Political Thought
Identity politics is a great destroyer. Not only does it pit neighbor against neighbor based on superficial qualities like skin color, but it acts as an ideological litmus test. To its practitioners, one either bends the knee or is non-personned as a “hater.” Look at what’s happening in Barrington. This is from a Sarah Doiron…
Many things are concerning about the homeless encampment in Providence that has been in the news lately and about the way the issue is being framed, but one thread that really sticks out is this, from Brian Amaral’s Boston Globe story: Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris, who represents the area, said Elorza should call a state of…
Yesterday, June 10, in the two-thousand and twenty-first year of our Lord, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, the first of his name, did sign and decree the “One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Supplemental Emergency Declaration,” extending the state’s COVID-19 state of emergency for another month. As is typical, the declaration contains “whereas” clauses to offer information…
Too often our reaction to ideas with which we disagree is to mock them or to dismiss them from the conversation. Although the impulse is understandable, and I’m certainly guilty of it, doing so is a mistake. Listening is how we understand, not only as a check on our own biases, but also as a…
A commentary piece by Richard Pildes, a Constitutional law professor at New York University, should resonate with Rhode Islanders: The dynamics and incentives for candidates running in competitive districts are dramatically different than those candidates face in safe districts. For competitive seats, candidates know they must win over enough voters in the center, who might…
An interesting juxtaposition jumped off the list of articles I keep from which to draw posts. Here’s Brad Polumbo of the Foundation for Economic Education explaining how, contrary to the even-handed stimulus under his predecessor, Joe Biden’s administration’s stimulus strongly favors blue (i.e., Democrat-run) states: “Alignment with the Democratic party predicts increases in states’ allocations…
I’ve been thinking about Stacy McCain’s thoughts upon rewatching the classic Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down. The quick summary of the movie is that Douglas’s character, William Foster, has lost everything. Unless I’ve forgotten a detail (it’s been a while since I watched it), he didn’t really do anything to deserve it. Those on whom…
From nearly the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve argued that Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo abused her authority by declaring an emergency in order to give herself enhance powers. The emergency provisions in Rhode Island law are meant to be used to manage a desperate circumstance in which there is no time to handle a situation…
William Jacobson has posted video on Legal Insurrection of an event his organization sponsored addressing the move toward “critical race theory” activism, particularly in our towns and in our schools. Here’s the 38-minute highlight video; the original post has the full video.
War’s character is recondite in the flow of history to a civilization that seeks to avoid it. War is at once utterly logical and senseless. The examiner feels as if it must be possible to trace the chain of causes that sparked the bloodshed while thinking it incomprehensible that anything should ever burn so hot.…