Yes it is open to anyone Celeste. The Democrats Abroad website is not the most wieldy, but our regional leader, who is part of the book club uses that sign up to know whom to send the zoom link to. It is a weekly sign up.
For this coming week, May 6, we are going to discuss the Jefferson Cowie talk. Then, we will continue discussing Timothy Snyder's book, On Freedom. We decided that we were going through the book too quickly so we decided to slow it down and make sure we are getting the full meaning of what he is saying. It will be posted next time.
Midway, Linda, one set of words stands out: "the need to not be polarized."
I like your summary of Jefferson Cowie's ideas, especially on freeing Americans from the Republican strategies for gerrymandering, voter suppression, and continued reliance on billionaires and the electoral college.
I like your list of names near the end -- though I'd add Rebecca Solnit to it, and spell Anne Applebaum correctly.
But I lament Cowie's typical stupidity (he's an academic) regarding the academy. He just passively accepts the total absence of humanities from the public and all his peers.
Being polarized, Linda, comes when all get used to seeing the world abstractly, in categories, groups, linearities, abstractions. There's one way out of that, and it's to base vision on people -- real people in anecdotes (such as your daughter and her friends) and real characters in novels, memoirs, essay collections, biographies, and histories.
Phil, thanks for the recommendation. I have not read any books of Rebecca Solnit's books, although I have read her in the Guardian. I know my list was not exhaustive, and Rebecca has a lot to offer. I appreciate her feminist viewpoint.
I may not be representing Cowie well, and I will post the video of his talk and the discussion when it is out. He seems to be very clear headed about how academia needs to learn how to talk to people who are not.
An irony is that for some reason a Harvard educated Republican speaking to "the people" resonates with those who do not have a college degree. Is this true for Democrats? I don't know. I think Cowie is saying that many of the people who voted for Trump do not see the world abstractly and their patriotic ideas are not abstract. They are about concrete things. Others who are more academic feel patriotic too. He is saying there is a common ground and we need to be finding it and working together. He is not making a case for just catering to people who are intolerant of diversity, or women, or academics, but to be electable a person has to be offering this group something too.
". . . a common ground." Love that aspiration, Linda.
If we cherished it, we'd be capable of seeing others as individuals, capable of referencing others as individuals, too -- as if we rather enjoyed people. In life. In books. In movies and other arts.
Interesting to speculate: in the entirety of his talk, did Cowie even once reference a character from some book, movie, or song?
That won't get one tenure, you know, Linda. Quite oppositely, it only exposes one as non-professional.
He did reference books, but not characters per say, but people in history. He was talking to our group for free. He was in Zooming in from Prague, where I think he had just arrived. He was speaking on what we asked him to which was populism and mostly he answered our questions. This talk was graciously offered because we asked.
When I lived in Budapest, Hungary, in Presov and Zilina in Slovakia, and Brno in the Czech Republic, I saw many visitors coming as speakers after the Wall fell in '89. I always listened for those who, as courtesy prior research, could mention some novel or film from those countries as apt link to their talk's substance.
You can guess as to how often my hopes came fulfilled.
(Side note: I got from George Soros funding -- ample, generous -- to build first program in the history of central European universities for guests from neighboring cultures there to appear in trios of speakers giving weekly talks all referencing each other's culture.)
"Cowie expressed surprise that Americans have not fought more for voting rights..."
Well, actually it isn't that surprising. Americans day in, day out are being told that they are the greatest democracy in the history of the world. I remember a talk I gave on one of my speaking tours some years ago at a high school in the Midwest. I spoke to three classes in the school's library, there were about 90 kids. It was the first class in the morning and it started off with the Pledge of Allegiance. In my talk about the dangers of populism and nationalism I stressed the importance of being a responsible citizen, who should participate in political life, should be critical also of his own government and vote. In the following Q&A one kid got up and asked what practical suggestions I had to encourage critical thinking. "Doing away with the Pledge of Allegiance every morning might be a good start" was my answer. Some frowned, some nodded. After the event I walked up to the teacher and apologized if I had stepped on too many toes with my remark. No, he said, no need to apologize, they should hear that.
The Pledge is only one element that might numb citizens to realize that voting rights are in serious danger. Even from Democrats you hear the constant mantra of 'the greatest democracy in the history of the world' when decrying certain aspects of it. No, it certainly isn't. From the Electoral College to gerrymandering, voter suppression, campaign financing to two-year terms for the House of Representatives the system is deeply flawed - and intentionally so. Just name me one democracy other than the US where congressmen and -women have two-year terms and not four-year terms. You won't find one. Combined with the absence of regulated and public campaign funding the system insures that these parliamentarians are in constant campaign and fundraiser mode - and thus highly dependent on donations from big money.
After a campaign event in the Midterms 2022 in Charlotte I had the pleasure to chat with Senator Cory Booker. He was still pumped up after a (as usual) rousing speech he gave, was all smiles and in the best of moods. I used the opportunity to bring up the subject of "the greatest democracy in the history of the world" and expressed my puzzlement over Democrats continuously repeating that chimera "despite constantly being on the receiving end of its serious shortcomings." I told him that in order to wake up the citizenry, Democrats would have to stop pretending that the US were "the shining city on the hill."
His face turned very somber and he said "I know, I know." The majority of the people certainly doesn't know.
Stefan, I agree with what you are saying here. In his book Freedom's Dominion, Cowie points out that the US does not have a democracy until 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. On the other hand, people in the South can only exercise this right, with strong federal intervention and enforcement because of White Supremacist ideas of freedom that are basically freedom for White men to do whatever they want without government interference, which includes having dominion over other people. In my 2 articles on what Cowie is talking about is his idea that no one wins without being populist and in his latest talk he said that they at least need to have populist elements.
My book club invited him to talk again, because we wanted to better understand what he is saying about populism. I think I have a better grip now.
The US has a population where 2/3 do not have a university degree. In Germany it is around 2/3 as well, which is shocking given that education is tuition free. With these low levels of higher education in the population, people are much more likely to be interested in a populist candidate. They have to have a message that is inclusive of this group. So, we have to meet people where they are. I would say Americans are getting an education now about what right wing populism looks like. I think it is less appealing than it sounded like it was going to be.
In the meantime we have let the Republican right wing, Christian Nationalist elite do a number on what little voting rights we have. That is the battle now.
Thank you for your valid comment and courage. When we were in high school in the late 1960’s my younger brother refused to say the pledge of allegiance. I would cringe afraid for him. But I also admire his courage and I also agreed with his stance. Shamefully, I dutifully said that pledge.
Thank you. We do what we understand. Clearly your brother had a different understanding of the pledge. I assume you are now in the battle to save our voting rights as we can. As an American who votes from Abroad I am looking at losing the possibility of voting as well. Our group has been contacting our elected members of Congress asking them to vote against the SAVE Act. We live in dystopian times, and need to struggle to hold onto our sense of reality with all of the disinformation that abounds.
No time to read your post now before work, but will as soon as I get home.
I would like to join your book club. Is that possible? Please respond? Thanks.
Yes it is open to anyone Celeste. The Democrats Abroad website is not the most wieldy, but our regional leader, who is part of the book club uses that sign up to know whom to send the zoom link to. It is a weekly sign up.
https://www.democratsabroad.org/de_hamburg
You can sign up under Anti-Authoritarian Book club event link.
https://www.democratsabroad.org/347793/anti-authoritarian_book_club_may_6
For this coming week, May 6, we are going to discuss the Jefferson Cowie talk. Then, we will continue discussing Timothy Snyder's book, On Freedom. We decided that we were going through the book too quickly so we decided to slow it down and make sure we are getting the full meaning of what he is saying. It will be posted next time.
It would be great to have you. In Solidarity! ✌🏽
Midway, Linda, one set of words stands out: "the need to not be polarized."
I like your summary of Jefferson Cowie's ideas, especially on freeing Americans from the Republican strategies for gerrymandering, voter suppression, and continued reliance on billionaires and the electoral college.
I like your list of names near the end -- though I'd add Rebecca Solnit to it, and spell Anne Applebaum correctly.
But I lament Cowie's typical stupidity (he's an academic) regarding the academy. He just passively accepts the total absence of humanities from the public and all his peers.
Being polarized, Linda, comes when all get used to seeing the world abstractly, in categories, groups, linearities, abstractions. There's one way out of that, and it's to base vision on people -- real people in anecdotes (such as your daughter and her friends) and real characters in novels, memoirs, essay collections, biographies, and histories.
Phil, thanks for the recommendation. I have not read any books of Rebecca Solnit's books, although I have read her in the Guardian. I know my list was not exhaustive, and Rebecca has a lot to offer. I appreciate her feminist viewpoint.
I may not be representing Cowie well, and I will post the video of his talk and the discussion when it is out. He seems to be very clear headed about how academia needs to learn how to talk to people who are not.
An irony is that for some reason a Harvard educated Republican speaking to "the people" resonates with those who do not have a college degree. Is this true for Democrats? I don't know. I think Cowie is saying that many of the people who voted for Trump do not see the world abstractly and their patriotic ideas are not abstract. They are about concrete things. Others who are more academic feel patriotic too. He is saying there is a common ground and we need to be finding it and working together. He is not making a case for just catering to people who are intolerant of diversity, or women, or academics, but to be electable a person has to be offering this group something too.
". . . a common ground." Love that aspiration, Linda.
If we cherished it, we'd be capable of seeing others as individuals, capable of referencing others as individuals, too -- as if we rather enjoyed people. In life. In books. In movies and other arts.
Interesting to speculate: in the entirety of his talk, did Cowie even once reference a character from some book, movie, or song?
That won't get one tenure, you know, Linda. Quite oppositely, it only exposes one as non-professional.
He did reference books, but not characters per say, but people in history. He was talking to our group for free. He was in Zooming in from Prague, where I think he had just arrived. He was speaking on what we asked him to which was populism and mostly he answered our questions. This talk was graciously offered because we asked.
I hear you, Linda.
When I lived in Budapest, Hungary, in Presov and Zilina in Slovakia, and Brno in the Czech Republic, I saw many visitors coming as speakers after the Wall fell in '89. I always listened for those who, as courtesy prior research, could mention some novel or film from those countries as apt link to their talk's substance.
You can guess as to how often my hopes came fulfilled.
(Side note: I got from George Soros funding -- ample, generous -- to build first program in the history of central European universities for guests from neighboring cultures there to appear in trios of speakers giving weekly talks all referencing each other's culture.)
"Cowie expressed surprise that Americans have not fought more for voting rights..."
Well, actually it isn't that surprising. Americans day in, day out are being told that they are the greatest democracy in the history of the world. I remember a talk I gave on one of my speaking tours some years ago at a high school in the Midwest. I spoke to three classes in the school's library, there were about 90 kids. It was the first class in the morning and it started off with the Pledge of Allegiance. In my talk about the dangers of populism and nationalism I stressed the importance of being a responsible citizen, who should participate in political life, should be critical also of his own government and vote. In the following Q&A one kid got up and asked what practical suggestions I had to encourage critical thinking. "Doing away with the Pledge of Allegiance every morning might be a good start" was my answer. Some frowned, some nodded. After the event I walked up to the teacher and apologized if I had stepped on too many toes with my remark. No, he said, no need to apologize, they should hear that.
The Pledge is only one element that might numb citizens to realize that voting rights are in serious danger. Even from Democrats you hear the constant mantra of 'the greatest democracy in the history of the world' when decrying certain aspects of it. No, it certainly isn't. From the Electoral College to gerrymandering, voter suppression, campaign financing to two-year terms for the House of Representatives the system is deeply flawed - and intentionally so. Just name me one democracy other than the US where congressmen and -women have two-year terms and not four-year terms. You won't find one. Combined with the absence of regulated and public campaign funding the system insures that these parliamentarians are in constant campaign and fundraiser mode - and thus highly dependent on donations from big money.
After a campaign event in the Midterms 2022 in Charlotte I had the pleasure to chat with Senator Cory Booker. He was still pumped up after a (as usual) rousing speech he gave, was all smiles and in the best of moods. I used the opportunity to bring up the subject of "the greatest democracy in the history of the world" and expressed my puzzlement over Democrats continuously repeating that chimera "despite constantly being on the receiving end of its serious shortcomings." I told him that in order to wake up the citizenry, Democrats would have to stop pretending that the US were "the shining city on the hill."
His face turned very somber and he said "I know, I know." The majority of the people certainly doesn't know.
Stefan, I agree with what you are saying here. In his book Freedom's Dominion, Cowie points out that the US does not have a democracy until 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. On the other hand, people in the South can only exercise this right, with strong federal intervention and enforcement because of White Supremacist ideas of freedom that are basically freedom for White men to do whatever they want without government interference, which includes having dominion over other people. In my 2 articles on what Cowie is talking about is his idea that no one wins without being populist and in his latest talk he said that they at least need to have populist elements.
Here is my summary of his talk the first time.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn
My book club invited him to talk again, because we wanted to better understand what he is saying about populism. I think I have a better grip now.
The US has a population where 2/3 do not have a university degree. In Germany it is around 2/3 as well, which is shocking given that education is tuition free. With these low levels of higher education in the population, people are much more likely to be interested in a populist candidate. They have to have a message that is inclusive of this group. So, we have to meet people where they are. I would say Americans are getting an education now about what right wing populism looks like. I think it is less appealing than it sounded like it was going to be.
In the meantime we have let the Republican right wing, Christian Nationalist elite do a number on what little voting rights we have. That is the battle now.
Thank you for your valid comment and courage. When we were in high school in the late 1960’s my younger brother refused to say the pledge of allegiance. I would cringe afraid for him. But I also admire his courage and I also agreed with his stance. Shamefully, I dutifully said that pledge.
Thank you. We do what we understand. Clearly your brother had a different understanding of the pledge. I assume you are now in the battle to save our voting rights as we can. As an American who votes from Abroad I am looking at losing the possibility of voting as well. Our group has been contacting our elected members of Congress asking them to vote against the SAVE Act. We live in dystopian times, and need to struggle to hold onto our sense of reality with all of the disinformation that abounds.