NOBODY’S OPINIONS | OBSERVATIONS OF THE WEEK

When considering what to write about this week, I realized that I haven’t really lived up to my promise of providing “highly varied content” – not that anyone cares, but I would feel bad only writing articles related to the election all semester, no matter how much it reflects the current news cycle. Instead, here is a collection of things I thought about this week, which you may or may not find interesting. First, I still have no idea what to make of Donald Trump. He did some serious backpedaling and also looks to be considering Mitt Romney for a highly important post – Secretary of State. This is a man who has denounced Trump at every possible turn and called him a fraud, but is now seeking to reconcile and has apparently been forgiven, at least to some degree.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY | The Conscience of A Liberal

Awhile ago, Paul Krugman ran an op-ed piece titled “Plutocrats and Prejudice”, in which he observes the division between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton during the primaries as a division between what change is best. Senator Sanders says he, along with the people, will revolutionize politics, while Secretary Clinton says she will implement progressive reforms. The question of revolution or reform was discussed previously in Western Europe and pre-Soviet Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Scholars discussed this question in the context of what is the proper interpretation of Marx’s work. To achieve socialism, do we implement reform or do we need revolution? In the present, the goal hasn’t changed.