Democracy Americana

Home
Archive
About
The Treacherous Allure of the “Polarization” Dogma
On the limits and pitfalls of a narrative that obscures more than it illuminates – A Manifesto, Part I
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
24
New
Top
Community
The Triumph of Weaponized Nostalgia
Past eras of stable white Christian patriarchal dominance are widely sanitized and mythologized in our political discourse
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
44
Moralizing Nostalgia Leads to Bad History – and Helps the Anti-Democratic Right
David Brooks’ “How America Got Mean” offers an ahistorical tale that obscures rather than illuminates – and provides fertile ground for a politics of…
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
34
Rightwing Dreams of American Reconquista
A counter-revolutionary zeal and desire for vengeance is what unites Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Christopher Rufo, Nate Hochman, and the rest of today’s…
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
18
Ron DeSantis Dreams About America’s Founding – And How to Destroy His Enemies
DeSantis’ forgotten 2011 book Dreams From Our Founding Fathers helps us trace the Right’s recent intellectual and political trajectory – and how the…
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
10
Teasing DeSantis – and a Call for Questions
An upcoming exploration of the American Founding according to Ron DeSantis, a massive thank you, and a summer mailbag
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
9
The Supreme Court vs. Modern Democracy, Part II
Earlier this week, a major German-speaking newspaper asked me to write an opinion piece (“Kommentar” in German) on the Supreme Court’s decision to end…
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
15
The Ambivalence of the Fourth of July
The nation celebrates Independence Day as democracy is at a crossroads
 • 
Thomas Zimmer
8
Democracy Americana
Democracy Americana
Reflections on American democracy and its discontents
Recommendations
View all 12
Notes from the Middleground
Notes from the Middleground
Damon Linker
C
Can We Still Govern?
Don Moynihan
The Reframe
The Reframe
A.R. Moxon
Civil War Memory
Civil War Memory
Kevin M. Levin
Campaign Trails
Campaign Trails
Kevin M. Kruse

Democracy Americana

AboutArchiveRecommendationsSitemap
© 2023 Thomas Zimmer
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing