The biggest story in America is a president who has completely lost touch with reality. Who thinks the FBI let all the January 6 rioters into the Capitol, that he really won the 2020 election, that the Iran War is going well. Who, when occasionally confronted w reality, panics.
Crisis of the Common Good is a BEST SELLER. Thanks to everyone who responded so positively to the book.
I do think people are aching to understand the underlying spiritual crisis in America that led to Trump - and what we need to do to build a more caring, connected society.
Watch this absolutely insane back-and-forth in which @SecMullinDHS tells @ChrisMurphyCT that he has no obligation to follow court orders and defends ICE's noncompliance with "more court orders than some agencies violated in their entire history."
The heart of our constitutional crisis in one exchange between me and Sec. Mullin. When asked a simple question - if he will obey court orders - he says he will not because some court orders are "politicized".
That's not how democracy works. And that's why we are in a crisis.
CHRIS MURPHY: Can you commit to us that if a court judges something ICE or DHS is doing as illegal or unconstitutional and tells you to stop, that you will comply with the court order?
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: We will never break the Constitution and we're not going to break the law, but we're gonna enforce our nation's laws
MURPHY: That's not the same thing as committing to obey a court order
MULLIN: We see courts over and over use their bench for political opinion
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: I said I will never break the Constitution. We will enforce the law
MURPHY: Will you implement court orders when they tell you to stop?
MULLIN: You're making an assumption
MURPHY: Will you or will you not? Listen, if you're a Democrat or Republican on this committee, you should be really freaked out
Murphy: Can you commit to us that if judge finds that what DHS is illegal, that you will comply with the court order?
Mullin: If we didn't think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that
Murphy: You’re going to pick and choose what court orders you obey?
Mullin: Don’t put words in my mouth.
Murphy: You just said you may not follow court orders—
Mullin: Don’t put words in my mouth.
Murphy: Will you implement court orders?
Mullin: You're making an assumption on court orders I haven't seen
Murphy: If you're a Republican or a Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out—
Mullin: We should be really concerned about the rulings that come out of the courts.
Part of how we address the Crisis of the Common Good is to break up concentrated economic power.
It makes people feel more rooted and powerful when the people who own the supermarket, the bank, the hospital live in your community, not Aspen or Davos.
In his new book “Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) says he’s taking a closer look at “the emotional state of the country.”
“This is a country that is feeling more lonely, more adrift, more exhausted by an economy that abuses workers, a culture in which we tell people that they can make themselves happy by just buying things instead of… being active citizens,” Murphy says. “So it's a book about the underlying work that we have to do to unrig the economy, so that people feel purpose and value, and unrig our democracy, so that people feel power.”
This is true and I’m glad he said it. But our economy has become valueless. It teaches us that a “good” company is one that abuses its workers and makes poisonous products - as long as it makes a huge profit. It’s hard to build a moral nation without a moral capitalism.
“Even the most sacred things in our life, like our kids’ youth sports, [are] being purchased and then sold back to us.” Senator @ChrisMurphyCT tells me about how even at his son’s hockey game, he saw what he describes as a “Crisis of the Common Good”, the subject of his new book.
In my new book, Crisis of the Common Good, I argue that Trump is a symptom of a deeper spiritual crisis in America. One in which we worship cults of profit and consumption and technology and credentialism that benefit a small handful of elites.
In Crisis of the Common Good, I call out the need to rebuild institutions like churches and labor unions - the places where people find purpose and connection.
I visited with local labor leaders at @IATSE today in Chicago to talk about the spiritual importance of unions.
In Crisis of the Common Good, I lay out six cults that have infected our culture - the cults of profit, globalization, technology, consumerism, credentialism, and corruption. Sets of false beliefs that benefit a handful of elites.
More evidence of how the corruption works.
Trump and his family are making tons of money off these new prediction markets - and so of course he is leading the charge against consumer protections and for preferential regulatory treatment of his companies.
"If you want to get to the spiritual rot in this country, you have to get billionaire and corporate money out of our politics completely." - Sen. Chris Murphy, author of 'Crisis of the Common Good'