As someone who presently works in the public sector and having expended much labor and treasure to get a master’s degree in public administration, I take attacks on civil servants to heart. I fear that conspiracy theories that characterize career bureaucrats as disloyal members of a deep state undermine the Continue Reading
Is the United States a Democracy or Republic?
Attacks on democracy take many forms. Some volleys lodged at democracies can be directed at institutions, others attack structures, processes, and norms. One of the more insidious techniques used by demagogues to undermine democracy is to impoverish the language of political discourse, frequently using the art of sophistry1. A particular Continue Reading
Propaganda Model of the Media
In an environment when one is blasted at all sides with distorted, biased, and invented news, it is more important than ever to be an educated consumer of information. In communication theory, there is a powerful model of the media that explains how market forces shape the news we receive. Continue Reading
What is Fascism?
Teenagers and counter-culture youths often call authority figures or bullies, “Fascist!” The term has been so misused that many see it as a comically juvenile insult bereft of meaning. Historically, that was not always the case. Fascist ideology once inspired mass movements and led to a World War. Some social Continue Reading