Almost Classical

US-EPA-Seal-EO11628 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) President Trump's potential unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Accord on Climate should remind all politically engaged Americans that there is a risk when presidents ignore process. Executive orders and executive action can be undone. Had the Paris Accord on Climate been ratified as a treaty, by the Senate, no president could then withdraw unilaterally. The Accord was, unfortunately, not entered into with Senate ratification. The lesson here: executive-only actions are a bad idea. But, Congress is worthless, too. Our government is broken. Badly. In case anyone was wondering. People cheer when "their president" does things without Congress. The problem with executive actions is that they are undone just as easily. We also shouldn't enter into armed conflict without Congressional approval. But, why bother with details of the Constitutional process? Related articles What Is The Paris Climate Agreement?...

When you group people and make everything about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and a checklist of other "differences" you are also creating and reinforcing  the "Working-Class White Male Christian" grouping. That really is not helpful. Even a few of the New York Times ' writers are starting to understand this. Create groups at your own peril, progressives. You might find it doesn't help create a national identity or unity. The End of Identity Liberalism - The New York Times :   By MARK LILLA — NOV. 18, 2016 The whitelash thesis is convenient because it absolves liberals of not recognizing how their own obsession with diversity has encouraged white, rural, religious Americans to think of themselves as a disadvantaged group whose identity is being threatened or ignored. Such people are not actually reacting against the reality of our diverse America (they tend, after all, to live in homogeneous areas of the country). But they are reacting ...

English: Donald Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Republicans in the House and Senate, especially the leadership of the GOP , must at least symbolically reject the president-elects choices for his inner circle of advisors. Though some of these posts do not require Senate confirmation, the Senate should and must demand that Donald Trump remove some members of his transition team and his "kitchen cabinet" of conspiracy nuts. I never imagined as a libertarian that my worst nightmare might be a Republican president. The following individuals should be nowhere near the White House: Stephen K. Bannon and Frank Gaffney . This should not be open to debate. The Senate should refuse to confirm any cabinet secretary until these two men are shown the door. Yes, I understand that Bannon and Roger Ailes advised and helped control Trump during the campaign. I don't care. These are not the sorts of people with whom the GOP should be as...