Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad
Gad Saad is a staple of the anti-woke dark web. But his new book, Suicidal Empathy, is proof that the supposedly “intellectual” wing of the New Right is running on fumes.
67 Article(s) by: Matt McManus
Matt McManus is an assistant professor at Spelman College. He is the author of The Political Right and Equality and The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism among other books.
Is Ann Arbor Ready for Democratic Socialism?
Dave Zeglen is a longtime pro-union, pro-tenant, pro-Palestine, anti-ICE organizer backed by the Democratic Socialists of America — and his sights are set on Ann Arbor City Hall.
The Scam Artistry of the Right’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Right’s con men promise liberation for those who feel themselves superior but are held back by the leveling institutions of mass mediocrity. Their rhetoric intoxicatingly combines feelings of superiority with a sense of dispossessed victimization.
Dwight Macdonald After the Death of Liberalism
The defining feature of American imperialism is its combination of an enormous capacity for death and destruction with an equally enormous sense of self-entitlement. Cold War journalist Dwight Macdonald understood this outlook better than most.
Elon Musk Represents the Right’s New Reactionary Modernism
Elon Musk is an heir to the reactionary modernists of a century ago, a man whose utopian speculations about the power of technology go hand in hand with apocalyptic doomsaying about the woke mind virus and the “great replacement.”
Jürgen Habermas Showed What Philosophy Could Be
The death of Jürgen Habermas has left philosophy and the Left poorer. Central to his work was a profound critique of irrationality in all its forms. Taken seriously, his philosophy provides an indispensable guide in the struggle against oppression.
Gary Dorrien Is Christian Socialism’s Greatest Champion
The theologian and historian Gary Dorrien has made it his mission to chronicle and revive the tradition of Christian democratic socialism. His work reminds the American left of our project’s spiritual dimensions.
Thomas Mann and the Temptations of Fascism
The resurgence of right-wing populism has set the table for the far right’s renewed fortunes. Published in 1947, Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus offers a guide to the mythmaking and rejection of reason that continues to animate authoritarian politics today.
A Lottocratic Political System Would Empower Ordinary People
American democracy seems to be falling into an ever greater crisis. A lottocratic system, in which citizens are randomly selected to serve as legislators, could empower ordinary people and stem political dysfunction.
Postliberals Don’t Understand What’s Wrong With America
Frustrated with the state of America, some on the Right have come to embrace postliberalism, an ideology that seeks to invigorate conservative politics by rejecting equality.
Capitalism Subverts Democracy
In recent decades, the American economy has been characterized by rising inequality, shrinking free time, and the growing concentration of economic and political power, increasingly undermining the democratic ideals to which the US is ostensibly committed.
Is Cormac McCarthy “Based”?
Legendary novelist Cormac McCarthy is often hailed by the Right as one of its own. The truth is more complicated.
The Resentful World of the Religious Right
Over the past few decades, the Christian right has grown to wield tremendous power in the United States. Its conflictual, Manichean worldview has offered reassuring certainties to its followers in an era of social dislocation.
A Truly Free Society Demands Workplace Democracy
The unfreedom workers suffer on the job has been an abiding critique of capitalism, and for good reason. A society that allows for the full development of human freedom must allow people to collectively determine the conditions under which they work.
Jordan Peterson’s Take on the Bible Is as Bad as You’d Think
In his latest book, right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson looks to extract existential and political lessons from the Old Testament. Far from probing deep truths, it’s a shallow, self-serving exercise in culture war.
The Pathologies of Inequality Are an Age-Old Preoccupation
Conservatives today often denigrate a concern with economic inequality as a deviant left-wing preoccupation. In fact, from antiquity to the present, canonical thinkers of diverse political orientations have diagnosed economic inequality as a great evil.
The Left Should Take Alasdair MacIntyre Seriously
Alasdair MacIntyre’s original critique of liberal modernity has won followers on the Left and the Right. His account of how capitalism has undermined the conditions of human flourishing deserves the serious attention of socialists.
Why Socialists Shouldn’t Reject Liberalism
The historical shortcomings of liberalism don’t mean that socialists should throw liberalism out wholesale. On the contrary: socialism needs liberalism.
Living Up to Liberal Commitments Means Confronting Capitalism
A new book argues that liberalism offers not just a set of institutional norms but a compelling way of thinking about human flourishing. To offer a complete account of the good life, liberalism needs to confront the structural injustices of capitalism.
Žižek’s Left-Wing Case for Christian Atheism
In his new book, Slavoj Žižek advances a provocative understanding of Christianity as a progressive, secularizing force. It’s classic Žižek — by turns brilliant and infuriating.