Modern Times

Lessons in Ruthless Pragmatism

Democrats Need to Practice Politics Like Canadians, Australians, and Danes

Oct 1 • 

Marty Manley

September 2025

Affective Polarization Makes Us Paranoid

But Quiet Compromises Happen Routinely Outside of Washington

Sep 28 • 

Marty Manley

Worker Power in the Age of AI

From the American Compass Collection "For Whom the Machine Toils"

Sep 27 • 

Marty Manley

1

The Future of Technology Is No Longer American by Default

China is not only flooding markets, they are pulling ahead in nearly every critical technology field.

Sep 25 • 

Marty Manley

1

As AI Gets Better at Thinking, We Are Getting Worse

Why Post-Literate May Be Neo-Feudal

Sep 23 • 

Marty Manley

4

4

When Is Manipulation a Crime?

Companies Have Weaponized the Nudge

Sep 20 • 

Marty Manley

1

August 2025

Political Power Flows From Shared Culture

But voters do not share the culture reflected by today's Democratic Party

Aug 26 • 

Marty Manley

1

“Remember, Nobody Reads Anymore”

Taking deep literacy seriously

Aug 21 • 

Marty Manley

3

1

China Hawks Discover the Cobra Effect

Vital Export Controls Are Needlessly Damaging American Progress

Aug 6 • 

Marty Manley

How Democrats Can Win on Immigration

Turning a political liability into an asset.

Aug 2 • 

Marty Manley

2

7

July 2025

Donald Trump is No Alexander Hamilton

Without an Industrial Strategy, Tariffs are Theater

Jul 15 • 

Marty Manley

3

1

The Tech Right Realizes That It Got Played

Technology leadership is impossible without the talent, exports, and federal research that Trump is restricting.

Jul 10 • 

Marty Manley

3