I was sitting down a few weeks ago, greatly enjoying the most recent issue of Current Affairs, when I came across an article on the Charles Marohn blog and book Strong Towns.
Here’s the basic idea: Strong Towns pitches itself as a forward thinking, progressive movement. But, in reality, it’s just a warmed over version of a set of libertarian ideas. It advances the view that market incentives and ‘nudges’ should replace the state.
What kinds of market incentives and policies? In short, Strong Towns advocates for things like housing upzoning and bus services targeted at economic development rather than need. We thereby avoid ideas like public housing and working class centered public transit and utilities services.
A few readers have noted that I haven’t posted on the Israel-Gaza War. The war has raged since last October, at times overtaking the news and even U.S. political debate.
That’s true enough. I haven’t written anything new on Israel and Gaza in the last few months. Here’s a brief word about why.
First, the things I said a few years ago about the Israel Palestine Conflict, sadly, still apply pretty well. I wrote a post in 2019 introducing readers to the conflict. I also expanded the post into a full chapter in my second book, Left Foreign Policy. In those outlets, I laid out the conflict as one primarily about resources, which then drives the moves Israel makes as the hegemonic power in the region.
Predictably, much of the mainstream press presents the conflict as one about religion or (Israeli) national security. Almost all sources fail to identify the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the major cause of the current fighting. This all leads the press astray.
Second, I’ve found a few sources worth following closely. Both for the day to day details of the conflict and broader analysis. Early in the Israel Gaza War, the American Prestige podcast established itself as an great source for news, interviews, and commentary. +972 magazine also stands out as a solid source that moves beyond the pro-Israel biases that pervade the U.S. press.
Finally, I’ll admit that I struggle to find useful things to say about the Israel Gaza War. Not that there aren’t things to say, but rather that most of the things worth saying won’t help move us toward a better outcome.
I’ve moved past that phase of life where I think personal displays of awareness on social media do anything positive. Rather, I think people – myself and readers all included – should join orgs like DSA that are trying to build a better U.S. left. DSA, better than any other org, works an internationalist perspective on the Israel Gaza War into a deeper vision of what the left can become. Shouting into the void on Twitter – or even joining single-issue orgs – can’t do anything like that.
For those of you Iowans (or Midwesterners) out there, how are you doing this winter?
It started easily enough. We had a milder than usual November and December. Even into the first week of January, things moved along without much trouble.
But man have we been hit hard since then! More than 2 feet of snow (cumulatively). Downed trees and power lines. Occasional freezing rain, even after all that stuff cleared out.
When you average it out, it’s probably just a normal winter overall. A milder season gave way to the big pile of ‘yuck’ we’ve had in the last 3 weeks. But it still hits pretty hard.
Let’s talk about what we’re reading to kick off the new year. Here are a few books from me. And, as always, let me know what you’re reading these days.
I’ve writtenspecifically about prison abolition on this blog. But I haven’t written about modern abolitionism as a movement. Nor have I specified whether I’m an abolitionist. In that previous post, I discussed how disagreements over the concept of ‘prison’ produces misunderstandings. It clouds political debates in ways we can, and should, get past.
Of course, I wrote that first post 4 years ago. These debates took quite a turn in the summer of 2020. A more comprehensive abolitionist movement emerged into the stage of mainstream politics.
How does abolitionism, in its modern form, relate to prison abolition?
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