When I arrived in Santa Rosa, an hour’s drive north of San Francisco, I wasn’t thinking about the news reports I’d read about the police killing of the thirteen year old with the toy replica of an assault rifle in that town of 160,000 a few weeks before. It had been an uneventful trip and … More The Death of Andy Lopez and so Much More
Why Our Culture Keeps Us from the Pursuit of Happiness Individualism may be the most entrenched and pervasive icon of American civilization. After all, personal liberty was one of the founding principles of the republic formed in rebellion against the oppressive rule of the British monarchy and its economic elite. Rarely mentioned, however, is the … More Individualism and Its Discontents
We all know that politics is rife with deceit of the public and deception of the self. Claims as to the reasons a senator or congressman supports or opposes a bill or a policy are often merely “cover stories” hiding the widespread real reason the politicians vote the way they do – money. The conflation … More Why Is Social Security So Insecure?
I used to wonder how it is that after generations of Americans spent their entire adulthood paying mortgages just as their parents had, only a tiny fraction actually owned their modest homes outright upon retirement. The next generation, in most cases, starts the process all over again with little if any inheritance. Where is the … More Clearances, Foreclosures, and Evictions
It’s hard to accept the idea that most human activities are based on illusions. But look at the nature and kinds of illusions out there. Some illusions are necessary and good, while others are quite destructive. We tend to see the illusions of tribal cultures as “myths,” illusory fictions about the world, whereas we see … More Some Serious Social Illusions
Facing a natural world with which it has yet to reach an accommodation, the accelerating crisis of industrial civilization involves an intensifying clash of cultures within itself. Climate disruption, economic disintegration, and political stagnation converge in a composite crisis of unheard of planetary proportion and complexity. At the same time, a growing cultural divide pits … More Culture Clash
Money and banking seem far too mysterious to far too many people. Read all about it and you may feel that much of your time was wasted, simply because at root it seems not all that complicated. Oh, the world of money and banking has been made quite complicated, but that’s because of who is … More Money: Banking on the Economy of the Absurd
A liberal lament among many Democrats these days is that President Obama has failed to implement—or has been prevented from implementing—the liberal agenda for America that he so eloquently outlined and continues to reference in his speeches. Of course, they continue to call for greater support for the president and his programs. The Republican politicians … More Why Obama Failed: Or did He?
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 