Back in 2018 Michael Lewis wrote The Fifth Risk about the transition from the Obama to Trump (1st) admin….to me it highlighted not just the ineptness of the incoming admin, but extolled the vast numbers of “public servants” who diligently look out for all of us in this country. It presaged the discounting and disdain for these folks before the actual “gutting” of all those civil servants holding our “safety net” together, thanks to DOGE and political appointees put in charge of things they don’t really understand, now on steroids during his 2nd administration. They called it the “deep state” when in actuality it is more like the “deep foundation” that keeps us from crumbling. It’s going to take a lot of effort and time to build that foundation and safety net back up….but we can & must do it!
Barbara, thank you for emphasizing our role and the importance of the foundation in keeping us stable. It’s going to be hard, and too many people aren’t thinking about doing, only about postulating. Surely we haven’t forgotten how to act…. But enough people are sitting, blaming others, that we have to be organizers, teachers, even a type of journalists to get things done.
As it is now, kids who are 18 now have little active memory of a good president. The current one has been the most visible for young brains, and their peak adolescent learning about the way society should be has been under this man’s administrations. Biden was less visible and therefore less a part of memory formation for them. The further we go in time, the more of their active memories are hijacked by the current rot.
We have to counter it aggressively, rebuilding the foundation that has been gutted.
Thank you — reading is essential to stay informed, but a dying practice, which may be part of the shift you’re talking about. I teach English, and both reading and involvement (along with critical thinking) seem to be shriveling a bit more each year.
Bc president grifter & his cronies don't care at all about the ppl of America. That's evident. He's just in there as a puppet to enrich himself & his cronies & stay out of jail.
The Depressing thing about this fiasco is that the ignorant people who devalued public health expertise also devalue expertise in everything else. A property developer thinks he understands medicine, public health, international relations, military strategy. He understands none of it. From where I sit, it seems they simply do not value doctors. I wonder how they ever get decent healthcare with that attitude
Back in 2018 Michael Lewis wrote The Fifth Risk about the transition from the Obama to Trump (1st) admin….to me it highlighted not just the ineptness of the incoming admin, but extolled the vast numbers of “public servants” who diligently look out for all of us in this country. It presaged the discounting and disdain for these folks before the actual “gutting” of all those civil servants holding our “safety net” together, thanks to DOGE and political appointees put in charge of things they don’t really understand, now on steroids during his 2nd administration. They called it the “deep state” when in actuality it is more like the “deep foundation” that keeps us from crumbling. It’s going to take a lot of effort and time to build that foundation and safety net back up….but we can & must do it!
Barbara, thank you for emphasizing our role and the importance of the foundation in keeping us stable. It’s going to be hard, and too many people aren’t thinking about doing, only about postulating. Surely we haven’t forgotten how to act…. But enough people are sitting, blaming others, that we have to be organizers, teachers, even a type of journalists to get things done.
As it is now, kids who are 18 now have little active memory of a good president. The current one has been the most visible for young brains, and their peak adolescent learning about the way society should be has been under this man’s administrations. Biden was less visible and therefore less a part of memory formation for them. The further we go in time, the more of their active memories are hijacked by the current rot.
We have to counter it aggressively, rebuilding the foundation that has been gutted.
Anne, from what you write, I think this Substack link (I’d also posted it last night to a comment I made on Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack) will “speak” to you. It’s a long read, and quite sobering, but also points out the generational shifts & how it might impact our potential reactions to democratic paradigm shifts: The Rational League https://therationalleague.substack.com/p/what-maga-built-can-be-undone-but?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=4140993&post_id=207313072&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=6wq7j&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email I hope to share it widely with family/friends, but likely only a few might even read it 🤷🏻♀️.
Thank you — reading is essential to stay informed, but a dying practice, which may be part of the shift you’re talking about. I teach English, and both reading and involvement (along with critical thinking) seem to be shriveling a bit more each year.
I look forward to reading your post!
We really resisted the cuts they made — they made them without regard to how much money and how many lives those programs saved.
Bc president grifter & his cronies don't care at all about the ppl of America. That's evident. He's just in there as a puppet to enrich himself & his cronies & stay out of jail.
The Depressing thing about this fiasco is that the ignorant people who devalued public health expertise also devalue expertise in everything else. A property developer thinks he understands medicine, public health, international relations, military strategy. He understands none of it. From where I sit, it seems they simply do not value doctors. I wonder how they ever get decent healthcare with that attitude
Absolute and total dumpster fire !!! zero regard to who will be affected including those who voted for this pedophile