Jim Vincent
@jimvincent.us
Jim Vincent has spent a lifetime solving problems. This is a mission.
Here, you will find analysis that treats you with intelligence and respect.
Because democracy doesn’t defend itself.
https://jimvincent.us
Here, you will find analysis that treats you with intelligence and respect.
Because democracy doesn’t defend itself.
https://jimvincent.us
The Hidden Battleground
Democracy isn’t being overthrown in public. It’s being narrowed quietly—through courts, procedures, and rules most Americans never see.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
Democracy isn’t being overthrown in public. It’s being narrowed quietly—through courts, procedures, and rules most Americans never see.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
The Hidden Battleground
How Democracy Is Being Undermined Where Most Americans Aren’t Looking
open.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 3:00 AM
The Hidden Battleground
Democracy isn’t being overthrown in public. It’s being narrowed quietly—through courts, procedures, and rules most Americans never see.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
Democracy isn’t being overthrown in public. It’s being narrowed quietly—through courts, procedures, and rules most Americans never see.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
When Power Stops Talking to You
A week when several serious actions were justified without a clear public explanation. Not about outrage or conclusions, but about the feeling that explanation itself is becoming optional—why that shift is harder to ignore once you notice it.
go.jimvincent.us/das
A week when several serious actions were justified without a clear public explanation. Not about outrage or conclusions, but about the feeling that explanation itself is becoming optional—why that shift is harder to ignore once you notice it.
go.jimvincent.us/das
When Power Stops Talking to You
A note on explanation, authority, and a week when too many things stopped making sense.
open.substack.com
January 29, 2026 at 8:07 PM
When Power Stops Talking to You
A week when several serious actions were justified without a clear public explanation. Not about outrage or conclusions, but about the feeling that explanation itself is becoming optional—why that shift is harder to ignore once you notice it.
go.jimvincent.us/das
A week when several serious actions were justified without a clear public explanation. Not about outrage or conclusions, but about the feeling that explanation itself is becoming optional—why that shift is harder to ignore once you notice it.
go.jimvincent.us/das
The Death of Thinking
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
The Death of Thinking
How the Internet’s architecture turns infinite information into personalised certainty—and why democracy cannot survive on certainty alone.
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:08 AM
The Death of Thinking
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
Excerpt from The Democracy Clock
With the release of The Democracy Clock ten days away, I want to share a brief excerpt from the book’s introduction that explains how the project approaches democratic change.
go.jimvincent.us/num
With the release of The Democracy Clock ten days away, I want to share a brief excerpt from the book’s introduction that explains how the project approaches democratic change.
go.jimvincent.us/num
Excerpt from The Democracy Clock
With the release of The Democracy Clock ten days away, I want to share a brief excerpt from the book’s introduction that explains how the project approaches democratic change.
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 3:08 AM
Excerpt from The Democracy Clock
With the release of The Democracy Clock ten days away, I want to share a brief excerpt from the book’s introduction that explains how the project approaches democratic change.
go.jimvincent.us/num
With the release of The Democracy Clock ten days away, I want to share a brief excerpt from the book’s introduction that explains how the project approaches democratic change.
go.jimvincent.us/num
A contemporaneous record can’t rely on platforms built for ephemerality. Feeds reorder, context slips, memory edits itself. Some things require permanence.
What happened does not belong to the feed. It belongs to the public.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
What happened does not belong to the feed. It belongs to the public.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
Why The Democracy Clock Could Not Remain Only Online
A contemporaneous record depends on timing, but it also depends on memory.
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:01 AM
A contemporaneous record can’t rely on platforms built for ephemerality. Feeds reorder, context slips, memory edits itself. Some things require permanence.
What happened does not belong to the feed. It belongs to the public.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
What happened does not belong to the feed. It belongs to the public.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
The Second Amendment Was Written for This Moment
The Second Amendment was written because the states feared a federal army might one day be used against them. In Minnesota, that fear is no longer theoretical. The Founders anticipated this moment—and why it now matters.
go.jimvincent.us/b8i
The Second Amendment was written because the states feared a federal army might one day be used against them. In Minnesota, that fear is no longer theoretical. The Founders anticipated this moment—and why it now matters.
go.jimvincent.us/b8i
The Second Amendment Was Written for This Moment
Why the Founders Feared a Federal Army—and Why Minnesota Now Tests That Fear
open.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:46 AM
The Second Amendment Was Written for This Moment
The Second Amendment was written because the states feared a federal army might one day be used against them. In Minnesota, that fear is no longer theoretical. The Founders anticipated this moment—and why it now matters.
go.jimvincent.us/b8i
The Second Amendment was written because the states feared a federal army might one day be used against them. In Minnesota, that fear is no longer theoretical. The Founders anticipated this moment—and why it now matters.
go.jimvincent.us/b8i
I didn’t start The Democracy Clock to write a book; it began as a record. Week by week, I documented government actions before narratives hardened or memories altered. The pattern became clear: headlines fade, but a truthful record does not. The book will be published in early February.
January 13, 2026 at 7:45 PM
I didn’t start The Democracy Clock to write a book; it began as a record. Week by week, I documented government actions before narratives hardened or memories altered. The pattern became clear: headlines fade, but a truthful record does not. The book will be published in early February.
A Conversation About Time
A remembered conversation with my mother reframes the end-of-year ritual of resolutions. Set against the scale of cosmic time, it asks what remains when nothing is likely to endure—and how a life is lived after that realization.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
A remembered conversation with my mother reframes the end-of-year ritual of resolutions. Set against the scale of cosmic time, it asks what remains when nothing is likely to endure—and how a life is lived after that realization.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
A Conversation About Time
What my mother said one New Year’s Eve, and the choice that followed.
open.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:33 AM
A Conversation About Time
A remembered conversation with my mother reframes the end-of-year ritual of resolutions. Set against the scale of cosmic time, it asks what remains when nothing is likely to endure—and how a life is lived after that realization.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
A remembered conversation with my mother reframes the end-of-year ritual of resolutions. Set against the scale of cosmic time, it asks what remains when nothing is likely to endure—and how a life is lived after that realization.
open.substack.com/pub/jimvince...
On Worry.
On the brink of adulthood, overwhelmed by milestones, I told my father I was drowning in worry. Through simple questions and a memory of my mother rushing to help my injured brother, he showed me that worry is about imagined futures — and that action is its cure.
go.jimvincent.us/47e18e
On the brink of adulthood, overwhelmed by milestones, I told my father I was drowning in worry. Through simple questions and a memory of my mother rushing to help my injured brother, he showed me that worry is about imagined futures — and that action is its cure.
go.jimvincent.us/47e18e
On Worry
What my father taught me about fear, action, and the future we imagine too early
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:34 PM
On Worry.
On the brink of adulthood, overwhelmed by milestones, I told my father I was drowning in worry. Through simple questions and a memory of my mother rushing to help my injured brother, he showed me that worry is about imagined futures — and that action is its cure.
go.jimvincent.us/47e18e
On the brink of adulthood, overwhelmed by milestones, I told my father I was drowning in worry. Through simple questions and a memory of my mother rushing to help my injured brother, he showed me that worry is about imagined futures — and that action is its cure.
go.jimvincent.us/47e18e
Week 4: Hollowing the State as Method
DOGE’s new reach, mass firings, politicized prosecutions, and coordinated information purges deepen executive dominance. Courts and civil society win key skirmishes, but the state’s wiring shifts toward personalized, illiberal control.
go.jimvincent.us/bcd3d9
DOGE’s new reach, mass firings, politicized prosecutions, and coordinated information purges deepen executive dominance. Courts and civil society win key skirmishes, but the state’s wiring shifts toward personalized, illiberal control.
go.jimvincent.us/bcd3d9
Week 4: Hollowing the State as Method
DOGE’s rise, politicized law, and curated memory turn the federal government into a leaner, more personalized machine, even as courts and citizens strain to resist.
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Week 4: Hollowing the State as Method
DOGE’s new reach, mass firings, politicized prosecutions, and coordinated information purges deepen executive dominance. Courts and civil society win key skirmishes, but the state’s wiring shifts toward personalized, illiberal control.
go.jimvincent.us/bcd3d9
DOGE’s new reach, mass firings, politicized prosecutions, and coordinated information purges deepen executive dominance. Courts and civil society win key skirmishes, but the state’s wiring shifts toward personalized, illiberal control.
go.jimvincent.us/bcd3d9
Week 3: Data Systems as Dominion
A half‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masks a week in which private wealth, partisan law enforcement, and manipulated data systems tightened executive control while courts and civil society fought rear‑guard actions.
go.jimvincent.us/8q4
A half‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masks a week in which private wealth, partisan law enforcement, and manipulated data systems tightened executive control while courts and civil society fought rear‑guard actions.
go.jimvincent.us/8q4
Week 3: Data Systems as Dominion
In Trump’s third week back in power, private wealth, partisan law enforcement, and curated memory converged to narrow democratic space while courts and crowds strained to resist.
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Week 3: Data Systems as Dominion
A half‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masks a week in which private wealth, partisan law enforcement, and manipulated data systems tightened executive control while courts and civil society fought rear‑guard actions.
go.jimvincent.us/8q4
A half‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masks a week in which private wealth, partisan law enforcement, and manipulated data systems tightened executive control while courts and civil society fought rear‑guard actions.
go.jimvincent.us/8q4
Week 2: Loyalty Tests as Governance
A modest one‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masked sweeping structural changes: watchdogs purged, civil service politicized, citizenship narrowed, and public memory edited, even as courts briefly checked some excesses.
go.jimvincent.us/js4
A modest one‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masked sweeping structural changes: watchdogs purged, civil service politicized, citizenship narrowed, and public memory edited, even as courts briefly checked some excesses.
go.jimvincent.us/js4
Week 2: Loyalty Tests as Governance
In Trump’s second week back in power, the neutral machinery of oversight, citizenship, and information was bent inward toward the ruler, not the public.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Week 2: Loyalty Tests as Governance
A modest one‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masked sweeping structural changes: watchdogs purged, civil service politicized, citizenship narrowed, and public memory edited, even as courts briefly checked some excesses.
go.jimvincent.us/js4
A modest one‑minute shift on the Democracy Clock masked sweeping structural changes: watchdogs purged, civil service politicized, citizenship narrowed, and public memory edited, even as courts briefly checked some excesses.
go.jimvincent.us/js4
Week 1: Citizenship as Executive Weapon
Week one of Trump’s second term concentrates power through emergencies, immigration crackdowns, civil‑service purges, and mass pardons, while courts and civil society scramble to contain a coordinated authoritarian turn.
go.jimvincent.us/vir
Week one of Trump’s second term concentrates power through emergencies, immigration crackdowns, civil‑service purges, and mass pardons, while courts and civil society scramble to contain a coordinated authoritarian turn.
go.jimvincent.us/vir
Week 1: Citizenship as Executive Weapon
In Trump’s first week back in power, emergencies, purges, and pardons turn immigration, law, and memory into tools of personal rule.
open.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Week 1: Citizenship as Executive Weapon
Week one of Trump’s second term concentrates power through emergencies, immigration crackdowns, civil‑service purges, and mass pardons, while courts and civil society scramble to contain a coordinated authoritarian turn.
go.jimvincent.us/vir
Week one of Trump’s second term concentrates power through emergencies, immigration crackdowns, civil‑service purges, and mass pardons, while courts and civil society scramble to contain a coordinated authoritarian turn.
go.jimvincent.us/vir
Fifty-Two Days, Fifty-Two Weeks: A Public Record Begins...Tomorrow
Starting tomorrow, a fifty-two-day series will reconstruct Trump’s second term one week at a time. Each day brings a Democracy Clock analysis and a categorized event log. Join us.
go.jimvincent.us/kzw
Starting tomorrow, a fifty-two-day series will reconstruct Trump’s second term one week at a time. Each day brings a Democracy Clock analysis and a categorized event log. Join us.
go.jimvincent.us/kzw
Fifty-Two Days, Fifty-Two Weeks: A Public Record Begins...Tomorrow
Introducing the Daily Reconstruction of Trump’s Second Term
open.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Fifty-Two Days, Fifty-Two Weeks: A Public Record Begins...Tomorrow
Starting tomorrow, a fifty-two-day series will reconstruct Trump’s second term one week at a time. Each day brings a Democracy Clock analysis and a categorized event log. Join us.
go.jimvincent.us/kzw
Starting tomorrow, a fifty-two-day series will reconstruct Trump’s second term one week at a time. Each day brings a Democracy Clock analysis and a categorized event log. Join us.
go.jimvincent.us/kzw
On Not Having Fun
A childhood talk about “not having fun” becomes a lesson in how to live. My mother argues that fun is a poor compass, worry and vanity smother joy, and purpose can turn even hard work into something quietly delightful.
go.jimvincent.us/op3
A childhood talk about “not having fun” becomes a lesson in how to live. My mother argues that fun is a poor compass, worry and vanity smother joy, and purpose can turn even hard work into something quietly delightful.
go.jimvincent.us/op3
On Not Having Fun
What my mother taught me about fun, worry, vanity, ... and cathedrals.
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:45 PM
On Not Having Fun
A childhood talk about “not having fun” becomes a lesson in how to live. My mother argues that fun is a poor compass, worry and vanity smother joy, and purpose can turn even hard work into something quietly delightful.
go.jimvincent.us/op3
A childhood talk about “not having fun” becomes a lesson in how to live. My mother argues that fun is a poor compass, worry and vanity smother joy, and purpose can turn even hard work into something quietly delightful.
go.jimvincent.us/op3
The Gift of Boredom
A childhood moment of boredom became a quiet lesson in responsibility. My mother explained why people fear empty moments and how they reveal the life we choose—or avoid choosing.
A childhood moment of boredom became a quiet lesson in responsibility. My mother explained why people fear empty moments and how they reveal the life we choose—or avoid choosing.
The Gift of Boredom
Boredom isn’t a void—it’s the moment responsibility returns to you. A reflection on the quiet spaces where real choices begin.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:45 AM
The Gift of Boredom
A childhood moment of boredom became a quiet lesson in responsibility. My mother explained why people fear empty moments and how they reveal the life we choose—or avoid choosing.
A childhood moment of boredom became a quiet lesson in responsibility. My mother explained why people fear empty moments and how they reveal the life we choose—or avoid choosing.
The Strategy of Failure
This essay shows how the administration uses procedural breakdown—botched indictments, chaotic raids, vague standards, and manufactured inquiries—not as accident but as method.
go.jimvincent.us/1901a2
This essay shows how the administration uses procedural breakdown—botched indictments, chaotic raids, vague standards, and manufactured inquiries—not as accident but as method.
go.jimvincent.us/1901a2
The Strategy of Failure
How procedural breakdown became a governing method.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:50 AM
The Strategy of Failure
This essay shows how the administration uses procedural breakdown—botched indictments, chaotic raids, vague standards, and manufactured inquiries—not as accident but as method.
go.jimvincent.us/1901a2
This essay shows how the administration uses procedural breakdown—botched indictments, chaotic raids, vague standards, and manufactured inquiries—not as accident but as method.
go.jimvincent.us/1901a2
The Investigative State
A government that governs by investigation does not seek truth. It seeks control. This week revealed how deeply the United States has entered that terrain.
go.jimvincent.us/gwm
A government that governs by investigation does not seek truth. It seeks control. This week revealed how deeply the United States has entered that terrain.
go.jimvincent.us/gwm
The Investigative State
How investigations became the administration’s primary tool of power—shaping loyalty, punishing dissent, and shielding the presidency from accountability.x
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:04 AM
The Investigative State
A government that governs by investigation does not seek truth. It seeks control. This week revealed how deeply the United States has entered that terrain.
go.jimvincent.us/gwm
A government that governs by investigation does not seek truth. It seeks control. This week revealed how deeply the United States has entered that terrain.
go.jimvincent.us/gwm
The Court That Rules in Silence
A presidency that no longer explains itself is dangerous; a Court that no longer explains itself is fatal. The shadow docket now defines American governance.
go.jimvincent.us/x3s
A presidency that no longer explains itself is dangerous; a Court that no longer explains itself is fatal. The shadow docket now defines American governance.
go.jimvincent.us/x3s
The Court That Rules in Silence
A presidency that no longer explains itself is dangerous; a Court that no longer explains itself is fatal. The shadow docket now defines American governance.
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The Court That Rules in Silence
A presidency that no longer explains itself is dangerous; a Court that no longer explains itself is fatal. The shadow docket now defines American governance.
go.jimvincent.us/x3s
A presidency that no longer explains itself is dangerous; a Court that no longer explains itself is fatal. The shadow docket now defines American governance.
go.jimvincent.us/x3s
Welcome to Life & Letters
Life & Letters is a new space to explore memory, meaning, responsibility, curiosity, and the foundations of character—reflections that help us understand the world not by escaping it, but by remembering what anchors us within it.
go.jimvincent.us/b5c498
Life & Letters is a new space to explore memory, meaning, responsibility, curiosity, and the foundations of character—reflections that help us understand the world not by escaping it, but by remembering what anchors us within it.
go.jimvincent.us/b5c498
Welcome to Life & Letters
There are parts of a life that never make it into the official record—conversations that changed us, moments that clarified something we didn’t know we were struggling to understand, old memories that...
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Welcome to Life & Letters
Life & Letters is a new space to explore memory, meaning, responsibility, curiosity, and the foundations of character—reflections that help us understand the world not by escaping it, but by remembering what anchors us within it.
go.jimvincent.us/b5c498
Life & Letters is a new space to explore memory, meaning, responsibility, curiosity, and the foundations of character—reflections that help us understand the world not by escaping it, but by remembering what anchors us within it.
go.jimvincent.us/b5c498
Week 43: Pardons as Power
Pardons shield power, courts bend to influence, and information is manipulated—signaling a systemic decay that tightens elite control over democracy’s fragile institutions.
go.jimvincent.us/ywo
Pardons shield power, courts bend to influence, and information is manipulated—signaling a systemic decay that tightens elite control over democracy’s fragile institutions.
go.jimvincent.us/ywo
Week 43: Pardons as Power
Pardons shield power, courts bend to influence, and information is manipulated—signaling a systemic decay that tightens elite control over democracy’s fragile institutions.
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Week 43: Pardons as Power
Pardons shield power, courts bend to influence, and information is manipulated—signaling a systemic decay that tightens elite control over democracy’s fragile institutions.
go.jimvincent.us/ywo
Pardons shield power, courts bend to influence, and information is manipulated—signaling a systemic decay that tightens elite control over democracy’s fragile institutions.
go.jimvincent.us/ywo