Some very smart people have written some very smart things about Trump's national emergency, and I'm sure more will be forthcoming. But I think that the most insightful thing I have to say is this: who cares?
Read More"The billionaire and former Starbucks CEO has told advisors that he was shocked by the stridency of the attacks made by Democrats following the announcement he was seriously considering running for president as an independent in the 2020 election, and is now said to be looking more closely at whether he wants to go through with the effort, the FOX Business Network has learned."
Acts of political protest always happen, but what's important about these acts is what we take them to mean.
Read MoreCanada's healthcare is becoming more privatized, while America's is becoming more public.
As a dual citizen, someone who grew up in Canada but who now lives in the United States, healthcare has always been one of the biggest sacrifices. Even with a good insurance plan, which I luckily have, it's hard for me to imagine how anyone who had experienced both could in their right mind choose the American system. And while I thought this would always be true, I can now imagine a time when the American system is better than the Canadian. It might not happen, but it's now within the realm of my imagination.
Read MoreI've been seeing a lot of people share some of their writing about MLK today, so at the risk of using today to sell books (but this is still America, right?), I thought I'd share a few paragraphs from the conclusion of my book. I don't claim to be an expert on MLK, but I've long thought that while he's obviously given credit as a moral exemplar and world-historical figure, he's not given the credit he deserves as a political theorist. And part of the reason might be that political theorists don't read Kierkegaard, or more broadly, that we don't always appreciate the importance of religious thought.
Read MoreA few years back, following my wife’s diligent lottery entry, we were lucky enough to go see Hamilton on Broadway. I didn't write much about it then, but mostly because it didn't seem worth it. There was such unequivocal praise for it, both from fans and critics alike, that writing anything critical seemed like I would just be picking a fight.. I've learned that being an adult entails learning to pick and choose your internet battles, if I don't always follow this advice as well as I should. But speaking only for myself, I was really underwhelmed by the play.
It's receded too far into the past for me to remember too much about it, but I think that my biggest criticism is that following all the hype about the play, I was expecting SOMETHING. I didn't know what, but something. But all I got seemed like a whole lotta nothing. For a play about the founding fathers, it was completely devoid of politics.
Read MoreAt long last, my first book, The Dialectical Self: Kierkegaard, Marx, and the Making of the Modern Subject, is out. I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the New Year.
I'd certainly love it if anyone wanted to buy a copy, and promo code PJ55 will get you 20% off at the University of Pennsylvania Press website (or you can sign up for emails for 30% off), and feel free to share this post and/or the promo code. I'd be thrilled by either.
I also thought this might be a good time to share a little bit about what the book is. However, years into this project, and I still describe it only with great difficulty. And in part this is because it's a book that will mean different things to different people.
Read MoreRichard Brody's review of The Big Lebowski was popping up in my Facebook feed, and while I usually avoid his reviews because they're impenetrably pretentious, I read this one. As expected, it sucked. But he was right about one thing, which was something I noticed when my wife and I saw it in theaters a few months back. The Big Lebowski is a leftist movie.
Read MoreReading some old posts of mine, I got to thinking about the problem of confidence. Or, really, the problem of over-confidence.
So many of our arguments, be they about politics or about more mundane affairs, come down to the problem of over-confidence, because we live in a world in which people are overly confident about opinions that aren't true. But I'm not talking about the fringe wingnuts who hold beliefs with little to no evidence, and with a complete disregard for it, because their craziness quickly reveals itself. It might not be possible to change their mind, but it's pretty easy to recognize and avoid these people.
Instead, I'm thinking about a more problematic version of over-confidence that has to do with people who do have a sense of what they're talking about, and who know their topic in at least a minimal fashion. From their point of view they hold a position that is a position based on facts. But oftentimes, they're working from a limited set of facts, so that they can only hold their position at the expense of other facts.
Read MoreIt's both disappointing and hopeful to see the vote margin in the recent midterms. 10,000 for Senate in Florida, 50,000 for Governor in Georgia, and 250K for Senate in Texas (but out of 8 million votes). These are all very slim margins. It's depressing that this is what the future of the country hinges upon, but it's also hopeful to know that swinging Red states Blue requires so little.
But perhaps the biggest issue is that these margins all fall within the margins we can attribute to voter suppression.
Read MoreI've been watching the Jack Ryan series on Prime (i.e., Jim from The Office joins the CIA.) I'm a sucker for a spy thriller, even though it's pretty bad. Not just a little bad actually, but really bad. But somehow, in its badness, it offers a pretty interesting window into the state of the world.
For instance, I'm not sure if it's because of bad writing or bad acting, and I suspect it's a combination of both, but the main character, Jack Ryan (played by Jim from The Office), has the depth of a piece of paper. In one scene he's questioned by a French official about his job with the CIA. She asks him how he can stomach working for the CIA knowing what they do. His response? He thinks it's better to try to change things from the inside.
Obviously, this is about the most hackneyed of responses you could find. But what's interesting is that because the character is not at all believable, because the writing and acting is so bad, the stupidity of his response seems obvious. In other words, I suspect that the audience doesn't really empathize with the Jack Ryan character. And when I was thinking about it, it made me realize that this isn't only because of the poor quality of the show, but about the times we live in.
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