Ideas
-
The Tortured Mind
Can we all agree that Cheney has zero credibility and that he should not be heard from again unless subpoenaed? Eric Holder, whether for him happily or unhappily, has got the ball rolling in his appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate torture. I think this move will develop a momentum that will shift us
-
More on the Tension between Liberty and Equality
First line of Gettysburg address: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Last line: . . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this
-
Conservatives/Libertarians/Liberals
Commenter Dan H about six months ago at Will Wilkinson's "Liberaltarian Reactions": A more fundamental rift between liberals and libertarians is that liberals believe that society and economic activity needs to be planned by a central authority. This is why they are almost always in favor of new regulations – a regulation is a plan,
-
Libertarian Takedown
Tristero at Hullabaloo: . . . to the extent that libertarians hold up the individual as primary and fail to recognize that individuals simply cannot physically exist without a social/cultural/environmental context, libertarianism is worthless. To the extent that libertarianism does recognize the complex dialectic between the individual and her/his social and physical environment, libertarianism is
-
Honor
The word has mostly positive connotations for us–it's a good thing to be a man of honor, or to give one's word of honor. But I've always thought there was something fishy about honor and the honor culture from which it originates–it seemed to be too concerned with reputation and public perception rather than with
-
How Liberalism Got Its Bad Name
I've been reading Rick Perlstein's gripping account of the sixties, Nixonland, and it's a little disconcerting, since I lived through it, how much I need to be reminded about what was going on then, particularly about the controversies surrounding school desegregation and open housing in 1965-66, both years of unprecedentedly violent summer rioting. As I
-
Cosmic Dancing
I've been trying to figure out why Jacques Derrida is important, off and on, for some time now. I don't question that he is someone who is to be taken seriously, but it's an open question whether he's worth the effort, and whether there is really any there there. I think by his own rejection
-
Why Liberalism Can’t Get It Done III
In the gospels it says that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. This is not the platitudinous condemnation of economic injustice, but rather a shrewd observation about human psychology. The point is that those who have
-
How We Got into This Predicament
It is easy sometimes to lose sight of how extreme a period this is in America's history, how profoundly our national character has been degraded and how fundamentally our country's core has changed over the last six years. Glenn Greenwald Well, yes, but let's put that into some perspective. I'd argue that the seeds of