Change is coming and Mexican-American identity is at the center By Michael Meurer, August 22, 2019 In the 2020 election, 32 million Latinos are eligible to vote. They are the largest minority voting bloc for the first time in US history. Mexican-Americans account for 63.3% of these voters. After the El Paso massacre of Aug. 3rd , the NY Times reports that Mexican-Americans nationwide feel a cosmic shift in the
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Reimagining Politics Blog
August 20, 2019
New articles published in English & Spanish – Politics as Consumerism & Rewriting the US-México Narrative after El Paso
By Michael Meurer, August 20, 2019 Politics as Consumerism The displacement of meaningful civic engagement by political consumerism and lurid media spectacle is suffocating U.S. democracy. My recent article published at Truthout deconstructs the way this permanent multi-billion dollar election spectacle works and explores what we can do about it. The article was translated to Spanish and republished at the Montevideo Portal in Uruguay, where I am a US columnist.
May 9, 2019
Roundtable at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
By Michael Meurer, May 9, 2019 After more than two months of planning with Professor Obdulio Ávila Mayo, PhD, in the Facultad de Derechos at Mexico’s national university in México City, we mounted a two hour political roundtable May 2, 2019, on leadership, public service and civic innovation. Because of recent surgery, I was not able to attend, but my associates Roberto and Rodrigo worked admirably with Prof. Obdulio to
May 7, 2019
Reimagining from the heart
By Michael Dear friends, on April 15, 2019, I had a heart attack in México City while preparing as lead panelist for a May 2nd public event on political innovation at the National University of México. (UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) My left ventricular artery was blocked. I failed to understand the symptoms at first and was rushed into surgery the early morning of April 16th. Catheterization and angioplasty
April 7, 2019
Tocqueville article published in Spanish in Argentina & Uruguay
By MichaelLa versión en Español está debajo My recent featured article on Medium about Tocqueville’s imaginary tweets has been expanded, translated and reinterpreted by my two brilliant editors in Montevideo and Buenos Aires, Martín Orthegui and Sergio Carciofi, respectively. At the Montevideo Portal, Martín did a superb editing job and translation of the expanded article to Spanish, while adding a humorous subtitle, “United Tweets of America,” and a brief intro.
April 1, 2019
Russiagate and the collapse of civic adulthood
By Michael The denial of reality NY Times columnist Farhad Manjoo, a fierce Trump critic, describes the Russiagate media coverage alleging collusion for the past two years as “a seductive delusion.” Manjoo believes this delusion was driven by the fact that “For many Americans, the simple truth that Mr. Trump really had won was too terrible to bear.” One of the most damaging aspects of the Russiagate obsession is that the Democratic
March 11, 2019
Tocqueville vs. Trump in tweets
By Michael Meurer TOCQUEVILLE’S TWEETS If Alexis de Tocqueville, author of the fabled two volume “Democracy in America” published in 1835, were alive today, his first tweet would probably be this: “Democracy depends on many things besides voting.” First among those other things in Tocqueville’s mind would be the universality of “civil association,” and he would almost certainly tweet his observation that “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite.”
February 26, 2019
This time, vote like your whole world depended on it
By Michael The marketing mantra that the next election is the “most important of our lives” has been a staple of both parties for decades. As the Vietnam War raged, the 1968 Nixon campaign used the slogan “This time, vote like your whole world depended on it” in print and TV ads to arouse Nixon’s “silent majority.” Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 “Daisy ad” warning of nuclear holocaust if Barry Goldwater were
February 20, 2019
A Real National Emergency
By Michael The new abnormalThe Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists calls the current political climate “the new abnormal.” Their 2019 “Doomsday Clock” is set at two minutes before midnight. Even the sober military analysts at Stratfor are warning that “weakening arms control regimes and the emergence of disruptive weapons technologies will erode global geopolitical stability” in the year ahead. From his first moments in office, President Donald Trump has wanted
January 23, 2019
The People Don’t Shutdown
By Michael The latest newsletter from Reimagining Politics is about the five week old shutdown of the US government vs. the endless political creativity of citizen activists worldwide. Just as importantly, it is about a global collapse of political legitimacy. This collapse brings with it the eclipse of foundational civilizational values of both the East and West. The irony is that we live in a world full of citizen-driven political
December 20, 2018
Drinking rattlesnake Venom
By Michael I recently had the bizarre experience in México City of drinking shots of mezcal from a jar in which a rattlesnake was being marinated. I survived the adventure, but I view it as a kind of metaphor for immersion in poisonous US politics. This is reflected in the cable news channels mainstreaming their toxic venom into the nation’s political bloodstream 24/7. They are little more than PR proxies for
February 13, 2018
A Week in a Mexican Fishing Village – Days 1 thru 3
By Michael The incessant and corrosive din of the daily news cycle in the US, now driven as much by the distracting imperatives of social media as by news itself, often leaves people feeling as fragile as eggshells. Personally invasive social and political disruption have become daily norms. I am not advocating a move to a fishing village of 1,600 people as a cure, but perhaps simply recounting the events