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We live in a partisan age, and our news habits can reinforce our own perspectives. Consider it an effort to broaden our collective perspective on essays beyond the scope of our typical choices.
FROM THE LEFT
From Why Donald Trump Doesn’t Need Facebook, by David Corn to Mother Jones.
The context, from the author: The former president’s two-year ban from the social media platform is no longer preventing him from dominating the GOP.
Excerpt: Trump is running for revenge and beyond and wants to fix the scores. The Republican Party got that message. And anyone within its ranks who would dare him will meet his wrath and, more importantly, GOP voters. (See Liz Cheney.) Trump’s power is now at the heart of the party’s operating code. Certainly, Trump will have an easier time intimidating his fellow Republicans and spreading his lies if he has access to Twitter and Facebook. … But tweets and posts are not important for him to control the party and, through that control, shape and divert the political discourse of countries. Money and fear of politics go a long way. And on the GOP side, Trump maintains a monopoly on both.
From The Root Cause of Central American Migration Is US Imperialism, by Suyapa Portillo Villeda and Miguel Tinker Salas in Jacobin.
The context, from the authors: It is good for the United States government to acknowledge that its imperialist intervention in Central America has pushed millions to flee the United States. Instead, Kamala Harris went to Guatemala and had the gall to tell would -be migrants, Don’t come along.
Excerpt: Migration networks from Mexico and Central America to the United States emerged in conjunction with the opening of U.S. corporate operations in the region. These companies were the Rosario Mining Company in the 1850s, the United Fruit and Standard Fruit Company in the 1890s, the Cananea Mining Company in 1900 that established American Zones, introduced tribal labor systems, and created second -class citizens. Good industries have extracted natural resources from Indigenous and Afro-Lumad lands. Repression, disappearance, torture, and killing of civilians followed.
From No Generation Without Representation, by Jazmin Kay in The Nation.
The context, from the author: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris relied on youth support during the election. It’s time for the administration to support them back.
The excerpt: There remains no meaningless lever of representation for young Americans who are, people under 40 in policy -making. The systematic lack of sustainable, youth -specific roles throughout the federal government limits youth agency and makes them feel of little value. Unless young people are stakeholders in federal agencies that means beyond simply listening to their struggles to enable them to actively shape policy any proposal will never fully reflect their views. Without youth input, our government is unlikely to make systems feel that they are truly responding to their needs.
FROM THE RIGHT
From What is so Elite about our Elite Colleges? by George Leef in the National Review.
The context, from the author: Selected schools are called because they admit a very small percentage of applicants, most of whom are good students, and not because the education they offer is superior.
The excerpt: The students who went to our so-called colleges and universities received a better education than those who attended schools that did very well? That is rarely the case, and often the truth is true.
From the Came American War In China, by Douglas Macgregor to the American Conservative.
The context, from the author: Conflict is both undesirable and impossible, but it appears inevitable to give up our current leadership.
Excerpt: Public statements made by washingtons publicity seekers inside and outside the uniform are rarely informative. They never bothered to acknowledge that no one should start a war without first establishing the politically viable final state of a war with China to be achieved or how the latest war in the Pacific would argue and win. But these are the questions to consider. If the political goal of a new war in the Pacific is to change China’s attitude externally or internally to make China incapable of resisting American political demands it must be remembered that China was not Japanese Imperial in 1941. The the Japans ’economy was nearly one-tenth the size of the U.S. Economy, and it still took three years of hard fighting by U.S. forces to claim America’s horrific defeat at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines.
From Unlearning Tyranny, by Charlie Sykes in The Bulwark.
The context, from the author: Conservatives used the true meaning of the word cruel. But while you think of Stalin, or Mao, or Hitler, or Ivan the Terrible, Ben Domenech (the founder of the Federalist and newly-printed Fox News host) thinks of Google. And the newspaper reporters in the cubicle.used to understand the concept.
The excerpt: College faculty members are notorious for being able to write and write stupid things, but they don’t, after all, have the ability to imprison you, seize your property, or capture your dog without fruit. Conservatives understand that difference is not very subtle. But that was before our Golden Age of populism cum demagoguery.
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