David Polansky
@polanskydj.bsky.social
I reviewed the new book by @shadihamid.bsky.social which makes the case for American power. My takeaway is that he's reverse engineering neoconservatism albeit from very different premises. Give it a read (both the book and the review):
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/review-sha...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/review-sha...
Review: Shadi Hamid's The Case for American Power
or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hegemon
davidpolansky.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I reviewed the new book by @shadihamid.bsky.social which makes the case for American power. My takeaway is that he's reverse engineering neoconservatism albeit from very different premises. Give it a read (both the book and the review):
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/review-sha...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/review-sha...
Reposted by David Polansky
Free speech Canada vs US, an ongoing conundrum. A delight as always to chat with @polanskydj.bsky.social, for The Jewish Angle @thecjn.bsky.social thecjn.ca/opinion/is-f...
Is 'free speech' suddenly freer in Canada than the U.S.?
The 2020s are entering the era of the 'woke right', where permissible language is dictated by right-wing governments.
thecjn.ca
October 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Free speech Canada vs US, an ongoing conundrum. A delight as always to chat with @polanskydj.bsky.social, for The Jewish Angle @thecjn.bsky.social thecjn.ca/opinion/is-f...
Reposted by David Polansky
I mostly stayed offline yesterday, but I did set down some thoughts on why, as much as I do hope this latest peace proposal sticks, the larger question of Palestinian sovereignty is still unresolved—partly because people seem to keep seeing past it.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
What Did We Learn?
Looking back and forward on the second anniversary of the 10/7 attacks
davidpolansky.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I mostly stayed offline yesterday, but I did set down some thoughts on why, as much as I do hope this latest peace proposal sticks, the larger question of Palestinian sovereignty is still unresolved—partly because people seem to keep seeing past it.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
I mostly stayed offline yesterday, but I did set down some thoughts on why, as much as I do hope this latest peace proposal sticks, the larger question of Palestinian sovereignty is still unresolved—partly because people seem to keep seeing past it.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
What Did We Learn?
Looking back and forward on the second anniversary of the 10/7 attacks
davidpolansky.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I mostly stayed offline yesterday, but I did set down some thoughts on why, as much as I do hope this latest peace proposal sticks, the larger question of Palestinian sovereignty is still unresolved—partly because people seem to keep seeing past it.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/what-did-w...
In the wake of Kirk's killing, I am seeing what has become a common tendency to attribute such attacks to a kind of abstract political contagion or historical momentum we can barely withstand. I try to explain here why I think we should resist this impulse.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/against-th...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/against-th...
Against the Passive Voice
On the mental resistance of despair as political practice
davidpolansky.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM
In the wake of Kirk's killing, I am seeing what has become a common tendency to attribute such attacks to a kind of abstract political contagion or historical momentum we can barely withstand. I try to explain here why I think we should resist this impulse.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/against-th...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/against-th...
Living outside the United States on this 4th of July, I wrote about the theme of exile, with reflections on Dante, Caetano Veloso, and Jason Stanley -- a sentence that I'm pretty sure no one has written before. Link below.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/on-exile
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/on-exile
On Exile
Considerations on Dante, Caetano Veloso, Jason Stanley, and me
davidpolansky.substack.com
July 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Living outside the United States on this 4th of July, I wrote about the theme of exile, with reflections on Dante, Caetano Veloso, and Jason Stanley -- a sentence that I'm pretty sure no one has written before. Link below.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/on-exile
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/on-exile
I wrote (what I hope is) a non-hysterical consideration of the problem of rising antisemitism in Canada. Unlike the United States, it's not significantly involved in the Middle East already, which may allow for greater clarity.
thehub.ca/2025/06/20/d...
thehub.ca/2025/06/20/d...
David Polansky: Kind, tolerant Canada is failing the antisemitism test
An increasingly multicultural Canada is increasingly hostile towards Canada’s Jews
thehub.ca
June 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I wrote (what I hope is) a non-hysterical consideration of the problem of rising antisemitism in Canada. Unlike the United States, it's not significantly involved in the Middle East already, which may allow for greater clarity.
thehub.ca/2025/06/20/d...
thehub.ca/2025/06/20/d...
"I like it here in the mental asylum"
People get mad at me on bluesky but I rarely get called slurs, see someone posting a bullshit chart about how people like me are subhuman, and no one complains when i Romapost. People seem to actually read pieces I share! As far as social media experiences go it’s about as good as it gets
June 12, 2025 at 11:24 PM
"I like it here in the mental asylum"
For your Memorial Day reading, I wrote about the mistaken belief that we're living in a time of intense ideological conflicts.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/non-immens...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/non-immens...
Non-immense Wars of the Non-spirit
Over three decades ago, Francis Fukuyama published his famous End of History and the Last Man, in which he declared that history (or rather, “History”), meaning an unfolding process of clashing ideas,...
davidpolansky.substack.com
May 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
For your Memorial Day reading, I wrote about the mistaken belief that we're living in a time of intense ideological conflicts.
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/non-immens...
davidpolansky.substack.com/p/non-immens...
Reposted by David Polansky
Quite a few books have been written lately on the emergence of right-wing threats to democracy. I reviewed two of them—Zack Beauchamp’s The Reactionary Spirit and Quinn Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards—but found their explanations wanting.
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
Democracy’s Demons - American Affairs Journal
Following her defeat in the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton published a book titled What Happened. While that tome is not considered a classic work of political analysis, its implied titular qu...
americanaffairsjournal.org
May 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Quite a few books have been written lately on the emergence of right-wing threats to democracy. I reviewed two of them—Zack Beauchamp’s The Reactionary Spirit and Quinn Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards—but found their explanations wanting.
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
Quite a few books have been written lately on the emergence of right-wing threats to democracy. I reviewed two of them—Zack Beauchamp’s The Reactionary Spirit and Quinn Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards—but found their explanations wanting.
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
Democracy’s Demons - American Affairs Journal
Following her defeat in the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton published a book titled What Happened. While that tome is not considered a classic work of political analysis, its implied titular qu...
americanaffairsjournal.org
May 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Quite a few books have been written lately on the emergence of right-wing threats to democracy. I reviewed two of them—Zack Beauchamp’s The Reactionary Spirit and Quinn Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards—but found their explanations wanting.
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/demo...
I wrote about the question of greatness, particularly in light of Trump and his supporters for @wisdomofcrowds.bsky.social -- give it a read:
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/michael-jo...
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/michael-jo...
Michael Jordan, Yes; Winston Churchill, No?
David Polansky on why democracies fear greatness -- and why they shouldn't.
wisdomofcrowds.live
May 9, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I wrote about the question of greatness, particularly in light of Trump and his supporters for @wisdomofcrowds.bsky.social -- give it a read:
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/michael-jo...
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/michael-jo...
Reposted by David Polansky
Was great to have @polanskydj.bsky.social on the podcast for mid-election-day analysis!
April 29, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Was great to have @polanskydj.bsky.social on the podcast for mid-election-day analysis!
I am in @thehubcanada.bsky.social today on that rarest of things: an important Canadian election.
thehub.ca/2025/04/28/d...
thehub.ca/2025/04/28/d...
David Polansky: Canada on the brink
thehub.ca
April 28, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I am in @thehubcanada.bsky.social today on that rarest of things: an important Canadian election.
thehub.ca/2025/04/28/d...
thehub.ca/2025/04/28/d...
I have a guest post in @shadihamid.bsky.social 's excellent new newsletter discussing the strange state of affairs in which liberals find themselves defending established norms and institutions--kinda like, um, conservatives.
www.shadihamid.net/p/on-conserv...
www.shadihamid.net/p/on-conserv...
On Conservatism
A guest essay from David Polansky on why everyone defends what they know best.
www.shadihamid.net
March 22, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I have a guest post in @shadihamid.bsky.social 's excellent new newsletter discussing the strange state of affairs in which liberals find themselves defending established norms and institutions--kinda like, um, conservatives.
www.shadihamid.net/p/on-conserv...
www.shadihamid.net/p/on-conserv...
In light of the news of the Trump administration pulling $400 million in public funding from Columbia University and the complaints about free speech in response, I'm reposting what I wrote on this question last year, which I think still applies.
www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-lif...
www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-lif...
We argue about campus free speech because we forget what the university is for - Washington Examiner
The salient questions are whether universities are meaningfully generating or preserving human knowledge and whether their students are capable of receiving it.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
March 8, 2025 at 3:57 AM
In light of the news of the Trump administration pulling $400 million in public funding from Columbia University and the complaints about free speech in response, I'm reposting what I wrote on this question last year, which I think still applies.
www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-lif...
www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-lif...
I have an essay on an underappreciated factor that contributes to the madness of contemporary politics: how broadly liberal or left-leaning establishment institutions now find themselves in the essentially conservative position of defending the status quo.
www.strangefrequencies.co/on-conservat...
www.strangefrequencies.co/on-conservat...
On Conservatism
The great historian/poet/all-around Renaissance man Robert Conquest famously formulated several laws of politics, of which the first ran:
Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
www.strangefrequencies.co
March 7, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I have an essay on an underappreciated factor that contributes to the madness of contemporary politics: how broadly liberal or left-leaning establishment institutions now find themselves in the essentially conservative position of defending the status quo.
www.strangefrequencies.co/on-conservat...
www.strangefrequencies.co/on-conservat...
Reposted by David Polansky
In my new @washingtonpost.com column, I argue that it's okay to have mixed feelings about "the system." Personally, I'm neither pro-system nor anti-system. And that's a fine place to be, however uncomfortable it may feel. More people should join us.
wapo.st/3EUWhkv
wapo.st/3EUWhkv
Opinion | Why half of America is cheering for chaos
The fight isn’t between conservatives and liberals anymore. It’s are you pro-system or anti-system?
wapo.st
February 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
In my new @washingtonpost.com column, I argue that it's okay to have mixed feelings about "the system." Personally, I'm neither pro-system nor anti-system. And that's a fine place to be, however uncomfortable it may feel. More people should join us.
wapo.st/3EUWhkv
wapo.st/3EUWhkv
There's this emphasis on humor as a kind of political expression under the new regime, in contrast to the previous era of high wokeness. The trouble is, you can't really will yourself into comedy without turning it into a kind of kitsch, as I discuss here.
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
Why politics kills comedy | David Polansky | The Critic Magazine
Humour is a strange thing. Back when Christopher Hitchens was both alive and still playing his assigned role of Naughty Little Provocateur, he attracted some controversy over an article titled “Why…
thecritic.co.uk
February 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM
There's this emphasis on humor as a kind of political expression under the new regime, in contrast to the previous era of high wokeness. The trouble is, you can't really will yourself into comedy without turning it into a kind of kitsch, as I discuss here.
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
Reposted by David Polansky
Love this examination by @polanskydj.bsky.social . Humor is true morality. It protects us from both the moralist piety of the Left and the immoral cruelty of the Right.
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
Why politics kills comedy | David Polansky | The Critic Magazine
Humour is a strange thing. Back when Christopher Hitchens was both alive and still playing his assigned role of Naughty Little Provocateur, he attracted some controversy over an article titled “Why…
thecritic.co.uk
February 24, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Love this examination by @polanskydj.bsky.social . Humor is true morality. It protects us from both the moralist piety of the Left and the immoral cruelty of the Right.
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
thecritic.co.uk/why-politics...
I am in @postopinions.bsky.social along with several others with comments on the very brief trade war between the United States and Canada.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
Opinion | Trump’s tariff whiplash
Six writers react to the new administration’s tariff diplomacy.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I am in @postopinions.bsky.social along with several others with comments on the very brief trade war between the United States and Canada.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
I had a nice discussion here for @nationalpost.bsky.social on the problems of the Canadian nation
nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
How Canada gets its groove back: Advice from a friendly American
Political theorist David Polansky says Justin Trudeau has it wrong: Canada has a core identity. “It’s a gorgeous country. It’s a stable country."
nationalpost.com
January 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I had a nice discussion here for @nationalpost.bsky.social on the problems of the Canadian nation
nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
I wrote about some of my favorite music anywhere ever
cafeamericainmag.com/the-rockstea...
cafeamericainmag.com/the-rockstea...
The Rocksteady Crew
A Genre That Was Incomprehensibly Outshone by Its Brethren Reggae and Ska
cafeamericainmag.com
January 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I wrote about some of my favorite music anywhere ever
cafeamericainmag.com/the-rockstea...
cafeamericainmag.com/the-rockstea...
Reposted by David Polansky
The now-departing Prime Minister Trudeau declared Canada the first postnational country back when he first assumed office to much acclaim. The results of this experiment, however, have been dire, as I wrote for the excellent @wisdomofcrowds.bsky.social
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/does-canad...
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/does-canad...
Does Canada Exist?
Righteous idealism about immigration has wrecked the liberal project across the world.
wisdomofcrowds.live
January 9, 2025 at 11:54 PM
The now-departing Prime Minister Trudeau declared Canada the first postnational country back when he first assumed office to much acclaim. The results of this experiment, however, have been dire, as I wrote for the excellent @wisdomofcrowds.bsky.social
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/does-canad...
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/does-canad...
I wrote an uncharacteristically impassioned piece on Canada's troubles for @thehubcanada.bsky.social . Though I don't normally encourage anger in political life, there are times when it's warranted. Like now.
t.co/R7StSVLIpP
t.co/R7StSVLIpP
https://thehub.ca/2025/01/10/david-polansky-you-need-to-be-angrier-canada/
t.co
January 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I wrote an uncharacteristically impassioned piece on Canada's troubles for @thehubcanada.bsky.social . Though I don't normally encourage anger in political life, there are times when it's warranted. Like now.
t.co/R7StSVLIpP
t.co/R7StSVLIpP