#Elizabeth Anderson, "The Broken System," The Nation, 3.8 - 15.2021. - " 'Despite seeking to protect working-class interests more than the Republicans , it [the Democratic Party] has lost considerable segments of its working-class base,' says Michael J. Sandel, author of "What Became of the Common Good?" Sandel recognizes that other factors besides meritocracy have undermined the working class. 'Globalization, technological change, and the economic policies initiated since the 1970s have reduced the prospects of many Americans without college degrees,' he argues. 'The top tier of workers has turned itself into a self-producing elite, flattering itself as a natural aristocracy, superior to the losers in the race to succeed.' 'By turning colleges and universities into the gatekeepers to jobs that offer dignity, security, and a decent standard of living, meritocracy has not remedied inequality,' as Sandel argues, 'it has entrenched and justified it.' "
"In Sandel's view, meritocracy does more than drive material inequality; 'it creates a toxic economy of esteem. The winners of meritocracy competition feel entitled to take all they can, while losers feel humiliated, continually told they deserve the fate to which elites consign them.' 'No wonder the non-college-educated have erupted in populist revolt. Vividly aware of the reality that hard work does not enable them to rise, and resentful of condescending elite judgments, many gravitate toward popular authoritarian leaders who channel their grievances and promise to restore them to their former centrality in the nation and the culture.
Elizabeth Anderson believes that the tax system should be revised to eliminate the favorable treatment of capital income relative to wage income, and to discourage financial schemes that merely extract wealth from others, destabilizing the economy.
#Glenn Adamson, "A Tale of Two Bookcases," The Nation, 3.8 - 15.2021. - "At birth, modernism was an equal opportunity movement that tried to meet its public on level terms. Its quashing at the hands of reactionary regimes -- Stalinism in the Soviet Union, Nazism in Germany -- only reinforced its creditability as a political progressive style," "Back in 1932, the Museum of Modern Art had proclaimed modernism to be the 'International Style': in the postwar years, that prediction came true. Hardly a country on earth, no matter its political system, was without its repetitive concrete-and-glass housing projects -- which recommended themselves for the cheapness, if nothing else."
"The term 'POST-MODERNISM' first circulated in architectural circles, and was also freely applied to fashion, graphic design, even music."
"Meanwhile, recent surveys indicate that women hold only 17 percent of the leadership positions in architecture firms, and only 11 percent in design studies." "The representation of African Americans in the profession is only about 3 percent compared with approximately13 percent in the US population."
#Nathan Newman, "The Case for Blue-State Secession," The Nation, 2.22- 3.1.2021. - "The Rockefeller Institute of Government found that over a period of five years, New York taxpayers sent $142.6 billion more to the federal government than they received back in federal spending. New Jersey received a similar 91cents in federal spending for ever dollar paid." "Twenty of the 50 states -- home to 180 million people -- have voted for the same party in the past seven presidential elections, meaning that their voters could largely be ignored by presidential contenders."
"Thanks to the Senate's bizarre filibuster rules, 41senators -- who represent as little as 11 percent of the population -- can prevent any bill from even coming to a vote."
"The fact is that white supremacy is embedded in US policy, since racial minorities make up 44 percent of the population in the 10 least populous, which have disproportionate voting power in the Senate."
#My Comment: Even accepting these very troubling statistics, blue-state secession would be too extreme a remedy for me.
#"The Mail," The Nation, 2.22 - 3.1.2021. - Letter writer Sonya Michael says that: "The paid labor force has become more gender-diverse, but women still perform the bulk of housework, whether unpaid in their own homes or as the majority of the eighty percent of U.S. employment..." "The work is the lowest-paid in the U.S., and, because it often entails proximity to other people, it puts millions at increased risk of contracting COVID-19."
#Atul Gavande, "Don't Tell Me What to Do," The New Yorker, February 15 & 22, 2021. - "The story was grim. North Dakota had more new [Covid-19] cases and deaths per capita than any other state." "I wanted to learn about Minot because it was exceptional: it was the worst-performing county in the worst-performing state in the worst-performing country in the world."
"In 2019, per-person spending for medical care in the United States was almost twelve thousand dollars; it was just fifty-six dollars for public-health departments."
#Susan Montoya Bryan, "Groups seek reconsideration of nuclear decision," The Albuquerque Journal, February 19, 2021. - "Watchdog groups want the Biden administration to reconsider the decision by a U.S. agency not to conduct a more rigorous environmental review related to the production of the plutonium cores used in the nation's nuclear arsenal. The renewed request comes from federal installations in New Mexico and South Carolina, who face a deadline of making 80 cores per year by 2030, with the first 30 due in five years." Several groups have asked for a rigorous environmental review be done before production is ramped up in Los Alamos and the Savannah River site.
A 2019 analysis by the GAO last year estimated that expanded pit production plans could cost up to $9 billion over the next decade.
#Cady Long, "What's being done to combat violence against Asian Americans?" TIME, March 1/March 8, 2021. - " 'There is a stereotype that Asian Americans have class privilege [and] have succeeded in this country,' says racial-justice educator Bianca Mabute Louie. 'That creates a fallacy that Asian Americans don't experience struggle,' she says, and 'erases these experiences of violence and discrimination.' " " 'This is an issue that affects all our communities,' says [Russell] Jung, a co-founder of Stop AAPIHate (sp?). 'And we're not calling necessarily for more punitive measures, but [for] restorative justice models that break the cycle of violence.' "
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