From the Left
/Politics
We Are the Fourth Branch of Government
In high school, when we studied the separation of powers, I asked my civics teacher: "What happens if the executive branch ignores the judiciary?" He didn't have much of an answer.
It has happened before. One famous case was Andrew Jackson's refusal to enforce a Supreme Court ruling overturning Georgia's seizure of Cherokee lands. "(Chief ...Read more
When Presidents Clashed with Allies: Trump, Zelenskyy, Roosevelt and De Gaulle in Historical Context
Echoing other analysts, New York Times opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote: "What happened in the Oval Office on (Feb. 28) ... was something that had never happened in the nearly 250-year history of this country: In a major war in Europe, our president clearly sided with the aggressor, the dictator and the invader against the democrat, ...Read more
The Russians Are Coming? Not Really.
Donald Trump's interest in rapprochement with Russia and his annoyance with Ukraine, embodied by last week's Oval Office shouting match, has corporate pundits and politicians freaking out. Trump's former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump's dressing down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy made him "ashamed for my nation" -- something he's ...Read more
The Incredible Vanishing Liberals
For this essay, let's not debate the pros and cons of our new old president. Detailing specific reasons that many Americans are upset with/scared of/annoyed by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party would be a distraction from a point that desperately needs to be made. Suffice it to say, millions of people are angry, disappointed and ...Read more
A Movement Beats a Party Every Time
As Democrats continue to deconstruct the root causes of their recent defeat and attempt to regroup for next year's midterm elections, they might want to consider a new factor in American politics: the seductive power of a movement compared to a boring old party.
On the surface, the 60th American presidential election was the usual two-way ...Read more
Resistance to Memory
When I was young, I knew a lot about old people. Especially about old people I knew personally: members of my family, my mother's contemporaneous older friends, teachers, clients on my paper route.
It wasn't a choice. When I was young, no one asked whether I was interested in events that significantly preceded my birth. They just talked. My mom...Read more
I Have Been Unpersoned by ChatGPT
I've been unpersoned. Here, in the United States of America.
The censor? OpenAI, the huge tech company run by Sam Altman, famous for creating ChatGPT.
Open ChatGPT and ask it: "Who is Ted Rall?"
ChatGPT will answer: "I'm unable to produce a response."
Unable? Unwilling is more like it.
ChatGPT had all sorts of things to say about me a few ...Read more
Democrats Want a Divorce
When a marriage is in crisis, a point often occurs when constant bickering, arguing and fighting yields to detachment and hopelessness. The yelling stops. It's quiet.
But it's not peace. Exhausted, dispirited and contemptuous, one or both partners give up trying to convince the other that they're wrong or ought to change. They accept that ...Read more
Trump Grabs at a Presidency of Intentionality
There are two kinds of leaders: managers and revolutionists.
Most American presidents are managers. Managers have small ambitions, often so small as to be immeasurable. They may or not think the organization that they're taking over requires a few nips or tucks, but they believe the fundamentals are sound. The main ambition of these ...Read more
Sympathy for Our Devils
One of my editorial cartoonist colleagues got arrested for child pornography (or "child sexual abuse material," as it is also called) this week. As I write this, he is in jail, apparently unable to make bail, awaiting arraignment.
I won't get into the details of his case, or at least the details we have so far, here. It is, as these things go...Read more
Jimmy Carter, Right-Wing Democrat
You can't understand the presidency of James Earl Carter Jr. unless you contextualize it within the framework of the hysterical aftermath of the 1972 election. While the Republican Party brand suffered tremendous damage due to Watergate, Richard Nixon's decision to prolong the Vietnam War and his resignation, the GOP proved improbably resilient....Read more
Theory of the Nonvoter
Nonvoters are the biggest (potential) voting bloc in American politics. In midterm, state and local elections, more eligible voters choose not to exercise their franchise than to do so.
Pundits and political sociologists ignore nonvoters. Nobody polls them. Nobody asks them why they don't vote. Nobody asks them what issues they care about. ...Read more