Tag Archives: politics

(Secular Common Sense) Bankers & Trump (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 16, 2020 by zjb

I know a lot of you are down on capitalism, but this little note here that even the bankers don’t seem to like Trump very much is very funny, but also to the point.  About the idea of a big … Continue reading →

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Religion is Not Essential (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by zjb

Whose labor is essential? Whose labor is not essential? That’s the question. In modernization/secularization theory a lot of ink gets spilled about the public sphere in relation to the religious sphere. There’s the notion contested this way and that way … Continue reading →

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(Andrew Cuomo) Liberal Political Theology (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by zjb

Like the one today (April 13), I’ve been watching a lot of these daily press conferences with Gov. Cuomo of New York in response to the Cornonavirus pandemic. Personally, I find them unvarnished and reassuring. Listening for religion and religion … Continue reading →

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Plague Discipline & Dance of Death (Foucault)

Posted on April 3, 2020 by zjb

Throwing up my hands, re-reading after many years the famous chapter on Panopticism in Foucault’s classic study Discipline and Punish, first published in France in 1975. Readers today, responding to the Coronavirus, have already noted that plague quarantines and other … Continue reading →

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Biden & FDR & Walter Lippmann

Posted on April 1, 2020 by zjb

Watching some progressives [fill in verb of your choice] online about Biden while others, for instance here, are kvelling at the same time about Cuomo. This little bit here at Politico about political resilience and adaptability with reference to Walter … Continue reading →

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(Spinoza Says) Enlightenment Now (Shut the Synagogues) (Coronavirus)

Posted on March 27, 2020 by zjb

[[Dutch Portuguese Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo arguing for the lifting of the ban on Baruch Spinoza, December 6, 2015. (Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA)]] About Enlightenment, post-secularism, and anti-liberal twaddle. Watching in real time and with some pleasure as the unfolding relationship between … Continue reading →

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The Unsearchable Human Heart Of Government (Shabbat 11a)

Posted on March 18, 2020 by zjb

In line with the Book of Proverbs and the vast scope of responsibility, the rabbis about government and the political heart were Weberian in their practical realism and bleak view of things. Michael Satlow posted on FB this beautiful gemara, … Continue reading →

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(The Social Good) Principles of Rabbinic Political Theory

Posted on March 9, 2020 by zjb

In the middle of an election year, I’m trying to sketch out a “Jewish political theory” based on rabbinic sources. It is neither radical-messianic-revolutionary (i.e. committed to radical ends, the radical end of things) nor liberal (i.e. predicated on the … Continue reading →

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(Joe & Bernie) Kissing Babies & Bad Political Theory

Posted on March 4, 2020 by zjb

The election is still competitive, but let’s climb off the ledge and re-think a lot of bad political theory to which university professors and graduate students are especially prone. Democratic electoral politics is the art of kissing babies, not throwing … Continue reading →

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State Power & Holocaust Memory (75th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation)

Posted on January 27, 2020 by zjb

In reference to the large gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem at “World Holocaust Forum 2020” to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. These are pictures of pure power, state power, international state power brought to bear … Continue reading →

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