In a recent lecture, Paul Krugman said:

“Or to put it another way, one thing we seem to have learned from the (economic – sw) crisis is that many of our colleagues are less engaged in something like science, an attempt to understand the world as it is, than we would like to think. Instead, when they invoke evidence it is the way a drunkard uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.

The best excuse one can offer is that even hard scientists are often reluctant to change their views – ‘science progresses one funeral at a time,’ said Max Planck. But what I’m pointing out here isn’t just that too few economists were willing to learn from the Great Recession, but that there’s a notable contrast with the way the profession seized on the troubles of the 1970s. This asymmetry is what’s troubling …”

While Krugman’s field and object of analysis is economics and his colleagues in that profession, his insights have broader application to businesses, political parties, and other institutions that, when encountering a challenge to their outmoded thinking and practices, either cherry pick their evidence to sustain that thinking and those practices, or, worse still, double down on them.

While that gambit may create the illusion that “all is right in their world,” or soon will be, it won’t in the long run stand up to the corrosive and unforgiving force of reality. And at that point, unless its practitioners make a u-turn in their thinking and practices, an existential crisis erupts, resulting in the eventual collapse of the organization and a scrambling for the exits.

What Krugman doesn’t really address (well, to be fair, he hints at it) is an explanation for the stubborn persistence of old modes of thinking and practices, even in the face of growing and unimpeachable evidence that they are totally out of sync with reality. I hope he comes back to this matter in another lecture.

In the meantime, I would suggest this as a hypothesis: people who inhabit institutions, be they economics departments, political parties, businesses, or whatever, are the products of a deeply embedded and self-reproducing organizational and political culture, thereby making them cognitively and psychically resistant to challenges to that worldview and its accompanying practices.

Moreover, this resistance is reinforced by the material and status benefits that is confers on its leading practitioners.

Listening to the debate reminded me of three things. First, racism, sexism, and misogyny are embedded in Trump’s every pore. He has no comprehension of how offensive he is. Even his attempts to clean up his act are deeply suffused with crude racist, sexist, and misogynistic thinking.

Second, a Trump victory could easily throw the country (and world) on a very dangerous trajectory – not necessarily fascism, but, with no exaggeration, on a track that is authoritarian, punitive, unpredictable, and relentlessly anti-democratic and anti-people. And yet some who should no better persist in saying that the differences between him and Hillary are of little significance. This is, straight up, delusional.

Third, a Clinton presidency would constitute a firewall against the right wing extremist agenda and could set into motion a new period of political, economic, and social reforms. It won’t happen simply on the size and strength of the victory of Hillary and other Democrats down the ticket, although that would help immensely. But when combined with a growing progressive current in the Democratic Party, the rise of new and energetic social movements, the widespread desire for change on the part of millions of American people and the main social organizations that represent them, and a reconstituted left that articulates a compelling vision, thinks dialectically and strategically, and practices an expansive, non-sectarian politics, the future brightens considerably.

Will do some phone banking for Hillary later today and then to debate party at local watering hole tonight. Later this week will do more phone banking/canvassing for Hillary and Congressional candidate Zephyr Teachout. She’s running for the seat in the district I live in. It’s crunch time, isn’t it?

In the meantime, I recommend reading this NYT editorial, no matter where you sit on political spectrum.

Steve Kerr is the coach of the Golden State Warriors. He is also a former NBA player. But what most people don’t know is that his father, who was the President of American University in Beirut, Lebanon, was asassinated in 1984 in a senseless act of gun violence there. Below is some excerpts of an interview of Kerr reported by the Washington Post. If you have time watch the full interview embedded in the story. It’s powerful.

“This is America. This is what our country is about. It’s a nonviolent protest. It’s what it should be about … I think Colin has really clarified his message over the last couple of weeks.”

“No matter what side of the spectrum you are on, I would hope that every American is disgusted with what is going on around the country, with what happened in Tulsa two days ago, Terence Crutcher … It doesn’t matter what side you’re on, on the Kaepernick stuff, you better be disgusted about things that are happening.”

“As long as the message is clear, I’m all for people speaking out against injustice. Whatever form that takes, if it’s non-violent and it leads to conversation, then I think that’s a good thing.”

Chip Kelly is the head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Below is his remarks at a media sessions earlier this week. Not everyone in the sport’s world is as supportive, some very critical. But interestingly, the support is more widespread than most people – and especially people who don’t follow sports – would think.

Here’s Kelly:

“You look at what’s gone on in Tulsa and Charlotte the last two nights, it’s an issue that’s at the forefront of our country. It needs to be addressed, it needs to be taken care of. Because what’s going on is not right. So, I think, again, [Kaepernick] is shedding light on the situation that is heinous and shouldn’t happen in this country. We all have inalienable rights as a citizen of this country. They’re being violated and that’s what I think Colin is standing up for.”