Austin Steelman

It was privilege to help honor the intellectual legacy of Ken Kersch in this issue of the Journal of American Constitution. Here, I reflect on his argument that the Constitution is "phenomenal" in American politics.

repository.law.wisc.edu/s/uwlaw/medi...

Segregation absolutely drove some evangelical conservatism in the wake of Brown v. Board (and earlier), but it simply was not the main driver in the 1970s.

Perspective | What everyone gets wrong about evangelicals and abortion Evangelicals started speaking out against legal abortion long before the late 1970s.

Currently writing about how these Politico articles are wrong as an interpretation of evangelical support for Bob Jones (it was more about gender and sexual orientation discrimination for most) but it's also wrong about abortion. Find a gentler rebuttal here: www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022...

"The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone."

repository.law.wisc.edu/s/uwlaw/medi...

My new article “The Birth of the Dead Constitution: Arthur Machen Jr.’s Early Twentieth-Century Originalism” is out in the Journal of Constitutional History. Give it a read! It’s about white supremacy, anti-Progressivism, and the deep political origins of constitutional originalism.

From the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy archive…I wonder if anyone ever got paid

Good reminder for everyone to go read @hildelstephens.bsky.social Family Matters!

Poignant and spot-on criticism of Medicaid cuts from a good friend

People did the same thing with JFK’s Catholicism in 1960.

The real enemy of this administration is cosmopolitanism. Whether in Los Angeles or South Africa, multiracial pluralistic democracy is a threat to them because it means their “us or them” model of the world is wrong. So they stir up trouble on purpose and gleefully lie.

#BREAKING: In Oklahoma religious charter school case, #SCOTUS splits 4-4 (with Justice Barrett recused), which means the lower-court ruling (barring the religious charter school) stands without a (precedential) opinion:

www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

A YIMBY Theory of Power Pro-housing advocates offer an analysis of class relations that is more sophisticated and has more explanatory power than the one held by many critics of the “abundance agenda.”

my buddy @resnikoff.bsky.social off the top rope with some actual class analysis www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Your periodic reminder that the 22nd Amendment was passed to punish the four-term success of a popular liberal president and blocked the run of a popular liberal president who very likely could have beaten Trump in 2016.

The Political Fight of the Century For the first time in decades, America has a chance to define its next political order. Trump offers fear, retribution, and scarcity. Liberals can stand for abundance.

Trump/MAGA are all about tearing down government.

Dems need to offer an alternative vision that delivers, in abundance, what we need — housing, clean energy, scientific innovation, etc.

Dems, for decades, have made it too hard to do things. We need to make it easier. That’s the antidote to Trump.

Most Men Don't Want To Be Heroes (And That's Okay) Despite the self-pity of some, there has never been a better time to be a man.

“This is one reason why conservatives (and fellow travelers like Arnade) hate liberalism so much: free choice disproves their biological essentialism.”

The Long Fight Against the Department of Education Trump's cuts to the Department of Education are part of a nearly long crusade by conservative Christian groups.

Sharing some history behind the current effort to eliminate the Department of Education thanks to TIME's Made By History
time.com/7216493/trum...

Today in "the aughts are a foreign country": In 2002, the (then Dixie) Chicks put out the brilliant pro-immigrant "Long Time Gone" music video to no criticism and then got blacklisted the next year for criticizing the Iraq invasion. Exact opposite would be the case for the today's American right.

From today's class on US political history and country music

YouTube video by Gerry Katz Chris Thile and How to Grow a Band from the Ground - Dead Leaves in the Dirty Ground

The (Jack) Whitest bluegrass cover is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHX...

Have this song already cued up for pre-class listening for my History of Country music class for a bluegrass covers of rock songs day!

Jesus: Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters...cannot be my disciple.

Vance: There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then...

i am constantly hearing that the left is elitist but if it is elitism to stand up for basic values of citizenship and decency against a bunch of cruel dumbasses who have no greater ambition than to tell bad jokes and hear the braying laughter of their dumbass friends, then i am an elitist

So shameful.

I keep saying this. We saw what happened when peoples' views ran into measurable reality and...they largely didn't change.

And it's great. Moral suasion in favor of the marginalized is better than deferring to popular will or pretending this is it. We're not getting around these culture wars. To quote Robert Frost, "the best way out is always through."

Calling this "speaking truth to power" misses the point. This is unabashed moral elitism from a leader of one of America's richest, most educated, and least theologically representative denominations. As opposition substance and strategy, it's a rejection of populism (centrist or leftist).

Great point! I wanted the argument focused on the 1970s during his candidacy and presidency, but it would have been helpful to mention about his denominational landing spot.

Don't Call Him Evangelical — How to Remember Jimmy Carter’s Faith, And How Not To Jimmy Carter was an evangelical. A liberal evangelical. A liberal evangelical in the age before the Christian Right supported a conservative revolution that swept Republican Ronald Reagan into power. ...

Some thoughts on Carter's faith for @religiondispatches.bsky.social religiondispatches.org/dont-call-hi...

ASCH was delightful as always with great scholars and great conversations with old and new friends. Looking forward to running in back in Chicago next year!