Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is gaining some steam as a challenger to Donald Trump. What is the former South Carolina governor doing that other candidates is not? Acting like she is a member of the ruling class of the South -- which she is.
Did the elites take over social justice movements like MeToo, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street? Not exactly. Those movements were all totally in alignment with elite values in the northern United States. And those elites do control most American media and most of academia. So, to say these "causes" were ever separate from elitism would not be quite right. They were only separate from Southern elitism. In truth, social justice has become something of a religious cause to the hei...
Where does President Joe Biden’s pro-union, “from-the-bottom-up” economic policy come from? From his roots in Delaware and Pennsylvania, where the original settlers believed in getting an education-- but not too much -- and working hard -- but not too too hard. #Biden2024#bidenomics#quakerlifestyle
The Republican Presidential Candidate is often described as a biotech executive, a Trump wannabe, or just this news cycle’s novelty act. But Ramaswamy’s connection with voters is no pretension -- he hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, making him a member of America’s most populous culture, the Appalachians. And those voters also happen to be the people who put Trump in the White House.
The song by Oliver Anthony isn’t actually liberal or conservative. It’s Appalachian. It talks about the same things that have animated singers in the Scotch-Irish-settled parts of America for 250 years, and it does it in the same musical style, too. The real scandal is that so many online outlets want to claim some of its fame by shaming or blaming a work of art for being indicative of its culture. Here’s the song: Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North Of Richmond - YouTube&nb...
The recent House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAPs) featured seemingly serious people suggesting the federal government has captured the aliens and their spaceship. Was the "tic-tac" covered up? Turns out our conversations about UFOs and national security have not substantially changed since the first "flying saucer" was spotted in 1947. What they are really about is how we feel about the government. And how we feel about the governm...
Visiting Deschutes National Forest and Suttle Lodge offered a peak at the future of camping culture in the Pacific Northwest, and at the influx of wealthy people who decided to live in the Cascade Mountains full time. The mountains were once a buffer between the liberal-minded culture of Portland and ranchers of Eastern Oregon, but dry-side Bend and Sisters don't seem that much different from Oregon's wet-side cities anymore.
You can find poll numbers and pundits on the other podcasts. But the Compass of Power is the only place to find the candidates ranked by cultural region. In this episode, I’m going through the entire known presidential field. But instead of listing folks as Republicans or Democrats, we’re breaking them down as folks from the Northern coalition – mostly liberals – and the Southern coalition –mostly conservatives.
The Compass of Power helps you understand the limits of the possible, recognize the goodness in others, and cultivate reasonable expectations of national politics. Unlike the usual lenses for looking at politics, it helps you avoid overidentification with political parties, personalities and paradigms. And by doing that, it can foster civil discourse in society.
Republican presidential candidates Tim Scott and Nikki Haley challenge a lot of our preconceptions about modern politics, but they definitely carry the flame of the South Carolina spirit.
Sit back, buckle up, and let me be your designated driver in short tour through the history of drunk driving. Like a lot of other seemingly inalienable rights, our ability to drink alcohol and to vote have changed over time, and once Mothers Against Drunk Driving formed, the penalties for getting behind the wheel while intoxicated went way up. What changes for society are in store as a generation of mothers worried about school shootings organizes themselves?
Americans are moving South in a big way, and a new analysis shows that Southern cultures are the most likely to experience shootings. We look at a breakdown of gun deaths by cultural region from Colin Woodard’s Nationhood Lab. Death by gunshot is most likely in the Deep South and second most likely in Appalachia. Where are the most Americans moving today? The Deep South and Appalachia. While Northern areas also experience gun violence, it is often two to three times less common there tha...
Pundits say there's not much enthusiasm for Joe Biden's second run for president -- but I will be the cheering section! Let' s talk about what Joe's done and how much that depends on where he's from. And why there isn't another presidential contender who can do what he does.#JoeBiden#2024
Warriors take big risks to strike a blow for their people. The dominate culture of Tennesse prizes warriors. From our perspective, Tennessee Republicans' decision to expel two Black Democratics for violating the rules of decorum in the state House chamber, was a great example of bare-knuckle local politics that suddenly spilled into the national consciousness.
When Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pushed through an indictment of former President and native Manhattanite Donald Trump this week, the over-the-top moves of these New Yorkers pushed America into a first-ever charging of a former president. But it's not that surprising. New York City has a long, sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious history of outrageous politics.
Hyperlocal blogger Emmett O'Connell knows Pacific Northwest history as well as anyone, and that gives him amazing insights into the region's politics. In this episode, he explains how election upsets, airport construction, and voting by mail all play into the area's longstanding battles between the city-dwelling institutionalists and their anti-institution, rural relatives. Join us as we talk the politics of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Check out Emmett's blog at www.olympiat...
Seems like New Yorkers in media, politics and voting booths are distancing themselves from the same thing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared war upon: "wokeism." Known by a few names, this dominant strain of progressive thought is from New England, not New York. Reviewing a podcast by "heterodox" thinkers from the city, a change in tone from the New York Times, and the politics of Eric Adams, I argue New Yorkers just can't get in line the way Yankees can.Here is the podcast I cite: https:...
Eastern Oregonians have been voting in favor of a plan to move their counties under Idaho's state government. The goal of the "Greater Idaho" movement is Republican rule for conservative places. They are opposed to the progressive politics of Portland. We consider whether the liberal principles of democratic self-governance and minority rights demand this "pipe dream" be given a chance. And we consider how fair or unfair the existing borders of Oregon are.
When news broke that the US Department of Energy concluded the coronavirus likely escaped from a lab, Democrats were skeptical, Republicans triumphant. Shouldn't everybody be dispassionately interested in determining the origin of a pandemic that killed nearly 6.8 million people worldwide?We look at how the jump-from-nature vs lab-leak discussion became part of the liberal vs conservative, North vs South, Blue vs Red paradigm.
We’re talking about the Tweet that made “Civil War” a trending topic in America – again!Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene pitched one right down the middle for the Compass of Power when she said we need a "national divorce" between red states and blue states. New Civil War talk is a specialty here. We talk about the huge gap between state laws in the North and South, people moving to the South and why that is threatening and empowering for Southern Republicans at the same time, and ...