Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Culture

What’s going on, who we are, and what the big deal is.

  • Democracy Thrives on Immediacy

    •

    4 min read

    One of our oldest sayings is “time heals all wounds”. That regardless of what has happened, a scab will form eventually. Of course, we have misguided expectations. We hear the word heal and we assume all will go back to normal. But there is no “normal”. There is progress and there is stasis, but no normal.…

    13

  • Ideologies Do Not Win

    •

    3 min read

    I hate to lose. I know you hate to lose. Losing sucks. When our surrogates lose, we feel like we lose. When our surrogates win, we feel like we’ve won. And we make a dangerous decision about these wins and losses: that it is ideologies that win and lose on election day. It couldn’t be…

    6

  • The Problem With Only Talking With Men About Women’s Issues

    •

    2 min read

    We don’t just need women in the room and at the table. We need women actually talking about women’s issues. And it needs to happen in front of a camera. Because it isn’t. Remember back in February, when we saw this picture? The one full of a bunch of white men testifying before Congress (full…

    0

  • For Pete’s Sake, Let Them Nurse!

    •

    1 min read

    I’m not sure why we even call nursing in public “controversial” since it is so very normal. Yet, we still think that the issue is complicated, just ask these Moms feeding their kids (gasp!) in uniform. Oh, the horror! We all know the root is about sex and sexualization of the female body. Which means…

    3

  • Obama’s Stand Means More Than You Think

    •

    5 min read

    You’ve no doubt read enough about what President Barack Obama’s public statement about gay marriage means. That is so last week. But as I’ve been catching up on my podcasts, I’ve discovered an important element missing from the coverage. What it means to the metanarrative of American politics. The Negative Much of the obvious response…

    0

  • The Freeloafer Economy

    •

    2 min read

    In an article I read this morning (but can no longer track down), one of the people interviewed spoke of “eliminating spending”. Not cutting spending or reducing spending, but eliminating spending. As in all. It occurred to me that this is the most obtuse, and natural, of directions for the debate to go, because it is based on…

    0