Fostering Democracy: America’s founders believed civic education would prevent tyranny
By Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di Torino The majority of Americans today are anxious; they believe their democracy is under threat. In fact, democracies deteriorate easily. As was feared since the times of Greek philosopher Plato, they...
A Memory Hole: When lies leading to war are easier to swallow than the truth about needing to leave
We should never forget that what we are watching happen right now in Afghanistan is the final act of George W. Bush‘s 2004 reelection strategy. After 9/11 the Taliban offered to arrest Bin Laden, but Bush turned them down because he wanted to be a “wartime president”...
Wisconsin could host refugees from Afghanistan at Fort McCoy as U.S. troops speed up withdrawal
U.S. defense officials said on August 16 that they were considering locating Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy, a U.S. Army installation near Tomah. Thousands of refugees are attempting to flee Afghanistan as Taliban fighters have completed toppling the Afghan central...
Justice after War: Why the United States still has a moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan
By Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington Chaotic scenes in Kabul accompanied the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The fundamentalist Islamic group was able to retake power after President Joe...
Pentagon’s budget for one year of the Afghanistan War is enough to fund resettlement for 1.2M refugees
As the Biden administration faces criticism for not doing enough to assist those fleeing Afghanistan, an analysis released on August 16 showed that the roughly $19 billion the Pentagon budgeted for the U.S. occupation of the country in 2020 alone could cover initial...
The Post-9/11 Era: More American fatalities are due to bathtub accidents each year than by jihadist terrorism
The 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is a natural time to assess our nation’s response over the last two decades and chart a course for the future. Our single-minded focus on defeating terrorist groups claiming to act in the name of Islam over all other...
Milwaukee holds first Budget Awareness Week to engage residents in how $1.6B will be spent for 2022
Mayor Tom Barrett proclaimed August 16 to 21, 2021 as the first Budget Awareness Week for the City of Milwaukee, as an educational and collaborative effort with members across the local community. Budget Awareness Week includes a series of public engagement sessions...
Public health vs. individual rights: Why the debate on COVID vaccinations is reminiscent of smoking bans
This notion that one’s “rights” are more important than the health and well-being of others has a long history. Our problem with the unvaccinated is just the latest manifestation. Americans are belatedly lining up in impressive numbers to be immunized against...
Wisconsin reaches 50% vaccination level against COVID but many eligible still refuse to help stop the spread
Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) announced on August 13 that half of the state’s entire population have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series. For the fourth week in a row, Wisconsin has seen a steady uptick in weekly doses...
How President Bush’s 20-year “War on Terror” finally ended in failure after a single day in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan on August 15, Taliban fighters took over the presidential palace in Kabul, the country’s capital, while the president of the United States-backed Afghan government, Ashraf Ghani, fled to Tajikistan. The U.S. and many other countries are rushing to...
From Saigon to Kabul: Historical lessons on when America decides to stop fighting
By Thomas Alan Schwartz, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University; and Catesby Holmes, The Conversation US “While they are very different, many are looking at the 1975 fall of Saigon to try to understand what is happening in Afghanistan. Walter Cronkite...
A “National Security” Excuse: Why it is time to retire the 9/11 policy of racial and religious profiling
As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it is past time to reckon with “war on terror” approaches that have cast too many Americans as national security threats. Two decades of permissive rules for intelligence collection, coupled with...
