Politics – Page 2 – Gus diZerega

Power, Evil, and the Crisis of Our Times: an animist view

Posted on January 31, 2020January 11, 2022 by Gus

Gus diZerega

Presented at the Conference on Current Pagan Studies, Jan. 25-6, 2020

Auschwitz guards and staff on holiday.1944

In 2013 I published Faultlines: The 60s, the Culture War, and the Return of the Divine Feminine. Written largely in 2010, … Read more

The right wing’s Orwellian manipulation of ‘socialism’

Posted on April 13, 2019April 13, 2019 by Gus

All of a sudden, some right wing online commentators are emphasizing that Scandinavian nations are “not socialist.” I am seeing this claim in many places of late. But for years, decades even, right wing commentators have called Sweden in particular … Read more

Why arguments against abortion fail

Posted on May 7, 2018March 17, 2022 by Gus

I am struck with how the debate over whether or not abortion is morally acceptable has become a battle of slogans rather than of reason. I think the major culprits are on the so-called ‘pro life’ side, but at this … Read more

Transforming the Cultural Appropriation Debate: Pagan and magickal insights.

Posted on September 2, 2017April 28, 2023 by Gus

The common academic issue of whether or not one engages in ‘cultural appropriation’ has divided the Pagan community. I have been very explicit in my dislike of the idea, but in working out just why I dislike the concept I … Read more

Thoughts on shooting Congressmen and the dissolution of America

Posted on June 14, 2017June 23, 2017 by Gus

The attempted murder of several Congressmen and shooting of one marks another step in the progressive dissolution of the U.S. occurring before our eyes. That the shooter could have been either from the right or the left indicates how close … Read more

Why would Russia want Trump to win? And why would Trump go long with it?

Posted on November 2, 2016January 8, 2017 by Gus

In an inexplicably naïve article Brendan Gauthier at Salon argued that Russia was the only country that seemed to want Donald Trump to be president. But rather than asking why this is so, or wondering what Russia might reasonably do … Read more

Spontaneous Order and Liberalism’s Complex Relation to Democracy

Posted on February 8, 2016June 29, 2018 by Gus

Spontaneous orders are natural outgrowths of liberal principles and a better understanding of them sheds light on a fateful split between nineteenth-century American and European liberal traditions that remains very relevant today. This essay is my most complete discussion of … Read more

Social Justice from a Pagan Perspective

Posted on February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 by Gus

On January 23, 2016, I gave this paper as the keynote speaker at the Conference of Current Pagan Studies, in Claremont, California. It was well received and I want to make it available to anyone who is interested.

Social … Read more

Not Just Construction: the shadow side of large organizations

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Gus

Why do big organizations so often seem perverse, and why do people who are a part of them so often seem as if they have become different people? Why do these most impressive of our social creations seem to become … Read more

Hayekian Insights on Capitalism Part III: Capitalism and Nature

Posted on October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 by Gus

Capitalism undermines the natural systems that support human well-being for the same reason it undermines civil society: the values it elevates above all others are incompatible with human or natural flourishing. Capitalism fails to achieve the minimal ethical standards to … Read more