A Comedic Eulogy of Conservatism, From Inside the Coffin

You’ve got to read P.J. O’Rourke’s essay in the Weekly Standard, “We Blew It”.  The whole conservative and Republican establishments are trying to figure out what went wrong and what to do next; this is one of the best attempts at the former.
Excerpts:
“It took a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives 40 years–from 1954 [...]

Why I Love America: John McCain, Barack Obama, and the Internet

Election night reminded me once more what a crazy, wonderful country I live in.  Barack Obama gave an incredible, uplifting victory speech to match his great accomplishment.  John McCain’s concession speech was literally jaw-dropping.   His eloquence, graciousness, and humility were inspiring; a few more performances that good and he may not have had to concede!  [...]

College Taught Me How to Vote (sometimes)

As I filled out my absentee ballot, I found myself deeply ambivalent- both about the local races I know nothing about, and the Presidential race I’ve been reading about for months and could talk about for hours.  I wonder whether all these things I know about the candidates reflect what they know about themselves and [...]

Krugman’s Nobel

Paul Krugman has worked in academia, government, and policy, written several popular books and many technical articles.  But despite all that, he is known primarily for one thing- New York Times columns chronicling the onset of his own Bush Derangement Syndrome.  Inevitably, most non-economists and some economists will see the Prize as a political statement, [...]

The Use of Knowledge in Society

Freidrech Hayek’s 1945 essay in AER was decades ahead of its time, long pre-empting much of the economics profession on the importance of dispersed information.  It also showed why Communism was doomed to failure, though it took many poor and deadly decades before the experiment was admitted to have confirmed his theory.

The Presidential High Dive

As cynical Americans, we hardly expect our politicians to do in office what they promised to do on the campaign trail.  But many presidents end up doing just the opposite of what they promised, speeding away from their original platform like an Olympian diving off the 10 meter- though rarely with such purpose or grace.
Woodrow [...]

Fourth Amendment Shipping Tape

Is a wonderful idea. Maybe Homeland Security employees will feel at least a little guilty searching your stuff with no probable cause.  I haven’t seen the case law that allowed these checks, but they do seem to be the one modern interpretation more blatantly contradictory to the Constitution than about any other.

The World Though Einstein-Colored Glasses

Just read Albert Einstein’s The World As I See It. The book, published in German in 1933 and in English a year later, was Einstein’s first publication directed at a general audience. The first half is devoted to science, both to an explanation of Einstein’s work and a record of his thoughts on the [...]

Judging a Magazine by its Cover- the New Yorker’s Obama edition

Given the New Yorker’s well-known political slant, its hard to imagine they meant to try to damage Obama; I find the cover delightfully over the top, with an American flag in the fireplace and a portrait of Bin Laden on the wall. When things get ridiculous enough, you’ve got to laugh- unless you’re thin [...]

Its my Party, I’ll Disenfranchise who I want to

Voting rights occupy a special place in the minds of Americans; no voting controversy can be settled, or even discussed, without some good doses of demagoguery from all sides.
The Democratic Party wanted to keep states from having their primaries a year ahead of the election; the state parties in Florida and Michigan moved theirs back [...]