Harvey Mudd

America, a Theory

Harvey Mudd — Thu, 21 May 2020 03:36:38 +0000

This commentary will be my last. These somewhat rambling—and often too long—essays have had the purpose of helping me think through the present American crisis. I want now, for reasons of my mental and spiritual health—I am 80 years old—to return to the sort of writing I think I do better than analytic prose. In […]

The post America, a Theory appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

The Age of Trumpian Disasters

Harvey Mudd — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 02:59:47 +0000

The impeachment has come and gone. Trump, as anticipated, was not convicted. He crows that he was acquitted. He wasn’t acquitted in any moral or factual sense. He did what he did and everyone knows it; he is guilty as charged but the Republicans put on a show trial, called no witnesses, and whitewashed it. […]

The post The Age of Trumpian Disasters appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

Socialism and America: The Example of France

Harvey Mudd — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 20:23:47 +0000

The Republicans have made the charge that the Democrats are “socialists.” The implication is that Democrats are unamerican, that they are the enemy of a vaguely defined frame called “the American Way of Life.” If we are to understand what the Republican Party has become, we must understand why the “socialist” label is more than […]

The post Socialism and America: The Example of France appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

The Impeachment Question

Harvey Mudd — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 22:03:34 +0000

As I write, the elected leaders of the free world have come together to commemorate a great battle that was the pinnacle of the four-year-long struggle to free Western civilization from a threat to its very existence. What was at stake was stark and clear. Nazism, for all its goose-stepping discipline and pomp, was barbarism. […]

The post The Impeachment Question appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

Decline and Fall

Harvey Mudd — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 19:29:01 +0000

In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprised the fairest part of the earth,and the most civilized portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valor. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the […]

The post Decline and Fall appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

Where We Are

Harvey Mudd — Sat, 22 Dec 2018 19:40:36 +0000

After the midterms, the desire to feel hopeful was overpowering. My adoptive home-state, New Mexico, flipped all Democrats and all women, including a Native American. And Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat I wrote about in my last post, became the senior senator from, of all places, solid red Arizona. I wrote about the Sinema campaign to […]

The post Where We Are appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

A Tipping Point

Harvey Mudd — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 03:42:19 +0000

Almost exactly one year ago, I explored the confused state of distress and depression into which the American political crisis had driven me. “Alarmed hardly expresses what I feel. The impossible is happening.” And it goes on happening. The theme of that post was violence. In Trump’s candidacy, the invocation of images of violence was […]

The post A Tipping Point appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil

Harvey Mudd — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 23:20:37 +0000

As I was finishing this post, Donald Trump went to Europe. He trashed America’s allies, declared them foes, and, as the civilized world watched with disbelief, the American president surrendered America’s values and world leadership to the thug of the Kremlin. His performance appeared to many as an act of treason, which act, in the […]

The post See No Evil, Speak No Evil appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

The Russian Question

Harvey Mudd — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:58:32 +0000

The media is full of rumbles that Trump is trying to cook up a politically credible excuse to fire Robert Mueller. If Trump does this and the Republican majorities in Congress refuse to block him, the game, in my opinion, is up. Over. Trump can get away with any sort of lawless action that he […]

The post The Russian Question appeared first on Harvey Mudd.

The Violence and Where it Comes From

Harvey Mudd — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 23:16:49 +0000

I’ve been trying understand the emotions that have been stimulated by the Trump presidency. My own emotions concern me; they are like the canary in the mine shaft, a sort of neuro-spiritual warning system. The furious chanting at Trump pre-election rallies alarmed me: “Lock her up,” over and over as if Hillary’s guilt for an […]

The post The Violence and Where it Comes From appeared first on Harvey Mudd.