Recent Posts

Destruction of DemocracyRacial Politics

The Trump Show… and What It Means for the Rest of Us

Photo above: Donald Trump and his Laughing White Men's Supreme Chorus back when they thought they were celebrating the removal of you and your children from affordable health care in the U.S. It's been a bit comforting to hear more and more conservatives and liberals speak out on the threat the Trump administration poses to our democracy. Progress! But I find we continue to dance around the issue of race and skin color. Hard right Republicans and their conservative media, per their playbook, have shamed the press and the Democrats into not ...

metadadablog on September 18, 2018

Recent Posts

Radical CentrismRole of the Citizen

Has the Time Come to Mandate Universal Service?

Photo above: John F Kennedy meeting with early participants in the Peace Corps, a program of people to people outreach in foreign countries. Radical Centrism: Remaking Citizenship Part IIIn my last post I promised a more detailed follow up on a key idea about rebuilding citizenship in the U.S. — mandatory universal service to country. Some will say it's easy for me to advocate universal service to country since, of course, as a 71 year old curmudgeon, I'd be exempt from such service. But I did come of age during the days ...

metadadablog on September 9, 2018

Recent Posts

Radical CentrismRole of Government

What Can We Do — What SHOULD We Do — for Our Country?

Radical Centrism Papers: Remaking Citizenship I "Ask not what your country can do for you... Ask what YOU can do for your country!" So John F Kennedy inspired us almost 60 years ago in his electrifying inaugural address.  But since the idealism he unleashed with that statement, it seems we've been just been doing a lot of forgetting. Politicians, presidents, political parties, preachers and pundits have sort of been just letting us off the hook.  Right? The weakening of our democratic republic and debasement of our civic values seems to continue unabated. Not ...

metadadablog on September 6, 2018

Recent Posts

Destruction of DemocracyInternet Age

WWIII May Have Already Started… Here’s What It Looks Like on the Ground

I made a bit of a mistake in my Thank You Comrade Putin post — a very American mistake — of believing that what happens in the U.S. is some kind of special history, when in fact, these days, everything must be taken in a global context. So here's a well-researched article by Michael Carpenter that appeared in The Atlantic recently detailing Putin's use of fringe groups to further his war on democratic governments around the world.  It is important to understanding the vast scope of Putin's ambition. Here's that link again. Please click ...

metadadablog on August 30, 2018

Civic ConversationPolitical Parties

A Modest Proposal: Radical Centrism

Amid the battlefield that has been created for us by inviting us to bait and battle our political opponents, I fancy myself striding, gladiator-like, into a no-man’s land below the fireworks to lay down a modest proposal for the rest of us. I’m calling it Radical Centrism. Radical Centrism (RC) recognizes the humanity of all sides, ...

By metadadablog on November 14, 2017

IssuesKeynesian Economics

A Word from Our Sponsor

Mom and Dad Create the World: Intermission As I share pieces my family’s story as an avatar of the World War II generation, now is a good time for a frank truth: that my parents and their entire generation got a big assist from government. A visionary President (Roosevelt) instituted reforms driven by the collapse ...

By metadadablog on November 3, 2017

CultureMyths

Stories We Tell Ourselves

Okay, I’m not trying to be off-putting on my earliest posts, but the concepts of language and narrative that I explain here are central to so many of the posts that follow. So, please ignore or skim this brief detour through philosophy if you choose. I think there’s a peculiar discovery that underlies much of ...

By metadadablog on October 29, 2017

Political DysfunctionRussian Meddling

Bol’shoy Spasibo, Comrade Putin…

Friends, Romans, Countrymen! I come not to trash Vladimir Putin but to thank him! It appears that his main purpose in interfering with our 2016 elections (and activities since), was not primarily to create policy, or even to elect a sympathetic President, but to expose and exacerbate the fault lines in our democracy, in order ...

By metadadablog on August 28, 2018

Democratic SocialismFacts and Fake Facts

OMG! Run for Your Lives! It’s… SOCIALISM!

Before they succeed in making "socialism" into a dirty word again let's pause for a minute and do the American thing: let's call bullsh*t... Boy, do we need an education in how governments work. Stuart Varney's viral segment on (shudder) democratic socialism and the recent Facebook meme-storm demonizing socialism is a great example of how propaganda ...

By metadadablog on August 19, 2018

Civic ConversationRacial Politics

Calling Things by Their Real Names

I love a good debate. I've have many of them with friends on every side of the political spectrum. Radical Centrism — my prescription for recovering a dynamic center to US political life — is based on the notion that we should not eliminate the wildest ideas from any side of the discussion about solutions: ...

By metadadablog on August 11, 2018

authoritarianismCivic Conversation

July 4, 2018 Update … Fierce Patriotism Still Needed to Defend Our Democracy

Radical Centrism Policy Papers: It's War, Nothing Less - Part 1 Republicans and Democrats to the barricades!! Our republic is under attack by hyper-partisans who would destroy our democracy to win their cause, and a narcissistic President who would use the awesome power of our democratic republic to destroy, or jail his opponents and willingly ...

By metadadablog on July 4, 2018

Civic ConversationPolitical Dysfunction

Can We Talk?

“Can we talk?” was originally propounded by Joan Rivers as humorous/confidential alert, with the certainty that the answer would be “Yes.” In the context of the first age of the internet the question becomes more urgent and admits the answer might well be “No.”

By metadadablog on June 25, 2018

ImmigrationRadical Centrism

Can We Just Calm Down for a Minute, and Discuss Sensible Immigration?

Radical Centrism Papers: Immigration IImmigration is a hot-wired topic. Both Democrats and Republicans  — understanding how frequently and baldly the issue has been demagogued — "play to the gallery,"  because, well, immigrants are a powerless constituency, so who gets hurt??? The not-surprising answer is that a few individuals and families get badly hurt, and that ...

By metadadablog on June 20, 2018

Political DysfunctionRacial Constructs

Time to Deconstruct Systemic Racism?

It's time to end it.  "But how?" you plead. "Because we are blind. No, not colorblind as we had hoped, but blind to our own prejudice... How can we rise above ... our tribal selves to reclaim our humanity and move forward together as one country?" Well, there are models... Let's be honest: The notion ...

By metadadablog on June 4, 2018

moralityRacial Constructs

Our Heart of Darkness

In honor of Black History Month, this is the first of a multi-part series on the struggle for racial equality in the U.S.  I'm aware of the potential arrogance of writing about racial experience while occupying the throne of the U.S. racial pyramid (whiteness), however false it may be.  I hope you will have forgiveness ...

By metadadablog on June 1, 2018

ObamaRacial Constructs

Obama and Racism

Heart of Darkness III Warning: Not for the faint of heart. This post will likely offend some... please stop reading if you can't stand it. I'm not trying to be insulting, only honest. Because of our troubled history in this country with racist thinking in all its disguises (see my LAST POST about systemic racism), ...

By metadadablog on May 29, 2018

Comments and ResponsesObama

Readers React! So What Would YOU Do to Deconstruct Systemic Racism?

Below is a comment I received on my last post about ending system racism. It seems to require a fairly long response. Love to hear from more readers as well... Please comment below. From Shal: "OK, Pat..You are now on the clock..You are President of the US (not king or emperor, mind you) and you ...

By metadadablog on April 23, 2018

1 2 3

Browse Categories