Posts by Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey
About Michael Bailey
Michael is Associate Professor of Government and International Studies at Berry College in Rome, GA. His academic publications address the American Founding, the American presidency, religion and politics, and governance in liberal democracies. He also writes on popular culture, and his articles on, among other topics, patriotism, Church and State, and Kurt Vonnegut, have been published in Prism and Touchstone. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas in Austin, where he also earned his BA. He’s married and has three children. He joined OTB in November 2016.

Patriotism Re-ennobled

President Biden masterfully used the pageantry of the day to shatter the self-asserted Trumpian monopoly on patriotism.

Biden’s Christianity, Lincoln, and the Truth of Who We Are

Biden’s America is a place and idea in which the trappings of empire or glory are ephemera in comparison with perennial human relationships—families; friendships; communities; schools; neighbors; partners.

Our Constitutional Crisis

To defang impeachment is an invitation for presidents to ignore the rule of law.

Fox News’ Obsession with Chelsea Handler

In my life I have not once, not a single time, encountered the name of Chelsea Handler in any context apart from Fox News articles. 

Food in a Box!!!

The Trump Administration is seeking to overhaul the food stamps program.

Vainest of Vanities

The only reason March 5th is “our last chance” at a DACA deal is if Trump makes it so.

The Politics of DACA

If Trump is able to insist upon a package deal or no deal at all, he may muck up his chance of policy success, but it may be the Democrats who lose politically.

Mandatory SATs and Upward Mobility

Combining universal and mandatory (and free) college-board exams with a program for targeting college recruitment of disadvantaged groups could–if coupled with a commensurate financial commitment by the state to such groups–go some distance in bringing more qualified economically disadvantaged groups into higher education. 

How about a Parade of Ideas?

Today in an increasingly liberal, educated, globalized, and democratic world, we have more reason than ever to listen to the opinion of our peers and, where appropriate, to be open to their counsel.

Specks, Logs, and Dr. Martin Luther King

In a healthy democracy we need not agree, nor must we finally even respect one another’s objects of devotion.  But we should exercise a salutary measure of mutual forbearance and be willing to acknowledge that no side has a monopoly on either truth or justice.

American Exceptionalism Gone Wonky. Again.

In the United States, in contrast, the judgment citizens hold of the media, along increasingly with everything else, turns on one’s identification with a political tribe. 

A few words about Charlottesville…

We mourn Charlottesville because Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States, made clear in no uncertain terms that in his mind there was little distinction between those in Charlottesville who pursued the un-American “values” of soil, blood, and racial dominance and those who pursued the ideals of the American Constitution.

Tweeting A Cancelled Meeting

Trump’s tweet may have been casual bluster posted while sitting at the breakfast table (presumably eating Wheaties®—The Breakfast of Champions). We can’t know. And finally it matters not because what really matters is that it was taken at face value by President Peña Nieto.

Oops. He’s doing it again.

Eliminating the department would mean parceling out most of its activities to other federal agencies, a sleight of hand maneuver that might create the appearance of smaller government but would disrupt the ordinary operations of the federal government. 

Gratitude for the Art of Losing Graciously

Democracy produces good rulers, right?  Sometimes.  What good democracies actually produce best is good losers. Let us then be grateful for gracious losers, for our losers no less than our winners carry forward the American experiment in self-rule.  

The Whitelash Backlash

So what’s wrong with the Whitelash Backlash thesis?  Not everything, actually.  But plenty.

Team of rivals? Kitchen cabinet? Or Waylon Smithers clones?

The real model for Trump’s team is neither Abraham Lincoln nor Andrew Jackson but The Simpson’s Mr. Burns with a room full of Waylon Smithers-types.

A Second First Impression: Greetings!

In which I use a lot of words to say hello.

Donald Trump: Establishment Candidate

On Tuesday night the Establishment won and won yuge. (From new OTB contributor, Michael Bailey)