The events of Charlottesville have me thinking about my role as an historian and teacher. This was reinforced by these comments by James Alex Fields Jr.’s high school history teacher. I don’t think any one teacher can be responsible for the ideas of a single student.…
An old division is rearing it’s head again in the Democratic Party. It’s gone public in the disruption of Bernie Sanders’s speeches by #blacklivesmatter protesters, first at Netroots Nation in July and then again in Seattle on Saturday (see here).…
In honor the 4th of July weekend, I’m sharing this post I wrote last year at this time:
I recently had the opportunity to sing “American the Beautiful.” The lines that most hit me are in the third verse:
…Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
There are two reasons to be Libertarian. Reason 1 – You instinctively trust the majority of citizens and have a respect for their understanding and logic – strict governing isn’t necessary. Reason 2 – You instinctively distrust all majorities and simply want to prevent people from having any influence over you whenever possible.…
Every other week we will be taking a more in-depth look at some of the issues raised in our articles. This next week we will be discussing the citizenry of America, the backbone of our democratic republic. Are they the innocent victims of a diverging information supply and top down partyism, or are they the true source of the problems we discussed this week?…
The argument that partyism has surpassed racism is pretty week.* But I do believe “partyism” is a possible problem, one with experienced by the masses and largely caused by elite behavior.
For the masses, partyism keeps us from talking about specifics in ways that might promote understanding and compromise.…
This may be the shortest response I’ll ever have, as the problem is so blatant as to limit dissenting opinions.
There is just one statistical combination that needs to be shared in this discussion:
Since 1974, the reelection rate for members of congress has never dropped below 80%.…
Before I begin, I need to issue a sincere apology to the other bloggers, Jason and Jacob, as well as the readers. I did not plan my week well and I did not get a chance to give this topic the full attention it deserves.…
The topic this week deals with a fast growing trend in America. “Partyism”. A recent article was penned by Cass Sunstein in Bloomberg View about a study by two political scientists out of Stanford University which found that political bias has grown so much that it has overtaken racial bias in the country.…
As many intelligent old people have said, there are two things that are certain in life, death and taxes. Only one of which we can do something about. Our tax code is, to put it bluntly, a disaster. It has created a massive bureaucracy, makes life unnecessarily difficult for all Americans every year, and creates a system of wealth transfer in many different directions.…
As I’m always heavily focused on removing government’s dirty tentacles, my theme of personal liberty is likely not too shocking. However, my choice of national discussion might be. The issue that positions itself as the first roadblock to a better country is, in my humble opinion, gay marriage.…
Header image by Tom Plewe © 2015
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