24 out of 12 – American Perspectives

Looking back at my writings in 2024, even though most of those articles were written before the election, I clearly put the election disaster into historical, economic, and socio-psychological context. I spent the better part of a year trying to figure it out. Countries of immigrants naturally sometimes fall prey to xenophobia. In my checkered past, I found many parallels with the current wave. (In one article, I unearthed such a long-gone American wave that almost sparked the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.)

Much of what we saw this year was a consistent pattern of urban-rural disconnection. It is something that has characterized us since at least the 18th century, and has only intensified as economic inequality between cities and countryside, between workers and the middle class. Classes and the upper middle and upper classes were strengthened. I’ve written a lot about the diminishing rewards for blue-collar jobs and the diminishing opportunities for blue-collar men. I urged Democrats (particularly Kamala Harris) to address these issues more directly, and partially filtered my view of the election through that lens. The precedent I have discussed several times occurred exactly 100 years ago in 1924.

“Those left behind”

This is the setting for the economic abandonment of rural America and much of the working class.

“100 years ago today: Brutal xenophobia. And “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Here’s a look at how the disparate voices and politics of rural and urban America became distant and at odds 100 years ago.

“While campaigning for Catholic votes, Trump aligns with the Klan.”

The piece contrasts Harris’s and Trump’s approaches to immigration in historical context, and also includes a link to a now-almost-vanished recording of the classic white working-class New York accent.

“Pripreemption”

This article, published in our print edition, focuses on the most violent clash between cities and countryside today: the efforts of red states to negate the policies of blue cities.

“The Limits of Harris’ Family Policy”

It focuses on the Harris campaign’s efforts to address the rightward shift, particularly among working-class men.

“How the Republican Party Became the Party of Men’s Insecurity.”

This work seeks to explain this movement both economically and socially psychologically.

“The sofa carries California”

One of my election post-mortems looks at some of the most surprising election results through the prism above and assesses the role played by a more general aversion to urban disorder in America’s most liberal cities. .

“Who started the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?”

Here we present an article about the 100th anniversary of the Exclusionary Immigration Act, which has received little attention so far, and how it contributed decisively and numerically to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Bombing us back to the Stone Age”

And here’s my take on that conflict, which is currently reoccurring (since January of last year).

“Stop equating Trump with Hitler! This week he looks like Stalin.”

I didn’t ignore Trump’s upcoming inauguration, and I also found some useful precedents for it.

“On the origins of Arizona’s old and new abortion bans”

Being a bit of a history detective, I decided to document the circumstances that led to Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban. The ban was something Republicans had been trying to enforce until last year, when they caved to public pressure.

“To my shy fellow Democrats.”

And finally, in the immediate aftermath of Biden’s disastrous debate performance, I wrote a poem urging Democrats to vote (like Man Up) and force Biden to quit his candidacy.