Posts by Michael Bailey
About Michael Bailey
Michael is Associate Professor of Government and International Studies at Berry College in Rome, GA. His academic publications address the American Founding, the American presidency, religion and politics, and governance in liberal democracies. He also writes on popular culture, and his articles on, among other topics, patriotism, Church and State, and Kurt Vonnegut, have been published in Prism and Touchstone. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas in Austin, where he also earned his BA. He’s married and has three children. He joined OTB in November 2016.
Oops. He’s doing it again.
Eliminating the department would mean parceling out most of its activities to other federal agencies, a sleight of hand maneuver that might create the appearance of smaller government but would disrupt the ordinary operations of the federal government.
Gratitude for the Art of Losing Graciously
Democracy produces good rulers, right? Sometimes. What good democracies actually produce best is good losers. Let us then be grateful for gracious losers, for our losers no less than our winners carry forward the American experiment in self-rule.
The Whitelash Backlash
So what’s wrong with the Whitelash Backlash thesis? Not everything, actually. But plenty.
Team of rivals? Kitchen cabinet? Or Waylon Smithers clones?
The real model for Trump’s team is neither Abraham Lincoln nor Andrew Jackson but The Simpson’s Mr. Burns with a room full of Waylon Smithers-types.
Donald Trump: Establishment Candidate
On Tuesday night the Establishment won and won yuge. (From new OTB contributor, Michael Bailey)