Musing about my hobby: The evolution of pragmatic rationalism

The political news is bad, cruel and discouraging just about every day now. No surprise there -- it's that been that bad since January 2025. Based on America's current political and social trajectory, it looks like MAGA will try to seriously subvert the 2026 elections if they need subversion to stay in control of both the House and Senate. Of course, MAGA doesn't need and won't use subversion if voters voluntarily choose to keep the GOP in power. Voters just might do that, saving American authoritarianism the trouble of mass subversion.

This blog is my hobby. My hobby is advocating for pragmatic rationalism, a pro-democracy, pro-public interest political meta-ideology. Sure, MAGA and other authoritarian wealth and power movements and ideologies the world over also claim to be basically the same. But they are just liars. Unfortunately, MAGA liars are empowered by tens of millions of Americans who actually believe that MAGA really is pro-democracy and pro-public interest. For the most part, MAGA and its demagoguery is what's killing our democracy, rule of law and civil liberties. That's just fact.

Since engagement here has fallen off a cliff, keeping it going requires minimal time and effort on my part. So, I'll probably keep it going, maybe posting a bit less frequently. Doing the research for posts helps keep me in touch with some of the details of how Trump and MAGA are taking democracy, the rule of law, liberties, wealth and power from us. I'll keep sending my darts to journalists, opinionators, academics, editors, etc., when they let us down or turn against us, whether they know it or believe it or not. In response, they will continue to pretend I don't exist. What fun!

Since my fighting spirit isn't crushed yet and my time is coming to an end, I'll try to go ahead and finish writing a short book, Project 2026. It's a pro-democracy, pro-public interest response to MAGA's demagogic authoritarian-kleptocrat manifesto, Project 2025. To keep it simple, things like "manifesto" and "pragmatic rationalism" won't be in it. Links to data sources won't be in it. Just simple stuff. It'll just be short and non-technical, like Tim Snyder's short warning, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century (2017). Who knows? Maybe a couple dozen copies will sell! Woof!! 

(❁´◡`❁)

Here's a bit of Project 2026: 

An example of MAGA's potent demagoguery can be more edifying than abstract explanations. The following is from Project 2025, MAGA's authoritarian manifesto:

It’s not 1980. In 2023, the game has changed. The long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has come to pass. The federal government is a behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The task at hand to reverse this tide and restore our Republic to its original moorings is too great for any one conservative policy shop to spearhead. It requires the collective action of our movement. With the quickening approach of January 2025, we have two years and one chance to get it right. -- 

A Note On Project 2025, by Paul Dans, Director, Project 2025, page xiv.

The demagoguery in that is obvious. First, cultural Marxism has not marched through and captured any major US institution. Nothing major in America is Marxist. That includes institutions of higher education and the entire federal government. Simply put there is no credible evidence of a coordinated “cultural Marxist” plot to capture American institutions. That assertion is a radical right myth that dates back to the 1990s. It was just as false then as it is today. 

Second, the Manifesto's assertion of the US government being a “behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values” is an example of the propaganda tactic called rhetorical inversion. Weaponization of government against the people has not been a liberal or progressive endeavor. Instead, America's radical right has weaponized the rule of law, administrative independence, and democratic guardrails. Project 2025’s blueprint explicitly advocates for the politicization of the executive branch, the Justice Department, and the civil service, aiming to purge disloyal staff and centralize power in the presidency. America's radical right political movement is highly focused on twin goals of centralizing wealth and power with elites allied with MAGA authoritarianism. 

An honest version of reality looks something like this:

It’s not 1980. In 2016, the game changed. The long march of corrupt, radical right authoritarianism through our institutions has come to pass. The federal government is a monster, weaponized against American citizens, democratic values and honest governance. Freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The task at hand to reverse this dark, corrupt tide and save our representative democracy before it is swallowed in intolerant authoritarian radical right cruelty, corruption and moral darkness. The task at hand is too great for the broken Democratic Party to spearhead and implement a solid defense of democracy. The Republican Party has fallen to authoritarianism and cannot help. It will resist democratic efforts. The defense requires the collective action of the American people still willing to stand up for their democracy, liberties, wealth and power before it is irretrievably taken from them. With the rapid approach of November 2026, we have just one short year and one chance to get it right. 

Anyway, that's what's on my mind.