Political Ideologies

Why we need trolls: Even offensive clowns like Milo Yiannopoulos can be good for the left

Sep 22, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Conservativism, Extremism, Internet Culture, Political Ideologies

Published: Salon (September 22, 2016) Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos is perhaps the most famous troll in the world right now, in large part because he was banned from Twitter last month and because the head of Breitbart News is now the CEO of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. This, of course, makes it all the more disappointing that Yiannopoulos repeatedly flaked on me when I tried to...

Mike Pence, a heartbeat away from the presidency? Now that’s frightening

Sep 22, 2016 | Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Extremism, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, Gender and Sexism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans

Published: Salon (September 22, 2016) Why isn’t Mike Pence a major issue in this campaign? In any other election, Pence would be to a Republican presidential nominee what Sarah Palin was to John McCain back in 2008 — that is, an extreme right-winger whose presence on the ticket is widely regarded as a liability. Of course, this is the year in which the GOP tapped Donald Trump to be its...

Back When I Thought the GOP Would Nominate Rand Paul…

Sep 20, 2016 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Libertarianism, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: The Good Men Project (September 20, 2016) Roughly one year ago, I participated in the group conference call for one of the publications where I freelance. Both I and the other writers were asked to figure out which Republican presidential candidate we thought would be nominated in 2016, under the presumption that we could then cover that individuals campaign if he or she was indeed...

A deep dive into the alt-right’s greatest YouTube hits

Sep 12, 2016 | Conservativism, Conspiracy Theories, Extremism, Internet Culture, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: The Daily Dot (September 7, 2016) When Hillary Clinton pointed out the connection between Donald Trump and the alt-right, she wasn’t talking about an ordinary political movement. As the Daily Dot's Amrita Khalid notes, the alt-right is a "younger, ballsier rejection of the GOP establishment and political correctness as a whole—think the Tea Party meets Pepe the Frog." But it's also...

Interview on Third Party Candidates

Aug 25, 2016 | Conservativism, Democrats, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Liberalism, Libertarianism, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Interview on The Brad Blog (August 24, 2016) My section begins around the 18:00 mark. http://bradblog.com/?p=11818

Tired of Democrats vs. Republicans? Here’s how to fix it

Aug 24, 2016 | Conservativism, Democrats, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Liberalism, Libertarianism, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: Salon (August 23, 2016) I’ve been second to none among progressive pundits urging the sane world to unify behind Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. I’m not going to repeat those arguments here. (If you’re reading this article, the chances are you know them anyway.) But it’s time to acknowledge the major logical flaw in any lesser-of-two-evils position: If we progressives want...

Why Trump’s “Second Amendment” insinuation was an abhorrent stunt straight out of the NRA’s playbook

Aug 11, 2016 | Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Gun Control, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: Salon (August 11, 2016) It was reprehensible for Donald Trump to insinuate that his pro-gun followers use violence to thwart Hillary Clinton. That said, was he really out of lockstep with what the NRA and other pro-gun groups have been saying for years? Just to be clear, this is what Trump said: “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment...

The Wrong Kind of Liberal

Aug 6, 2016 | Liberalism, Political Ideologies

Published: The Good Men Project (August 6, 2016) I’d like to talk about a specific type of liberal – namely, the liberal who believes that his or her liberalism can be brandished as a “get out of jail free” pass for bad behavior. Based on my personal observations, this manifests itself in three ways: There is the MacFarlane type of liberal – i.e., someone who believes that because of their...

The Significance of Mike Pence

Jul 16, 2016 | Abortion, Civil Liberties, Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, Immigration, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: The Good Men Project (July 16, 2016) As The New York Times recently reported, there are an awful lot of social issues in which Donald Trump doesn’t now or didn’t in the past line up with his new vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. These range from abortion and gay rights to whether smoking kills people. Considering that Trump has flip-flopped on a number of issues...

Trump isn’t Goldwater… He might win.

Jun 28, 2016 | Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Extremism, Gender and Sexism, Immigration, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans

Published: Salon (July 2, 2016), The Good Men Project (June 28, 2016) Back in March, I observed that Donald Trump had transformed the Republican Party in a similar way as Barry Goldwater. For those of you unfamiliar with the reference, Goldwater was a plucky arch-conservative Senator from Arizona who defied the GOP establishment by winning their party's presidential nomination in 1964. Although...

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