Climate Change, Authoritarians and Autocrats, Justice Alito and Theocracy, and Nancy Pelosi Trading as an Insider
Chip, chip, chip away at American democracy.
I pissed off a lot of people about climate change this past week. So I read a book that counters much of the mainstream narrative on climate change. To be clear, that mainstream narrative is largely accurate. I am by no means a climate change denier or skeptic, and this book did not change that stance.
What it did change was my perspective. It challenged my thinking. It made me question whether I am consuming too much of what I read in doomsday headlines and articles without any critical thought.
These articles are everywhere.
Whenever summer rolls around in the Northern Hemisphere, media outlets run one dire climate article after the next (although many mistakenly confuse climate with weather). Some of it is cause for concern. Most of it is sensationalized clickbait.
This was one of the many criticisms author Steven Koonin had about what he deemed “The Science” of climate change. In his book, Unsettled, he critiques the primary way the public gets informed on climate change - through the media and government press releases - and how they often betray what “The Science” actually says. He goes into how these stakeholders are incentivized to generate hysteria for their own political or profit motivations.
The book is very technical as well. He uses numerous charts, graphs, and sets of data to articulate his points. Most of the flaws he highlights are related to the data and models used in measuring and forecasting climate change.
As a layperson - and non-scientist - I found many of the points compelling. I detailed what I thought he did well, and what I thought he could have improved upon, in this book review I published last week.
Check it out and let me know if you think I’m sipping Koonin’s Kool Aid, which is basically what these Redditors felt.
New Reddit Community - r/authoritarianautocrat
Speaking of Reddit, we created a new community this past week called r/authoritarianautocrat. It will feature content that checks authoritarianism and autocracy wherever it may appear. From politics to business.
Democracies are under threat worldwide. In America alone we’ve witnessed assaults on our institutions (both literally and figuratively) and the slow erosion of democratic pillars like stare decisis and the rule of law.
To get a glimpse of how the world feels about democracy, read some of the comments in a recent TikTok video I posted. It follows an article on how the western world order (of democracies) is basically losing to Russia and China (especially as they strengthen their own alliance).
Fortunately, I also read an inspirational speech that was very pro-democracy, which was given by former President Barack Obama. I was critical of him during his presidency, but boy do I appreciate him now.
And I agree with him that we need to fight for democracy now more than ever (at least in our recent post-Cold War history). Democracy is not guaranteed. Many of the threats coming from within could easily win the day before we even realize what has happened.
Justice Alito Mocks Foreign Critics of Abortion Case
I’ll say it again - my biggest issue with the recent abortion case is NOT related to the policy of abortion. It’s the erosion of stare decisis. And what will likely come next. Chip, chip, chip away at other rights based on a right to privacy, including contraceptives, gay marriage, gay sex, and maybe (this one’s for you Justice Thomas) interracial marriage.
All of this and more has its roots in Roe v. Wade, which was good precedent for almost 50 years. It was reaffirmed numerous times. Numerous! Until one day, with a swift stroke of the pen, Justice Alito changed American jurisprudence with the reasoning that, well, history has never recognized a right to an abortion. I guess history trumps American case law? Stare decisis? The credibility of one of the three branches of American government, the U.S. Supreme Court?
This is how democracies die from within. Institutions stop adhering to norms. Institutions that are intended (and designed) to be independent of politics become politicized. They sway more towards theocratic rule than democratic rule, despite the separation between church and state.
That’s what had Justice Alito all up in arms at a talk he gave recently while in Rome, Italy. He thinks religion is under assault. Specifically, how religion and politics coexist.
In some ways he’s right. Too many people in the world today subscribe to a secularism that is actively hostile to religion. Although we have a separation of church and state in America, we also have the free exercise clause embedded in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Basically protecting your right to freely exercise your religious beliefs.
We have a history of accommodating religious beliefs in America. Other democracies around the world share a similar history.
Where it goes wrong, however, is when powerful democratic institutions (like the U.S. Supreme Court) fill themselves with people who struggle to leave their religious beliefs at the door before they go into the office each day. As a judge or Supreme Court justice this is particularly difficult. Biases inevitably creep into jurisprudence and decision making on a daily basis. It’s hard to remain objective.
But just because you feel like religious beliefs are under assault does not give you license to overcorrect by adjudicating based on those beliefs.
Other interesting news to watch
Fox News moving on from Donald Trump? They are sure giving a lot of airtime to golden boy DeSantis these days…
Why hasn’t the U.S. State Department labeled Russia a terrorist state yet? You can be sure if a Middle Eastern country acted the same way, the U.S. would not hesitate to do so…
Nancy Pelosi - someone to keep on the authoritarian watch list. I say this not because of her plans to visit Taiwan despite warnings from China, but because of the amount she privately benefits from her public service. Take the Chip Bill, for example. Her and her husband have a tendency to execute trades ahead of a big legislative announcements. How she keeps evading scrutiny here is beyond me.
Alex Jones is still the scum of the Earth:
Have a good week.
For more content from Logan Stone, see Polispandit.com and the PolisPandit Podcast.
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