My Latest for The Atlantic

On power and embattlement in our politics...

Dear Readers,

This is a quick post to share my latest essay for The Atlantic. They asked me to write something of a follow-up to my essay earlier this year on the VA/NY abortion debates, and after seeing the video of the egregious abuse of power in the Alabama Senate that I describe in the essay, I knew what I wanted to write.

The basic argument of the piece is that something other than policy considerations is driving the abortion debate right now, and that is this vicious cycle of the desire to acquire enough power to act unilaterally and the intense feelings of embattlement and isolation that come from that. This embattlement leads to, you guessed it, the desire to acquire enough power to establish total dominance over one’s opposition.

The essay isn’t easily excerpted, so if you’re interested, I’d recommend taking the five minutes to read the full thing.

Have a great rest of your day.

Michael