Roundup

Joe Biden’s Harshest Critics are Likely to be Some of His Fellow Catholics

by Theresa Keeley

Abortion is the most divisive issue for liberal and conservative Catholics in America today, but reflects a decades-long division in beliefs about how the Church should engage with the world. It may be tricky for Joe Biden to navigate as a faithful Catholic.

Musing on Gender Integration in the Military with Simone de Beauvoir

by Bill Bray

For those engaged in the military gender integration debate today, de Beauvoir’s writing offers an additional reminder — those arguing against more integration may be no less intelligent and sincere than those championing change. But they still may be wrong.

History Reminds Us that Vaccines Alone Don't End Pandemics

by E. Thomas Ewing

Positive news about advances on a vaccine for the novel coronavirus should not be taken as a license to stop mask-wearing and social distancing argues a historian of viral pandemics. 

Is the Nationalist Tide Receding?

by Lawrence Wittner

The author contends, with hope, that the Trump presidency was a brief blip in the long decline of nationalistic conflict that will allow international cooperation for global challenges.

Let Trump Try To Defend Racist, Traitorous Confederates. Congress Can Still Prevail

by Ty Seidule

"This nation should honor those who fought bravely to defend it, not its enemies."

Wishbone of The Good Lord Bird

by Mark Lause

"In the end, The Good Lord Bird spins a worthwhile and entertaining yarn, but each episode starts with the unfortunate and misleading words: 'All of this is true.  Most of it happened'."

The Supreme Court Has to Choose Between Trump and the Nation’s Founders

by Amanda Frost

The Trump administration's efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the Census count is a test of whether the SCOTUS conservatives will sincerely follow originalism. 

The Enduring Disposability Of Latinx Workers

by Natalia Molina

"For over a century, we have excused systemic inequalities, justifying them by pointing to Mexicans’ difference from 'us'."

The Roundup Top Ten for November 20, 2020

The week's top op-eds by historians from around the web. 

Effi Eitam Leading Yad Vashem Disgraces the Memory of the 6 Million

by Derek Penslar and Susannah Heschel

"The politicization and radicalization of the institution will rob it of its legitimacy. Yad Vashem cannot fulfill its responsibilities with Effi Eitam at its helm."

Against Returning to Normal

by David Walsh

Liberal pleas to return to a "normal" defined by bipartisan consensus ignore the long legacy of ideological conflict and the pursuit of division as a political strategy by the conservative movement. 

Patsy Takemoto Mink Blazed The Trail For Kamala Harris – Not Susan B. Anthony

by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu

Patsy Takemoto Mink, elected in 1972 as the first woman of color in Congress, deserves recognition as a pioneering advocate for gender equity and the rights of Americans Caribbean and Pacific territories, and for preparing a path for Kamala Harris's election as Vice President. 

An FDR-Size Executive Order for Biden

by Thomas Geoghegan

Joseph Biden should issue an executive order requiring federal contracts go to firms with collective bargaining agreements in place, boosting wages, strengthening organized labor, and stimulating economic recovery. 

What the Greatest Generation had that the Covid Generation Lacks

by Nicole Hemmer

"The crisis, it turns out, is not the selfishness of this generation of Americans. It's the selfishness of the administration and its allies in Congress."

The World Is Never Going Back to Normal

by Anne Applebaum

American allies can read the newspapers, and have adjusted their expectations of American leadership accordingly in the last four years. It's unlikely a Biden administration can restore American leadership. 

Trump’s Presidential Library Will Be A Shrine To His Ego

by Paul Musgrave

If former presidents aren't interested in hosting official presidential papers at a library center, there is little oversight of how they tell the president's story. Any future Trump presidential center will likely not function as a library at all, but as a propaganda organ for Trumpism. 

Trump has Changed the Way Evangelical Christians Think about the Apocalypse

by Thomas Lecaque

Evangelicals have largely avoided interpreting the COVID-19 pandemic as a sign of the end times because doing so would also demand that they recognize their champion Donald Trump as a morally degenerate leader. The apocalyptic rhetoric that flowed freely under Obama has been silent this year. 

Trump is Testing Democracy. Nine out of 10 Senior Elected Republicans are Failing

by Max Boot

Civil servants have largely put their loyalty to the process of democracy above party. The same cannot be said for Republican elected officials. The Post's columnist argues that even if democracy survives, the party's reputation shouldn't. 

American Democracy Was Never Supposed to Work

by Richard Kreitner

"Merely ousting Trump is not enough without addressing more fundamental weaknesses in our political system, especially an outdated Constitution that continues to serve a minority of wealthy and white citizens and to curb any movements that might threaten their wealth and power."

I Don't Have to Forgive Joe Biden

by Christopher Lebron

"I choose to believe he is ready to be transformed by the times, his peers, and the mandate given to him in defeating good ol’ white supremacy. I can accept Biden for the purpose of dealing with him for the moment."