Political Thought
On July 14, Andrew put up an excellent post responding to a comment from Michael Morse and explaining what we mean when we talk about the inherent corruption of the public sector, particularly with respect to unionization: When someone regularly deals on a firsthand basis with people in need of real help — and in…
So, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is threatening to stop enforcing regulations if Congress doesn’t modify them to account for the failure of those regulated to comply: Frustrated by what he called a “slow-motion train wreck” for U.S. schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he will give schools relief from federal mandates under the No…
The argument over the value or harmfulness of television is an old one, but Ben Berger brings it to an important insight. He notes that the medium itself has downsides, and that it tends toward content that compounds them: … Postman and his fellow media guru Marshall McLuhan both insisted that “the medium is the…
I’ve been meaning to highlight the following paragraph, from Kevin Williamson’s March 7 National Review consideration of How the West Was Lost by Dambisa Moyo: The U.S. and Europe have the worst kind of problems: ones that are easy to understand but difficult to solve. Our worst problem is that democratic governments lack the kind…
Yesterday, I noted a couple of differences between the public and private sectors when it comes to the calculation of hiring new employees, prompting commenter Michael (himself a public employee) to write: The big difference between the public sector and the private sector is the most important. The public sector exists for service and the…
Last week, in Tiverton, the committee tasked to create an alternative to the financial town meeting (FTM) held a hearing on its proposal. Basically, the budget process would follow the same steps, with the Town Council and School Committee submitting budgets to the Budget Committee, which puts together a final request for the consideration of…
The topic of conversation, when Andrew spoke with Tony Cornetta on the Matt Allen Show, last night, was constitutional principle and the wise structure of our government. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
The passage of the state budget, followed by a flurry of bills passed and not passed in the last week of the 2011 Rhode Island General Assembly session, were clear demonstrations of the value and the wisdom of two foundational principles of American constitutional governance. 1. The Division of Powers, more commonly referred to as…
Now here’s a concept too often missing in politics. It was spoken by the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, on the Today Show Friday. (Lauer was interviewing the Dreamy One about the public pension and health bill just passed by the NJ Assembly.) Matt Lauer: Your approval rating — 47% of the people in…
The Providence Journal editorial board highlights a piece of legislation that, while unlikely to become law, illustrates the potential consequences of consolidation for the sake of efficiency and ease: … Sen. John Tassoni (D.-Smithfield) — a member of the state’s AFL-CIO executive board, former business agent for the state’s largest public-employees union, AFSCME Council 94,…