The big topics to cover from the last two weeks are: the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war, what lessons to learn from the East Palestine derailment, and what the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit has revealed about Fox News, plus a bunch of culture-war issues like Scott Adams arranging his own cancellation, the Right’s ability to manipulate the allegedly liberal media, Tennessee’s ban on drag performances, and the publisher’s editing of Roald Dahl books.
But I spent my week off preparing and delivering a sermon about democracy, which closed with the idea that those of us who want to save democracy need to keep reaching out to folks on the other side of the partisan divide. (Sadly, the other side doesn’t need to reach out. Polarization serves the authoritarian cause well.)
That was Sunday, a week ago yesterday. The next day, Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted her now-famous call for a “national divorce”, and then followed that up with a more detailed walk-back that calls for an Articles-of-Confederation-style government with a weak and tiny national government and fifty sovereign states.
Now, I don’t usually respond to MTG, because I think she’s another Trump-style grifter. When she says something, I have no idea whether she’s serious, she’s conning her marks, or she’s just trying to troll people like me. But whether she’s making her proposal in good faith or not — and I suspect not — I think a lot of Americans read her tweetstorm and honestly thought that her vision sounded pretty good.
So if I’m going to practice what I’ve (quite literally) been preaching, I need to offer those people a response. That’s this week’s featured post. It should be out between 9 and 10 EST. The other stuff will be in the weekly summary, which should appear noonish.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
I want to see your reply to MTG- pretty scary if her newest proposal is going to sound good!!
MTG is no different from any other Republican: she wants to use the power of government to construct and enforce a very specific, detailed public environment she can surround herself with that speaks to her bigotries, hate, and intolerance while having someone else pay for it.
From farm subsidies to federal assistance programs to “incentives” paid to corporations to federal highway funds to disaster aid and insurance to 100s of other programs, blue states keep red states afloat. And even with all that federal assistance, red states still manage to turn up at the bottom of pretty much every list that’s about quality-of-life. Just imagine what kind of shape they’d be in if Uncle Sugar’s handouts stopped.
Regarding your comment about the need to bridge the divide – I heartedly agree.
If you haven’t already, I suggest you and your readers check out the organization with this bridge as their stated purpose: Braver Angels.
They are very actively working to bridge the divide at every level.
Thanks! Tom