mastodon 4.7.3A community of mere liberals. Discussing, defending, and applying the many varieties of liberalism.
"Since Trump's inauguration, the administration has been desperately attempting to get a 'do-over' on the George Floyd protests of 2020. They wish to manufacture images of steely-eyed soldiers facing off against violent un-American riots." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
"We’ve put these dark incentives in place. … The vicarious joy, the thrill of achievement, and the camaraderie bleed out of everything, replaced by suspicion, avarice, and hollow visions of dollar signs." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/betting-alone/
"Managed decline and stagnation are precisely what await every state that is 'organized along ethnic lines' if they cannot find it within themselves to forge truly open societies that welcome very different people from very different places in large numbers." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-notes-what-price-would-you-pay-for-an-open-society/
"One of the stubborn causes of inequality in this country is the clustering of affluent families not just in particular states but in particular localities, too, which then use their superior tax base to outperform local governments with poorer residents. Just as the federal government should step in to set a floor on state budgets per resident, states should raise that floor higher for all of their residents, not only the ones in rich counties." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-reconstruction-papers/
"Authoritarianism can’t abide the concept of public health… It proposes limits on both government and individual activity, and the rationale for those limitations is grounded in the scientific process—it quite literally can appeal to an authority greater than whoever leads the state" (from November) https://www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-rather-than-pandemic-policies-caused-the-war-on-public-health/
"This essay treats morality as irrelevant. It is a cynical essay, an exercise in cold-hearted strategic and tactical analysis. It asks: what did the Prairieland activists intend to achieve, and were the tactics they adopted successful to that end?" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
"Some authors have argued that it was just 'snitches' who ruined everything. But…it's impossible to prevent at least some people from talking to the police once the crowd size passes a certain point, and even more so if someone has shot a cop. No amount of security culture is going to prevent this." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
"As activists, as political actors, you have got to get good at the game of driving stories—things that are perceived by media organizations as stories, that they have then no choice but to cover—that will be received in the manner you want them to be received." https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Lb7byMCbSJQ
"We need to learn from the mistakes of 2021. After the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Democrats thought Donald Trump was a spent force. They devoted their first months…pursuing favorite Democratic agenda items—but doing little to protect our system against a return of authoritarian politics." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/dems-need-a-project-2027/
"Cohen asks us how plausible it is to say that even though nine of the ten people will remain in the room, the prisoners are all still 'free' because any one of them has an equal chance of escaping." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/a-socialists-dialogue-with-liberalism/
"The problem with liberalism today isn’t just that it is not evolving. The deeper concern seems to be that it is devolving. … Liberals are increasingly uncertain of whether the so-called 'moral arc of history' does indeed bend toward justice." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-reconstruction-papers/
"Since 1873, Jim Crow had spread its way across the former Confederacy. Many attempts had been made to stop or resist it. These were all met with overwhelming violence from the white community… From the perspective of 1950, Jim Crow looked like the hardest wall in history." (from February 2025) https://www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-win-a-rigged-game/
Half the Answer #96: Maya Rupert joins Caitlin and Trent to explore the life and works of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who until his death earlier this month occupied the most racist seat in American history. https://www.liberalcurrents.com/lindsey-graham-corporal-senator-hypocrite-half-the-answer-96-with-maya-rupert/
"Jews who came to New York in the early 20th century arrived as settlers in a land that had been ethnically cleansed generations before, and eventually helped build multiracial democracy there; the descendants of those who carried out the ethnic cleansing of 1948 can do the same." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/here-where-we-live-is-a-home-for-everyone/
"The events at Prairieland on July 4, 2025, resulted in a large number of activists arrested, no national upsurge in anti-ICE sentiment, and legal and propaganda victories for the government. A tactical analysis of Prairieland is a case study in mistakes. But negative examples are nevertheless useful for future organizing." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
"This is a non-exhaustive list, but, firstly: the line must be held on all further erosions of trans rights. No concessions on sports. No concessions on bathrooms. No concessions on gender-affirming care for minors. Such erosions are not only unjust, but they destroy political capital by causing trans people to be seen in various settings as less than equal—as ones who need not be given that which is due to equals." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american-transgender-refugee-crisis/
"Pluralism is not only tested when a synagogue, church, mosque, or temple is attacked. It is also tested when one is built, entered, dedicated, borrowed, supported, or welcomed as part of the community. What does it mean, now, to show up for one another when agreement is incomplete?" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-work-of-pluralism/
"The material action—shooting a cop—combined with the aesthetics (vandalism, graffiti, disorder, guys in ski masks…)—together meant that it was easy for the government to paint them as terrorists, and difficult for them to present themselves to a mass audience as sympathetic protesters." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
"We cannot afford that kind of nonsense. The stakes are too high. We need to ask what works, and that is exactly what Samantha asks, what we always try to ask when considering direct action." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-notes-this-is-your-brain-on-strategy/
"From healthcare expansion to housing construction to climate mitigation…the federal government must be able to hire, retain, and direct people at scale. We must make the funding, staffing, and organization of the machinery of governance the highest priority. Because if we don’t, the fascists will." https://www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-rebuild-a-civil-service/
