Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

politics

  • A trap was set back in early 2009 for Democrats that was pretty smart at the time. Republicans in the Senate would filibuster a lot, arguing to their base and to moderates that they were preventing a tidal wave of Democratic legislation based on their conscience. In the 2009 session, they doubled the previous record…

  • On the 49th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it seems fitting to reflect on where we are in fulfilling it. Back in January, I wrote this for King’s birthday: It should surprise none of us that a leader villified by the conservative white community as “uppity” would become as…

  • Or I (heart) Pussy Riot I’ve only just come across this story as I catch up on my podcasts and as Christian Piatt covered a few days ago. Christian covers the discomfort we have in the prophetic action and the challenge of protest in an admirably personal way. You should really check out his post.…

  • You know I don’t like the easy trap of Left vs. Right. I’m not a Platonist. I don’t dig on dualism. Nor do I take the easy escape hatch of declaring liberals and conservatives are all the same. Lame! But I really can’t help but wonder why people can’t see the difference between these two: It…

  • Banned by TED

    It is interesting how easy it is to get banned. In big language, we would say one only needs to question the dominant paradigm. In plain language, we’d say you just need to upset the apple cart. Another way to get banned is by speaking as if you are taking a “side” in a popular “debate” about a…

  • In weak economic times, we often look at our neighbors to see how they are doing. It is natural. We all know somebody that has lost a job or is struggling to pay bills. My family has been in that boat for a while, timing bills, some of which we weren’t sure would get paid.…