy involving Trump and Sean Hannity, there is nothing new here.

You are Going to Die

Is it possible that the idea of death tickling at the back of our mind is pushing us to be more ideologically rigid as our population ages? Is fear driving our new partisan gulf? As a thought experiment let’s be brave and think about death for just a moment.

American Imagination

Our imagined community is myth that requires some strong juju. We collectively imagine what it “means” to be an American. The fact that we still care about our imagined identity means we haven’t given up on our joint project. We scrap and cuss and “resist” and “maga” because we all still care.

Immigration Gambit

In my last post I was tough on the Democrats. Some readers pegged me as a closet Trump supporter with American flag pajamas. In this post I will lay that misconception (that I sleep in pajamas) to rest. 7 days ago Trump & Kim Jung Un shook hands. Today the universe is talking about one thing – children and border enforcement. Here’s my short summary.

Democrats and Chicken Little Politics

This is the problem for Democrats. All of the comparisons to Hitler, all of the sky is falling rhetoric, and all of the breathless coverage of Trump’s… inept administration will not force people to feel anxious enough. What if… and this is the gut punch question.. what if it turns out the new normal ain’t so bad?