My daughter’s English class read Jonathan Swift’s satirical classic “A Modest Proposal” and were assigned the task of writing their own satirical proposal for a curing serious social malady. I thought the assignment timely, but a bit tricky. The line between serious and satire in our national political conversation is definitely not as clear as it used to be. The line between comedy and the race for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination appears to have been completely erased.
In disagreeing with Governor Charlie Baker on the Syrian refugee issue, the Boston Globe Editorial Board lumps him in with Republicans Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, and Ted Cruz (but not with Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan). Oddly, the Editorial Board doesn't seem to have understood what Globe reporters quoted Baker as saying.
The Stakes of the 2016 presidential election are very high for Democratic constituencies because retention of the White House could well be the only thing preventing Republicans from repealing the 20th Century. This is one of my primary takeaways from a vigorous and thoughtful ongoing debate among academics and data journalists about the precarious position of the Democratic Party nationally going into the 2016 elections.