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Kevin Elliott

@kjephd.bsky.social

27K followers 1.1K following 19K posts

Political theorist studying democracy, ethics, & institutions. Author of Democracy for Busy People (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo194847654.html); more at kevinjelliott.net. Generally poasting my way through this thing

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · Jun 24

New article out from me, in which I consider: what if I'm wrong about everything re: what's important for a flourishing democracy?

I use a recent book attacking institutions & advocating disintermediated localism to explore the limits of my view.

Get it free here: academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...

Being a Citizen in the Rubble of Institutions
Kevin J Elliott

Abstract

What is the best foundation for democracy: citizenly habits sustained informally by the spontaneous effort of citizens themselves, or formal institutions and the law? C. L. Skach's How to Be a Citizen tells us how someone who dedicated her career to the importance of law and institutions lost her faith in them and came to see the habits and informal relations of citizens as the real site of democracy. Like many observers of politics in recent years, Skach has concluded that the regnant social order based on law and institutional mediation has fatally discredited itself. But giving up on institutions and law is no small thing. There are powerful reasons for, and immense social forces tied up with, coordinating modern societies by means of them. This review article explores the tensions between Skach's approach and some of these reasons and forces. Yet it does so not in the spirit of critique but rather as a challenge for those who view institutions and law as almost unquestionably fundamental to modern life. It seeks to explore what value there is in Skach's informal, anti-institutional approach for those who have not yet entirely lost the faith she once affirmed in modernity's legal and institutional workhorses.
democratic theory, constitutionalism, modernity, judicial supremacy, institutionalism, coordination

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 1m

Oh ho

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 1m

Bank of England flags risk of ‘sudden correction’ in tech stocks inflated by AI - on.ft.com/4o3RheA

Bank of England flags risk of ‘sudden correction’ in tech stocks inflated by AI

Financial Policy Committee warns equity prices are at levels comparable with dotcom bubble

on.ft.com

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Oh dang, I read that part too fast

Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 7h

Video from Trumpland!

If they shoot a praying white priest in broad daylight, knowing they are being filmed, do you really think YOU will be safe?

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 10h

Here’s video of the incident

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Three Democratic justices of the seven on the PA state Supreme Court face retention election—a simple up-or-down vote on whether to remove an officeholder—in Nov, & Republicans are trying to get them removed. No judge has ever lost in PA but in an off-year low turnout election, anything's possible

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 17h

Pennsylvania Republicans are aiming to erase Democrats' majority on the state supreme court in November.

But this sort of push has virtually no precedent or template in this state, making a weird campaign where everyone is trying to find their mark.

A great new read:
boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

Inside the Clunky Elections to Control Pennsylvania's Supreme Court - Bolts

The GOP is making an expensive push to end Democrats’ majority on a court at the center of election lawsuits, sparking a fledging campaign season with little precedent or template.

boltsmag.org

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Luck-egalitarians are concerned to remedy inequalities that do not arise from people's free choices, while leaving the consequences of free choices in place even if they look unfair, among other things.

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Reposted by Kevin Elliott

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 8h

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 10h

Here’s video of the incident

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Rurality is such a weird phenomenon, because it's as much or more about identity than residence. It might even be an ideology after a fashion. The Herzog piece I link takes it as a geographical problem, but that's at best a small part of what's going on

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

From a story back in September about what the Taliban have been up to. It sounds eerily similar to what's happening literally right now in Chicago and potentially Portland

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · Sep 23

The Taliban's morality police is very active in Kabul and other major urban centers but seems to be largely absent in the rural areas. Why might that be?

Well, because the regime's "most conservative elements" are focused on 'asserting' their dominance over the cities. This sounds familiar!

Text reading: Most men interviewed for this story live in Kabul, the country’s most cosmopolitan city, or other urban areas. Residents of more conservative and traditional parts of Afghanistan said they have noticed barely any changes. A male resident of rural Helmand, in southern Afghanistan, said no one in his village has concerns and such rules have long been customary there. “No morality police has showed up here so far. They focus on the cities,” he said.

The new restrictions appear to reflect a broader shift in the balance of power inside the Taliban, with the most conservative elements either gaining influence or seeking to assert themselves more aggressively in urban areas, according to Western officials and Afghan critics of the Taliban.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Also see the thread that that post was at the end of, which is about how American fascists are importantly similar to the literal Taliban who took over Afghanistan: bsky.app/profile/kjep...

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · Sep 23

This went around a few days ago with a "leopards eating faces party" response, but it's more interesting than that. What's happening in Afghanistan actually looks a hell of a lot like what's happening all over the world with rural reactionaries attacking urban centers...
(Gift) wapo.st/3XU13pB

As Taliban starts restricting men, too, some regret not speaking up sooner

Besides imposing severe rules on women, new laws require men to grow fist-length beards and bar them from imitating non-Muslims in appearance or behavior.

wapo.st

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

More seriously, if you're at all interested in the urban-rural divide as a serious problem, check this article out: bsky.app/profile/kjep...

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · Sep 23

This longstanding and currently very politically consequential issue has been largely neglected by political theorists. One outstanding exception is this recent article, "Urban-rural justice" by Lisa Herzog. (There's no abstract, so this is best summary I could find.)
pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfil...

Text reading: I first delve into the empirical literature on the urban–rural divide (Section II). Then I approach the question of justice with regard to this divide by focusing on three topics. The first concerns the distribution of educational opportunities, with a key question being how all children from rural areas can get the necessary support both for leaving and for staying (Section III). The second issue is the provision of public services and economic opportunities. Here I also discuss the luck-egalitarian objection that individuals choose the place in which they live for themselves, and are therefore themselves responsible if they have less access to certain opportunities in their region. Against this view, I argue that certain basic and civic services are owed to citizens in all regions, even if this comes at a higher cost to the public than the provision in urban areas. The third frame concerns cultural recognition, which has some overlap with economic issues...

Text reading: In philosophical discussions about justice, in contrast, one finds hardly any mention of the urban–rural divide. Geography plays a role in discussions about global justice, but not in discussions about justice within societies. Several reasons might explain this gap (apart from a possible sociological explanation: namely, that philosophers tend to be urbanites). One is the assumption that all questions about these geographical differences can be subsumed under other dimensions of justice. For example, if rural populations are poorer, on average, this is a matter of distributive justice; if they do not have good schools, this is a matter of equality of opportunity, and so on. This argument is hard to reject if one operates at a high level of abstraction and discusses the formulation and justification of different principles of justice. However, political philosophy might also want to address issues that are closer to concrete real-life issues...

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

They offer this helpful advice in an obscure little document called the Communist Manifesto

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

I regret to inform you that Marx & Engels have a solution to the vast problems besetting western democracies today stemming from the increasingly drastic urban-rural divide: "gradual abolition of the distinction between town & country via a more 'equitable' distribution of population geographically"

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah, I do alienation by way of commodity fetishism, as well as surplus value; in my experience, surplus value is extremely intuitive to students.

Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first @joshstein.bsky.social · 8h

A thought: Chuck Grassley (a man who has served in Congress since the Nixon administration) famously holds meetings in every single one of Iowa's 99 counties. He has done this annually for 45 years.

I'm curious what he thinks about his colleague avoiding constituents.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 1d

#IA01 Miller-Meeks says she will hold a town hall "when hell freezes over."
www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

A swing-district Iowa Republican says she’ll hold town halls ‘when hell freezes over’ | CNN Politics

Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks told Johnson County Republicans in an August meeting that she’ll hold town hall meetings “when hell freezes over.”

www.cnn.com

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

Exactly. But politics is distinct from the interpersonal realm because there are others involved, to whom you may owe your best efforts to protect or serve

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

Tomorrow is Marx day in my class. What's your favorite thing about the man or idea of his? Or something odd, I love an odd Marx fact

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

It is utterly perverse to say "I must make of myself an inferior person to meet the political moment" and yet that's where the argument leads

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

I'm struggling with the implications of my trimodal theory of politics because of its implications like these about how one must adopt friend-enemy politics when it is practiced by unignorable segments of the political world

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

What did WEB Du Bois think of Elvis

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 13h

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 9h

Put Me in Front of the Supreme Court Challenge

Crip Dyke @cripdyke.bsky.social · 9h

At some point, lawyers arguing before SCOTUS must make clear - possibly even during oral argument - that SCOTUS is corrupt, led by a corrupt CJ, & acting in a manner entirely inconsistent w rule of law.

I love Madiba Dennie, & wouldn't disagree w anything said here, but this moment requires more.

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 13h

SCOTUS signaled at its hearings today it may strike down Colorado's ban on conversion therapy

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

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Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Old Midgge @pyronsanity.bsky.social · 10h

The very last survivor American Civil War pension payment was to Irene Tripplet in 2020.

🔗 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_T...

Screenshot from 🔗 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Triplett

— — — — —

WIKIPEDIA

Irene Triplett

Irene Triplett (January 9, 1930 - May 31, 2020) was the last recipient of an American Civil War pension. Her father fought for both the Confederacy and later the Union in the war.

Irene Triplett

Born
January 9, 1930
Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States

Died
May 31, 2020
(aged 90)
Wilkesboro, North
Carolina, United States

Known for
Last recipient of an American Civil War
pension

Screenshot from 🔗 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Triplett

— — — — —

Pension

Triplett's father died in 1938 at the age of 92, after which she collected his Civil War pension of $73.13 per month from the Department of Veterans Affairs; [1] her cognitive impairments qualified her to inherit the pension as a helpless child of a veteran. [7] The total amount of benefits she received was about $73,000, or $344,000 when adjusted for inflation. [8]

Widespread public awareness of Triplett's status occurred in 2013 as the result of a Daily Mail story about her. [4]

After the 2018 death of Fred Upham, the son of William H. Upham, she became the last surviving eligible child of a Civil War veteran. [9]

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Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 9h

“It’s true, all of it… it’s all true.”

Daily Beast: lol Republicans’ polls suck

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Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 9h

once again asking all surveys to include an "anything else you would like to tell us" at the end because I guarantee you I will have helpful* thoughts on your questionnaire design

*YMMV, but then again YMM be wrong, particularly if all your fave questions have "never heard of" but not "no opinion"

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 9h

Truly, a great read

Reposted by Kevin Elliott

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 9h

President Miller glitched 😬

Blanche Devereaux @gingerkap23.bsky.social · 14h

Miller oopsie doodled and said the quiet part out loud, talking about DT aka himself having “plenary authority”:

A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations

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