Political Thought
My, isn’t that totalitarian hand attractive for reasons small and large. From Another RI Blogger: Sheldon Whitehouse was a sponsor of S2847, Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act), which has been a long, long time coming. What this bill does is finally requires the television networks to make the volume of the commercial advertising…
Jim Manzi argues that, as conservatives strive to claim a decisive voice in governance, we should see the welfare state not so much as a demolition project, but as remodeling, with a different end-goal in mind: … it would be foolhardy, from a conservative perspective, to eliminate a system so central to day-to-day life and…
In a November article for National Review (yes, I’m a bit behind), Keith Hennessey offers ten methods by which elected officials can begin “moving incrementally in the right direction” when it comes to the economy. Most of the items deal with particular issues and ought to be considered, but his #2 speaks to a general…
It’s always amusing to read such things from an editorial board that has, among other things, advocated for centralization of the healthcare system: One of its themes is how much government policy has been taken over by self-interested individuals who rotate between government and the private sector (including academic) jobs. They use government jobs as…
The Dear Mr. Chafee letter by John Marion, of Common Cause, makes a generally applicable suggestion that might lead to food for thought: … I would suggest that when Gov.-elect Chafee makes most of his decisions, he should use a 25-year time horizon. … The electoral cycle is short because we insist on accountability through…
It seems as if something has significantly changed in electoral politics — or else, that something that has been changing crossed into a visible field of light. The most striking example may have been in Alaska, where Senator Lisa Murkowski rejected the decision of the Republican Party’s primary voters and ran as a write-in candidate,…
The talk was of political theory and second chances for Michael Vick when I spoke with guest host Tony Cornetta on the Matt Allen Show last night. Stream by clicking here, or download it. I didn’t go into the sales pitch, but please email or call (401-835-7156) me to pledge financial support — as subscriptions,…
Over on the WPRI site, Ted Nesi is running a series of “Dear Mr. Chafee” essays by “five of the state’s smartest citizens.” I’ll admit that I’m a bit suspicious of his claim — inasmuch as I’m on the list — but Tom Sgouros, who penned the first in the series is surely among the…
Roger Simon’s Thanksgiving musings struck me as particularly poignant: My real beef with Barack Obama is that he does not want to acknowledge that [America represents human aspiration to the world] or he doesn’t believe it. I don’t know which. But in any case he rejects it. I saw that most clearly on what was…
One can sense a desire, in the broadly defined Tea Party movement, to repeal something among the many decisions, amendments, and statutes that have diluted the Founders’ experiment of divided government powers. Todd Zywicki marks the introduction of the Seventeenth Amendment to the list of candidates for rethinking: Election of senators by state legislatures was…
