Politics and Government
Big Questions
Is it time for the Supreme Court to adhere to a code of ethics?
Is the modern Republican Party (RP) trying to use the power of the government, Supreme Court, and radicalized (violent) extremist groups to force the beliefs of a far-right conservative minority on a majority of Americans?
The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic by Stephen Vladeck
The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court is Reshaping America by Ian Millhiser
Have the last ten years of life (2012 – 2022) made you and us “uniquely stupid“?
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
How do we live in a 50-50 country?
- come together: We Don’t Hate You (sp)
- tribes: Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein


What is the difference (perception gap) between
- what you think THEY think on the other side of the aisle, and
- what THEY really think on the other side of the aisle?
If we don’t reform the filibuster, will we be permanently reconciled to a Privileged White Male Evangelical Christian Minority Rule in America (the Senate)?
Can we do better, or at least improve upon, our two-party system? Can we solve the spoiler problem in our elections?
Hateland: A Long, Hard Look at America’s Extremist Heart by Daryl Johnson
American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done by Will Hurd
Texas, Don’t Fuck This Up!

Texas, your government and governor are leading you down a politically-expedient path for an elite few who survive on maximizing votes (not a path that supports the wishes of the Common Good),
by:
Warping and whitewashing the teaching of history by
Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also
Heinrich Heine
- closing public libraries
- modifying curriculums to emphasize the privileged white racist/evangelist/supremacist’s view of past and current events, and
- banning and/or burning books on a hit list.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Demonizing and criminalizing LGBTQ children and parents and families and their friends.
Stubbornly holding on to the notion of Make Texas’ Power Grid Great Again by
- isolating Texas’ power grid from connection to any other regional grid (a decision made in the 1930s), which means
- Texas cannot import more electricity during periods of high demand, which
- puts the whole state at disastrous risk during periods of extreme cold and/or heat.
Poorly managing the control of COVID-19 for the Common Good by
- blocking scientifically-proven public safety measures, and
- blocking scientifically-proven vaccination mandates (without a valid exemption).
Denying a woman’s right to a legal abortion with medieval legislation that will
51 jurisdictions in Texas have passed ordinances to make it illegal to transport anyone on roads within city or county limits to get an abortion. Their hope is to target interstates and the roads around airports to block off routes out of Texas and keep pregnant women trapped in the antiabortion state.
- create a dystopian surveillance state with a creepy evangelical army of citizen informants, and
- terrorize pregnant women by criminalizing what once was their legal right to an abortion.
Denying legal Voting Rights for the Common Good by
- blocking common sense regulations that facilitate easy access to all methods of voting for all voters in all communities, and
- attacking local election officials innocent of any wrongdoing who were just doing their job.
Defacing a beautiful and wild southern border by
- erecting a wastefully expensive wall that does not serve the best interests of the Common Good, and
- demoralizing desperate refugees and immigrants that look to America for leadership and help, and
- deploying a floating barrier in the Rio Grande River without any idea of the unintended consequences to desperate immigrants?
Blocking common sense gun controls based on the belief that
- every citizen should be armed (you’d be wise to steer clear of shopping malls), and
- gun control is a violation of individual liberty and akin to fascism.
If you knew you could save just one child by relinquishing your personal assault weapon as an example to others, why wouldn’t you do it?
Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America by Mark Follman
Is this really what the majority of Texans want for the Common Good?
Or is it what you’ve got because of a loud, angry, wealthy, and powerful minority?
sp
We have to hope that during this period of political craziness and division that at the individual level, people will think and act rationally and won’t do anything to compromise their own income, long-term financial security, health, personal freedoms and family because really, we all want the same thing (a happy and healthy life), we just have different opinions how to get there which we must mutually respect so we can keep talking to each other.
sp
Big Picture / Human Society / Politics & Government
Our campaign finance system gives wealthy donors, whether they be corporations or individuals, access and influence over the system far greater than any regular American can ever imagine.
The Conservative Soul: Fundamentalism, Freedom, and the Future of the Right by Andrew Sullivan
Political Theory
- National State
- Subsidiarity: Nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization.
- Political Action
- Political Power
- Human Rights
- Ideologies
- Anarchism
- Communism
- “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
- Conservatism: The Conservative Soul by Andrew Sullivan
- Democracy
- Fascism
- Liberalism
- Marxism
- Nationalism
- Socialism
- Utopianism
- Contemporary Issues and Problems
- dirty tricks: Political Technology

But I also want to make clear that we will never compromise our principles. House Democrats will always put: American values over autocracy. Benevolence over bigotry. The Constitution over the code. Democracy over demagogues. Economic opportunity over extremism. Freedom over fascism. Governing over gaslighting. Hopefulness over hatred. Inclusion over isolation. Justice over judicial overreach. Knowledge over kangaroo courts. Liberty over limitation. Maturity over Mar-a-Lago. Normalcy over negativity. Opportunity over obstruction. People over politics. Quality of life issues over Q-Anon. Reason over racism. Substance over slander. Triumph over tyranny. Understanding over ugliness. Voting rights over suppression. Working families over the well-connected. Xennial over xenophobia. Yes we can over you cannot do it. And Zealous representation over zero-some confrontation. We will always do the right thing by the American people. So let us not grow weary of doing good. For the American people will reap the benefit of the harvest if we do not give up. Hakeem Jeffries
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
Institutions
- Political systems
- Branches of government
- Executive Branch: Whitehouse
- Legislative Branch
- House of Representatives
- Senate
- filibuster: Kill Switch by Adam Jentleson
- Judicial Branch
- Supreme Court
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993 – 2020)
- Supreme Court
- Public administration
The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics by Breyer
Functioning of Government: The Political Process
- Ways in which political power is exercised
- Internal & external security functions
- Foreign relations
- Supervisory functions of government
- Regulatory functions of government: establishment and enforcement of standards
- Censorship
- banning books: The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Censorship
- Law enforcement
- Enterprising functions of government
- Government’s role in production and consumption
- Methods of changing the form of government: Peaceful and Violent
- Other
- Approval Voting (sp)
- election security: Hacking the 2020 Election
- Electoral College:
- pro-con
- pro: Presidential Elections and Majority Rule by Edward B. Foley
- Freedom to Vote Act (S. 2747)
- polling sites: NBA arenas
- pro-con: 2020 Presidential Election
- voter suppression: All In by Tracey Abrams
International Relations
Further reading
- activism vs. politics: Obama’s Curious Cautiousness
- communism: The Communist Manifesto Marx
- conservatism:
- media: Messengers of the Right by Nicole Hemmer
- The Conservative Sensibility Will
- Republican party:
- abandon Trump: Republican Accountability Project
- American Carnage Alberta
- fascism:
- On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
- Fascism Albright
- issues: The Ultimate Guide to the 2020 Election Clancy
- news: Politico
- socialism: The Road to Serfdom Hayek
- strategy:
- The Brink Bannon
- The Art Of War Sun Tzu
- The Prince Machiavelli
- watchdog: Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW)