Fitz File

        Election day in the US was not exactly what I expected.  Donald Trump, a convicted felon who led a violent attempt to invade Congress and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, was swept back into office with a comfortable margin.  The entire federal government will likely be controlled by the party utterly devoted to Trump.  While Kamala Harris ran a very good campaign, it is clear there are larger systematic forces at work that are even more concerning.  Even if Donald Trump does not move forward with all of the terrible ideas he proposed on the campaign, that he has won by such a wave shows a dangerous undercurrent in our country.  For the sake of all the world, I dearly hope this is simply a result of the unusual magnetism of Trump and not a greater trend towards three primary ideals.           The first potential issue is the state of our information sector and the fractious nature of medi...

          The United States, and more generally the developed world, has achieved massive success in the past 100 years. The strength of the capitalistic market, government action, international cooperation, and individual determination has led to stability and massive prosperity for more human beings than any time in history. Overall, this is a good thing. This leads to greater lifespans, access to education, luxuries, art, cultural development, and a speeding of technological achievement in areas other than war (memes mostly). But as with every development, it also brings some drawbacks for society. In this instance, it is the level of prosperity itself that is insulating groups so much it allows for divisive actions that would otherwise be problematic. It is primarily on display in a few areas of society: healthcare, political extremism, and broader social cooperation.           The most immediately dangerous effect of...

On July 21st, 2024, President Joe Biden made the difficult choice to not seek reelection for the office of the Presidency.  Before we dive into politics, his potential successor, and how this will affect the race, I wanted to take a moment to really consider this decision.  There have been few Presidents who have decided to not seek reelection.  And while this wasn’t exactly his choice, I do not think he would have made it if he did not think it was for the betterment of the nation.  So I wanted to talk about what Joe Biden did, what he has done as President, and what is to come next.  All of which must be preceded by heartfelt thanks for this great man and President. Joe Biden may not be the greatest candidate, but he was what America needed in January of 2021.  The COVID-19 pandemic was still raging across the country, with more than 3000 Americans dying per day .  This chaos was compounded by the Republican efforts to disrupt and overturn the 2020 ...

          One fitful sleep later, I wanted to talk about the debate last night.  I am not going to pretend that was a good performance from President Biden.  It wasn’t.  He was halting, quiet, mixed up his words and stories, and his life-long stutter came back in painful ways.  While Trump had his usual mixed bag of lies and outrageous statements, it was Biden’s weakness that will be the main story.  But I wanted to separate my thinking into two buckets.  The first is what President Biden needed to do in this debate, and the second is what overall effect this has on the race.           I try to remind my politically interested friends in conversation that the biggest disparity in voters is not conservative versus liberal, it is informed voters versus uninformed voters.  I have read over and over in polls and focus groups that the average voter does not know what Biden has done as President....

         With the two-year anniversary of the infamous Dobbs decision on June 24, I wanted to revisit just how impactful it was. Because of “trigger laws” in multiple states, the second the decision was announced, women began to suffer. Since then, the steady barrage of horror stories has galvanized the public to support the right to choose even further than it already was two years ago.   A similar alarm that rose from this decision came not from Justice Alito’s majority opinion, but Justice Thomas’ concurrence.  His words led all who read them to come to the horrifying conclusion that this new conservative supermajority on the court, in combination with the broader Trump movement, meant every single piece of societal progress was now on the table.         There is a principle in the law called stare decisis , a Latin phrase literally meaning “to stand by things decided.”   In the legal field, we us...

            There is a grim reality for certain areas of our political discourse. While it isn’t exactly apathy, it does result in the same thing: a collective shrug. Were you aware there were four mass shootings yesterday (June 9th)? I wasn’t. Twenty one people were injured. Families shattered, lives broken, communities traumatized. And almost nothing happens. While there are many factors that contribute to this attitude, Republican talking points are a significant part in American inaction. It is easy to see because it is seen over and over and over again: “This is not the time”, “it won’t end gun violence”, “second amendment”, “they’re coming to take your guns”, “its videogames”, “its mental health”. While this kind of rhetoric is toxically effective, it is thankfully limited to only a few issues. However, the hipper-conservative Republican Party is currently trying to spread it to their biggest liability: women’s rights.  ...