Illustration by Canadian Dimension As the brash, Trumpian brand of politics bloviates its way through the remainder of the year, the world is preparing to get reacquainted with a more familiar style of rule in the incoming Biden administration. Make no mistake: while the in-your-face moral depravity of people like
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Canadian Dimension: American requiem
Art by Mr. Fish/Scheerpost Well, it’s over. Not the election. The capitalist democracy. However biased it was towards the interests of the rich and however hostile it was to the poor and minorities, the capitalist democracy at least offered the possibility of incremental and piecemeal reform. Now it is a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The king is dead, long live the king
Illustration by Canadian Dimension In early 2008, as the subprime mortgage crisis laid waste to the American financial system, a young, charismatic, African-American politician by the name of Barack Obama mounted a challenge to the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton. At the time, I was a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The politics of cultural despair
Art by Mr. Fish/Scheerpost The physical and moral decay of the United States and the malaise it has spawned have predictable results. We have seen in varying forms the consequences of social and political collapse during the twilight of the Greek and Roman empires, the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires, Tsarist
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Trump or Biden—whoever wins, the world loses
Paratroopers assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division prepare equipment and load aircraft bound for the US Central Command area of operations from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, January 4, 2020. US Army Photo by Spc. Hubert Delany III. As much as Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential run was a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Republican and Democrat: The choice between two right-wing parties
Signs for former Vice President Joe Biden at a meet and greet with Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha at Eastlake Park in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr. The storm of protests that has rattled the United States since the murder of George Floyd on May 25 took the form
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: American democracy and the twilight of the fools
Democratic nominee Joe Biden speaks during the first United States presidential debate, September 29, 2020. Photo from Joe Biden’s Instagram page. Last night’s American presidential debate was not a debate. It was feudal court entertainment, in which a king lambasted his jester ruthlessly until the latter could no longer come
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Donald Trump: A new emperor of the lumpenproletariat?
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons. In The Dangerous Class: The Concept of the Lumpenproletariat (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming 2020), I argue that US President Donald Trump should be understood as a “Prince
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: America’s Death March
Chris Hedges: The terminal decline of the United States will not be solved by elections. Photo from Flickr. The terminal decline of the United States will not be solved by elections. The political rot and depravity will continue to eat away at the soul of the nation, spawning what anthropologists
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Killing of George Floyd proves police reform more urgent than ever
Thousands gathered on foot and in cars in south Minneapolis to protest against police violence and call for justice for George Floyd, May 26, 2020. Photo from Flickr. Eric Garner’s last words were “I can’t breathe.” On May 25, George Floyd, a black resident of Minneapolis, died after being handcuffed
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Economists Demand Trump Immediately Lift Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela Sanctions That Are ‘Feeding the COVID-19 Epidemic’
President Donald Trump attends a White House Listening Session on Nov. 22, 2019, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian. A group of economists and policy experts on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to immediately lift the United States’ crippling sanctions against Iran,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: As Coronvirus Grips the US, Americans Get a Taste of Life Under Sanctions
Across fifty states, Americans are collectively bracing for the incoming COVID-19 pandemic to hit. In the face of the virus, people are resorting to panic buying, stocking up on vital foods and goods, leading to pressing shortages of key products like hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Perhaps more concerning, however,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Elite political journalists are eager to kick Bernie Sanders on his way out the door
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking with attendees at the Presidential Gun Sense Forum hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo by Gage Skidmore (Flickr). Bernie Sanders has always made elite political journalists uncomfortable, on a deeply personal
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: COVID-19 and the working class
Flyers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport wearing facemasks on March 6th, 2020 as the COVID-19 coronavirus spreads throughout the United States. Photo by Chad Davis (Flickr). US politicians and media are today reporting approximately 1,700 confirmed or presumptive cases of the coronavirus or COVID-19. The actual number, however, is almost
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The One-Choice Election
Vice President Joe Biden holds an event with voters in the gymnasium at McKinley Elementary School in Des Moines, where he addressed a number of issues including the recent escalation with Iran. Photo by Phil Roeder (Flickr). There is only one choice in this election. The consolidation of oligarchic power
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Democratic establishment deals Super Tuesday blow to Bernie Sanders, but race is far from over
Nurses and friends turned out in support of Bernie Sanders in Los Angeles, California, March 1, 2017, two days before Super Tuesday. Photo by National Nurses United. Super Tuesday did not go as Bernie Sanders and his diverse working-class movement had hoped. Many projections of the single biggest primary date,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Super Tuesday and the Irrevocable Split in the Democratic Party
Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Photo by David J. Phillip/AP. As another Super Tuesday has come and gone, the key takeaways are already evident. The first is that the last minute dropping out of the primary race by Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar—and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Democrats Craving a Brokered Convention—Including Elizabeth Warren—Should Learn the Lessons of 1968
George McGovern, Democratic nominee in the 1972 presidential election. Photo by Ron Pownall/Getty Images. For four years, Democratic officials have insisted that Donald Trump is an unprecedented threat to the republic, a fascist and racist dictator whose removal from power is the paramount, if not the only, political priority. Yet
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The New Rules of the Game
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Gage Skidmore (Flickr). The quadrennial political game of least worst, or how to scare the public to vote for presidential candidates who serve corporate power, comes this season
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: South Carolina Primary: What Does It Mean?
From left: Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar take the stage before the Democratic debate. What are the political ‘takeaways’ from yesterday’s South Carolina
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