John Peeler: In stable democracies, the major political parties keep authoritarians out of power through “gatekeeping” actions, such as isolating and defeating extremists, rather than allying with them, and by rooting out extremists in their own ranks.
John Peeler
John Peeler is a retired professor of political science at Bucknell University, specializing in Latin American and international affairs. After growing up in Florida and Georgia, he moved north as a teenager, and began a lifelong leftward migration. He’s been writing primarily for LA Progressive since 2008. He continues to live in central Pennsylvania.
We’re Addicted to War: John Bolton Is Just a Symptom
John Peeler: Imagine what would happen if the Pentagon budget were slashed. How many millions of workers, from uniformed service members to civilian employees, to contractor employees, would lose their jobs?
Trump Casts Off His Last Links
John Peeler: Pretty much everyone who has tried to say no to him, or to deflect him from some of his more outlandish, less-thought-out ideas, pretty much all of them are gone.
What If He Does It? If Trump Fires Mueller
John Peeler: Democrats need to let it be known that they will do all in their power to shut down Congress. If the Congress refuses to be a check on the President, at least it should be stopped from being an accessory.
Trump Tide Sounds Retreat: Conor Lamb in PA-18
Lamb’s performance shows us that blue collar, less-educated populations are still open to appeals by the right kind of Democrat: relatively conservative on issues like guns or abortion, pro-union, pro-safety net programs like Medicare and even Obamacare.
Pusillanimous Incompetence: The Failure of Trump and the GOP
John Peeler: Trump will let it be known when he opposes something, but won’t propose something and stand behind it. That’s how he scuttled the deal on immigration, and how he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the failed attempt to repeal Obamacare.
Political Forgiveness: Absolving the Sinners We Need
John Peeler: Clinton was a petty and foolish philanderer. Trump is a menace to the Constitution. But Trump’s supporters will defend him because they hope he will have the power to accomplish what they want done. Even at the expense of the Constitution itself.
Can We Be Charitable? The Trump Tax Cut and Charitable Giving
John Peeler: With the new tax law, Americans will be specifically discouraged from donating to charity because they’ll get the same standard deduction whether they donate or not.
Money and Work in the New Economy: A Guaranteed Minimum Income
John Peeler: Suppose that every woman, child, and man whose income fell below the poverty threshold received a monthly income that would suffice to keep them out of poverty.
Immigration End Game
John Peeler: It’s conceivable the Democrats could give Trump a symbolic victory by supporting immigration enforcement and authorizing a wall, but then slow-walk the appropriations process. In return, they save the Dreamers.
Keeping the Poor Poor
John Peeler: Rents in poor areas are, paradoxically, high, because the poor population are largely captives: they are prevented by means legal and illegal from moving out.
The Tides of Immigration
John Peeler: The first comprehensive immigration law set quotas by national origin, intended to return the ethnic mix of the country to something like what it had been about the time of the Civil War.
You Have to Beat a Bully
John Peeler: The thing is, his base is holding. About 40 percent of the public still approve of his performance.
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