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Month: September 2020

Lessons on Political Violence from the Roman Republic: Part II – Civic virtue is as important as the constitution and laws

Lessons on Political Violence from the Roman Republic: Part II – Civic virtue is as important as the constitution and laws

Civic virtue does not seem to be of much interest in 21st century America.  Perhaps for good reason.  It is hard to be civically virtuous when any attempt to be so is taken advantage of.  It’s a lamentable loss.  For in the end, civic virtue has the power to keep people together longer than institutions and documents.  We tend to rely on institutions and documents to do our heavy lifting; we treat these things as if they can police our…

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Lucky, Blessed, or Privileged

Lucky, Blessed, or Privileged

I grew up in a trailer park in Appalachia.  I don’t live there anymore.  For that, some have called me lucky.  For a long time, I believed them.  How else does it happen?  It’s certainly not hard work alone.  Most people in trailer parks all over Appalachia work hard.  Most escape the perils of drug addiction and unemployment, but many still don’t escape the trailer park and under-paid jobs.  Sure, community colleges and state schools offer a way out of…

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Lessons on Political Violence from the Roman Republic: Part I – Political violence is a prologue to civil war

Lessons on Political Violence from the Roman Republic: Part I – Political violence is a prologue to civil war

The presidency of Donald Trump has renewed and heightened political violence in the United States.  American society has always been violent, particularly to people of color, women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community.  So we want to be careful to suggest that the violence we are seeing is somehow new or unprecedented.  Yet we also want to be careful to suggest that this is merely the same as always and there is nothing to be alarmed at.  As I’ve written in…

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