John Peeler: The transition to democracy, now 30 years old, has passed a major test with the trial and conviction of Ríos Montt. The impediments to full democratization remain huge, but there is still good cause for Guatemalans to celebrate.
About John Peeler
John Peeler is a retired professor of political science at Bucknell University, specializing in Latin American and international affairs. His op-ed essays have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor and USA Today, as well as many in local papers in central Pennsylvania where he lives. He has had letters published in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Gullible’s Travails: Abuse and Scandal Around Obama
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John Peeler: Obama’s also gullible in failing, after more than four years, to grasp just how obsessed the Republicans are with making him fail, without regard to the consequences for the country.
Exceptional: But Not in a Good Way
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John Peeler: On guns and prisons, we are more like a Third World country than like other rich nations. On health care, Third World countries simply cannot afford to waste the amount of money we do. And it is doubtful that we can, either.
Margaret Thatcher: Like Reagan, She Casts a Long Shadow
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John Peeler: As with her ideological and political soul-mate, Ronald Reagan, her aggressive advocacy of both free-market economics and nationalist foreign policy established new parameters in her country’s politics.
Hugo Chávez: Rise and Demise of a Radical Democrat
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John Peeler: If Chávez’ elected predecessors had been serious about raising the living standards and life prospects of the poor majority, he would have been no more than a disgraced coup-plotter, a cashiered Lieutenant Colonel.
From Shining City on a Hill to Lighthouse on the Rocks
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John Peeler: A generation ago, even conservatives would acknowledge the need for stimulus, not deficit-reduction, at a time like this. That consensus is gone. The Tea Party is getting its wish: a government that cannot act.
A Decade of Droning
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John Peeler: We urgently need, as a society, to figure out how to contain the president’s war powers without crippling the president’s ability to defend us. When we finally decide that the most urgent threat comes precisely from the president, will it be too late?
Retirement: The Last Entitlement
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John Peeler: Since we glorify competition as good for both individuals and society at large, why not treat retirement as a job for which you apply? Then we could be sure that only the fittest, those most qualified, would get to retire.
Making the Electoral College Even More Undemocratic
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John Peeler: hese proposals are so blatantly discriminatory that even courts that have been tolerant of redistricting manipulation will have to take notice.
Cliff Notes
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John Peeler: Speaker Boehner’s debacle in failing to get his own caucus to support his “Plan B” is not only his failure, it shows the complete disarray of the congressional Republican Party.
Engagement and Entanglement in the Middle East
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John Peeler: Obama’s task—and that of his successors—will be to engage constructively with the changes the region will be undergoing, without repeating the errors of the imperialist past by seeking to dominate and control those changes.
Hugo Chávez Turns Toward the Sunset
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John Peeler: The Chávez era in Venezuela and Latin America will be seen as opening the possibility of transcending liberal democracy in societies where the vast majority is poor. Its success will be up to his successors.
Too Many Monotheisms
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John Peeler: For those who cannot accept atheism but who want to escape the madness of monotheism, there is something to be said for a modern polytheism.
Review: E.J. Dionne’s Our Divided Political Heart
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John Peeler: Our present plight is rooted in the loss of consensus about social justice, management of the economy, and most fundamentally, about who we are as a people.
A Nation of Cliff-Dwellers
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John Peeler: In the midst of a massive recession, the conservative argument for balancing the budget by cutting government spending is manifestly perverse.
Obama Reelected! How?
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John Peeler: After all the anguish, all the hyperventilation, all the spin, we are pretty much back to where we’d thought we’d be.
Election 2012: What to Look For
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John Peeler: At some point in the evening, I hope you’ll do as I intend to do: have a stiff drink and go to bed. And then get up in the wee hours to check the results.
Stalking the Last Swing Voter
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John Peeler: A middle-aged, middle-income white voter from a town that is not quite urban but really not rural either, Squishy is unemployed since being laid off two years ago when his employer, Central Squeegee Co., Inc., moved its manufacturing operations to Squalidia.
Crunch Time: A Tight Election Gets Tighter
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John Peeler: Outside the South, Obama is ahead in the Northeast Rust Belt, and Far West, and leads narrowly in most swing states.
George Will: Always Right, Occasionally Correct
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John Peeler: Obama, if he could free himself of the Wall Street crowd, is the likelier buyer of Will’s prescription of breaking up financial institutions that are “too big to fail”.
A Capitalism for the People
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John Peeler: We need a capitalism in which no firm is too big to fail, in which corporations serve the public interest, and in which every person has a solid foundation for living a productive life..
Iran and the Bomb: A Real Solution
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John Peeler: By beginning a process of unilateral nuclear disarmament, the United States could initiate a constructive international dynamic of reciprocal reductions leading to an end of this scourge.
Mitt on Obama: Mortal Menace, or Fumbling Failure?
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John Peeler: Obama needs to convince the people who voted for him once that he has a good plan. So far, he seems mostly to be telling us how untrustworthy Mitt Romney is. Show us, Barack, that we should still believe in you.
Algebra: Unbiblical Arab Plot
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John Peeler: It’s time for patriotic Americans to stand up and say, “No More!” The Three Rs were enough for our Founding Fathers, and the Three Rs are enough for us today.
Gridlock and Earthquake: Prospects for a New American Politics
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John Peeler: What if popular support for both major parties really did dry up? Then there really would be a chance for a sweeping reshuffle of American politics.
How About a Photo ID that Would Actually Help People Vote?
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John Peeler: There is no reason every child born and every immigrant naturalized could not have a photo ID that would contain basic information, such as age and residency.
Judicial Judo: The Chief Justice and Obamacare
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John Peeler: In handing a defeat to the Republicans, Roberts thereby also handed them a bludgeon with which to attack Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal.
Kill List
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he New York Times recently published an extensive story about the Obama administration’s secret “Kill List” that is used for selecting targets for strikes by unmanned drones. It has been clear for some time now that President Obama is making far more use of such drones that President Bush did, even as Obama systematically winds down [...]
Polls and Paradoxes: Obama’s Path to Victory in a Tight Election
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John Peeler: So if current patterns holds, Romney’s backers will give him solid support in his base, but won’t be able to deliver much outside the base.
Azerbaijan and Israel Against Iran: Suicidal Recklessness?
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John Peeler: Obama simply cannot allow himself and his country to be held hostage by a reckless ally in Israel. He needs to do all in his power to dissuade the Israelis from proceeding with this misbegotten adventure.
