One reason various institutions are crumbling and the people in charge of them so unpopular is that the material reality they defend is so different from their own professed values. They claim to value the “rule of law” but only enforce some laws against some people some of the time. They claim to value “public safety” but pursue policies that make most people less safe. They claim to value liberty but jails hundreds of thousands of society’s poorest people solely because they lack access to cash. They claim to value equality but ensures a small number of people control nearly every major decision. They claim to value evidence but pursues policies that defy evidence. They claim to value health but let us all be regularly poisoned and then destroy the opportunity for most people to get quality health care. They claim to value merit but ensure that fealty to power is what gets rewarded in elite institutions. As a result, establishment politicians, university presidents, and pundits are constantly speaking gibberish instead of being real with people.
— Alec Karakatsanis, the Copaganda Newsletter, July 13,2025
I agree. We are seeing a great amount of this now. Not buying and installing automated river water gauge systems before the Texas flood. Masked ICE police to arrest brown-skinned people. Legislatures trying to undo petitions results. A USA congresswoman responding well we are all going to die when confronted by a constituent say people are going to die after medicaid is attacked.
I will live to care for my very old cats, and my husband. Once they are gone, I will make up my mind about whether it is safe to live in the USA,
“The material reality they defend is so different from their own professed values. They claim to value the “rule of law” but only enforce some laws against some people some of the time.”
This would appear to be the case here in the United States (and elsewhere). When a culture, it’s information dissemination systems (social media / news), it’s politicians, it’s Govt, it’s law enforcement, it’s courts, and it’s economy and the means of production are governed by an elitist class of Oligarchs and Religious Shaman, well that is the attitude we may expect from “those in charge”.
This of course is not NEW, any student of history must realize that human society has been and apparently always will be controlled by the very few, at the cost of the many.
“They claim to value “public safety” but pursue policies that make most people less safe.”
LOL, safety for the rich and powerful, to hell with everybody else.
“They claim to value liberty but jail hundreds of thousands of society’s poorest people solely because they lack access to cash.”
LOL, again, study HISTORY, it’s called convincing a society of the threat of the OTHER. FEAR MONGERING, somewhat is out to GET YOU. Cling to the Oligarchs and Shaman for protection, they will protect what little you have from the “Other”.
Who are these OTHERS thru the long march of history? – The SICK and the POOR (always), Native Indigenous Peoples, Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Orientals, India / the Untouchables, EVERYWHERE, in human history you look, this is HOW it WORKS!
“They claim to value equality but ensures a small number of people control nearly every major decision. They claim to value evidence but pursues policies that defy evidence.”
LOL, evidence? In the USA?? Let me tell you how EVIDENCE works, for the rich and powerful, evidence does not mean shit, you BUY the evidence, in the form of a slick ass lawyer. Justice? justice only applies to those that can afford to BUY-IT.
“They claim to value health but let us all be regularly poisoned and then destroy the opportunity for most people to get quality health care.”
The masters of economic production control the food we eat and the health care we receive. One of the few altruistic programs that the US Govt provided it’s citizens is being gutted RIGHT NOW! 14-17 Million kicked out of Medicaid, courtesy of the Trump “Big Beautiful Wealth Transfer Bill, from the poor and middle class to the rich”.
Medicare and Social Security are next people!
“They claim to value merit but ensure that fealty to power is what gets rewarded in elite institutions.”
ABSOLUTELY.
Finally, and not mentioned by the author but lets talk about FREEDOM for the individual American.
I ask anyone reading this post to tell me what in the hell FREEDOM do you have here in the USA?
I will answer for you – You have the FREEDOM to SPEND MONEY. End of story. Nothing else, and to have that honor you must be totally committed to working your ass off for your Capitalistic Slave Masters. Freedom to buy a home?
LOL, you have the freedom to be financially choked to death by Mtg. companies!
You, me and everybody else not born into wealth, or are the tiny % that “Make It” are puppets, slaves and mound building termites to the 5%.
Hallelujah , praise Jesus.
Whatever. Easy to point our problems. Harder to solve them. Whining without offering a solution is nothing more than being a bitch.
It’s a quote, not an essay. His books and essays define, expand, and defend his views on crime, policing, and incarceration.
So many lies. Lots of people don’t want to think, and those are the people who will follow what those with a chosen brand say without examining what is said. Some people will just follow whatever is said that fits a chosen narrative. Others don’t pay attention at all. Those of us who do try to stay informed and care carry a heavy burden.