Political Thought

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…

A water drop and ripples

Faced with the feeling of political chaos, there are two basic frames.

By Justin Katz | August 19, 2024 |

Perusing Twitter or X (which I may henceforth call “TwiX”) often leaves me feeling panic at the state of our world and the hopelessness of recovering humanity’s footing. No doubt, this is at least partially the way it feels to have your attention manipulated, but stepping back, even that reality is just another contributor to…

A water drop and ripples

Rhode Islanders must ask deeper questions about our healthcare system.

By Justin Katz | July 12, 2024 |

I’ll start with two arising from Ian Donnis’s recent article about the state’s approval of the sale of two hospitals “to an Atlanta-based nonprofit with no experience in managing hospitals.” The first question arises from the description of the institutions as “cash-strapped safety-net hospitals.”  Rhode Island, among all states, dove right into the centralizing forces…

A water drop and ripples

The Washington Bridge failure in Rhode Island raises the key question for the nation.

By Justin Katz | July 10, 2024 |

Which is:  Why is our system not producing the type of leaders we need? With Governor Daniel McKee, Rhode Island is getting a distilled lesson in our nation’s problem in D.C.  At the same time his administration is signing a contract to pay a premium to dismantle the Washington Bridge quickly, he can’t find a…

A water drop and ripples

“Moderates” are wrong to slip from responsibility by poxing both parties.

By Justin Katz | July 2, 2024 |

I appreciate Ken Block’s intellect and civic engagement, but his political commentary leaves much to be desired.  Consider this, from the end of a long recent tweet: I cannot imagine either of these candidates effectively dealing with a crisis, commanding the situation room, keeping the complexities of a crisis fully in their heads, ready to…

A water drop and ripples

Just a reminder that people rightly feel like they’re already funding infrastructure.

By Justin Katz | June 27, 2024 |

Consider two general principles of political theory while reading this: 1) Government starts by telling the people how much money it needs and then proceeds to collect it, not the other way around. 2) The less competitive political races are, the more incentive those who are predictably elected have to spend money on corruption and…

A water drop and ripples

The General Treasurer is an investment fund pitchman.

By Justin Katz | June 27, 2024 |

This ad for Rhode Island’s CollegeBound Saver fund promotion looks like a sleazy investment ad because it is: Around $22 million in administrative fees from the program go to the private companies that handle the money and the state.  This isn’t necessarily corruption, per se, but we can put it in the questionable bucket of…

A blurry hellscape begins to come into focus

The progressive picture is coming into focus.

By Justin Katz | June 26, 2024 |

A theme one picks up from podcast discussions with cognitive scientists is that much of our perception — what we understand as real — is a matter of our choices about what we don’t pay attention to.  A fully capable human has five senses, all of which are constantly sending more data to the nervous…

An old sign showing the burning of the Gaspee with the slogan, Resist Tyranny, and the dates 1772 and 2024

The United States of America is on the cusp of tyranny.

By Justin Katz | June 25, 2024 |

The New York “justice” system may or may not jail Donald Trump, but the impression Democrat partisans are giving is that the entire charade of a trial was meant primarily to produce the label, “convicted felon.”  This marketing ploy, as Roger Kimball notes, may not be working: “It’s my sense that the effort to weaponize…