A radio-based presentation/seminar from 2006, in which I analyze the longstanding tendency for so many white, lower-middle class/working class voters to vote against their apparent economic interests — by supporting candidates whose economic policies benefit mostly the wealthy — and attempt to explain why this happens. Specifically, I explore the inadequacies of existing theories to […]
A segment of a longer speech, delivered on September 22, 2011 at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. In this clip, I discuss the ways in which the U.S. political culture is becoming increasingly indifferent to suffering and injustice, whether in the criminal justice system, with regard to health care, war, bullying or any number of […]
These are short clips of longer speeches, focused on a particular narrow theme. Literally, sound bytes or a little more. For descriptions of each clip, click below the audio player, where it says “Read the rest of this entry…”
Here is my 2010 MLK Day Speech at Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, NJ. I posted this before, but I have just started using Soundcloud and uploading audio files there, so because this one sometimes doesn’t work on the old server where it was located, I have put it here.
This is a portion of a larger speech, delivered at an event for service providers and community members, sponsored by the Milwaukee YWCA in 2008. In this segment, I discuss the difference between models of social service provision that are rooted in notions of “charity for” those in need, versus models rooted in “solidarity with” […]
I’m not sure how he managed to finagle a slot on any news-related show, but Greg Gutfeld — possibly the most consistently mendacious member of the FOX News roundtable program “The Five,” and whose most important accomplishment was an accident of timing (he just so happened to go to high school with Barry Bonds) — […]
It’s official. The symbolic head of the Republican Party is not Ronald Reagan. It’s Pee-Wee Herman. It was Herman after all, as portrayed by comic actor Paul Reubens, whose only comeback to every criticism was, “I know you are but what am I?” And it is this mantra — this maddening, childlike, playground-worthy, makes-me-wanna-slap-you-in-your-damned-face mantra […]
For the most part, I’ve tried to be restrained. Although conservatives accuse those of us on the left of thinking that all critiques of President Obama are rooted in racism, this has certainly never been my argument. Indeed, I’ve written two books highly critical of Obama’s positions on a number of issues (from a place […]
In the pantheon of right-wing dog whistles, none is as tried, true, and generally effective as “welfare” bashing. Ever since the days of Ronald Reagan, who fabricated tales of a “welfare queen” collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash benefits by using multiple identities and Social Security numbers, conservatives have known that articulating an […]
