This is for all the stories that are coming out about the Saggy Ceasar’s sycophants and mindless minions getting their faces eaten by the leopard they let into the house! See Here, Here, Here for just a taste of schadenfreude.

I set up the banquet, invited them in. 
Knowing their hunger, their talons, their teeth
The bloodlust that drives from deep underneath. 
I unlocked the cages and said with a grin, 
Come dine on those I resent, let the meal begin. 
As they chomped and slashed and growled o’er their quarry
I posted applause and reveled in the gory
Consequences of their untempered ravages. 
A middle-aged mother in the school pickup line? 
An Ice Cream vendor? A roofer? A welder?
Nothing but savages!
I gloated and blustered o’er every dark story 
Of one of those people getting their due, 
They don’t have papers. They’re criminals. It’s true.
They're certainly nothing like me or like you! 
What I didn’t see coming, though I was warned by the libs,
Once you unloose the leopards, they don’t care who they eat
They froth and they frenzy, their hunger for meat
Ever unsated, 
It matters not if the leg or the shoulder, the offal, or ribs
Belong to the chosen, the cherished, the fated. 
The leopards care not for party, for loyalty, for friends or for race
Their hunger grows from power corruption, 
Mindless, insatiable craving eruption, 
And now the leopards are eating MY face!

Years ago, I attended a lecture by the acclaimed education researcher and reform advocate Alfie Kohn. He said something that I always took to heart when our admin would review our test scores and school grade breakdown every year. He said, “There are two reasonable responses to news that test scores have increased. The first is the more moderate response. The second is more radical.”

For more information about Alfie Kohn, see his work at alfiekohn.org

The more moderate response is, “So what?”

The truth is there is little evidence that standardized test scores reveal anything about actual learning. If anything, the multiple-choice laden exams may offer a temporary snapshot of the content a student could remember when taking the exam. Think about it. How much content do you actually remember from high school, let alone middle and elementary school?

The formulaic writing evaluations offer exactly zero insight into how well students can think and support a thesis. Rather they are better measures of how well the student conforms to the orthodoxy necessary for writing the same old five paragraph essay over and over again.

Standardized test scores offer very little in the way of useful information. Whether or not the scores went up or down often has more to do with exam competence, the mind-numbing “test-taking skills” our students waste immeasurable time mastering. It turns out that in adulthood such skills are meaningless to anyone’s real life. If you are over thirty, how often have you used “test-taking skills?”

Lower scores are likely the result of the tests being re-normed or redesigned. Test scores don’t even necessarily correlate to other test scores.

In fact, a wealth of research on the topic shows test scores are most useful if one is trying to guess what size house a student lives in. Other than that, the correlation between test scores and learning is pretty weak. Furthermore, such assessments say nothing about higher level thinking skills like critical analysis, evaluation, and creative thinking.

The more radical response is, “Dear God, No! What did you deny my child’s education to raise those test scores?”

If the fate of students, teachers, schools, and districts rests on so-called “objective measures” revealed by test scores and school grades—especially if money is on the line—incentives get twisted. The myriad experiences students might have in school gets winnowed down to what is going to raise test scores. Students who are talented artists or musicians find themselves losing out on art and music classes because they must double up on Language Arts or Math to raise their scores. Not to learn! Not to be more well rounded human beings! No. They must raise test scores. The needs of the child become secondary to the needs of the school to raise those school grades. And don’t think this is lost on the students.

I taught history for many years. During one workshop on a new U.S. History End of Course Exam one of the presenters pointed out that there were no questions on the Progressive Movement of the late 19^th and early 20^th century. He advised, “don’t bother teaching it.” It’s part of the state curriculum, but that didn’t matter. It’s not on the test. Scratch it.

Recent reporting shows that young people are no longer reading novels or long-form non-fiction. When required to do so in college courses, they seem incapable of the kind of focus and retention necessary to succeed. Rose Horowitch, in her essay in the Atlantic, The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books, points out, “middle- and high-school kids appear to be encountering fewer and fewer books in the classroom…” A teacher quoted in the article observed, “There’s no testing skill that can be related to … Can you sit down and read Tolstoy?” Standardized test-taking skills rests on the students’ ability to pull information from short excerpts. So, that is the skill that is drilled.

I’ve noticed similar trends in social studies education. Those of us of a certain age remember when every history class culminated in at least one research paper complete with proper citation. Emphasis on “covering the curriculum” for the sake of state testing, however, makes it impossible to dedicate the necessary time and energy to the yearly research paper ritual. Consequently, college history professors are looking at incoming students who have never written more than the formulaic five-paragraph essay. In a larger social context, we have a generation of people who have no practical experience with “doing their own research.” Ironically, many of them claim to do exactly that online.

Throughout the country we are watching the loss of recess time, shortened lunch periods, the loss of arts, music, and inspiring electives. Students read fewer books, and write shorter, less meaningful expositions. Meanwhile, teachers are leaving the field. Potential teachers are going into other fields. We compensate by cramming more students into fewer classes with fewer adults credentialed in their fields.

Overall, we are spending more time doing less enriching, less thought provoking, lower-level thinking for the sake of raising test scores and their corresponding school grades. This constitutes an irreparable theft from our children. Recent research into cognitive development and health is just now starting to reveal the devastating impact such practices have on our children.

So, when Robert E. Lee School District Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin announced that her goal was to raise Lee County to an “A” District, with no schools scoring lower than a “B”, I was reminded of the more radical element of Kohn’s lecture. Dear God, what is she going to strip away from our children to get those objective measures where she wants them?

We already have a partial answer to this question. Many parents are asking how it is that our graduation rates have increased, and yet our proficiency scores remain stagnant. It is no secret that the graduation rate is a component of our school and district grades. Are we lowering requirements to boost graduation rates? To what extent does a devalued high school diploma rob students of the credentials they need, and many deserve, as they enter their next chapter of life?

This is not meant to be a screed against Superintendent Carlin. She must make decisions for this district based on the backward, intellectually shallow rules legislated by the state. However, Lee County’s vision is to be a “World-class school system.” Its mission is to “ensure that each student achieves his or her (I would also say ‘their,’ but…) highest personal potential.” I think everyone agrees that these are worthy goals. Unfortunately, Florida state legislation and policy is focused on school grades and so-called objective measures.

Unfortunately, what it means to be a world-class school system and to fulfill one’s highest personal potential cannot be objectively measured. In fact, what it means to raise school grades and what is required to create a world-class school system are in most ways mutually exclusive. We, the citizens of Lee County, can have a world-class school system, or we can have a higher district grade. We can’t have both. Which would you prefer?

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and comment on my novel Abode. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can also purchase my novel Stone is not Forever. It’s an epic immigration story.

I have a confession.

I love boxing!

There. I said it.

I’m not proud of it, but there it is. I love a good fight! And there’s nothing like boxing when it comes to pugilistic purity.1 In this corner is my guy (or girl as the case may be). He’s big and tough, a good rea

ch, but not afraid to fight inside. In the other corner is the other guy. He’s a bum! Yeah, he has pretty good uppercut and fast hands, but he jumps to the clutch too much. When the bell rings, it’s just these two guys hammering at each other, but constrained by Marquis of Queensbury rules.

I love it!

But here’s the thing. I’m no boxer. Not even close. That guy I called a “bum.” I would be best served not stepping into the ring with that guy because he’d kill me in short order. I mean, I’ve done some sparring in my youth. I’ve been known to mix it up a little. But a professional boxer? No. Not in any way imaginable.

In fact, almost none of the people watching a boxing match is in any way comparable to either of those athletes whose bodies have been finely tuned to doing this one particular brutal thing.

That’s what makes boxing interesting. I’m sitting on my couch, watching two physically perfect human beings, rooting for my guy, eating a bowl of nachos and ranch. I understand that I am in no way a measure of the guy I’m rooting for, let alone the guy I’m rooting against.

If I thought I could hold my own in the ring with either of these contestants, then there’s something seriously wrong with my sense of reality.

This distorted sense of reality is, I think, an apt metaphor for contemporary political discourse. Turn on any podcast, any news show, read any political analysis. They sound like the commentary of a boxing match. In this corner, in the red trunks is The Mighty Right. He’s a blunt-forced pugilist who relentlessly pounds “the other” through strong-man attacks. He pounds immigrants, gays, gender minorities, feminists, Muslims and is fighting to restore American greatness.

In the other corner, in the blue trunks, is The Southpaw Left. He’s a more nuanced fighter, famous for fancy footwork and quick jabs at the oppressive capitalist class that is keeping America down. He hates the wealthy and is fighting for a more egalitarian society in which everyone benefits according to their needs and contributes according to their abilities.

When you are trying to sell your podcast, or your Substack page, this is the kind of discourse that’s interesting. It’s fun to write about this battle for the sake of civilization, for the heart and soul of the country…ladaladalada!

But it’s a massive distortion. Most Americans are in neither camp.

Most Americans are somewhere in the middle.

In contemporary political ideology, that means they are…

…hear me out…

…Liberals.

Yes. You are probably a liberal.

Let’s test this.

Do you believe that capitalism is the best way to distribute resources? You may accept that capitalism has some problems, but these problems can be resolved through policy decisions that mitigate capitalism’s shortcomings without changing the underlying function of markets for meeting people’s needs and wants.

Do you believe in a republican form of government in which democratic participation is exercised through universal adult suffrage for elected representatives?

Do you believe that the power of this representative government should be limited to keep the state from becoming autocratic, and to preserve individual freedom?

Do you believe these limits should be codified into law that applies equally to everyone without regard to status, race, gender, or any other category?

Do you believe that human beings have intrinsic rights, including but not limited to the right to speak, to worship, to privacy, to protections from trespass by the powerful without due process?

Do you believe that everyone who embraces the above principles is in good standing in our society regardless of race, ethnicity, nation of origin, gender, religion or any other social distinction (that people should be judged based on the content of their character and not some external indicator)?

If you believe these things above, even if you may quibble about the particulars and nuances,2 you my friend are…

dun dun duuuuuuuuun

A liberal.

The six pillars above, Capitalism, Representative Government, Limited Government, Equality Before the Law, Human Rights, and Social Pluralism, are the foundations of American politics as well as the defining ideology for much of the western world. These are the pillars of what political scientists refer to as the Liberal World Order.

In other words, it is the political center.

In fact, most differences between us are matters of degree within the spectrum of liberalism.

For instance, you may be a “conservative” and very offended by the thesis of this essay. What this means is that you prioritize a notion of traditional values. You are more likely to embrace a strict interpretation of the Constitution. You believe that too much government interference in the market slows the economy. Human beings have rights, but they also have responsibilities to exercise those rights toward caring for themselves and their families, as opposed to becoming dependent upon the state to take care of them. You are not inclined to accept systemic explanations for hardship. Those who step out of line, should be subject to social sanction.

The chances are pretty good that you accept all six pillars of liberalism, just like your liberal friends do, but you prioritize different elements, family, religion, police and the military, for supporting these pillars.

On the other hand, you may believe that capitalism needs some serious work. Government should offer certain vital public goods to help sustain all citizens in an often harsh market. Public education and ‘Medicare for All’ may be among these public goods. You also believe that strong social safety nets are necessary for those who fall through the cracks. You recognize that there are systemic barriers to social thriving, such as racism, sexism, or economic disadvantage that need to be mitigated in a just society and that the law should recognize this. The Constitution is best understood as a living document because times change, and our understanding of human rights must evolve with them.

Again, you embrace all six pillars as valid. How you prioritize these pillars and the nuances associated with them are different from your conservative friends.

In any sane polity, debate would exist along this spectrum.

But it doesn’t.

Everyone is led to believe that they are heavyweight contenders in this fight. You’re either a mouth-frothing MAGA or the second coming of Mao. And our media ecosystem reinforces this when it equates “Liberalism” with “The Left” or “Conservatism” with “The Right.” There may have been a time when this was an adequate discursive shortcut. Today, it leaves out most of the American polity from progressive liberals to traditional conservatives. It forces a more polarized label on individuals whose positions are likely not fairly described in such a way.

If there’s one thing that sociologists know, however, it’s that there is a great deal of pressure on individuals to live the labels placed on them by the larger society. This being the case, polarization may be a reflexive response to increased polarization in the marketplace of ideas.

So, why are we here? Why am I being led to believe that I’m Muhammad Ali in this fight?3

First, the political economy that defined the “Liberal World Order” has collapsed as a result of the Neoliberal reforms of the last forty years.4 What we understand as liberalism has been discredited from the left and the right. This puts the vast majority of liberal centrists at a discursive disadvantage. It’s hard defending a system that has failed so many.

The subsequent collapse of the center has empowered the discourse from the left and the right. The left is offering a discourse of creating a new, more egalitarian world out of the ruins of the Liberal Order. The right is suggesting that we simply return to the norms and values that once made us great. Both discourses are based on a mythical ideal.

The Right has the political clout, elite support, and the media infrastructure to lead the discourse. From the rise of the Tea Party Movement to the advent of MAGA, the Right has been speaking in unison while the center has had nothing to say, and the left has been shouting at each other. As it stands, the Right has been steering the ship of public discourse. The strategy of equating “Liberalism” with “Socialism” is nothing new.5

Also, the battle between The Left and The Right…sells advertising space. I see the specs on my videos. Nobody is sitting through a nuanced exposition on the particulars of the political center. No. It’s much easier to frame everything as Left/Right and fit it into a one-minute video that will get a lot more views than the thirty-minute educational lesson analyzing the political spectrum.

The Left is advancing with a combo, but The Right counters with a hook driving The Left to the ropes. The Left Clinches! The Right comes out of the clinch swinging, but the left ducks and counters with solid strike at the body. But The Right keeps working his arms. How long can The Left keep its guard up?

This is much more interesting than a forensic discussion on the distinctions that exist between the vast majority of Americans.

So, the liberal center of the spectrum, from traditional conservatism on the right to New Deal liberalism on the left, in other words, the interests of most Americans, has been effectively erased. This may be a benefit to those of us advocating a left-wing discourse, but it’s still a distortion of reality. There’s no winning a debate when the discourse is distorted into meaninglessness.

We need to make room for liberals to be liberals and not be lumped in with “The Left.” They are not The Left. They are the center. And we especially need to make room for traditional conservatives who are appalled by what they see from The Right. There must be a way to help such conservatives understand that they are more politically aligned with their liberal nephew than they are their MAGA cousin. Only then can we restore some sanity to the discourse and maybe those of us actually on The Left can stop trying to explain what “socialism really means” and can start making the arguments for a better world that we want to make.

At long last, my science fiction novel, Abode is complete and available to all of my Substack paid subscribers.

Abode takes place on a future world governed by a single corporation, The Citadel. Shareholders of The Citadel live in luxury in great walled cities. The rest of humanity is divided into Drones and Ferals. Drones are individuals who live isolated in comfortable apartments. All of their needs are met, and entertainments enjoyed in safe solitude. Interpersonal interaction takes place through computer and virtual reality interface. Ferals, on the other hand, are those left behind by The Citadel. Ferals have been abandoned to fend for themselves on ruins of the previous civilization (presumably the one WE live in) and the refuse of The Shareholders.

Sam is the hero. He is a happy Drone, secure in his comfortable apartment. The last thing in the world he wanted was to go outside. Who would want to go outside with psychopathic gangs roving the world looking for victims to behead? Unfortunately, Sam’s life is turned upside down when his apartment is destroyed in what appears to be a terrorist attack.

Sam finds himself living his nightmare…OUTSIDE.

He is rescued by a clan called The Abode, and their terrifying leader, Tyre. Sam must navigate this new life by learning how to make connections with this adoptive clan. He must also find his place among a people in danger of being wiped out by The Citadel…mostly because they rescued him.

Ultimately, Sam learns the true nature of the world, and his unique place in it. He is forced into making an impossible decision that would decide the fate of those who took him in.

This novel is about the dangers of an increasingly atomizing and isolating world and the value of community.

Now, with a paid subscription, you can read and offer input on the first draft as I seek to find a publisher.

[Note: The original chapters were posted under a temporary title, Outside. I never liked that title. Regardless, I’m far too lazy to go back and edit each post. So, if you see Outside, that’s the right novel]

Click the images to read each chapter.

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and comment on my novel Abode above. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can also read my novel Stone is not Forever. It’s an epic immigration story. Young Dominico Rossa leaves his family in Italy at the turn of the twentieth century for the opportunities promised by America. He hopes to make enough money to return home as a man of respect, saving his ruined family, and winning the hand of the woman he loves. It turns out, however, that opportunity is hard won in the United States. This is the story of how a young Italian provincial becomes and American.

When Gloria told him that his friends were waiting, Sam had only one thought. ‘Tyre will fix it.’ His heart beat stronger and that overwhelming sense of panic submerging his consciousness since Gallow threatened his life drained away, leaving him clear and confident. The effect was much like some celestial puppeteer pulling the strings tighter to align his back and shoulders, making him stand taller, straighter, lighter on his feet.

“Here.” Gloria took the glass tablet back from him and made a series of gestures with her long, graceful fingers. A map appeared to hover over the glass rectangle, colors shifting along the surface corresponding to lines and features being projected. “Your friends will meet you at the Receiving Bay. It’s the only ground access to the city from outside the walls. You and your friends will have to be careful. It’s a vulnerable point, so it is well protected and heavily surveilled.”

Another wave of her hand opened a closet at the end of the room. Gloria swiped through some clothing hanging there until she found a light green jacket the likes of which he saw many men wearing in the professional looking enclaves. Mr. Greatnumber had a similar jacket, but in crimson. “Hmm. Here it is. Wear this,” she handed him the garment. “This will make you look like you belong, an owner overseeing his deliveries.”

The jacket was a bit large, accentuating his shoulders and draping down his flanks. Gloria scanned him and grunted. “Hold on.” She said as she went to the front door. She opened it enough to fit her head through and shouted, “Shelby! Shelby!”

A muffled voice responded from up the stairs. Sam couldn’t make out the words.

“Your roommate still have that green fedora?”

Again, Sam could not make out the response.

“Because I don’t remember his name!” Gloria shouted.

Another muffled response.

Gloria called, “Can I have it? I’ll get him a brand new one tomorrow!”

After a couple minutes, Gloria closed the door. In her hands was a well-worn, wide brimmed hat. “Here. Keep this pulled down and your chin tucked as much as you can. And wear these,” she handed him a pair of sunglasses from a bowl on a table by the front door. “That should at least slow down the facial recognition.”

Sam took the hat and glasses, then did the best he could to memorize the directions from the map before handing the glass rectangle back.

Gloria held out her hand. “No. Keep it. It has all the information you need and some very valuable information that The Breach needs.”

“I really don’t think I can do what you are asking. I’m not even of this world.” Sam said with sadness in his voice.

Lowering herself into the chair, Gloria lifted the glass, emptied the sharp bourbon into her mouth and shrugged. “You will or you won’t. The Breach is the only way forward. It’s the only way to protect the people you love from The Citadel. I wish that weren’t true. But it is. Either way, if you decide to go home to be with your wife and your child…I entirely understand. I would never hold something like that against you. But it will be a short-term relief. Moyra doesn’t bluff. She will follow through with her plans for the North Country.”

Sam stared at the glass rectangle. His eyes darted back and forth in quick succession. He wasn’t looking at anything in particular. If anything, he was glancing at the flitting images in his own mind. Philippa. The baby. The cabin. Syd. A whole life he helped to build in the North Country. All the hope that went with that life. It was all an unwitting setup on Citadel’s global chessboard.

“Thank you for everything.” Sam forced himself to stand up straight. “I guess I have a lot to consider. I promise, I’ll think about it. If I can’t do it, I’ll find someone who can. There are a lot of clever people in Abode.”

Gloria stood, approached Sam and kissed him on the mouth. It was an action taken with tender affection rather than romantic passion. Very different from her VRP. “I guess that will have to do.” Gloria smiled. “You need to leave now. Wear the hat, glasses, and jacket. Once you get to receiving, you’ll have to figure out the way. It’s a huge warehouse filled with shipping containers. It’s like a maze that changes every day with every shipment. There’s no way to give you directions through it. Just keep walking until you find your friends. If they are as skillful as they seem, they will have mapped out an exit.”

“Thank you, Gloria,” Sam smiled. “I really don’t know what to say.”

Gloria flashed that mischievous smile. “The look on your face when you first laid eyes on me was thanks enough.”

Sam blushed but couldn’t respond. After a quick, awkward wave, he made his way out the door and to the street. The glass tablet revealed that he needed to turn right.

***

The Receiving Bay was a huge living complex. Living as indicated by frenetic movement. There was little indication of actual living things in the broad, concrete ecosystem. Massive robotic vehicles with metallic forks protruding from the front, and long cranes on top glided over an expansive concrete lot. Sam estimated the lot to be well over ten thousand square meters. Maybe fifteen. The massive vehicles, some as tall as a two-story building, entered an opening in the wall that could have fit a three-story building with room to spare. From the opening other massive robotic vehicles emerged with great, steal storage bins of various colors in their metallic forks or dangling from their cranes. Sometimes both. They transported the great, metallic bins to what must have been established spaces on the lot. From there smaller robots opened the metallic boxes and unloaded goods, scanned them, and placed them onto smaller vehicles. These smaller vehicles skittered in multiple directions to distribution houses on the far side of the great, concrete lot. Of course, the air was alive with the humming drones of various sizes zipping in all directions. Some carried packages. Others alit on vehicles and other machines, apparently doing repairs or maintenance.

The scene was dynamic, though there were few human beings involved in the process. While the robotic vehicles travelled like giant insects over the lot, the few people that emerged appeared to be overseeing their own particular bins. The men wore jackets much like the one hanging on Sam’s shoulders, though of different colors. Women wore professional looking attire like that Gallow wore during their meeting.

Sam thought about Gallow and looked at the timestamp on the glass tablet. In just a couple short hours Gallow would send for Sam. Maybe a hologram will appear leading him to another robotic vehicle. She might even send a black clad Janissary to retrieve him. He did not know what the process would be. He did know that regardless of the process, at that point, his disappearance would telegraph his response to Gallow’s demand. Sam imagined that immediately thereafter an army of drones and Roverbots would scatter in every direction to find him, to hunt him down.

At first, he thought a couple of hours would be plenty of time for him to find Tyre and Syd and Sylvia and be well on the other side of the wall before setting off alarms. The enormity of the Receiving Bay, however, gave him doubts.

A small plastic wall surrounded the lot, more of a warning than an actual barrier. He could easily have jumped over it, but he did find an unobtrusive opening in the wall with a clearly marked “Enter” sign overhead. He took the least suspicious rout into the Bay and made his way for the great opening like a giant metallic cave in the wall. Robots slid and hovered around him, unconcerned with his presence. One man noticed him but did nothing more than nod and offer a quick wave of his hand before turning back to his own focus. Sam was undisturbed as he walked to the giant opening in the wall. Whatever he was doing, however he was walking, he did not look out of place to man or machine. It was a good thing. There was a dearth of places to hide.

As massive as the opening in the wall was from a distance, it was ten times as imposing as Sam got close enough to enter. Inside the wall was a great bay that seemed every bit as wide as the lot outside. Under dim lighting the room stretched perhaps five-hundred meters from left to right. It was impossible to estimate how deep the room was as it was filled with metallic storage cannisters stacked one on top of the other ten, sometimes even twelve units high. Gloria was right when she described the bay as a constantly changing maze. Between the storage bins were alleys. Some were no wider than a person could walk through, but others were wide enough for the giant vehicles with the forks and cranes to travel. These and other vehicles travelled through the maze, moving storage bins here and there to get to their desired targets. Within minutes, the giant vehicles could move storage bins from the top to bottom, reassembling the walls of the maze in different spots, building new, impassable walls where there had been nothing just a few minutes earlier.

Sam could not see the other side, of this great hold, his escape. One way or another he had to find his way across. He thought about Tyre, Syd, and Sylvia waiting there for him to arrive. What kind of danger were they in? It was unlikely that they had the kind of jackets that would keep them from attracting attention as the “Ferals” they were. He decided to circumnavigate the bay to the right, but it wasn’t long before he reached a wall of storage bins with no more than ten or so centimeters to squeeze through. He followed the storage bins until he found an alley going deeper into the bay large enough for him to walk comfortably.

As much as he tried to maintain what he thought was a perpendicular direction to the opposite side of the bay, there were many turns he had to take. A few times he had to jump out of the way of robotic vehicles in their single-minded rush to find their appointed goods. Sam pulled up his location on the tablet. Doing so gave him an idea of the general direction he needed to go, but as he looked around, he realized that there was no direct way of getting there. In frustration he ran for what seemed to be the best opening, only to get turned around again. Minutes later, after dodging another massive robot fork vehicle he had to accept the fact that he was lost.

He could hear Sylvia, in that soothing voice she used to convince him to follow her outside on that day long ago. ‘Just breathe. Just one more step.’ ‘Breathe.’ ‘Step.’ ‘Breathe.’

There was a way out of here. Sam just had to find it. He took a deep breath…

…and was pulled into an alley by a strong, sudden force. A hand grasped the collar of his borrowed jacket and yanked him almost off his feet.

Sam kept his footing, however, and as soon as he could, turned with clenched fist on the author of this assault. He was shoved backward into a steal wall before he could do any damage.

“Well…looka you!” a familiar voice sang. “Ready ta take an ass kickin’ like a man!”

When Sam saw Tyre standing in front of him his knees became weak. He wanted to cry, but managed to hold himself together. Then he wanted to hug the man, but…well…no. That familiar paralysis overtook him once again, and he had never been so grateful.

Sylvia emerged into his peripheral vision, and even more paralyzing joy washed over him. “You boys can play later.” She cautioned. “Right now, we need to get out of this shit. It’s freakin’ me out!”

At the end of the long, metallic alley Syd stood at the next turn, waving them on. His lips were soundlessly stating, “This way. Let’s go.”

Sam did not hesitate to hug Syd when he caught up. The big man wrapped his trunk-like arms around his friend briefly, gave the requisite three pats on his back, then urged him forward. “The exit is not far. Let’s get outa this place.”

Together they wandered the alleys of this great, metallic maze. Sometimes they could walk side-by-side. Other times it was one at a time. Syd always led the procession. He had kept track of the many turns and sidetracks as only his brain could. “Just a few more turns,” he informed the rest.

Then the buzz and strum of the Receiving Bay, as constant as that of a beehive, was suddenly silent. All the robot vehicles came to a dead standstill, the drones no longer whirring up overhead. As if someone turned a switch.

“Well…that’s not good.” Tyre slipped the assault rifle from over his shoulders into firing position. Sylvia and Syd followed suit. “Let’s not stop now. Go! Go! Go!” Tyre indicated the direction with his chin. His eyes scanned the tops of the storage bins and the distance. Before anyone could respond he dropped to a knee and fired three rounds, causing a Roverbot at the far end of the alley to burst into pieces and tip over on its side.

“We’re made! Go!” Sylvia shouted, then fired down a side alley, her efforts rewarded with sparks and flames from another Roverbot.

No sooner was that Roverbot disabled than two more appeared behind it, their steal balls spinning, speeding them over the concrete floor.

Syd made the first turn, firing a few rounds then announced that this way was blocked. The foursome ran for the next alley. Enough Roverbots had entered the alley they were occupying that the pencil-thin white lasers started spearing by them, leaving burn marks and even holes in the steel containers.

Sam felt a ray burn his shoulder and the terror he experienced on that first day outside welled up inside him. Doing everything he could to forestall panic, he wished he were armed. At least fighting would allow him to focus on something other than an impending sense of doom.

Turning into a thin alley gave them momentary relief, but then Roverbots emerged from both sides. The thinness of the alley offered them a brief tactical advantage as Sylvia and Tyre fired in opposite directions, destroying Roverbots that then served as obstacles for those coming from behind.

They turned down a wider alley that was momentarily clear of the metallic menaces with the red eyes. At the end of this alley was another forming a T. Syd shouted, “to the right!”

Tyre took a knee halfway down the alley and placed his rifle to his shoulder.

Sylvia called out, “Tyre! Let’s go!”

“Go Syl! I’ll hold ‘em! Go!”

Sylvia hesitated.

“Go! Cover me when you get to the end! Go!”

Read more

As this Administration began, among the garbage dump of authoritarian executive orders were those subjecting children to ICE interrogation. Word came down here in the Free State of Florida that schools were to concede to allowing ICE agents to interrogate minors without a parent, lawyer, or any adult in the room there to secure the child’s rights. Furthermore, teachers were not to teach children about their constitutional rights in class...even the much-lauded Civics Classes.

Toward that end, I created a short script designed to help children assert their rights in the event they find themselves facing an ICE agent on their own. I then reproduced these scripts in Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Brazilian Portuguese. Since then, these scripts have been picked up by activist groups all over the country. One of the local groups using these scripts asked if I could redesign them to be fit on a card that could more easily be passed out at events.

Here are the more “cardlike” versions for those who are interested. Please be aware that I am not a professional translator. I’m just using Google Translate. If I have anything wrong, please contact me so I can make corrections.

See the original post at Mr. A’s Underground Classroom.

Feel free to download images and distribute as you see fit.

English

Spanish

Haitian Creole

Arabic

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and contribute ideas to my novel Abode as it is being developed. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can also read my novel Stone is not Forever. It’s an epic immigration story. Young Dominico Rossa leaves his family in Italy at the turn of the twentieth century for the opportunities promised by America. He hopes to make enough money to return home as a man of respect, saving his ruined family, and winning the hand of the woman he loves. It turns out, however, that opportunity is hard won in the United States. This is the story of how a young Italian provincial becomes and American.

Mostly birds. My hawks, and ospreys, of course. We have a pair of Sandhill Cranes who come around.

But this time I was so excited to see a Velvet Ant!

It’s been a long time (estimated about thirty years) since I’ve seen a Velvet Ant. I used to see them all the time, but not so much anymore. That led me to believe that they were endangered. It turns out, they are not. I guess they just don’t like me. According to the Internet Machine, they’re all over the place. So, maybe you are not quite as excited as I was to see one.

Looks like that’s just me.

Also, I may have referred to this little beastie as “Mr. Velvet Ant.” That’s obviously wrong. Velvet Ants are a species of wasp, and it’s the females that are wingless. So, this would be Ms. Velvet Ant.

Either way, I think it’s cool.

Sometimes it’s good to just break away from the analyzing social problems and just enjoy some of nature’s wonders.

My first problem is in dealing with communism as an ideology. Communism is a complicated topic when it comes to understanding totalitarianism as a phenomenon. It’s complicated because there is a stark difference between the “intent” of the ideology, and the most prominent outcomes.

For communists, the goal is a classless, stateless, moneyless society in which the decisions about how to use resources is made communally. Well, that’s a far cry from what we witnessed from Soviet Russia, or Maoist China.

What happened?

The problem is with Marx’s concept of the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” In Marx’s concept, the proletariat would seize control of the state and use that power to transition to true communism. What exactly did it mean for “the proletariat” to seize the state, and exactly how would this “proletariat” conduct the transfer? Marx wasn’t clear.

In his response, Statism and Anarchy, anarchist Mikhail Bakunin shredded Marx’s assumptions. He pointed out that “the proletariat” couldn’t seize the state in and of itself. In reality, the leaders of the proletariat would be the ones to take control of the state. These would be the intellectual, bureaucratic, and movement elite. In taking control of the state, Bakunin pointed out, the leadership may change, the guiding philosophy may change, but the state remains the state. The state as an institution is a body of dominance. It is expecting a great deal from this movement elite that they will gain control of a body of dominance and not use it to dominate. As Bakunin said, “The State, even when it calls itself a people’s State, is nothing but the domination of the masses by a privileged minority.”1

This is why I thought it necessary to invoke Lord Acton in the video. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Bakunin’s thesis was prescient. Noam Chomsky once referred to Statism and Anarchy as the most prescient book in social science. Revolutionary leaders V. I. Lenin might as well have been using Bakunin’s critiques as a How-To manual. His Vanguardist Approach to revolution advocated the seizure of the state by an intellectual elite who would see to the fulfillment of transferring the means of production. The rest was Bakunin’s “I told you so.”

There are debates regarding Lenin’s sincerity in his goals. Did he truly believe that his actions were necessary to effectuate the transfer of power from the state to proletariat, or was he a cynical actor? What is not debatable is that Lenin oversaw a colossal taking of power into the hands of the movement elites. Among this movement elite was second tier bureaucrat named Joseph Stalin…who was very much a cynical actor.

The rest, as they say, is history. Stalin positioned himself to take over the reins of the state and used that power toward his own ends, without regard to the Marxist notion that the state would just fade into obsolescence once the class structure was dismantled. Instead, Stalin consolidated total power, and his successors followed suit. In China, Mao embraced the Marxist/Leninist strategy to similar devastating effect.

I didn’t want to get into the particulars in this video. Suffice it to say that the difference between fascism, and what I more narrowly defined as Stalinism is one of discourse, or the rhetoric justifying the claims to power. But as Bakunin might point out, power is power, and that will never change.

I would point out—maybe in a future video—that the totalitarian consequences of Soviet communism was a bug in the system. The intent was to create an egalitarian society without the burden of state dominance. The result was exactly the opposite. The problem was the notion that human beings can be entrusted with total power and be expected to give it up like Cincinnatus returning to his plow. That’s a risky bet.

Fascism, on the other hand, is different. In fascism, totalitarian power is the end goal. Whereas vanguardist communists may invest total power in a “dictator” they do so with the assumption that this is a temporary requirement to build the utopian world they all want. Fascists, rather, see the investment of absolute power in the hands of a strongman as a necessary feature for maintaining the dominance of the true citizen over the inferior parasites. For communists, totalitarianism is a bug in the system. For fascists, totalitarianism is the system.

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and contribute ideas to my novel Abode as it is being developed. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can also read my novel Stone is not Forever. It’s an epic immigration story. Young Dominico Rossa leaves his family in Italy at the turn of the twentieth century for the opportunities promised by America. He hopes to make enough money to return home as a man of respect, saving his ruined family, and winning the hand of the woman he loves. It turns out, however, that opportunity is hard won in the United States. This is the story of how a young Italian provincial becomes and American.

Curriculum Specifics

• Course: Geography, Earth Science, History

• Education Level: 10th Grade

  • For eighth Grade version (AI Altered)

  • For Sixth Grade version (AI Altered)

• Reading Level: 10th Grade

• Reading Time: 15 minutes

Introduction

Man! It’s hot out! Is it just me or is the world getting warmer? We have fires all over the place. Water rations. Once in a lifetime heat waves every freakin’ year. What the heck?

It’s not your imagination. It is, in fact, getting hotter. In fact, the eleven hottest years on record were the last eleven years. And as of February, 2026 is projected to be among the hottest. February! Like, two months into the year and it’s already on course to be one of the hottest on record.

You are not the only one noticing. There’s actual science to back up your observations. Multiple scientific organizations are keeping track of the trends, and they all report the same outcomes. The world is getting hotter.

Furthermore, this isn’t just uncomfortable, sticky, and inconvenient. There are serious consequences to a warming planet that will impact everyone on earth in almost exclusively negative ways. Even the United States Defense Department has identified Global Warming as a “threat multiplier” to the country.

A warming planet will impact agriculture, threatening global food sources as fields dry out, or crops burn from excessive heat. Water cycles will change. Rivers that rely on glacier runoff will disappear as glaciers recede. More water will be pulled from underground aquifers, but with less recharge, leaving populated areas bereft of the most important substance of life. Deserts will expand. Once fertile regions will become unsustainable. Ocean currents will be impacted with valuable reefs dying, leaving whole populations of sea life in danger. And those populations that rely on this sea life will be in danger.

This is just the immediate surface stuff. As once fertile regions become baron, those populations will be under a great deal of stress. They will often choose to leave their dying lands for lives elsewhere. In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of countries are having issues with migrants. Mass migration, however, will be just one of many adaptations nations will have to contend with. Hopefully, we can do so humanely, using reason and empathy…but that approach does not have a solid history.

The Greenhouse Effect

Wow! Why is this happening?

It’s a thing called the Greenhouse Effect. This is a crucially important phenomenon to understand.

You see, back in 1824, a French Mathematician and Egyptologist…

Wait! Mathematician AND Egyptologist?

Just go with me on this.

…ahem…

Back in 1824, a French Mathematician and Egyptologist named Joseph Fourier was studying heat. He looked at the amount of heat energy the Earth received from the Sun, did some calculations, and noticed that there was not enough Solar Energy to account for the Earth’s temperature. He theorized that the atmosphere must be holding a certain amount of heat in much the same way that glass holds heat in a greenhouse.

In 1856, an American scientist named Eunice Foote identified CO₂ and water vapor as the heat holding culprits. Three years later, an Irish physicist named John Tyndall confirmed her observations with more sophisticated lab equipment.1

The Greenhouse Effect works like this.

First, you have to understand something called the First Law of Thermodynamics. This law of physics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy can only be transformed from one form to another. It’s really a pretty cool law. In essence, the energy that is in your body right now, is exactly the same energy that has existed since the Big Bang!

That is pretty cool!

Right!

Anyway, when sunlight arrives at the Earth, it does so in the form of shortwave radiation and passes through the atmosphere with little resistance. When it strikes the surface, however, there’s resistance. That shortwave radiation is transformed into longwave Infrared Radiation, what we call heat. This heat is radiated back into the atmosphere.

Ever walk barefoot over beach sand, or a paved parking lot, especially a dark, fresh laid macadam on a sunny day? Burns, don’t it? Your head isn’t burning from the radiation from the sun hitting it, but your feet are sure burning from the heat radiating from below.

That heat rises. Some of it is lost to molecules in space. But a great deal of it is held by the Carbon Dioxide and the water vapor in the atmosphere. The heat that is held by the CO₂ and H₂O molecules ends up being re-radiated through the atmosphere.

The greenhouse effect is the reason that the Earth isn’t a giant ice ball with periodic pockets of liquid water here and there. Life on earth, if it could have existed at all, would have evolved very differently if not for the Greenhouse Effect.

Human natural history has also been influenced by the Greenhouse Effect. In the quarter of million to three-hundred-thousand-year history of Homo Sapiens, the Earth has gone through a number of cooling cycles culminating in ice ages, and then warming cycles. Human history has emerged during a period of natural warming since the last ice age. This has been a huge benefit, making agriculture possible for sustaining large populations. Human civilization as we know it has really emerged in a climatological Goldilocks zone in which, for the most part, global temperatures have been “just right.”2

The Burnging Question

So, what went wrong?

Well. It’s not so much a matter of things going wrong. It’s just that sometimes there are unforeseen consequences of things going right.

As a result of the Black Plague in the fourteenth century, human beings started to innovate technologies for getting work done without a lot people around to apply their physical labor to what needed to get done. Some really clever people created some innovative contraptions that did a lot of work by using other sources of energy rather than human muscle. Often, this energy came from moving water, in the form of water wheels, or wind in the form of windmills. Turning wheels became the foundation of nascent machine factories. The wheel would turn pullies and levers and fulcrums. Innovative engineers found ways to use these basic tools for a lot of different products, not the least of which was milling grain, or spinning cloth.

This was, arguably, the birth of modern manufacturing.

As this technology improved over the span of about four hundred years, engineers started experimenting with other sources of energy. Namely, they learned to access the energy from “ancient sunlight.”3 In other words, they released the energy stored for millions of years in fossil deposits found in the ground. That is the ancient plants and animals that died millions of years ago resulting in the carbon of their bodies being condensed into rock and oil by Earth Processes.

Fossil fuels!

Bingo!

It really started with coal. Those nations with vast coal deposits, like Britain, France, Germany, and the United States had a fuel source with tremendous potential. Coal could be used to fuel newly developed steam engines that became the keystone technologies for our factories, railroads, and steamships. Human ingenuity was no longer determined by the wind or river currents. We could access ancient sunlight to fire our manufacturing and transportation, creating new goods, and bringing those new goods to vast markets.

The result was the Industrial Revolution.

There was another source of ancient sunlight, however. It was this inconvenient black goo that seeped up from the ground, making everything yucky. Most people hated it. However, it did have one valuable property. I caught fire really easily. Edwin Drake, working for the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, found vast reserves of oil seeping through the ground in the Keystone State. The oil industry was born and transformed the global economy. The technologically advanced society that we all take for granted is the direct result of this oil economy.

Unfortunately, this is where the problem starts.

To understand why this is a problem, you need to understand what “Burning” is.

I know what burning is. I touch the round thing on the stove, I burn my hand.

How many times did it take you to learn that?

I’d rather not say.

Fair enough.

In fact, burning, or rather combustion, is a specific chemical process. It’s the result of adding oxygen to an element. Here’s how it works in a nutshell. Let’s take an element like Carbon (C). This little element loves itself some Oxygen (O). Add a little heat and that Carbon atom reaches out and grabs up a couple of Oxygen atoms. Now Carbon, by itself, holds a certain amount of energy. Oxygen also holds a certain amount of energy.4

When the Carbon grabs onto those Oxygen atoms, you get combustion. We write it like this:

C + O₂ —> CO₂

That’s a Carbon Dioxide molecule. A CO₂ molecule doesn’t require nearly as much energy to hold it together as any one Carbon or Oxygen atom. So, when these atoms come together, they shed the excess energy in the form of light, the yellow/orange flame of your campfire,5 and heat, the stuff that toasts your marshmallow. By the way, the crackling and sparks coming from your campfire is often the result of trapped water expanding into water vapor and expanding from the wood.

That’s Pretty Cool!

Next time you go camping, you’ll have something to talk about.

Hmmm. No.

Anyway, there’s one more physical law you need to know to understand this phenomenon.

When did this turn into a science lesson?

That’s the thing. To be a good historian and social scientist, you need to know everything!

The law is The Conservation of Matter/Mass. You see, just like energy can neither be created nor destroyed, matter can’t either. Again. Pretty cool. The stuff your body is made of has been around, in different form, since The Big Bang!6

The Problem

Here’s where this becomes problematic. The history of industrialization, which has improved the lives of billions of people and has transformed human existence in many incalculably beneficial ways, did so at a significant physical cost. You see, to fuel our industries we took solid (coal) or liquid (oil and gas) hydrocarbons (combinations of hydrogen and carbon molecules) that were safely sitting in the ground and burned them. In so doing, we turned them into a gas and put them into our atmosphere. The carbon and hydrogen don’t disappear, it is just transformed into another state.

Think about the countless tons of carbon and hydrogen we’ve burned in the last two hundred years. Some of it has seeped from the atmosphere. Some of it taken up by plants and trees. But a great deal of it is still up there.

And these are what we call “Greenhouse Gases.” In other word, they are really good at holding and emitting heat. Unfortunately, we are dumping these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than they can be extracted. These gases keep building up. In 1958, a guy named Charles Keeling started keeping meticulous records on the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The resulting Keeling Curve is one of the most important points of data in this debate.

As you can see in the video above, carbon keeps building up in the atmosphere. So, what can you infer from that?

The more carbon and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere the hotter the world is going to get?

Are you asking me or telling me?

Come on!

Okay. Yes. You are right. As greenhouse gases build up in our atmosphere, the more heat will be held and radiated back to the surface, causing the entire world to get warmer. This is what scientists mean by Global Warming. The impacts of global warming on our climate is referred to as Global Climate Change.

Well, this seems too sensible. I mean, if I can figure it out, couldn’t scientists a long time ago have put this together?

They did. Back in 1896, a Swedish scientist named Svante Arrhenius did the first solid calculations estimating the rise of global temperatures as a result of greenhouse gases being dumped into the atmosphere. So, we’ve had direct evidence confirming the Global Warming Theory for a hundred and thirty years.7

Where Do We Go From Here?

Well, then obviously in that time we’ve been working on solutions to this calamitous problem?

Weeeeeellllll!

Oh, come on!

It’s complicated, and a topic for Part II of this lesson. In the last fifty years or so there has been a great deal of movement on this topic. Millions of people are participating in social movements for the sake of reversing these trends. They are trying to get their political decision makers to make better decisions with regard to Global Climate Change. And there have been some important victories.

That’s great!

Weeelllll! Why don’t you go outside and come back in and tell me if you think it’s enough.

[Waiting…Waiting…Waiting]

Yuck! It’s not enough! Not enough by a long shot!

Yeah. Furthermore, there’s evidence to suggest that we are running out of time to deal with this problem before the heating becomes self-sustaining. This is referred to as a tipping point. Once we reach that tipping point, all that will be left is for humanity to try to adapt to a world rapidly changing into something we did not evolve to live on.

But that’s another debate, and it’s one we should have. Look, the bottom line is that the science I just elaborated above is not up for debate. Greenhouse gases are being dumped into the atmosphere. They are building up. The laws of physics are clear that this process will result in a warmer planet. These are facts. Period.

There may be some debate on the predictions regarding the trends and where those trends are likely to go. But there is no debate that the trends are getting worse. Just how much worse they are going to get.

And the larger debate is, what do we do about?

Those actual debates will be the topic of the next lesson.

Sam froze when heard a woman’s yelp, followed by, “Don’t hit me!”

He was confused until he realized that he was leaning into the small, dark-hooded figure with his left fist clenched and in the process of a quick jab by which to catch his assailant off balance. His right had already taken control of the black-gloved hand that had reached out of the darkness for him. Had he not been brought to conscious action by the high-pitched yelp, Sam would have followed through with a combination of strikes that he and Tyre practiced tirelessly every day until the movements were incorporated into his muscle memory. In which case, he very likely would have assaulted a woman.

It took him a moment to relax his muscles. As his hands opened and shoulders fell, the small, dark-cloaked figure pulled her hood back and allowed her face to be lit by the nearest streetlight. She had a pretty, round face with deep set dimples and wide, expressive eyes. Her hair was invisible in the evening light, black but for a white streak running down her face.

“Gloria?”

“Don’t take your eyes off me. Follow.” She turned, her cloak billowing around her from the motion, and walked down a small alley into the darkness.

Sam followed blindly as she was soon lost in the shadows. With a couple long paces he caught glimpse of her dark cloak as she turned onto a side street. At times she slowed to allow him to catch up, but never enough to let him walk beside her. She was always at least three paces ahead. Taking the hint, Sam adjusted his steps accordingly.

After almost ten minutes, they had turned onto so many streets and alleys that Sam lost his directional bearings. He wondered how he would ever find his way back to the apartment. Perhaps Gloria knew the way and would give him directions.

Following Gloria into dark alleys was a stone against the thin glass of reality. Sam had a great deal of experience with Gloria. Experience of the most intimate kind. But he hadn’t. His only knowledge of Gloria was the ghostly algorithms of virtual reality designed to keep Sam and millions of others like him in a fog of fantasy, of false fulfillment of prurient needs. The Gloria he knew was a phantasm of zeros and ones.

Now he was following a real woman, a corporeal construct of the ghost he once knew. He was following her through dark and foreboding back alleys for no other reason than she told him to. There was no more phantasm. No more ones and zeros. No more algorithm. A Gloria made real was once again leading him into the dark.

‘What am I doing?’

Read more

Paid family leave. Everyone wants it. Every other country has it. Nope…Socialism!

Universal health care. Socialism…

Publicly funded or subsidized higher education. Socialism!

Work guarantees…Socialism!

Public housing…Socialism!

Well…if all this stuff requires us becoming a socialist country, maybe we should ditch this capitalism bullshit that doesn’t benefit us and become a socialist country.

Of course, socialists are always quick to point out that the policies above, though approved by socialists, is not in and of themselves socialism. It’s not socialism unless the workers own the means of production. The stuff mentioned above is simply public goods and services that would be nice to have whether we are a capitalist country or a socialist country.

But most people in the country do not read Jacobin (for the record, I do!). They rely on what they see on social media for their news and education. This is the education they are getting. And it turns out, there’s no better advertising for socialism then liberals, conservatives, and right-wingers defending capitalism.

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and contribute ideas to my novel Abode as it is being developed. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can also read my novel Stone is not Forever. It’s an epic immigration story. Young Dominico Rossa leaves his family in Italy at the turn of the twentieth century for the opportunities promised by America. He hopes to make enough money to return home as a man of respect, saving his ruined family, and winning the hand of the woman he loves. It turns out, however, that opportunity is hard won in the United States. This is the story of how a young Italian provincial becomes and American.

Meanwhile, in Lee County, only between 50% and 58% of our students are passing the state mandated FAST testing.

Though I do not have NAEP results specific to Lee County, here are Florida’s report card for 8th Grade Reading and Math.

Meanwhile, morale among teachers has been abysmal. And that was before this last year when they let go hundreds of teachers.

This current board has only two members who mention any experience in the classroom, though one is vague about the extent of that experience. The Superintendent is an experienced educator, though again, it’s unclear how much time she actually spent in the classroom.

In the meantime, the district has thousands of teachers who have great ideas about how to create a “world class education system” (the expressed goal of the district). However, with over a quarter century of experience with this school district, I don’t remember the board, in any meaningful way, reaching out to tap the talent that they have right there on their contact lists.

If only actual educators were making decisions about education. What a radical idea that would be.

Meanwhile, if you are an educator in a “Free State” like Florida, and there are lessons you are no longer allowed to teach, or you have students asking you questions that you are now afraid to answer, please reach out to me at Mr. A’ Underground Classroom. I will post your lessons and answer your students’ questions. I’m no longer on the merry go round.

The bottom line is, despite what you hear on FoxNoise, capitalism is central to liberalism as a philosophy. But that centrality is not uncontested. Liberalism evolved from what we can call Classical Liberalism that evolved in the late 18th and early 19th century. During this time, capitalism was part and parcel with the notion of a republican influenced government limited to protecting individual rights—not the least of which was the right to “property.”

In the multiparty systems that emerged in Europe, Liberals continue to hold, more or less, to this line. The two-party system in the United States required a different evolution. The weaknesses of liberalism as a means of organizing the economy came under scrutiny in the face of the masses of people who fell through the cracks, and the massive political power that accompanied the equally massive purchasing power of the Robber Barons.

To preserve capitalism, and to advance the notion of political rights, liberals had to renegotiate the limits of government. Shaped by the New Deal, contemporary American liberals pursue a “balance” of free market principles with increased labor power, interventions in monopolies, the provisioning of public goods, and social safety nets to sustain those who fall through the cracks. This balance is posed against the “right” of the ownership class to invest and to control their own profits.

This is the central debate of our time. All other ideologies are a response to the limits and consequences of these compromises. To what extent should labor be empowered in relation to the ownership class? To what extent should the state intervene? What might be some unforeseen consequences of state interventions? To what extent should individuals be responsible for their own successes and failures? When does government intervention become dependence on the part of working people?

These debates are to follow.

If you’ve missed the previous videos:

Part 1:

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 1 Video 1: What is the Labor Theory of Value

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 1 Video 2: The Bad Artist Problem

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 1 Video 3: The Secretary Problem

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 1 Video 4: The LeBron Problem

Part 2:

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 2 Video 5: The Conflict

Part 3:

The Labor Theory of Value, Part 3 Video 6: Liberalism

Shameless Self Promotion!

My paid subscriptions are inexpensive. At this point, for the price of a hardcover you get access to my novel, The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Substack is, at this point, the only place you can read it. Also, be the first to read and contribute ideas to my novel Abode as it is being developed. You also get access to my short fiction like Walter’s House, and my long form research projects coming shortly, including Teaching Heresies, and Democracy is of the Streets.

Not bad! Huh?

So, help an aspiring writer out and sign up for a paid subscription.

You can experience the Labor Theory of Value in action in my novel, Stone is not Forever.

References:

Mad Sociologist in the News Volume 8, Issue 6 The Four Pillars War

Masks & Mask Mandates

- Jefferson T, et al. “Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses” (Cochrane Review, 2023). https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full

- Wu G, Ji Q, Shi Y. “A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of N95 respirators and surgical masks for protection against COVID-19.” *Preventive Medicine Reports*, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10509348/

- “Masking for COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections: implications of the available evidence.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11077603/

- Gurbaxani BM, Hill AN, Patel P. “Unpacking Cochrane’s update on masks and COVID-19.” *American Journal of Public Health*, 2023 (includes the Bayesian re-analysis showing a 73% probability of benefit). https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307526

- Slate: “Masks Cochrane review: There’s still not strong evidence for masks’ effectiveness.” https://slate.com/technology/2023/02/masks-effectiveness-cochrane-review.html

- “Effectiveness of wearing masks during the COVID-19 outbreak in cohort and case-control studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” *PubMed*, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38198343/

- Modeling paper citing Jefferson et al. (Cornell in-person instruction risk model). https://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.04563

Social Distancing & Lockdowns

- “Effectiveness of social distancing measures and lockdowns for reducing transmission of COVID-19 in non-healthcare, community-based settings.” *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A*, 2023. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/article/381/2257/20230132/112477/Effectiveness-of-social-distancing-measures-and

(also mirrored at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10446910/)

- “Optimal strategies for COVID-19 prevention from global evidence achieved through social distancing, stay at home, travel restriction and lockdown: a systematic review.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8380106/

- “Effectiveness of social distancing interventions in containing COVID-19 incidence: International evidence using Kalman filter.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8638209/

- “Effect of social distancing on COVID-19 incidence and mortality in the US.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.10.20127589.full.pdf

- “Pandemic responsiveness: Evidence from social distancing and lockdown policy during COVID-19.” *PLOS ONE*, 2022. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0267611

- Institute of Economic Affairs: “Did lockdowns work? The verdict on Covid restrictions.” https://iea.org.uk/publications/did-lockdowns-work-the-verdict-on-covid-restrictions/

Contact Tracing

- “Effective contact tracing for COVID-19: A systematic review.” *International Journal of Infectious Diseases* (ScienceDirect), 2023. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590113323000068 (also at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9997056/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36959868/)

- “Effective Contact Tracing for COVID-19: A Systematic Review” (earlier preprint version). https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.23.20160234.full.pdf

- “Comparative effectiveness of contact tracing interventions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.” *PubMed*, 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36795349/

- “Effectiveness of contact tracing in the control of infectious diseases: a systematic review.” *ScienceDirect*, 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266722000019

Testing

- Cochrane: “How accurate are rapid antigen tests for diagnosing COVID-19?” https://www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD013705_how-accurate-are-rapid-antigen-tests-diagnosing-covid-19

- Høeg TB, Prasad V. “Rapid antigen testing for COVID-19: Decreasing diagnostic reliability, potential detrimental effects and a lack of evidence to support continued public funding of community-based testing.” *Public Health in Practice*, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10701347/

- “Effectiveness of rapid antigen testing for screening of asymptomatic individuals to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2: A rapid review.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9111057/

- “Association of Mass Distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests and SARS-CoV-2 Prevalence: Results from NIH-CDC funded Say Yes! Covid Test program in Michigan.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.26.22272727.full.pdf

- “Mass Testing with Contact Tracing Compared to Test and Trace for Effective Suppression of COVID-19 in the UK: A rapid review.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.13.21249749.full.pdf

US vs. Peer-Country Outcomes

- Bilinski A, Emanuel EJ. “COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 18 Comparison Countries.” *JAMA*, 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33044514/

- CIDRAP: “US leads 19 nations in COVID-19, all-cause death rates.” https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-leads-19-nations-covid-19-all-cause-death-rates

- Health Policy Watch: “US Has Experienced Highest COVID-19 Mortality Rates Among 18 OECD Countries.” https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-has-experienced-highest-covid-19-mortality-rates-among-18-oecd-countries/

- “COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 20 Comparison Countries, June 2021-March 2022.” *JAMA*, 2023. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2798990

- CIDRAP: “US pandemic death toll higher than in 20 peer countries.” https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-pandemic-death-toll-higher-20-peer-countries

- Contagion Live: “COVID-19 Deaths, Excess All-Cause Mortality in US and Other Nations.” https://www.contagionlive.com/view/covid-19-deaths-excess-all-cause-mortality-in-us-and-other-nations

- Bor J, et al. “Excess US Deaths Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” *JAMA Health Forum*, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40408091/

- Boston University School of Public Health: “US Excess Deaths Continued to Rise Even After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2025/us-excess-deaths-continued-to-rise-even-after-the-covid-19-pandemic/

- BU Global Development Policy Center: “Excess US Deaths Before, During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” https://www.bu.edu/gdp/2025/06/04/excess-us-deaths-before-during-and-after-the-covid-19-pandemic

- CIDRAP: “’A national scandal’: US excess deaths rose even after pandemic, far outpacing peer countries.” https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/national-scandal-us-excess-deaths-rose-even-after-pandemic-far-outpacing-peer-countries

US Annual COVID-19 Death Counts (2020–2025)

- Factually.co: “How Many Total COVID-19 Deaths Were Recorded in the United States...” https://factually.co/fact-checks/health/total-us-covid-19-deaths-through-2025-fbd979

- CNN: “US death rate dropped back to pre-Covid levels in 2024, CDC report says.” https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/health/us-mortality-death-rate-2024-cdc

- The Global Statistics: “COVID Deaths by Year | Statistics & Facts.” https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/covid-deaths-by-year/

- CDC: “COVID-19 Mortality | Stats of the States.” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/covid19.html

- Wikipedia: “COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States

- CDC: “Preliminary 2024-2025 U.S. COVID-19 Burden Estimates.” https://data.cdc.gov/Public-Health-Surveillance/Preliminary-2024-2025-U-S-COVID-19-Burden-Estimate/ahrf-yqdt

- The World Data: “COVID-19 Deaths by Year in US | Death Rate, Trends & Facts.” https://theworlddata.com/covid-19-deaths-by-year-in-us/

Vaccination Status & Mortality

- Factually.co: “What are the statistics for vaccinated versus unvaccinated...” https://factually.co/fact-checks/health/covid-19-vaccination-statistics-809ea4

- CDC MMWR: “COVID-19 Incidence and Death Rates Among Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Persons... “ (bivalent booster analysis), 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm

- Scientific American: “How to Compare COVID Deaths for Vaccinated and Unvaccinated People.” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-compare-covid-deaths-for-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-people/

- Factually.co: “How Do COVID-19 Death Rates Compare Between Vaccinated and Unvaccinated People?” https://factually.co/fact-checks/health/covid-death-rate-vaccinated-vs-unvaccinated-ef652e

- Our World in Data: “United States: COVID-19 weekly death rate by vaccination status.” https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status

- Our World in Data: “How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?” https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths-by-vaccination

- CDC: “Rates of COVID-19 Cases or Deaths by Age Group and Vaccination Status.” https://data.cdc.gov/Public-Health-Surveillance/Rates-of-COVID-19-Cases-or-Deaths-by-Age-Group-and/3rge-nu2a/data

- Statista (sourcing Brown University School of Public Health, May 2022): “Rate of vaccine-preventable COVID-19 deaths in the United States between January 2021 and April 2022, by state.” https://statista.com/statistics/1309171/covid-vaccine-preventable-death-rate-us-by-state

Administration Assault Against Science

Fauci Pleads the Fifth, Refusing to Answer Questions on Covid Origins at Senate Hearing. The New York Times, July 29, 2026. Retrieved July 31, 2026 (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/us/politics/fauci-testifies-rand-paul.html).

Virginia School Board Member Says Removed Books Should Be Burned. The Hill. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/581030-virginia-school-board-member-says-removed-books-should-be-burned/

Union of Concerned Scientists. 2026. “New UCS Tool Tracks Trump Administration’s Attacks on Science.” Published June 22. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.ucs.org/about/news/tool-tracks-trump-administrations-attacks-science

Cantwell, Meagan. 2026. “How the Trump Administration Is Dismantling Science in the U.S.” Science. doi:10.1126/science.ztxzvr1. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.science.org/content/article/how-trump-administration-dismantling-science-u-s

Cuts to Health Care

Reed, Brad. 2026. “Hospitals See Massive Surge in Uninsured Patients After GOP’s Healthcare Cuts.” Common Dreams, July 30. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.commondreams.org/news/uninsured-emergency-room-surge

United States Senate Committee on Finance. 2026. “Republican Cuts Are Wrecking Health Care for American Families.” Published March 26. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.finance.senate.gov/republican-cuts-are-wrecking-health-care-for-american-families

United States Senate Committee on Finance. 2025. “Republican Cuts Continue to Gut Americans’ Health Care.” Published December 12. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/republican-cuts-continue-to-gut-americans-health-care
Orris, Allison, Jennifer Sullivan, Claire Heyison, and Shelby Gonzales. 2025. “House Republican Health Agenda Cuts Coverage, Raises People’s Costs.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Updated May 29. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/house-republican-health-agenda-cuts-coverage-raises-peoples-costs

Protect Our Care. 2026. “UPDATE: Over Eight Million Americans Have Now Lost Coverage in the Year Following Trump‑GOP Health Care Cuts.” Published June 29. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.protectourcare.org/update-over-eight-million-americans-have-now-lost-coverage-in-the-year-following-trump-gop-health-care-cuts

Historical References

Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. 2022. “From Anti‑Government to Anti‑Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science.” Daedalus 151(4): 98–123. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/151/4/98/113706/From-Anti-Government-to-Anti-Science-Why

Jewett, Andrew. 2020. “How Americans Came to Distrust Science.” History News Network. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/how-americans-came-to-distrust-science

Armstrong, Dave. 2020. “The ‘Enlightenment’ Inquisition Against Great Scientists.” National Catholic Register, May 14. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-enlightenment-inquisition-against-great-scientists

VaccinationFacts.com. 2025. “Vaccine History: Complete Timeline from 1700s to Modern mRNA Technology.” Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://www.vaccinationfacts.com/research/history

College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 2026. “Vaccine Timeline.” History of Vaccines. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://historyofvaccines.org/history/vaccine-timeline/timeline

Canada, Mark, and Christian Chauret. 2021. “Benjamin Franklin on Vaccination and a Deadly Virus Outbreak.” Big Think, July 20. Retrieved July 31, 2026 from https://bigthink.com/the-past/benjamin-franklin-vaccines
---

*Note: several of these are preprints, advocacy pieces, or single studies rather than consensus reviews (flagged in the discussion above where relevant) — worth reading with that in mind rather than treating every entry as equally authoritative.*

“Clarify!” Gallow commanded, and Tyre’s face, huge on the wide, glass screen lost its fuzziness and the blur from motion. Each pore on his face stood out, every drop of sweat clear against his dusky skin. He looked like a menacing giant peeking in a window.

“What do you know about this man?” Gallow demanded.

Sam frowned and shook his head, offered a subtle shrug.

“I find that hard to believe.” The Chief peered into Sam’s eyes. “This is supposed to be an honest conversation.”

“I have made no agreements about this conversation,” Sam reminder her. “Everything about our meeting has been defined by you. I’m here against my will.”

“Sam, it is genetically impossible for you to be this infuriating.” Gallow clenched her jaw, then relaxed. “Very well, I’ll tell you what I know. Zulu was believed to have died many years ago.”

“We Ferals just continue to disappoint.”

“Indeed. He’s a very dangerous man who cannot be allowed to roam free on the face of this Earth.”

Sam swallowed as he now understood the direction of this phase in the conversation. “If you believed he was dead for so long, maybe he’s not as dangerous as you thought. Maybe he just wants to be left alone to tend to his family.”

“Oh, he has a family?” Gallow mused.

Sam closed his eyes and castigated himself for letting a useful piece of information slip and shed light on The Abode. ‘Make yourself dull,’ he heard Tyre instruct, then his mentor cursed him for being so stupid. He deepened his resolve to share nothing more with Gallow or anyone else for that matter.

“What I’m saying,” Sam continued, “is if he’s like everyone else, he just wants to be left alone to do the best he can. Maybe giving him some medicines, some nutritional supplements, some tools to help him build might make him a friend instead of an enemy. Maybe he just needs to see some benefit from Citadel Incorporated.”

“Maybe he needs to be exterminated.” Gallows glowered.

Sam fell silent.

“We are about to expand our civilization in ways that were never even imagined just twenty years ago. Everything is in place. This…man…is an uncontrolled for variable. He can ruin everything, and that cannot be allowed.” Gallow lowered herself with majestic grace into her large, rustic throne.

“Well, I’m afraid there’s nothing that I can do to help.” Sam shrugged.

“Oh, that’s where you are wrong, Mr. Long.” Gallow intentionally resorted to his Drone name. “You can absolutely help. In fact, one way or another, you will help.”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t know anything about this man…”

“Don’t, Mr. Long.” Gallow held up her palm, “don’t demean yourself. There’s no way that this man disconnected your interface and then just left you in the wilderness. So, you know this man. My guess is that you know him well judging by the change in your posture and that hangdog look on your face. You know his disposition. You know how many armed people he has at his disposal. You know the weapons he has. Most importantly, you know where he is. You will tell us everything that we need to know to remove this man from the board.”

“Even if I knew…”

“No!” Gallow slapped her palms on the desktop, forcing Sam to choke on his next statement.

Yet, Sam’s eyes hardened as he stared into hers. He would not be distracted. “…even if I knew,” he reiterated with emphasis, “I wouldn’t tell you. If I know this man, it is likely that he is responsible for me being alive. What makes you think I would betray someone like that?”

“Self-interest.” Gallow responded as if the answer were obvious.

“You have nothing I want.” Sam reminded her.

“You think you hold the cards.” Gallow smiled. “That’s cute. Mr. Long…Sam…you don’t,” she mocked him with feline condescension. “I told you when we started this conversation that before we were done you would have to make a choice. Option one is to live within The Walls with all the luxury that The Citadel has to offer at your fingertips. A beautiful home. Great food. Sex. Entertainment. Anything you want is yours. You can spend the rest of your days pursuing whatever passions you have ‘till your heart’s content.”

“Or.” Sam continued to stare at the Chief.

“Well, here’s the thing, Sam. Zulu cut out your interface, the transmitter that sends and receives information to and from the network. He did not remove the processing and storage. That is buried more deeply in your brain at the midline base of your neocortex where it meets the cerebellum and the pons. Everything we need is there. Unfortunately, now that your interface has been cut out, the only way to access the storage is to remove it from your brain. We are talking about removing deeply integrated bio-circuitry. You have a zero percent chance of surviving such an extraction.” Gallow put her fingers together and stared through them at Sam as she explained. It was clear she was framing his reaction to this new piece of information, hoping for terror, like a cat toying with a live mouse.

Sam’s pulse raced. He tried to control his breathing, to bring his heartrate down. He tried to access the deepest reaches of his body to stop the sweat from beading on his forehead or pooling under his arms. ‘Make yourself dull,’ he reminded himself, ‘Make yourself dull.’

Finally, he opened his eyes, struggling to keep a tremor from his voice, the terror from his face. He was not successful. “So, what you are saying is I tell you what you want to know, or I die.”

“I prefer to think of it as living a life that almost every human being in the history of the world has dreamed of in exchange for freely giving us information that we will get anyway…or not.”

Gallow sat back on her throne. She looked smug, and Sam hated her. “It’s really not much of a decision. If I’m being honest, and this is an honest conversation, it would have been much more efficient to have just extracted what we needed while you were unconscious in the hospital and been done with it. But I said ‘No!’ We’re not barbarians, after all. Let’s give him a choice. Surely, he’ll see the rational course and take it.”

Gallow leaned forward, her eyes wide and predatory. “You do see the rational course, don’t you, Sam?”

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About twenty years ago I published my first novel, Stone is not Forever, recently republished. It’s about a young Italian man, Dominico Rossa, at the turn of the twentieth century who emigrates to the United States. His goal is to the save his economically destroyed family and to win the hand of the woman he loves. Like many Italian and Southern European immigrants at the time, he intends to return to his home village as a man of respect and means. His journey, however, takes some unpredicted turns. When he returns to the paesera where he grew up, it is not as a man of respect, but rather as an American intent on returning to his adopted home.

My second novel was The Revelation of Herman Smiley, which you can find serialized right here on Substack. This is a whimsical, philosophical novel in which the title character is taken by a coffee loving God on a journey through space and time. The goal of this journey is to discover the truth that humanity has forgotten.

Recently, I typed the final period on my third novel, which I’m tentatively calling Abode. Paid subscribers can get a “sneak peek” at this unpublished manuscript while I look for a publisher. Abode follows the adventures of a character named Sam, an average man from a society in which everyone lived in their own isolated apartments and had all their needs met by a corporation called Citadel. When Sam’s apartment is blown up during a terrorist attack, he is rescued by a clan of “Outdwellers.” Because of Sam, the clan must move from their home and travel to the distant North Country, away from the heavy hand of The Citadel.

If you are seeing a pattern in the plotlines, it should come as no surprise. I grew up watching Star Trek, both the original series and Next Generation. Star Trek translates through the decades because it’s the story of courageous explorers who travel the “final frontier” using reason, empathy, and cunning to confront the dangers they face on the outskirts of human existence.

I was also a fan of Battlestar Galactica, the original Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict version. A tribe of humans facing possible extinction takes on a civilizational journey to find the lost tribe known as Earth.

Of course, there was Star Wars. Here was Luke Skywalker’s journey across the galaxy far far away. His quest, not one of his choosing, to become the Jedi who restores balance to the galaxy.

As I got older, I was introduced to Captains Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae as they crossed from South Texas to Montana with a heard of stolen cattle. This timeless story became my favorite. I rewatch it at least once a year and have reread the book more times than I can count.

This plotline tracks with my life. When the stressors of my career became too much, or the routines of too prosaic, it was time to pack my rucksack and walk off into the wilderness.

Today, my wife and I travel all over the world looking for that perfect vista, the perfect sunset, with the perfect glass of wine or whiskey.

By now you understand that each of the stories above, from fiction or biography, is a reflection on The Odyssey. Credit for this first great story of an epic journey goes to Homer. It could be said that every such story, from The Pilgrim’s Progress to Star Wars, goes back to Homer. Today, director Christopher Nolan gets credit, and some notoriety for the latest iteration of this timeless classic.

Nolan’s riff on Homer is, of course, not without controversy. True to form for today’s stilted, culture-war script, the debate centers around melanin and the so-called trespasses against a presumably embattled “Western Tradition.” In other words, a lot of mental energy is being expended to censure or defend Nolan’s casting decisions, completely missing the point of the story he and Homer are trying to tell.

Because the story of Odysseus’ journey is not just an epic adventure. It’s an archetype.

We know through scholarship that Homer inherited this story, or some version of this story, through a long oral tradition. Such stories were not exclusive to the Aegean cultures. In South Asia, the exiled Prince Rama travels the world to rescue his wife, Sita from the Demon King. In Northern Europe, Odin travels the world searching for wisdom. West Africa had the journeys of Mwindo. Across the Atlantic, the Aztec shared stories of Quetzalcoatl, and to the north the Ojibwe had Hiawatha. From the journey of Xuanzang and the Monkey King in China, to the Beowulf Sagas, to J. R. R. Tolkein’s hobbits, or Dorothy and her little dog no longer in Kansas. Even T’Challa’s journey to the spiritual realm to become the Black Panther plays into this timeless theme.

We can imagine the first epic hero emerging from his hut on the grasslands of East Africa, looking out at the horizon and saying, “what’s over there?” Or maybe she heard tales of some magical herb, or land of plenty. Maybe pushed and prodded by some supernatural whisper saying, “go and see something new and wonderful.” Some magic, be it an animal spirit, a local catastrophe, a hope for greener grass, or a strangely aligned strand of DNA, propelled this first epic hero to go.

Then this epic hero came back and told fantastic stories of the strange beasts and wonderful lands encountered. The children, wide-eyed, sat in wonder and thought, ‘If only I…’ Some later engaged their own trek across the Savanah, the deserts, the rivers and seas until only a short hundred millennia later, with dreams of exploring the stars in our heads, man left his footprints on the Moon.

The journey is embedded in our psyche. It’s incorporated into our species-being no less compelling than the migration of birds and butterflies and whales. Only for humanity, the journey is not just a linear progression across the landscape. The journey is a personal transformation. It’s the Walkabout of the Australian Aborigines, the Vision Quest of the Plains Nations, the Wayfinding of Polynesia, the Eunoto of the Maasai, and the Bushman Trance Walk. It’s pilgrimages to holy sites from Mecca the Yasgur’s Farm. Our sacred heroes, Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Muhammad, Lao Tzu, all tested themselves along a spiritual journey.

Today people all over the world take on the sacred ritual of the journey, climbing mountains, crossing deserts, strapping packs on their backs and taking to the hills in our national parks. We go on safaris and river trips. Some of us make it a point to leave the comforts of the modern world behind, depriving ourselves the luxuries to which we have become accustomed, just to have a taste of the trials that define our epic heroes. Perhaps we believe that just a little bit of Odysseus’ character will emerge from within. Maybe we feel compelled by some force beyond our consciousness.

Then there are those real life Odysseuses who choose to cross deserts and dangerous seas for a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. They are engaging that very same species-being that our earliest ancestors activated when they journeyed from the plains of Africa. They are retracing the steps that humanity has laid down for a hundred millennia. Yet they face another dangerous element imbedded in the minds of much of humanity. Fear of the other, the drive to exclude those who are different. The nihilism that destroyed Troy.

The Odyssey, whether it’s Homer’s version, or Christopher Nolan’s vision, is more than just a cool story about larger-than-life heroes. It’s a classic expression of an intrinsic human drive. It’s a map into the very soul of what makes us all human. Odysseus is driven by the wonder and, yes, the glory of what lays on distant shores. There’s the journey to greatness, to transformation. This journey stands in stark contrast to an equally powerful counterforce. The latent, irresistible pull of home.

All journeys must end at home. This may involve a return to one’s starting point, like Odysseus, or Bilbo. It may culminate in the hero laying the roots for a new home, like Dominico Rossa, the personification of migrants throughout history. Either way, when the journey is done, the hero on their last steps home is never the same person who took the first steps on their journey.

And that’s the point.

Let’s not get caught up spending too much time and energy pouring over the lies and inconsistencies of the speech. Let’s focus on discrediting the Paranoid movement that this speech was designed to motivate. This is a movement intent on restoring ostensible “lost privileges” over those whom they deem to be inferior. Those people! Minorities. Women. LGBTQ+. Liberals/The Left. Non-Christians. Not Christian Enough.

The question is not whether or not they believe what the Saggy Caesar read from the teleprompter…like a middle schooler doing a read aloud in class. They don’t. They know it’s bullshit just as much as we do. The question is, how extreme will their response be in shutting down the possibility of an honest and fair election?

Sam shook his head. He tried to assuage his internal discomfort by shifting his body in the oversized, baroque chair on which he was sitting. It didn’t work. He ended up shifting right back to his original posture. “I don’t get it. In my former life I was an Agricultural Specialist…”

“Oh…” Gallow interrupted. She was frowning, but not out of sadness or concern. She was mocking. “Sam, you were a Drone. You didn’t have a career. You had a diversion. We didn’t need your labor. We needed you to consume our surpluses.”

The words caught in Sam’s throat, but were expressed by his eyes.

Gallow sat behind her desk and exhaled, her shoulders slumped momentarily before springing back to their angular rigidity. She looked exasperated, as if she were a noted professor explaining her field to a second grader…a slow second grader at that. “This is where you truly get a picture of just how fortunate you are and just how wonderful your new life is going to be. You see, Mr. d’Abode, there are three kinds of people in this world. The Capable, the Drones, and the Ferals. You were a Drone. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. We needed Drones…until now…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Sam clenched his jaw. “Keep talking. You’re indicting yourself.”

Gallow turned with a quick quizzical look. “Indictment? I didn’t know I was being judged?

“You and your whole history is being judged.” Sam felt he was channeling Syd and his endless lectures on history and ethics. “You said you ended scarcity. You said you needed us ‘Drones’ to consume the surpluses. Why not just share the surpluses with everyone? With the so-called Ferals?”

The Chief’s brows and jawline clenched in disgust and confusion. “Then we would have less.” She explained as if the conclusion were the most obvious thing in the world. “It makes no sense to give to the Ferals.

“Look,” she continued. “The Capable organize the society. They are the ones with the ideas and the veracity to bring those ideas to fruition. In fact, their ideas are often so great, requiring such massive endeavors, that they can’t bring them to fruition on their own. Fortunately, there are Drones. Drones are simple. They rarely have ideas of their own, but they are numerous and are willing to participate in bringing the ideas of the Capable to fruition.” Gallow stopped to think, then continued, “at least they are willing with the right…incentives.

“You see, as Artificial Sinew became more advanced, society needed more and more Drones. These Drones, it turned out, served two economic functions. They did the work of bringing the ideas of the Capable to fruition, and they consumed the fruits of those ideas. Money was the medium through which this system was managed. During this time society was able to incorporate many people into Dronage. Consequently, the Feral population fell. I mean, they continued to be about half the population of the world, but there was always the prospect of being a Drone just within reach. For some, that was enough to keep the Ferals, with some noteworthy exceptions in check. There was even the possibility of rising from Dronage to Capable if one happened to get the right idea. It was a beautiful system for as long as it lasted, but it was only a transition between the ancient world and the modern.

“Once Artificial Neurons were invented, and Artificial Sinew continued to advance, human labor became…um…redundant. The population of Drones collapsed and the Feral population exploded. The entire system looked like it was falling apart.”

Gallow walked to a bar and poured a brown liquid into a crystal glass. She offered it to Sam, “Bourbon?”

Sam waved the offer away.

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All right, folks! I’m back from Scotland and Ireland and back in the sweltering miasma that is South F*cking Florida! I’m tired. I’m bedraggled, I’ve got a lot of stuff that needs my attention! Standard back from vacation stuff.

That being said, I also have renewed energy and some new ideas I’ve cultivated over the last month. Regular posts will be forthcoming for all subscribers.

If you’ve been itching for some Mad Sociology, thank you for hanging in there while my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, renewed our vows, and enjoyed some well-deserved (for her more than me, I’ll admit) respite from the “real world.”