Politics Archives - Brain Dumping in Retirement

Truth on a Slippery Slope

By Jim Bauman September 29, 2025Opinions and EditorialsCulture Clash, Language, Politics, Truth

It's hard these days to get a firm grip on what's true and worth paying attention to and learning from. The same words can be appropriated by different political points of view to have completely opposing meanings. What to do? Who to believe?

Intractable Conflicts

By Jim Bauman June 1, 2025Opinions and EditorialsIsrael Palestine Conflict, Polarization, Politics

The Israel Palestine conflict is in 2025 in its most brutal phase yet. It's a worst case example of the effects of rigid polarization turned savagely violent. Thousands are being killed and both sides are living at the edge of despair. It's a testament to the inflexibility and moral failures of politicians who incense their populations into hate.

Regrets of a Poor Choice

By Jim Bauman May 6, 2025Life and Living, Opinions and EditorialsChoices, Consequences, Culture Clash, Grandparents, Parents, Politics

Part memoir, part discourse on American politics in 2025, part speculation. How all these themes connect in Germany, Poland, and the United States.

Political Messaging

By Jim Bauman March 3, 2025Opinions and EditorialsCampaigns, Messaging, Politics

What are the goals, probable benefits, and tactics for setting up a messaging campaign for a progressive political organization?

Getting Swing Voters to Lend Some Weight to Your End of the Seesaw

By Jim Bauman February 9, 2025Opinions and EditorialsElections, Messaging, Political Choice, Politics, Swing Voters

When is the best time to start engaging with the next following election? And a related question, when is the best time to try and convince someone to vote for your side?

The Wild West in the White House

By Jim Bauman January 23, 2025Opinions and EditorialsBillionaires, Democrats, Politics, Trump Administration

The accumulating wreckage of the second Trump administration and how his thoroughbred billionaires are abetting the devastation.

The Hungry Pie Lover: An Allegory

By Jim Bauman August 3, 2024Opinions and EditorialsBiden, Choices, Discernment, Politics, Trump

A fictional account of a restaurant owner who thinks much of his menu and disparages his competition. The tale is related through the person of a potential customer.

Washington Waging War on West Virginia?

By Jim Bauman June 27, 2024Opinions and EditorialsGovernment Funding, Jim Justice, Politics, West Virginia

Criticism of Governor Jim Justice blaming the Biden Administration for delays in highway construction in West Virginia.

MAGA: An Honest Analysis of the Acronym

By Jim Bauman March 16, 2024Opinions and EditorialsElections, MAGA, Politics

An analysis (from a leftist perspective) of what the letters in the MAGA acronym stand for.

My Morals Are Stronger Than Your Morals

By Jim Bauman February 13, 2024Opinions and EditorialsGeorge Lakoff, Jonathan Haidt, Metaphors, Politics

The difference between conservatives and progressives or liberal and their electoral success or not is complicated. Lakoff attributes this to messaging and Haidt to moral differences.

Tangled Trees, Tangled Truths

By Jim Bauman February 13, 2024Opinions and EditorialsAnalogy, Conservatives, Politics, Progressives

Thinking about how our divided politics, which is so mixed up and tangled, that it looks similar to the kind of tangling that physicists and biologists deal with.

Charity — The Worlds Solution to Wealth Inequality

By Jim Bauman September 7, 2023Opinions and EditorialsCharity, Culture, Giving, Politics, Wealth Inequality

Does the institution of charity and the practice of charitable giving come from our human nature or is it actively promoted by businesses and governments who are trying to deflect their responsibility to prevent the need for charity.

Who Am I to You?

By Jim Bauman May 10, 2023Life and Living, Opinions and EditorialsBigotry, Labels, Naming, Politics, Psycholinguistics

There is a pervasive tendency to label people we don’t like for some reason that offends us. Many labels are pejorative, meant not just to describe, but to tar.

The Tyranny of the Minority

By Jerry Collins April 17, 2023Life and LivingMajorities, Minorities, Political Balance, Politics

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash How is that polls consistently show ---- sometimes by a margin of 70 to 30 --- that Americans favor stricter gun control measures such as comprehensive background checks, but there is no chance that Congress will pass stricter gun control legislation? Is it some sort of fluke? Not really. Americans consistently favor --- by…

The Left, the Right and the Center

By Jim Bauman December 31, 2022Opinions and EditorialsConservatism, Democrats, Politics, Progressivism, Republicans, Socialism, Trump

We're a politically polarized country and, with the exception of a relatively small number of centrists, people align themselves with the political left or the political right. This article plants itself squarely on the left and presents that side of the issue. Feel free to disagree.