As we reach the end of another tumultuous year, it’s clearly time for taking stock in advance of even more critical times ahead.  Nothing better indicates the urgency of doing so than this recent poll result: 71% of Republicans believe our democracy is under major threat. Only 35% of Democrats agree. Denial is the first stage of many things, it appears.

So we close the books on 2021 with a recent series we ran (one of our most popular ever), tracing the metastasis of the current clear and present danger, present, for your consideration, our word of the year, “critical race,” (which, like the threat itself, is more/different than it appears) and, because truth, like Big Lies, needs repeating, include a few related readings to absorb–and share…