About

Civics Unhinged

A chronicle of American absurdity, written with a straight face and a sharp pen. Civics Unhinged — satire for those who still give a damn.

The premise

Civics Unhinged is a chronicle of American absurdity. It takes the events of the day at their own word, then follows that word to its logical end — which is usually where the absurdity gives itself away. The tone is dry; the target is power; the method is the oldest one there is: describe the thing plainly enough and it indicts itself.

The essays run in the tradition of the political satirists who came before — Twain's mischief, Buchwald's Beltway needle, Swift's controlled fury, Addison's civic conscience. Satire here isn't a punchline. It's a way of keeping the record.

The author

F.P. Dunneagin is a nom de plume. Behind it is a practitioner who spent decades in and around the machinery he now writes about — government affairs and regulatory policy, work on Capitol Hill, and years advising on how institutions actually behave when no one is performing for the cameras. The essays are not the view from the cheap seats. They are field notes from someone who knows how the levers are supposed to work, watching what happens when they're pulled for sport.

The shape of the work

The weekly essays are field notes toward a longer chronicle — a record kept in real time of what the republic is becoming. The continuing voice runs under Mr. Dunneagin Speaks; you can also follow the work by theme.

Earlier dispatches

The chronicle didn't start here. F.P. Dunneagin kept an earlier record at Daily Kos — a longer trail for anyone inclined to check the provenance before trusting the witness.