"Too often, we Republicans -- myself included -- have emphasized our message on the 10th Amendment but not our message on the 14th -– an amendment, it bears reminding, that was one of the first great contributions of the Republican Party to American life, second only to the abolition of slavery," Perry said.
I applaud Gov. Rick Perry's attempts to reconnect the Republican Party with African Americans, and end the party's racist "Southern strategy". I applaud similar efforts by Sen. Rand Paul.
However, it was precisely the Southern "state's rights" strategy that made the 14th Amendment, and federal intervention, necessary in the first place.
The former governor of Texas should be able to see that, for black people, being freed from federal protection and left to the mercy of the government of Texas - of all places - does not seem like a reassuring bargain.
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
David Brooks to Social Conservatives: Become the Christian Left, Instead.
David Brooks recommends that Christian conservatives give up on a losing culture war about sex.
Instead, he proposes this:
In other words, the Christian right should instead join the Christian left.
I mostly agree with this sentiment. However, there is a division between Christian left and Christian right in the first place because they disagree about whether the first priority of Christians should be the economic order or the sexual order.
Instead, he proposes this:
The defining face of social conservatism could be this: Those are the people who go into underprivileged areas and form organizations to help nurture stable families. Those are the people who build community institutions in places where they are sparse. Those are the people who can help us think about how economic joblessness and spiritual poverty reinforce each other. Those are the people who converse with us about the transcendent in everyday life.
In other words, the Christian right should instead join the Christian left.
I mostly agree with this sentiment. However, there is a division between Christian left and Christian right in the first place because they disagree about whether the first priority of Christians should be the economic order or the sexual order.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
I Am Glad the Confederate Flag is Down in South Carolina, But Not That Way
When two activists climbed the flagpole and removed the Confederate flag - or more accurately, the Segregationist Flag - from the South Carolina capitol grounds, they acted wrongly, I believe.
It would have been more powerful to have the elected governor of the state take the flag down, as she has already pledged to do. In fact, now South Carolina has to put the flag back up, so that they can take it down the right way.
What makes it all the sweeter is that this particular governor, of Asian descent, would also have been branded non-white by the segregationists who erected the flag in the first place.
It would have been more powerful to have the elected governor of the state take the flag down, as she has already pledged to do. In fact, now South Carolina has to put the flag back up, so that they can take it down the right way.
What makes it all the sweeter is that this particular governor, of Asian descent, would also have been branded non-white by the segregationists who erected the flag in the first place.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Unexpected Good News: Southern Republicans Lead the Charge to Remove Confederate Symbols
The silver lining of the horrible massacre in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by a white supremacist is that Republican leaders across the South are calling to remove Confederate symbols from public grounds.
In South Carolina and Mississippi this movement has focussed on taking the "rebel flag" off the capital grounds and out of the state flag.
In Tennessee the movement is to remove the bust of Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Forrest from the capitol.
Most gratifying to me, Kentucky Senator McConnell and Republican gubernatorial candidate (and McConnell opponent) Matt Bevins have come out in favor of removing the statue of Jefferson Davis from the state capitol rotunda.
Some cynics have said that this move to get rid of racist symbols is a ploy to prevent the more important matter of gun control. This is probably true.
Nonetheless, progress is progress, and I applaud it.
In South Carolina and Mississippi this movement has focussed on taking the "rebel flag" off the capital grounds and out of the state flag.
In Tennessee the movement is to remove the bust of Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Forrest from the capitol.
Most gratifying to me, Kentucky Senator McConnell and Republican gubernatorial candidate (and McConnell opponent) Matt Bevins have come out in favor of removing the statue of Jefferson Davis from the state capitol rotunda.
Some cynics have said that this move to get rid of racist symbols is a ploy to prevent the more important matter of gun control. This is probably true.
Nonetheless, progress is progress, and I applaud it.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
The Higher You Go, the More Social Structure Enables, Rather Than Constrains.
This is my bright idea for the day, after reading about the various kinds of homophily in the upper classes.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Silver Lining in the Charleston Church Racist Mass Murder: His Uncle Turned Him In
I am going on the facts as they have been reported so far, just hours after the likely killer was caught.
Dylann Storm Roof, a young white racist man in South Carolina, after voicing hatred of black people and wearing the flags of apartheid states, was given a big gun by this father.
Roof then went to the most famous black church in Charleston, sat with the church members in Bible study and prayer, before he opened fire. He killed nine people, including the pastor. Roof left one witness to his act of terrorism to tell his story.
Then he took off.
The next day, his uncle saw the security pictures, figured out who the killer was, and turned him in. Roof was caught soon thereafter.
I am reminded of a story of the London subway bombings of a few years ago. One of the killers was recognized by his mother from the security pictures. She turned him in because his act of terrorism was very wrong. But she also said that she did it because she knew that the British authorities would not torture her son.
Roof is not likely to be tortured. He is not likely to be assumed to be connected to any larger group. He is likely, instead, to be treated as a deranged individual. This is because he is white. Yet he is part of a long tradition of Southern terrorists. And he was armed by his own father.
Thank God for the decent uncle.
Dylann Storm Roof, a young white racist man in South Carolina, after voicing hatred of black people and wearing the flags of apartheid states, was given a big gun by this father.
Roof then went to the most famous black church in Charleston, sat with the church members in Bible study and prayer, before he opened fire. He killed nine people, including the pastor. Roof left one witness to his act of terrorism to tell his story.
Then he took off.
The next day, his uncle saw the security pictures, figured out who the killer was, and turned him in. Roof was caught soon thereafter.
I am reminded of a story of the London subway bombings of a few years ago. One of the killers was recognized by his mother from the security pictures. She turned him in because his act of terrorism was very wrong. But she also said that she did it because she knew that the British authorities would not torture her son.
Roof is not likely to be tortured. He is not likely to be assumed to be connected to any larger group. He is likely, instead, to be treated as a deranged individual. This is because he is white. Yet he is part of a long tradition of Southern terrorists. And he was armed by his own father.
Thank God for the decent uncle.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Good News On the Baby Front, Starting With a Rising Birth Rate
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the birth rate is up, ending a decline that began in 2007. This is another sign that we are mentally recovering from the Great Recession.
Further good news: births to women in their 30s are up. A few years ago scare headlines announced that most babies were born out of wedlock - to women under 30. Those article failed to notice the increasing number of women, especially educated women, who begin having children in their 30s. Those children are much more likely to be born in wedlock than are those to the youngest mothers.
Speaking of youngest mothers, the teen birth rate also continued to decline.
Further good news: births to women in their 30s are up. A few years ago scare headlines announced that most babies were born out of wedlock - to women under 30. Those article failed to notice the increasing number of women, especially educated women, who begin having children in their 30s. Those children are much more likely to be born in wedlock than are those to the youngest mothers.
Speaking of youngest mothers, the teen birth rate also continued to decline.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Not Wanting Children Is Not a Problem; Not Wanting Human Beings Is.
I think Sophie Gilbert's review of Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed shows a worse worldview than the problem she sets out to discuss.
That some women do not want children is not a problem. That they feel pressured to do so is something of a problem. But this is worse:
I think that most women do want to have children, especially after they have taken care of babies related to them. But most is not all. Those women who do not want to have children are just as natural as those who do.
The rising percentage of women who do not have children, which Gilbert cites as evidence for her position, is not a good indicator that most of them chose not to, though; for educated women, not having children is more likely a "creeping non-choice" due to finding a husband and economic stability in time.
The attitude that I quote above, though, is literally anti-human, and a much worse problem than women feeling that they ought to want to have children.
That some women do not want children is not a problem. That they feel pressured to do so is something of a problem. But this is worse:
Not having children isn’t selfish. Not having children is a perfectly rational and reasonable response given that humans are essentially parasites on the face of a perfectly lovely and well-balanced planet, ploughing through its natural resources, eradicating its endangered species, and ruining its most wonderful landscapes. This might sound misanthropic, and it is, but it is also true.
I think that most women do want to have children, especially after they have taken care of babies related to them. But most is not all. Those women who do not want to have children are just as natural as those who do.
The rising percentage of women who do not have children, which Gilbert cites as evidence for her position, is not a good indicator that most of them chose not to, though; for educated women, not having children is more likely a "creeping non-choice" due to finding a husband and economic stability in time.
The attitude that I quote above, though, is literally anti-human, and a much worse problem than women feeling that they ought to want to have children.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Good News: The Rate of Unmarried Young Fatherhood is Going Down
For men under 44,
In the 1980s, 42% of first-time fathers were not married.
In the 1990s, 40% of first-time fathers were not married.
In the 2000s, 34% of first-time fathers were not married.
The big gains came from improvements among black fathers, whose unmarried fatherhood rate dropped from 77% in the '80s to 66% in the '00s.
Moreover, more unmarried fathers are at least living with the mothers of their children.
Thursday, June 04, 2015
Americans Tend to be Touchy Nationalists Because Our Nation is So Obviously Constructed
Tocqueville notes that Americans are very touchy in their nationalism.
Yet America is about the easiest nation to join - e pluribus unum means that we take the masses, huddled and otherwise, from anywhere and everywhere. If you embrace American principles, and profess loyalty to the nation and its Constitution, you can be an American.
I think these facts are two sides of the same coin. American expressions of nationalism are so touchy, and often so excessive, because our nationhood is so obviously constructed.
And I would expect that the people touchiest about our sacred nation would be those people who are Americans by experience, rather than formal knowledge. Their vehemence against those they claim "violate the Constitution" is in inverse proportion to their actual knowledge of the Constitution.
Today's point is a subset of my larger argument that most people's religion really is the civil religion of the nation; they believe that all of the things they hold sacred fit neatly under the national umbrella, without being able to explain exactly how.
Yet America is about the easiest nation to join - e pluribus unum means that we take the masses, huddled and otherwise, from anywhere and everywhere. If you embrace American principles, and profess loyalty to the nation and its Constitution, you can be an American.
I think these facts are two sides of the same coin. American expressions of nationalism are so touchy, and often so excessive, because our nationhood is so obviously constructed.
And I would expect that the people touchiest about our sacred nation would be those people who are Americans by experience, rather than formal knowledge. Their vehemence against those they claim "violate the Constitution" is in inverse proportion to their actual knowledge of the Constitution.
Today's point is a subset of my larger argument that most people's religion really is the civil religion of the nation; they believe that all of the things they hold sacred fit neatly under the national umbrella, without being able to explain exactly how.
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Natural Growth Childrearing is Like Having Cats
My students always learn from Annette Lareau's excellent study, Unequal Childhoods, about the difference in the way middle-class parents typically raise their children, compared to the way working-class and poor parents typically raise their children.
Middle-class parents use what Lareau calls "concerted cultivation" - marshaling their own resources, and that of many other teachers, coaches, tutors, and others to cultivate the talents of each of their children. This is the typical upbringing of Centre students.
Lareau found that poorer parents use what she called "natural growth" parenting. Good parents make sure their kids are fed, clothed, sheltered, and loved - and make them go to school, as the law requires. They depend on the school to do the teaching, since the teacher are the professionals. When kids come home, they are free to choose how to spend their time, either in the house or out of it.
My children were raised in the way typical of my class - concerted cultivation, but not over-the-top. I realized as I was letting the cats out after feeding them this morning that I raise my cats by natural growth. Once they mastered the litter box, I have not worked much on developing their skills. They are free to come and go. I feed them, get their necessary shots, and pet them sometimes.
My students also learn from Edin and Kefalas' excellent study Promises I Can Keep, about teen welfare mothers. For Centre students, it is a through-the-lookingglass experience to read about teenagers who think raising a child at their age - with no husband, no job, and no real plan - is a sensible thing to do. The difference, they come to see, is that the women in Promises I Can Keep are using a natural growth standard of what being a good mother would be, whereas my students are using a concerted cultivation standard.
At the same time, many of these same students, especially the young women soon after they graduate from Centre, will casually take on the care of a cat. Because for cats, they find the natural growth standard is sufficient.
Middle-class parents use what Lareau calls "concerted cultivation" - marshaling their own resources, and that of many other teachers, coaches, tutors, and others to cultivate the talents of each of their children. This is the typical upbringing of Centre students.
Lareau found that poorer parents use what she called "natural growth" parenting. Good parents make sure their kids are fed, clothed, sheltered, and loved - and make them go to school, as the law requires. They depend on the school to do the teaching, since the teacher are the professionals. When kids come home, they are free to choose how to spend their time, either in the house or out of it.
My children were raised in the way typical of my class - concerted cultivation, but not over-the-top. I realized as I was letting the cats out after feeding them this morning that I raise my cats by natural growth. Once they mastered the litter box, I have not worked much on developing their skills. They are free to come and go. I feed them, get their necessary shots, and pet them sometimes.
My students also learn from Edin and Kefalas' excellent study Promises I Can Keep, about teen welfare mothers. For Centre students, it is a through-the-lookingglass experience to read about teenagers who think raising a child at their age - with no husband, no job, and no real plan - is a sensible thing to do. The difference, they come to see, is that the women in Promises I Can Keep are using a natural growth standard of what being a good mother would be, whereas my students are using a concerted cultivation standard.
At the same time, many of these same students, especially the young women soon after they graduate from Centre, will casually take on the care of a cat. Because for cats, they find the natural growth standard is sufficient.
Monday, May 04, 2015
The Railroads Won the Civil War
I have long puzzled over how the Republican Party, which was born as the progressive do-gooder party, became the party of corporate interests. I had vaguely thought the shift might have happened with Taft.
The more I think about the origins of the party, though, the more I think the corporate interest was there from the beginning. And today it came to me:
The railroads won the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.
Robert Todd Lincoln, business leader and Republican power broker, was general counsel, and later president, of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
The more I think about the origins of the party, though, the more I think the corporate interest was there from the beginning. And today it came to me:
The railroads won the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.
Robert Todd Lincoln, business leader and Republican power broker, was general counsel, and later president, of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
The Hunger Games for Universities
Mark Chelgren, a Tea Party Republican state senator in Iowa, proposed a bill that would, among other things, do the following:
(2) The names of the five professors who rank lowest on their institution’s evaluation for the semester, but who scored above the minimum threshold of performance, shall be published on the institution’s internet site and the student body shall be offered an opportunity to vote on the question of whether any of the five professors will be retained as employees of the institution. The employment of the professor receiving the fewest votes approving retention shall be terminated by the institution regardless of tenure status or contract.
The bill is really breathtaking in its peculiar view of what professors - or any kind of professionals - do, and how they should be judged. It is a kind of cut-throat competition that would make for poisonous relations among any staff. This was the principle governing co-working relations at Enron, which led them to try to outdo one another in ruthlessness toward customers.
One blog commentator, tmareace, wrote "How about doing the same for the legislators in the state?"
The good news is that, as far as I can tell, this bill went nowhere, to the credit of the Iowa legislature.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Would Government-Provided Birth Control Be Fair, Because Voluntary? How About Government-Provided Guns?
My students have been reading Cahn and Carbone's Red Families vs. Blue Families. As the name suggests, the authors contrast the vision of family life of conservative and liberal ideologies, and actual practice. The short version of the difference:
Blue families promote marital delay, birth control, equality in marriage, and higher education.
Red families promote early marriage, sex control, complementarity in sex roles, and conservative religion.
I asked the students to try to come up with several policies that would justly serve a nation with both kinds of families. Some of the students are liberals and some are conservatives, but all are students at a selective college, most of whom are planning on careers for men and women, as well as marriage and children. Some are, therefore, 'red' in their ideology, but tilt 'blue' in their practice.
Which led quite a few, on both sides of the spectrum, to want the government to make birth control widely available to everyone. They reasoned that this was a fair policy to both views; the government was not promoting birth control, as blues would like, but simply making it available.
It occurred to me that a good parallel would be to have the government make guns widely available to everyone. Would this constitute a fair policy to both views, or would the government be promoting gun ownership, as reds would like?
Blue families promote marital delay, birth control, equality in marriage, and higher education.
Red families promote early marriage, sex control, complementarity in sex roles, and conservative religion.
I asked the students to try to come up with several policies that would justly serve a nation with both kinds of families. Some of the students are liberals and some are conservatives, but all are students at a selective college, most of whom are planning on careers for men and women, as well as marriage and children. Some are, therefore, 'red' in their ideology, but tilt 'blue' in their practice.
Which led quite a few, on both sides of the spectrum, to want the government to make birth control widely available to everyone. They reasoned that this was a fair policy to both views; the government was not promoting birth control, as blues would like, but simply making it available.
It occurred to me that a good parallel would be to have the government make guns widely available to everyone. Would this constitute a fair policy to both views, or would the government be promoting gun ownership, as reds would like?
Wednesday, April 08, 2015
Yes, "We" Can Still Handle Marriage, As We Always Have
A friend asked me to comment on this article, in which the author, Anthony D'Ambrosio, claims that "marriage doesn't work today" and that "we" (young people) can't handle it.
I don't think this young man understands marriage very well.
He thinks sex is the most important aspect. He imagines that couples in the past did not struggle with financial problems together. After his divorce, he is hoping for "true love" which somehow counteracts all the problems that he mentions.
And he does not even consider the core task of marriage from time immemorial: raising children.
I don't think the problem is his generation, or today's technological distractions, or even student debt. Plenty of young people make excellent marriages in the customary way. They work out a way to deal with these challenges together.
Marriage is a way for two people to mature together - which makes everything else possible.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Manspreading in Public, Womanspreading in Private
"Manspreading" is the tendency of some men to spread out and take extra space in public - on a subway bench, for example. This is a real phenomenon, and the public-awareness campaign to encourage men to be more restrained is sensible.
Less noted is what I think should be called "Womanspreading" - the tendency of some women to take extra space when sharing a bed. A humorous representation of the phenomenon is here:
I think there is a parallel phenomenon of "mansplaining" in a public setting, and "womansplaining" in a private one.
Less noted is what I think should be called "Womanspreading" - the tendency of some women to take extra space when sharing a bed. A humorous representation of the phenomenon is here:
I think there is a parallel phenomenon of "mansplaining" in a public setting, and "womansplaining" in a private one.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Spreading Democracy vs. Spreading Capitalism
There is a great divide in American foreign policy since World War II.
Some want to spread democracy. Some want to spread capitalism.
Realizing this clarifies to me much of what has been muddy in why some of our interventions have been for good, and others for ill.
Some want to spread democracy. Some want to spread capitalism.
Realizing this clarifies to me much of what has been muddy in why some of our interventions have been for good, and others for ill.
Sunday, March 01, 2015
Correct Your Regrettable Habits
Take note of your moments of regret. Literally write them down in a notebook.
Resist the natural temptation to repress them and move on.
Regrets are your best clue to which habits you need to analyze, and correct.
Resist the natural temptation to repress them and move on.
Regrets are your best clue to which habits you need to analyze, and correct.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Most Republicans Support Establishing Christianity as the National Religion
Public Policy Policy has found that most Republicans support establishing Christianity as the national religion, by a margin of 57% to 30%, with 13% unsure.
The proportion rises to 68% among those who would like to see former Gov. Mike Huckabee become president.
The survey does not ask any further questions about the respondents' understanding of the Constitution or of Christianity. My guess is that this position does not rest on a deep analysis of either.
Instead, this is the characteristic conservative loyalty to what they imagine to be "traditional" as being sacred.
The irony, of course, is that what is actually traditional in the United States is that we definitely do not allow an established religion.
Moreover, I am sure that that majority agreement among Republicans on establishing "Christianity" would disintegrate as soon as they got down to any specifics of which practices of Christianity they have in mind.
The proportion rises to 68% among those who would like to see former Gov. Mike Huckabee become president.
The survey does not ask any further questions about the respondents' understanding of the Constitution or of Christianity. My guess is that this position does not rest on a deep analysis of either.
Instead, this is the characteristic conservative loyalty to what they imagine to be "traditional" as being sacred.
The irony, of course, is that what is actually traditional in the United States is that we definitely do not allow an established religion.
Moreover, I am sure that that majority agreement among Republicans on establishing "Christianity" would disintegrate as soon as they got down to any specifics of which practices of Christianity they have in mind.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Marriage Opportunity: A Centrist Approach
I am happy to be among the original signatories of a new manifesto, "Marriage Opportunity: The Moment for National Action."
The manifesto calls for the same pro-marriage position that I have been arguing in this blog for a decade.
What is new is that this statement supports same-sex marriage as good for the marriage movement.
I believe this is a centrist position.
The signatories, fellow members of the Marriage Opportunity Council, are from the left, right, and center on a number of issues. The group includes people who previously opposed same-sex marriage, and those who have previously thought marriage an objectionable institution on the grounds that it was heterosexist or patriarchal or simply outmoded. We come together on this statement now.
I hope, and expect, that this position will soon be the norm in the middle of political discussion.
The manifesto calls for the same pro-marriage position that I have been arguing in this blog for a decade.
What is new is that this statement supports same-sex marriage as good for the marriage movement.
I believe this is a centrist position.
The signatories, fellow members of the Marriage Opportunity Council, are from the left, right, and center on a number of issues. The group includes people who previously opposed same-sex marriage, and those who have previously thought marriage an objectionable institution on the grounds that it was heterosexist or patriarchal or simply outmoded. We come together on this statement now.
I hope, and expect, that this position will soon be the norm in the middle of political discussion.
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