Tag Archives: Paul Ryan

Waiting for Biden, Paul Ryan, & Reagan

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2015

Some Democrats are waiting for Joe Biden and many Republicans are awaiting the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan. Samuel Beckett foresaw in all in “Waiting for Godot.”

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Boehner’s Monkey and Ellison’s Sambo

By Robin Bates | Published: October 11, 2015

Speaker John Boehner may keep a wind-up monkey to express how he feels jerked around by the rightwing Freedom Caucus, which prompted him to resign. There is a similar puppet in Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” also signifying emasculation and humiliation.

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GOP Budget Proposes Gruel Cuts

By Robin Bates | Published: March 24, 2015

Mean-spirited legislators who seek to cut food stamps and other programs for the poor bear more than a little resemblance to the workhouse authorities in “Oliver Twist.”

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Reflecting on “A Little Learning”

By Robin Bates | Published: June 4, 2014

Pope’s “a little learning is a dangerous thing” applies to many of today’s policy debates.

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The Work Ethic of Poor People

By Robin Bates | Published: April 28, 2014

The American work ethic is alive at all levels of society, including in the drug trade.

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Why GOP Right Is Beating Up on the Poor

By Robin Bates | Published: March 20, 2014

Paul Ryan projects upon the poor as Joseph Conrad did upon Africans.

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Jane Eyre: Poverty Is No Crime

By Robin Bates | Published: March 13, 2014

Unemployed Americans are much more like Jane Eyre than hammock-seeking wastrels.

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Milton Would Call Paul Ryan a Wolf

By Robin Bates | Published: March 11, 2014

Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy about the poor deserves a Miltonian rebuke.

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Ayn Rand Likes Systems, Not Humans

By Robin Bates | Published: February 18, 2014

Ayn Rand’s novels appeal to those who prefer systems over people.

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