Aaron Ross Powell's Blog

Politics, culture, and philosophy through a radical liberal lens. Co-host of the Inner Life of Liberalism podcast.

American History as Fandom Lore

On MAGA canon and cosplay.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 26, 2026

Out Now: Liberalism's Inner Life

The first episode of The Inner Life of Liberalism podcast.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 18, 2026

My New Project: The Inner Life of Liberalism Podcast

Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 17, 2026

The Thing About Griping About Bluesky

Let a thousand mutually suspicious communities bloom.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 13, 2026

Don't Harm Your Enemies. Make Them Less Harmful.

Speaking with intent to harm trains the speaker in habits of hatred. The cost of online cruelty isn't only to the target.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 11, 2026

What the Ancients Knew About Posting Well

An early Buddhist text gives us four questions to ask before posting—and most of what we post fails the test.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 08, 2026

Two Helpful Essays Illuminating Liberal Practice

Two short Buddhist essays from Thanissaro Bhikkhu on karma as feedback loop, identity as inheritance, and intention as a skill you can practice.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 07, 2026

The Ethics of Not Being Offended

Discomfort isn't harm. Treating it as harm burns the finite moral attention we need for the suffering that actually exists.

Aaron Ross Powell|April 21, 2026

The Kids Aren’t Into Retro Tech Because of Surveillance Capitalism

Teenagers buying CDs aren't making a political statement. They just like CDs.

Aaron Ross Powell|April 18, 2026

ReImagining Liberty Ends (And What's to Come)

After 101 episodes, it's time to move on to new projects.

ReImagining Liberty Ends (And What's to Come)

Aaron Ross Powell|April 05, 2026

Who Is AI Music For?

Google's music-making AI makes songs. I just can't figure out why anyone would listen to them.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 26, 2026

The Inner Life of Liberalism

The practices that make your life better are the same ones that sustain a free society. It's time liberalism took that seriously.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 20, 2026

Argumentation and Illumination: Two Ways Philosophy Works

Some philosophy works by proving a conclusion. Some works by making something visible you couldn't see before. Here's why the distinction matters.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 14, 2026

ReImagining Liberty 098: The Practice and Inner Life of Liberalism (w/ Jason Canon)

A podcast conversation.

ReImagining Liberty 098: The Practice and Inner Life of Liberalism (w/ Jason Canon)

Aaron Ross Powell|March 11, 2026

If You’ve Only Ever Played D&D, You’re Missing Out

Tabletop RPGs are story engines. Why would you want to tell only one kind of story?

Aaron Ross Powell|February 11, 2026

The Faux-Sophistication of Doomer Despair

It's okay to feel despair in the moment. But it's dumb to insist we've already lost.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 04, 2026

Trump is Governing a Country that Doesn't Exist—And Destroying One That Does

Cognitive decline and a curated information environment means Trump has no idea what's happening in the world outside his head.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 27, 2026

The Regime Has No Defense Against a Good Neighbor

America’s political divide is between neighborliness and neighborhood pariahs, and neighborliness is winning.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 25, 2026

ReImagining Liberty is taking a short break

A brief pause for the next big thing.

ReImagining Liberty is taking a short break

Aaron Ross Powell|January 22, 2026

What Pete Hegseth’s Kettlebell Swings Tell Us About MAGA Ideology

MAGA is built on a fundamental lack of the internal protective quality that warns us when we are debasing ourselves.

What Pete Hegseth’s Kettlebell Swings Tell Us About MAGA Ideology

Aaron Ross Powell|January 12, 2026

My Favorite Movie of 2025

It's not the year's best movie, but Spinal Tap 2 brought me the most joy.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 24, 2025

ReImagining Liberty 096: The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li)

A podcast conversation.

ReImagining Liberty 096: The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li)

Aaron Ross Powell|December 23, 2025

You Can't Escape the Algorithm

Chronological feeds won't fix social media

Aaron Ross Powell|December 17, 2025

Spending Time with Spinal Tap (Again)

A late sequel that doesn't try to be a movie. It's a hangout—and it's exactly what it needs to be.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 15, 2025

ReImagining Liberty 095: Adam Gurri on Opposition Meda versus Complicit Media

A podcast conversation.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 12, 2025

MAGA is an Auto-Humiliation Movement

Trump is shameless, yes. But he also has a fetish for humiliating himself.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 05, 2025

The End of the Showman Presidency

In Trump 1.0, he'd back down when he was unpopular. Now he doesn't.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 02, 2025

The Answer to Student AI Writing Slop is Authorial Voice

LLMs are bad at sounding unique. So we should help young writers to develop their own unique prose style.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 26, 2025

ReImagining Liberty 094: A New American Reconstruction

A conversation with Andy Craig and Shikha Dalmia

Aaron Ross Powell|November 24, 2025

Why Elites Believe in Racial IQ Differences and Evolutionary Psych

Both help deflect critiques of elite status being less earned than elites want to think.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 11, 2025

The “Likable”/“Unlikable” Political Realignment

American conservatism is a home for unlikeable people who’ve turned their unlinkability into a political project.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 07, 2025

Most Americans Aren’t Fascists, and That’s a Big Problem for the GOP

When you let rot into your coalition, your entire coalition eventually turns rotten.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 06, 2025

The Anti-Anti-Trans Election

Running against trans people failed and America proved itself a better place than the worst among us want it to be.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 05, 2025

Leaflet, Blogging, and How to Fix Social Media

Decentralization, network overlap, and why we should all blog, too.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 31, 2025

What It Means to View Ethics as a Practice

Ethics isn't a body of knowledge you study. It's a skill you practice—and that distinction changes how you should approach living well.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 24, 2025

No Kings and Letting Ourselves Hope

There are more of us than there are of them. And we have decency on our side.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 19, 2025

You Haven’t Been Canceled. You’re Just Unlikable.

People don't like jerks. But jerks think people instead can't handle their ideas.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 11, 2025

If Trump is So Unpopular, Why are Institutions Capitulating?

The American people can't stand Trump. His polling is abysmal. And yet private and public institutions capitulate. Why?

Aaron Ross Powell|October 06, 2025

Two Kinds of Libertarians

Some libertarians oppose the state because it reinforces social hierarchies. Others because it threatens them. Only the former is worthy of the name.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 04, 2025

Elite Complicity in the Rise of Fascism

America's elites downplay Trump's authoritarian fascism out of a corrupt sense of class consciousness and solidarity.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 03, 2025

How to Be in a World on Fire

The values and perspectives our political moment demands of us.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 02, 2025

Trumpism and the Status Anxiety of Abusers

The MAGA movement appeals to mediocre men who mistake the arrival of meritocracy for discrimination, and turn to abuse to reclaim dominance they never earned.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 20, 2025

Silicon Valley’s Very Online Ideologues are in Model Collapse

The combination of exceptional wealth and a closed and uniform ideological and intellectual community wreaks havoc on one's epistemic psychology.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 06, 2025

Roy Cooper, Prayer, and the Folly of Anti-Religious Collectivism

Roy Cooper's Senate campaign announcement, which included a mention of prayer, sparked backlash on social media from people who'd rather be bigots than understand another's faith.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 29, 2025

Boys Are Falling Behind Girls Because Girls Aren't Being Held Back

Let’s not blame boys’ underperformance on women teachers.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 26, 2025

Silicon Valley’s “996” Is About Power, not Productivity

The "996" work schedule reflects a troubling belief in sacrificing personal well-being for perceived productivity, driven more by power dynamics than actual efficiency.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 23, 2025

AI and the Threat of Nostalgia Culture

What happens when AI gets good enough at nostalgia remixes that people stop paying for original work? Maybe not what the doomers predict.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 14, 2025

An Inconsistent Approach to Viewpoint Diversity

If school choice is the answer to fights over curriculum in K-12 schools, it also needs to be the answer at universities. But culture war supporting libertarians don't tend to apply the argument that consistently.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 08, 2025

If You Want to Win Political Arguments, Stop Being an Asshole

Political persuasion versus the urge to political domination.

Aaron Ross Powell|June 30, 2025

Liberalism, Virtue, and the Crisis of Young Men

Liberals should stop pretending liberalism is value-free, and instead argue that liberal values are better than the alternatives.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 06, 2025

Fight Now, Hope Always

Even as we fight back against illiberalism, we must always be examples of what makes liberalism worth fighting for.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 17, 2025

Trump Promised Disaster. His Supporters Didn’t Believe Him.

Trump supporters talked themselves into believing his first-term failures meant he was bluffing. His second term is proving they were wrong about that.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 05, 2025

Reign of the Competency Cosplayers

American politics suffers from a lack of genuine expertise, as leaders prioritize performative competence and tribal loyalty over actual knowledge and skill.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 26, 2025

The GOP is now just grifters grifting each other

Mike Johnson is convinced Elon Musk cracked the code on government data. That tells you everything about the modern GOP.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 24, 2025

Selling Out vs. Just Selling: The Weirdness of "Content" Monetization

What it means that we stopped caring so much about what we create and started caring only about whether we can sell it.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 12, 2025

Why Reasonable Doubt Matters (and Why You Should Serve on a Jury)

Prosecutors need juries to hold them to account and demand they do what they're duty-bound to do.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 24, 2025

The Emperor's New Annexations: Journalism and the Normalization of Nonsense

Presenting "both sides" of an issue when one side is patently absurd undermines journalistic integrity and normalizes dangerous rhetoric.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 09, 2025

Bad Policy Comes from Confusing "Complexity" and "Complication"

If we're going to solve difficult problems, we need to know whether they're just difficult ot understand or entirely unknowable.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 08, 2025

The Politics of "Unbiased" Conservative Search Engines

A conservative search engine landed in my newsletter's ad rotation. Its sales pitch is a window into the right's parallel reality economy.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 18, 2024

Politics as a Tool: Shaping Society for Good

Before we can do politics well, we need to know why we do politics in the first place.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 16, 2024

The Limits of AI Learning: Why Drilling Down Can Lead You Astray

The more you ask follow-up questions, the worse the answers get.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 13, 2024

The Shaky Future of Trump's Personality Cult

Trump won't be around forever. And no one looks position to lead his movement without him.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 09, 2024

Twitter and the Confusion of Medium and Message

Journalists' attachment to Twitter stems from a conflation of the platform with the act of journalism itself.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 04, 2024

Why, Despite the Numbers, Bluesky Feels Bigger than Threads

Threads has far more users than Bluesky. It feels much smaller. The reason is a deliberate structural choice—and it's not a flaw.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 24, 2024

It's Okay if Your Social Media Platform is a Bubble

Is it wrong to have a social media feed primarily of people you agree with?

Aaron Ross Powell|November 18, 2024

Small Reasons for Hope

We might just see a significant anti-Trump backlash in 2026 and 2028.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 07, 2024

What Do We Do Now?

The worst happened, and America will be ruled, for four years at least, by fascism.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 06, 2024

Don't Turn Away

Mindful and compassionate attention and awareness are needed to get through what the country now faces.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 06, 2024

The Staggering Promise of AI Tutors

Chatbots can help students understand concepts when their teachers can't.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 05, 2024

Representation in Video Games and Movies is Not "Politics"

It's not "political" when a game or movie isn't a bunch of straight white guys.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 04, 2024

The Basic Case for Liberalism

Change and diversity are inevitable and good—and our politics should reflect that.

Aaron Ross Powell|November 01, 2024

The Quillette Effect

Learning about ideologies exclusively from their opponents is a recipe for epistemic failure.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 30, 2024

The GOP's Competence Gap

Going full-MAGA has hollowed out the GOP's talent pipeline. The party can barely staff itself, let alone govern.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 30, 2024

Barriers in the Way of an Ethical Life

Five persistent mental habits that sabotage ethical practice—and what to do about each.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 29, 2024

AI and Theft: A Thought Experiment

A thought experiment about a mysterious box that reads and learns everything. Does that make it a thief?

Aaron Ross Powell|October 29, 2024

Actually, Trump Would Be Terrible for the Economy

Mass deportations and sweeping tariffs are not bold economic thinking. They're a recession in policy form.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 29, 2024

A Rorschach Test for the State of American Free Speech

Surveys showing Americans self-censor don't tell us whether free speech is under threat. They mostly just confirm whatever we already believe.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 29, 2024

A Politics of Harmlessness

The first principle of ethics is not causing harm—to others or to ourselves. A liberal politics follows from there.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 29, 2024

“Social Liberalization” in Opposition to “Social Conservatism”

Social liberalization means giving people more freedom—not whatever the left happens to want. A necessary clarification.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 28, 2024

History's Social Conservatives Were Always Wrong. So are Today's.

Every prior generation of social conservatives was wrong about the dangers of social liberalization. Why assume today's are different?

Aaron Ross Powell|October 21, 2024

What happens if Trump loses?

A Trump loss won't end MAGA or restore the old GOP. Here's what it would actually mean for American politics.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 18, 2024

The Elite Protect Their Own

The Kim Philby affair shows what happens when elite institutions protect their own from warranted criticism. American media has the same problem.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 15, 2024

In Politics, Don’t Aim to “Win,” but Rather “Win Over”

Destroying your opponent's argument is satisfying. Changing their mind is the point. The two aren't the same thing.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 04, 2024

The Innsmouth Immigrant Crimewave the Democrat Party is Hiding from You

A Lovecraftian dispatch from the front lines of the right-wing immigration panic machine.

Aaron Ross Powell|September 10, 2024

The Verge’s “Failure” is a Win for Everyone: Talent Networks as Networks

When talented people outgrow their employers, that's not a failure of retention. It's how talent networks are supposed to work.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 29, 2024

Twitter/X as a Bubble for Bad Ethics

Journalists who stay on X aren't just propping up Musk. They're letting a corrupt ethical environment quietly reshape their own values.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 20, 2024

The Misuse of Meritocracy

When people define meritocracy as the system that puts people like them on top, merit has nothing to do with it.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 19, 2024

How Demanding is Self-Authorship?

Self-authorship doesn't require constant self-reinvention. It just means your life shouldn't feel like someone else's.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 19, 2024

Why It Works to Call Them Weird

Shifting political talk from policy to values

Aaron Ross Powell|July 30, 2024

Why the Right Lies About Cities

America's cities are thriving and diverse—which is precisely why the right needs them to seem like hellscapes.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 15, 2024

The False Equivalence Trap

Smart people convinced themselves that "both sides" framing was a form of wisdom. It was actually just a way to avoid an obvious conclusion.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 08, 2024

What is Ethics?

Defining ethics and distinguishing it from morality is crucial for clear philosophical thought.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 04, 2024

The Politics of Broken Values and Warped Perspectives

The toxicity of our politics isn't just about bad policies. It's about a perspective of aversion and clinging that makes people both cruel and miserable.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 02, 2024

The Worst Argument in Politics

Most political arguments fail for the same reason: they prove too much. Here's how to spot it—and how to build a better one.

Aaron Ross Powell|June 21, 2024

David Boaz: Liberty's North Star

The legacy of my boss, mentor, and friend.

David Boaz: Liberty's North Star

Aaron Ross Powell|June 01, 2024

Four Bad Arguments Against AI

Critics of AI keep making the same mistakes. Here's why the most common arguments against the technology don't hold up.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 15, 2024

The Liberal Identity Crisis

How the "Overton Paradox" explains the intra-liberal culture war.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 10, 2024

The Necessary Virtue of Not Being an Asshole

Principles don't justify being an asshole. Not being an asshole isn't just nice—it's a necessary condition for any genuine claim to ethics.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 27, 2024

Why Tech Bros Overestimate AI's Creative Abilities

The people most convinced AI has mastered creative writing and filmmaking are those who haven't read or watched much.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 17, 2024

Why AI is the New Sliced Bread

Artists upset about AI automation buy factory-made bread without a second thought. They need an argument for why their craft is different.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 07, 2024

Against a Life of Moderation

Buddhism's Middle Way is not a call for moderation. It's a call for radical focus on what actually matters.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 28, 2024

Substack Doesn't Want You to Leave

Substack's business model is unsustainable—unless they lock all their writers in.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 27, 2024

How to Talk Yourself into Defending Nonsense

The psychology behind why smart people end up doubling down on bad arguments—and how to catch yourself before you get there.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 25, 2024

Your Philosophy Might Be True — But Not for the Reasons You Think

The arguments that convince us of our philosophical positions are often the least important reason we hold them.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 20, 2024

Scott Adams, "Scientific" Misogyny, and Roland Barthes's Mythology

The right's "scientific" case for misogyny isn't science. It's myth in the sense Roland Barthes meant—political prejudice dressed up as natural fact.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 28, 2024

Political Optimism in 2024

Despite the very real risk of fascism in the 2024 election, there are genuine reasons to think the future is brighter than the doomers suggest.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 22, 2024

How LEGO Can Teach Us About Meaning In Liberal Societies

A family parable about forging a sense of place and meaning—and what it says about the liberal project.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 20, 2024

A Conflict of Visions

Arguing with the reactionary right about tactics misses the point. The problem isn't their methods. It's what they're trying to build.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 15, 2024

Living Well Means Recognizing Three Facts of Our Existence

Impermanence, dissatisfaction, and the lack of a fixed self aren't causes for despair. They're the starting point for a life lived well.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 12, 2024

This is the Good Life

What the ethical project is actually aimed at: happiness, flourishing, and freedom from the suffering we bring on ourselves.

Aaron Ross Powell|January 05, 2024

The Challenge of Committing to Liberty—and Meaning It

Real commitment to liberty means accepting a world that keeps changing around you, even when those changes aren't to your benefit.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 25, 2023

Three Kinds of Conservatives

Personal conservatism, social conservatism, and political conservatism are distinct ideas—and conflating them obscures a lot about contemporary politics.

Aaron Ross Powell|October 18, 2023

Just One Fewer God?

Atheists can't make their case if they insist on straw-manning faith.

Aaron Ross Powell|August 29, 2023

Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t.

The most overlooked—but most important—ingredient of an ethical life.

Aaron Ross Powell|July 20, 2023

How Social Media Tricks our Brains—and Destroys our Politics

Social media makes your tiny corner feel like the whole world. That illusion is reshaping our politics.

Aaron Ross Powell|June 15, 2023

Speaking Ill of the Dead

The convention against speaking ill of the dead isn't a moral principle. Pat Robertson's death is a case study in why.

Aaron Ross Powell|June 08, 2023

The Limits of Reason

Our brains have limits on what they can think and what tools they can bring to thinking.

Aaron Ross Powell|June 06, 2023

(Anti-)Wokeism as a Rorschach Test

Liberal speech norms and deciding which ideas are worthy of engagement.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 23, 2023

A Twitter Eulogy

On deleting my Twitter account, an old friend I met there who died, and what Elon Musk destroyed.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 07, 2023

A Crash Course in Cultivating Liberal Virtues

Perfect virtue is impossible, and moral growth is challenging. But we can improve ourselves in practical ways, even if we can't achieve the ideal.

Aaron Ross Powell|April 24, 2023

Social Conservatism is Suffering

We cannot make permanent what is inevitably impermanent, and insisting otherwise brings distress. Better to embrace dynamism and social diversity.

Aaron Ross Powell|April 07, 2023

No, Midjourney (and other AI) Is Not Stealing Your Work

The argument that AI image generators steal from artists would mean that all artists are thieves.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 31, 2023

Goodwill, Sympathetic Joy, and Liberalism's Foundations

Mere tolerance is necessary for liberalism to function, but liberalism becomes stronger if we can move beyond it.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 21, 2023

Why Do Conservatives Keep Hyper-Sexualizing Men in Dresses?

The moral panic about drag shows says more about what conservatives find to be sexual than it does about what's appropriate for kids.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 06, 2023

Liberalism and Sympathetic Joy

Merely tolerating others' happiness isn't enough. A liberal society—and a good person—cultivates genuine delight in it.

Aaron Ross Powell|March 02, 2023

If Your Faith Makes You a Bigot, It's Time to Question Your Faith

Some more likely possibilities to consider before accepting that God believes it's wrong to be LGBT.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 27, 2023

Hate Can Be Mainstream

Bigotry is bigotry, even if the bigots are in the majority.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 23, 2023

The Ideology of Hang-Ups

Moral panic about drag queens and gender fluidity isn't principled ethics. It's ideology constructed on personal hang-ups.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 18, 2023

The Drabness of Conservative Philosophy

Conservative philosophy is mostly personal distaste for novelty dressed up in elaborate intellectual costume.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 16, 2023

How the Right Distorted Libertarianism

Once rooted in liberalism, libertarianism's detour through the conservative movement has blunted its radical edge and commitment to principle.

Aaron Ross Powell|May 11, 2022

ReImagining Liberty 002: "Does Political Liberty Require Social Liberalism?"

A podcast conversation with Stephanie Slade

Aaron Ross Powell|April 06, 2022

ReImagining Liberty Podcast

The emancipatory and cosmopolitan case for radical liberalism. Hosted by Aaron Ross Powell.

ReImagining Liberty Podcast

Aaron Ross Powell|March 23, 2022

ReImagining Liberty 001: How To Be a Better Advocate for Liberty

A conversation with Cory Massimino

ReImagining Liberty 001: How To Be a Better Advocate for Liberty

Aaron Ross Powell|March 23, 2022

Liberty Upsets Patterns—and Conservatism

Liberty is dynamic. Conservatism is static. They cannot coexist.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 04, 2022

The American Right Never Really Loved Freedom

Conservative ideology fundamentally contradicts individual liberty and self-determination.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 04, 2022

Why Josh Hawley Hates Your Freedom

Josh Hawley doesn't just oppose the left. He opposes liberty itself. And he's built a political philosophy to justify it.

Aaron Ross Powell|February 04, 2022

The Last Jedi Betrays the Original Trilogy and its Heroes

Through sheer storytelling laziness, it tells us that nothing that came before mattered.

Aaron Ross Powell|December 16, 2017