Our Collective Insanity
In the not-too-distant future we will look back on the years 2001-2005 as one of the episodes in American history when the body politic lost its hold on reality. Fear has a way of erasing reason and...
View ArticleDemocracy, Human Rights, And Peace: Lessons From Our Own History
Putting aside the Bush Administration's fear-mongering, deceptive use of information, secrecy, and all around incompetency in executing its foreign policy goals, I want to look at the fundamental...
View ArticleShould The Left Get Religion? Spirituality?
I reject the notion that religion, with its proclivity for dogma, superstition, and its myriad internal contradictions is a desirable or necessary requirement to find meaning in life or developing a...
View ArticleThe Clash Is Real (And It's Bigger Than You Think)
There has been a lot of discussion lately about whether we are in the midst of a "clash of civilizations" between the "West" and the "Muslim world". I believe we are, but the clash falls within a...
View ArticleIt's Not the Economy, Stupid
It's inarguably true that while GDP has grown exponentially for the past half-century, human happiness has remained relatively flat. All the same, as an economist, it baffles me when these two facts...
View ArticleA Reasoned Discourse on Immigration
Illegal immigration (overwhelmingly from Mexico) is currently the biggest thing in the news, but unfortunately, much of the rhetoric that surrounds the debate is nonsensical. The issues are complex and...
View ArticleThe Speech I Would Like to Hear from a Democratic Leader
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am here today to lay out the Democratic Party's vision for the future. It is the Democrats who are the party of the future, who have a forward-thinking agenda for...
View ArticleMark Warner in 2008
(It seems like now's a good time for a reprise of this post given the events of the past weekend.) I know it's early to be making presidential predictions but I am going to make one: Mark Warner is...
View ArticleA Mission Statement for the Left???
The Left needs its one-sentence mission statement that people can recite in their sleep. Here's my go at it: We believe in economic opportunities for all, the sanctity of individual liberties,...
View ArticleThe Crucial (Unanswered) Question Regarding Islamic Terrorism
The conflicts in the Middle East routinely frustrate even the most attentive experts, while completely baffling casual observers. The region seems to permanently feed on a combination of the most...
View ArticleThe Mideast: Clarifying Our Differences
Perhaps even more than the Iraq War, recent events in the Middle East have highlighted the fundamental differences in how the left and the right view the situation in the region and how America (and...
View ArticleAn Alternative Foreign Policy
For all of the failings of the neocon foreign policy, the one charge against the Left that still holds is that the Left is largely bereft of its own grand foreign policy doctrine(s). It is one thing to...
View ArticleDemocrats, Terrorism, and National Security
This past week witnessed any amazing confluence of events. Two days after Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary, which has been widely heralded as proof that the Democrats...
View ArticleFocus on Human Rights, Not Democracy
In an earlier piece I pointed out that democracies have often not respected human rights (I highlighted the enslavement of Africans during almost the first century of our nation's existence, as well as...
View ArticleHow's this for a foreign policy narrative?
The Democrats' first priority is always to focus on the direct and immediate threats to America. That is the key to our security; not to get distracted by secondary threats that divert us from our most...
View ArticleIt's All About Sex
I have come to believe that the root of fundamentalism (which has spawned some of the most virulently anti-liberal and violent behavior in the world) is a dysfunctional view of sexuality.
View ArticleThe Other Disastrous War
It costs hundreds of billions of dollars, there’s no end in sight and tens of thousands have been killed. It is empowering our enemies and weakening our friends.
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