He’s been divorced twice, while committing adultery; is the consummate Washington insider; paid a large fine for ethics violations; has been squishy on abortion; supported efforts to counter climate change; favored national health insurance that looked much like what is now called Obamacare; and lobbied for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Oh, …
John Stossel writes an interesting piece on Ideas Have Sex…and We’re Better for It. He quotes Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, who says “Ideas spread through trade. And when they meet, they can mate, and you can produce combinations of different ideas.” It would seem that this is precisely what makes …
… President Obama created the agency on June 29, 1934 (Wikipedia, National Labor Relations Board). Lachlan Markay writes an interesting article, Morning Bell: Obama’s Arrogant Authoritarianism. Ostensibly, he pretends to write a principled critique of Obama overstepping his authority by his recent “recess” appointments when the Congress is not officially in recess. …
George Lakoff (Moral Politics) and Corey Robin (The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burkes to Sarah Palin) offer a similar take on the conservative mind. For Lakoff, one of the defining elements of conservatism is competition; without competition, there would be no conservatism. It is through competition that the individual …
In The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin, Corey Robin illuminates Thomas Hobbes’ views on freedom. Hobbes counters the notion that freedom means being subject to one’s own will and servitude to the will of another; and that being subject to laws of a republic or democracy, laws …
I recently finished A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel: The Second Chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, a medieval mystery novel by Mel Starr. In it there is an exchange between Hugh and Master Wyclif (he of historical actuality). Master Wyclif says: “Aye. Do you not wish to be unlike the …
In Plato’s Phaedrus and other dialogues, Socrates reveals an unflattering opinion of rhetoric: Soc. Is not rhetoric, taken generally, a universal art of enchanting the mind by arguments; which is practised not only in courts and public assemblies, but in private houses also, having to do with all matters, great as well as …
As George Lakoff describes the strict father model of morality as applied to politics, self-discipline leads to self-reliance, which leads to success in a competitive world. Belief in this strict father hierarchy reinforces an admiration for the military, as well as a conservative view of small government where defense is …
Today’s New York Times (Sunday 18 Dec 2011) has an article on Rules to Stop Pupil and Teacher From Getting Too Social Online. School boards and state legislatures, in reponse to inappropriate communications between students and teachers using social media, are attempting to establish and enforce stricter guidelines on how students …
Kirk W. Johnson writes Abandoning Our Friends on the New York Times Op-Ed page on Friday, 16 Dec 2011. He starts the article by lauding British commander Guy Carleton for taking care of loyalists at the end of the American Revolution. He then takes President Obama to task for not taking care …
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