IN MY CHILDHOOD IN THE 1960S AND ’70S, I remember confident predictions of what life was going to be like in the 21st century: flying cars, sprawling bases on the moon, rocket planes flying from American airports up to wheeling space stations in low orbit, super-intelligent computers, mass production by robots enabling more leisure time […]
Matt Talbot: 50 years ago
FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, on May 22, 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson stood before that year’s graduating class at the University of Michigan and delivered the speech that launched his Great Society program. It is a sad commentary on both the state of our economy and our politics that a Democratic president giving a similar […]
Matt Talbot: Resisting empire
IS THE UNITED STATES AN IMPERIAL POWER? I would say that it is, and that the evidence for this view is overwhelming. We spend more on our military than all of our main rivals — combined. Our troops garrison the world, we have bases on every continent, our Navy rules the waves, and so on. […]
Matt Talbot: Anniversary of a broken covenant
So now we see how it is, this fist begets the spear Weapons of war, symptoms of madness Don’t let your eyes refuse to see, don’t let your ears refuse to hear Or you ain’t never going to shake this sense of sadness — Ray LaMontagne, “Hold You In My Arms” ELEVEN YEARS AGO, on […]
Matt Talbot: Overstating fear of government
I KEEP HEARING THOSE ON THE RIGHT SAY the biggest obstacle on the road to prosperity is a lack of confidence on the part of business owners — that the only thing preventing so-called “job creators” from hiring all those unemployed workers out there is the grim prospect of government action — that is, anything […]
Jerome Page: The perils of reality denied
FIRST, A (PARTIAL!) PAUSE FROM THE UNENDING AND UNENVIABLE TASK of responding to those folks who feel that denying reality (climate change) often enough and cleverly or vehemently enough will release us all from the heavy burdens of that future reality. I want to acknowledge a debt (of reader pleasure) to two outstanding columnists, Carolyn […]
Matt Talbot: Using the Dems’ majority to achieve enduring progress
AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, the Democratic Party’s agenda is effectively crippled by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Because of Republican gerrymandering in the wake of the last round of redistricting in 2010, winning back the House is an uphill battle for Democrats in the best of years, at least for the time being. In my […]
Matt Talbot: Conscience, and history, as our guide
The past is never dead. It’s not even past. — William Faulkner BEING AN AMATEUR STUDENT OF HISTORY, it strikes me sometimes how much our perception of time is an elastic and uncertain thing. America, ever in love with the new, habitually discards anything with the slightest mustiness of age. There was a time not […]
Matt Talbot: Reducing the inequality gap, and unifying America
PLACES LIKE NEW YORK CITY AND THE BAY AREA always will be more expensive than other places in the country. It is easy to see why: Both New York and the Bay Area are global economic powerhouses, because they are international finance, media and technology hubs. Given the level of economic activity and talent in […]
Matt Talbot: Truth in song
I’VE RECENTLY DISCOVERED A RELATIVELY NEW SINGER-SONGWRITER ON THE SCENE, a man named Mike Rosenberg, who is better known by his stage name, Passenger. He’s explained that his nickname describes his approach to songwriting: He’s a passenger going through life, describing what he sees out his window. And what he sees is — or, more […]