Political Thought

A water drop and ripples

Oh, Democrats have a plan for you, alright.

By Justin Katz | September 12, 2024 |

Something more like a cookbook or plantation.  I’ve heard complaints that conservatives have “no plan for you” — or “no vision for what the town should be” — repeatedly over the years, and I think it’s the most disturbing complaint progressives make. Chris Rufo articulates my view: Where do I see the town, state, or…

A statue of blindfolded justice over a riot in a public park

How can we renew a sense of shared trust?

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2024 |

Not long ago, the ladies of The View displayed the number of associates of Donald Trump who have recently* gone to prison as evidence that “the system is working.”  We’d be in better condition as a country if more people realized that the very same visual leads to opposite conclusions for different people, creating a dangerous…

A water drop and ripples

A quick summary of my latest thinking on taxes.

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2024 |

We should repeal all federal income taxes.  Income taxes are a great evil that has changed the nature of our relationship with government. Instead, the federal government should be funded through a capitation (per-person) tax payable proportionally by each state. That is, our states would be responsible for collecting a tax calculated based purely on…

A water drop and ripples

We are being brought to the brink of calamity because…

By Justin Katz | September 4, 2024 |

… to relieve their existential anxiety, people want a simple story in which the good guys and the bad guys are easy to identify. Genuinely bad people are willing to lie and tell that simplistic story, while good people acknowledge nuance and accept a share of blame.  This imbalance tilts the community’s judgment scale against…

Shortsighted inspectors of disaster

Important lessons lie somewhere in the details of a Cranston zoning battle.

By Justin Katz | August 28, 2024 |

They may not be straightforward or easily articulated, though, so just read them through and absorb the awfulness. Here’s the background: Built in the 1980s and 1990s where Scituate Avenue meets Furnace Hill Brook, Alpine Estates was one of the first of what would become many modern subdivisions on what used to be western Cranston…

A donkey wants to paint over a moldy basement as a skeptical elephant looks on

Targeted tax incentives for businesses are like painting over mold.

By Justin Katz | August 27, 2024 |

Although it feels as if genuine policy debates have receded into the background in Rhode Island, reviving them may help correct the corrosion spreading throughout our civic house.  Corporate tax incentives, for example, are an area in which conservatives and progressives in Rhode Island tend to agree on the binary “yes/no” question, raising the possibility…

Man with a knife sneaks up behind a Republican girl

Broader factors may be making Johnston politics Republican-free.

By Justin Katz | August 21, 2024 |

I suggest the title of this post acknowledging I don’t know a whole lot about Johnston’s unique political scene.  Locally, things can be very specific to the individuals involved and their disputes, but I have been a keen observer of factors that make it more difficult for Republicans to work through those disputes. Apparently, Johnston…

A water drop and ripples

Government subsidies are not “momentum.”

By Justin Katz | August 20, 2024 |

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee tweets yet another area in which Democrats manipulate language to insinuate ideology: A grant from a government agency to another government agency is not “momentum.”  Momentum suggests that the entity or project is moving on its own.  Government subsidies are pushes… force.  Democrats’ language is (deliberately) manipulative and always to…

A water drop and ripples

Democrats think their supporters have a right to your money.

By Justin Katz | August 20, 2024 |

One can absolutely make the case that generous time-off policies have their benefits for employers and do right by employees, but we allow Democrats like Magaziner to throw around terms like “fundamental human right” far too easily: You cannot have “an absolute human right” to be given things by other people, no matter how nice…

A water drop and ripples

Electric Boat has financial incentive to go Queer.

By Justin Katz | August 19, 2024 |

Well, look, Electric Boat relies hugely on government funding in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.: Radicals in the Democrat Party will hold a lack of such policies against Electric Boat, while even the most conservative Republicans who can possibly gain decisive power in government won’t hold it against them very strongly.  Barring discrimination lawsuits in…