Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li

@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

executive editor at liberal currents. neonliberal. she/her.

24.4K followers320 following24.5K posts

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

Replying to @andycraig.bsky.social

I get they're inextricably intertwined but I kind of feel like leaning so much into how he was the longtime best buddy of the world's most notorious sex criminal has given it something of the feel of a political gotcha rather than the important part, which is that the president raped people.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

I know there's a lot going on but I feel it should probably be more of an above-the-fold story that members of Congress released a thoroughly documented report directly accusing the president of the United States of being a serial rapist.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

"The key problem with run-offs (as opposed to instant runoffs, which Americans call 'ranked choice voting') is that the second round usually has lower turnout than the first. … Brazil is different here again, however. They have mandatory voting." www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-note...

liberalcurrents.comEditor's Notes: Liberalism Punches BackWe have an opportunity to build some momentum against the global fascist movement.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

Damn, who could have seen this one coming?

Sludge@sludge.bsky.social

NEW: The group behind Cornel West's 2024 ballot push was wholly funded through Elon Musk's dark money network, according to Sludge's review of tax documents. readsludge.com/2026/10/26/m...

what was genuinely bizarre about it was that it was my landlady *on the day i was moving out.* i had barely ever interacted with her before this but to hand her a check. then she was like "let me tell you about the blacks and the schools." me: what the fuck

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

"They made me build a freaking bridge for approval" - Apartment developer in Davis California

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

the idea that a city's social services should be paid for one-by-one by these insane discretionary deals on a development-by-development basis is just madness. it's such a tremendous drain on the general prosperity in return for ???

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

Replying to @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

I don't know how you can look at the history of the 20th century and have the takeaway "politics is exclusively provincial, these things never cross international borders" unless you have brain damage

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

A thing I'm thinking about a lot, lately, is how very old and how very deep these Old Ways (derogatory) are How shallow the (genuinely miraculous!) effort to change them through law and moral principle has managed to reach

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

one of the really useful takeaways from fukuyama's political order books is a clear conceptual understanding of what corruption *is* in its fundamental nature. and the answer... is patronage networks organized on personal connections! corruption is *inherent* in these discretionary systems!

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

I had a private conversation with another rapid responder in late January where we both confessed to having been listening to Battle Hymn of the Republic late at night a bunch

Belligerent Retailer@beligerant-retailr.bsky.social

Not the first time Minnesota broke the enemies advance.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

>we have a radical new system to replace capitalism >is it a new system or is it feudalism? >it’s a good system sir *looks inside* >it’s feudalism

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

looked at in longer perspective, it's striking how much this resembles the premodern system of exclusion, rents, and personalist connections, which was--and this part's important--radically worse than the modern system of impersonal rules and general taxation

looked at in longer perspective, it's striking how much this resembles the premodern system of exclusion, rents, and personalist connections, which was--and this part's important--radically worse than the modern system of impersonal rules and general taxation

Boston’s chief planner is a true believer in the San Francisco model, in which you make it impossible to profitably build apartments by-right so developers are forced into a politicized discretionary negotiation with the city, which relaxes the rules in exchange for below-market units.

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the idea that a city's social services should be paid for one-by-one by these insane discretionary deals on a development-by-development basis is just madness. it's such a tremendous drain on the general prosperity in return for ???

one of the really useful takeaways from fukuyama's political order books is a clear conceptual understanding of what corruption *is* in its fundamental nature. and the answer... is patronage networks organized on personal connections! corruption is *inherent* in these discretionary systems!

This post is unavailable.

looked at in longer perspective, it's striking how much this resembles the premodern system of exclusion, rents, and personalist connections, which was--and this part's important--radically worse than the modern system of impersonal rules and general taxation

Boston’s chief planner is a true believer in the San Francisco model, in which you make it impossible to profitably build apartments by-right so developers are forced into a politicized discretionary negotiation with the city, which relaxes the rules in exchange for below-market units.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

Boston’s chief planner is a true believer in the San Francisco model, in which you make it impossible to profitably build apartments by-right so developers are forced into a politicized discretionary negotiation with the city, which relaxes the rules in exchange for below-market units.

This post is unavailable.

yeah again part of my frustration with yglesias' comment is that, having read somewhat history now, it is impossible to escape the transnational dimensions of politics and political change. it's just a constant across history. telling people not to care is just denialism!

Dan Nexon@dhnexon.net

National borders have *never* been containers for politics and political processes. I don't have time to write a full thread, so here are some resources.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

National borders have *never* been containers for politics and political processes. I don't have time to write a full thread, so here are some resources.

brent 🌹🗽@therealbrent.bsky.social

Yes well it does require things like “empathy” and possessing a basic understanding that all of our lives are interconnected

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

I used the term "pretextual planning" with a partner a week ago and I saw their eyes light up the way they do when you find a word you've been looking for all your life. lewis.ucla.edu/research/mot...

lewis.ucla.eduMotivations for Growth Revolts: Discretion and Pretext as Sources of Development ConflictBallot box growth revolts, where residents force a referendum to restrict new development, can have longlasting repercussions for communities. Such revolts are rare, but they shed light on long-standi...
Jens von Bergmann@jensvb.bsky.social

Pretty sure we already trademarked the name for this planning practice and it’s called “Vancouverism”.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

I do think when historians look back the period the exact moment where it flipped and started going the other way won’t be anything any politician did but my Minneapolis neighbors weathering the worst of the regime in the streets, rallying together, fighting back, and winning

it does kind of seem like yglesias also thinks this is true of their own countries, and indeed he would prefer the people not participate in politics at all, and leave the hard business of running a country to the smart people (him)

brent 🌹🗽@therealbrent.bsky.social

Yes well it does require things like “empathy” and possessing a basic understanding that all of our lives are interconnected

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li reposted

Dang, I thought for a second we’d reached Bill Kristol writing for Liberal Currents territory, crossing the Kristol rubicon, just reposting though for now…

Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social

“Ramaswamy’s ad embraces a woman who enabled sexual abuse—and uses the language of ‘parental estrangement’ to mobilize MAGA voters who can’t understand why their children won’t take their calls. But they know the reason. They just don’t want to accept it.” www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-note...

"People who believe their choices don't matter choose poorly." Indeed.

liberalcurrents.comDisordered Institutions Make Disordered PublicsPeople who believe their choices don’t matter choose poorly.
Abigail Nussbaum@abigailnussbaum.bsky.social

But even if you don't care about Israelis, I don't think people appreciate just how much this kind of democratic backsliding influences policy and geopolitics. People who do not believe voting matters and that their representatives answer to them do not produce good governments.

on the internet people will call almost anything liberalism. war with iraq, death by firing squad, npic infighting, everything. so a few weeks ago at liberal currents, we put out a challenge to all the editors: what is liberalism, actually? today we get our first essay, from lc founder adam gurri:

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com

“What I will offer you instead is something simpler, and perhaps harder: a vision of life under liberalism, as distinct from the political project.” www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalism-i...

a fascinating thread for constitutional design sickos about how a parliamentary democracy degenerated into personalism, semipresidentialism, and "mood parties"

Abigail Nussbaum@abigailnussbaum.bsky.social

This is a good primer on Israel's political situation going into tomorrow's election. But I'd like to go deeper on something he only touches on, which is that part of the reason for Israel's electoral doldrums (and resulting geopolitical chaos) is its broken political system bsky.app/profile/avis...