The Evils of Democracy Thrive in Darkness
Course | Registration opens 1/21/2025 8:00 AM EST
Five classes will uncover demagogues who “chose to talk the biggest and pander the most to the tastes of the majority, with their eyes fixed only on the interests of the moment” (Athenian Constitution 28.4) while a complicit press conceals classified data, privileged conversations, non-disclosure agreements and exclusionary rules. We will note Ben Rhodes' echo chamber,’ ... saying things that validated what we had given them to say. “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns.…They literally know nothing."
Recommended reading - Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics, delivered by Ex-senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany Philosopher, from his Rostrum-the New York County Court House Bootblack Stand and recorded by William L. Riordon.
Ray Manus
Ray Manus has a Master of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA) and thirty-one years of experience in the New York City Police Department. As a student, practitioner, and adjunct instructor of criminal justice, he offers objective insight into current events. He has been a patrolman in crowd control, a neighborhood police officer, a sergeant in the narcotics division, and a lieutenant in planning. Raymond taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and participated in the National Evaluation of the COPS program by the Urban Institute.