Victoria, like many post-democratic societies of the so-called West, is not a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. It is trapped in a Stanford Prison Experiment.
Tag: election
On human frailty in governing
Today I am reposting this piece from July 2019, following the 2019 Australian election. It is newly relevant today as the American republic wrestles with how to save its crumbling political institutions from the oligarchs, their corrupt parasites and mercenaries, and its failing imperial war faction. As Edward Erler asks in The American Mind, Is… Continue reading On human frailty in governing
America’s Hispanic Past and its Hispanic Future Proves it is not Exceptional
"even well-educated, amiable, open-minded people in the United States do not realize that their country has a Hispanic past as well as a Hispanic future."Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States Over the last few weeks I have read Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States. The… Continue reading America’s Hispanic Past and its Hispanic Future Proves it is not Exceptional
The Time of Troubles to come in America
“There always is this fallacious belief: ‘It would not be thesame here; here such things are impossible.’ Alas, all the evilof the twentieth century is possible everywhere on earth.”Aleksander Solzhenitsyn The events of the 2020 USA election confirm Solzhenitsyn's insight. America stands on the brink of collapsing into an oligarchy. The Newspeakers of democracy have… Continue reading The Time of Troubles to come in America
Six asides on the USA 2020 election
This long post contains my reflections on the election in America. There are six reflections: One. The folly of forecasts: my confession Two. The Presidency is determined not by broadcast anchors, but by Constitutional procedure Three. The pending legitimation crisis. Four. Our deformed, barren political society Five. The post-democratic society Six. Heaven is high and… Continue reading Six asides on the USA 2020 election
Waiting for the crisis to unveil
Events threaten to overwhelm my mind. The world stands on the brink of a crisis, and I cannot tell whether the world will drown me, or whether a disordered mind is drowning out the world. Everywhere the crisis is held at a point of tension, and so much seems to hang on how events will… Continue reading Waiting for the crisis to unveil
Updated 2020 USA Election Prediction: the fall of America’s Brezhnev
In August this year I predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2020 USA election. The final debate has closed, and the laptop from hell has dropped. Early voting has begun. What is my prediction now? Everyone agrees this election is hard to predict; and yet pundits persist in making predictions, and not clarifying the… Continue reading Updated 2020 USA Election Prediction: the fall of America’s Brezhnev
My prediction of the 2020 USA Presidential election
Four years ago, in the wake of the American party Conventions, I predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2016 American Presidential election. What do I predict in 2020? In July 2016 this prediction was an outlier. Even in November 2016 it stunned the world of the political elites and the commentariat. It turned out… Continue reading My prediction of the 2020 USA Presidential election
On human frailty in governing
Once ten years ago I gave answers to one of those personal profile questionnaires that aimed to help people know more about their colleagues at work. It asked questions like "how would you describe your childhood?" "what film changed your life?" "what are your favourite books?" and so on. I put some effort into it… Continue reading On human frailty in governing