Member-only story
Was Biden Pandering?
President Biden’s Memorial Day speech was a full-throated defense of democracy. Was it merely a string of safe applause lines? Didn’t the voters just reject the cheap patriotism of bone spurs on one side and an American flag lapel pin on the other?
I rise to dissent from the view that the battle’s over. If our current situation is victory for democracy, I should hope to never taste defeat.
Poor old Karl Marx. His name got attached to so much nonsense. Yet, he is one of those rare thinkers who left his mark on so many disciplines that it’s hard to earn an advanced degree even now without encountering his work — though seldom in the original because his writing was a hard slog. Marx left tracks in political science, economics, sociology, philosophy, literature and most other arts.
He died a stateless person, having been expelled from most countries where he took up residence. I could make a “Marxist” argument for democracy and for autocracy. He purported to believe capitalism would collapse from the weight of its own internal “contradictions” but he was not above helping it along with a bit of violence.
