The Vietnam War looms large in the modern history of armed conflict. It is not difficult to see the impacts that the war had on every element of American living. It was a massive and obvious military loss, a personal tragedy for countless families, and a bellwether for an increasingly cynical political landscape. To beContinue reading “Week 8: Apocalypse Now”
Author Archives: ianward2023
Brown v. Board and the People
Folks don’t often dwell overlong in the exact machinations of government. We would all be ecstatic not to have to dwell in political limbo in regards to such thorny subjects as sexism and racism, but alas. There are surely much flashier, trendier issues to be talking about that aren’t ancient sins of our nation. WhenContinue reading “Brown v. Board and the People”
Week 5: Women? In MY workforce? It’s more likely than you think
A small handful of people in human history have had their ideas spread over the world with their last name attached — Machiavelli and Stalin jump to mind. These men are not merely the dimensions of their bodies, they are the projections of their minds upon society. Senator Joseph McCarthy is entrenched in 1950’s historyContinue reading “Week 5: Women? In MY workforce? It’s more likely than you think”
SDICBMs
Historically, precious few major developments in national history have happened in our humble state of South Dakota. The installation of Minuteman missiles, at least, brought us to the fore of the Cold War where before it was largely a mental exercise. The USSR was a big scary threat over there, but the presence of massiveContinue reading “SDICBMs”
Gay or Soviet?
The Lavender Scare was a moral panic pertaining to gay people in government. It coincided with the Red Scare in terms of mass hysteria about otherized boogeymen infiltrating and sabotaging the American system. The Red and Lavender Scares received relatively little serious resistance, as all involved parties were happy enough to use associated buzzwords toContinue reading “Gay or Soviet?”
Counting Sheep
The national security state is a newfangled term for a function of government that has always existed. Part and parcel of governance is deciding just how much the public needs to know — even the best-intentioned policies of transparency must reconcile with the fact that there is simply too much information passing through government serversContinue reading “Counting Sheep”
Will Wright 