Author: Sheila Marler
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Corruption and the Cycle of Electoral Violence
Reading Time: 3 minutesPolitical violence is a major concern the world over. Lately, the United States seems to be catching up with the rest of the world due to manipulation of electoral outcomes by certain actors. The chief cause is corruption and dysfunctional institutions. Fortunately, there is a new theory explaining the connection between corruption…
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Progressives Are Not the Democratic Establishment
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe call our movement progressive. Most progressives know what that means. It’s clear to the candidates and it’s clear to the voters. Unfortunately, the Right seems to think ‘progressive’ is a synonym for ‘woke,’ and they happily use it to malign everyone, from the Democratic establishment to socialists. Progressives are not the…
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Cardinal Pell’s Delusions of Grandeur
Reading Time: 2 minutesAfter Cardinal Pell passed away, I happened to watch a 1993 debate between Pell and Father Uren SJ. Also participating in the debate were Catholic lay people and priests on both sides of the debate. (The two sides sat in separate groups.) The debate was published by Church Militant Australia. Judging by…
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Thoughts on the Eve of the Election
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere are three main concerns that might affect the way people vote in the coming election. My thoughts on the eve of the election include: fascism versus mafia rule; The Supreme Court’s abortion ban; and the question of how people who disagree with each other can live peacefully together. Fascism, Mafia Rule,…
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What is Necessary to American Democracy and What Can be Changed?
Reading Time: 3 minutesIt seems to me the American left has some housecleaning or path-clearing to do, historically speaking. Important questions must be asked if we want to feel confident about our course of action. Hopefully, answering these questions will supply the energy the left is lacking. These questions have to do with the basis…
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Bolsonaro Challenges God to Oust Him
Reading Time: < 1 minuteJair Bolsonaro of Brazil is one of the men who have stepped up to bristle and bar their teeth at the new sane direction the world is heading. If saying outrageous things and playing the media were enough to make things go his way he would have already won, but now…
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Rosicrucians, Fallen Angels, and American Politics
Reading Time: 4 minutesAccusations of leftist magic leveled by right-wing members of Congress led me to research the question of whether magic is really a leftist thing. The closest connection I was aware of was the association of the drug culture of the 1960s with shamanism. But I have always understood the Right’s connection to…
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Rosicrucians, Fallen Angels and American Politics
Reading Time: 4 minutesAccusations of leftist magic leveled by right-wing members of Congress led me to research the question of whether magic is really a leftist thing. I have always understood the political right’s connection to magic to be more of a thing, and it wasn’t hard to find evidence of this association. This is…
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Steve Bannon is a Pretend Traditionalist
Reading Time: 2 minutesI recently found a key date that confirms my suspicions about Steve Bannon’s so-called Traditionalism. I’ve long suspected that Bannon isn’t a real traditionalist. To be clear, Bannon is not a real traditionalist in the same sense that Donald Trump was never a real candidate. Bannon piggy-backed on this conversation in the…
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Question the Far-Right’s Claim to God’s Favor
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe right wing’s narrative describes a world in which evangelical Christians and their allies have God on their side. Normally I wouldn’t disagree–according to Christian doctrine, God is on the side of the human race. But they are actually saying God approves of their politics. They apparently assume this will convince believers…