Combat! - Page 124 of 406 - A blog by Dan Brooks

Does the rhetoric of “privilege” take pressure off the 1%?

By Dan Brooks in Class Warfare April 14, 2015 2 Comments

There are two ways to read this satisfyingly provocative essay in Jacobin. Connor Kilpatrick argues that the intellectual left’s relentless focus on privilege—white, male, straight, cisgender, able-bodied, college-educated, et cetera—substitutes an abstract problem for the concrete problem of political and economic dominance by the wealthiest 1% of American households. Privilege is a sideshow. At best, it encourages us to ignore the problems of the middle class in favor of the problems of the most destitute. He writes:

[Privilege] is an attempt to shame the middle class—those with some wealth but, relative to the top one or one-tenth of one percent, mere crumbs—to make them shut up about the rich and super rich and, instead, look at those below as a reminder that it could all be much worse.

Kilpatrick cites as an example this article from Vox, which quotes a TED talk by Alex Giridharadas re: who gets to feel indignant for being in the 99%. Infuriating quote after the jump.

Cruz warns homeschoolers that gays are waging “jihad” against Christians

By Dan Brooks in Republican Candidates April 13, 2015 0 Comment

“I believe that.”

In case you’re wondering what kind of campaign Ted Cruz plans to run, last week he told the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators that homosexuals are waging “jihad” against Bible-believing Christians. Quote:

Look at the jihad that is being waged right now, in Indiana and Arkansas, going after people of faith who respect the biblical teaching that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. We need to bring people together to the religious liberty values that built this country.

For reference, the timeline of this war or struggle against unbelievers begins with Bible-believing Christians advancing “religious liberty” laws that would exempt them from laws prohibiting discrimination against gay people. The amount of doublethink necessary to cast objections to those laws as a jihad against Christians is kind of breathtaking. Video after the jump.

Friday links! Other people working edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links April 10, 2015 3 Comments

The author, who from an early age loved to watch other people work—photo by Suzan Brooks

Is there anything more satisfying than hard work? Can any force build a stronger character than honest labor daily undertaken? Work nourishes the soul—not my soul, of course, but the souls of others. In these times of national struggle, the only clear way forward is for other people to roll up their sleeves, take hold of their bootstraps and, with whatever hands remain available, get to work. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to teach other people the value of work, whether that means opposing welfare or cutting my own taxes. Today is Friday, and honest labor sets everyone free except me. Won’t you rediscover the joys of work by yourself?

In MT, Medicaid expansion compromise lives another day

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized April 9, 2015 1 Comment

Rep. Art Wittich (R-Belgrade) reviews a draft plan to burn Midgetville.

Montana is one of about 20 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid coverage in compliance with the Affordable Care Act. During the 2013 legislative session, the bill to accept federal funds for expansion failed by one vote, after Mark Jacobson (D-Great Falls) accidentally voted against it when he thought he was voting for it. This year, the original bill to expand Medicaid never made it out of the House Health and Human Services Committee, which is chaired by bulwark of personal responsibility Art Wittich.

Fortunately, Sen. Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls) developed a compromise bill intended to mollify conservatives in his caucus by ensuring that no one got Medicaid coverage for free. Under SB 405, recipients of expanded Medicaid will have to pay a token premium totaling 2% of their income annually. This expedient heads off the tea party objection that it’s wrong to give people free health insurance. It also costs $11 million. That’s how much we expect a third-party insurer to charge to process payments for a program the federal government administers gratis. We’ve spent $11 million to make sure nobody gets anything for free.

That’s conservatism for dummies, as I explain in this week’s column in the Missoula Independent. I wrote it Monday afternoon, before Wittich’s committee killed SB 405 and made it the object of a crazy rules battle. At one point, 40 Republicans voted to adjourn the entire 2015 legislative session to keep SB 405 from reaching the floor. But Democrats have held Republicans to the “silver bullet” bargain they made at the beginning of the session, despite Speaker Knudsen’s display of bad faith, and the House will vote on Medicaid expansion this afternoon. Probably, team compromise will win, and Montana will finally get $5 billion and health insurance for 7% of its population. And we’ll only have to pay $11 million to satisfy the vocal minority who understand politics from reading chain emails.

Never forget, though, that the conservative wing of the Montana Republican Party insisted on spending millions of dollars to make sure nobody got anything free. Putting theory ahead of pragmatism like that is the opposite of conservatism. Probably, the Montana legislature will do the right thing in spite of itself today. But the people who had to be cajoled into it with inefficiency should not call themselves conservatives.

Catholic high school revokes teacher’s job offer because he’s gay

By Dan Brooks in Church People April 8, 2015 2 Comments

Dowling Catholic High School substitute teacher, unsuccessful job applicant and gay dude Tyler McCubbin

Spencerly Griffin sent me this news bulletin from West Des Moines, where Dowling Catholic High School first extended a job offer to teacher Tyler McCubbin and then rescinded it because he is gay. It’s weird, because Dowling was my rival high school growing up, and we determined that they were all gay. But the problem is that McCubbin, who has worked as a substitute teacher and volunteer track coach at Dowling since the beginning of the school year, is openly gay. Local news station KCCI says that according to Bishop Richard Pates of the Des Moines diocese, “McCubbin wasn’t denied the job because he’s gay, but due to the openness of his sexual orientation.” Spoken like a Catholic priest, bro.