The United States’ eyes — and our unified commitment — should focus on opening the door, in our time, to the great migration of humankind to Mars. Books aplenty have been written about how to do this, and they have inspired government and non-government leaders to make lofty plans. But plans without a detailed architecture, and without that “next step” into the future, are just fantasy.
LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors are pursuing a new set of parents in the college admissions fraud scandal, sending ripples of fear through elite circles in Southern California and stirring speculation about which well-heeled executive or celebrity might be the next to be charged.
Watching Joe Biden, a man who was already too out-of-step with the party and the country to win the nomination 12 years ago, claim the “electability” mantle only strengthens that feeling. No one really wants President Biden. It’s just that the “better things aren’t possible” caucus accidentally managed to convince some large portion of the Democratic electorate that they must hold their noses and vote for actively worse things.
Expecting voters to behave like pundits—asking people to vote for what expensive consultants and Sunday show guests imagine people like them might want instead of what they actually want—would be perverse even if it worked. But unless and until the Democratic electorate can be given license to support what it supports, each failure of the “electability” paradigm will only be taken as proof of the need to retreat further into learned helplessness.
If you’re not that excited to vote for Joe Biden, I promise you, your neighbor isn’t, either.
We spent most of the Obama years shutting down the govt and flirting with default because folks like Mulvaney said debt was going to destroy us. Now it’s ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) April 30, 2019
NYC's Select Bus Service, where you pay at a kiosk before boarding the bus, has been hugely successful where instituted. I've pretty much stopped taking taxis to the East Side; SBS does the job beautifully 2/ https://t.co/SHPvx2ZdyY
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 30, 2019
Slave owners did many bad things, but each owner didn't do every single one.
— Robin Hanson (@robinhanson) April 29, 2019