If you are part of the American left, middle, or the non-crazy right, you need to read Lane Kenworthy’s “Social Democratic America”. I’m coming a little late to this party. His book was published in early 2014, and I wish I had heard about it at the time. Kenworthy lays out an honest, clear, evidence-based […]
Recently a fever swept through our household. Both of my children and I each were laid low for a few days. Now that we’re fully recovered, it’s time to be grateful. Thats right, grateful. I can think of twelve reasons: I’m grateful for living in a scientifically advanced world that has knowledge of viruses. I’m grateful […]
Today we get a report from Reuters on new research from Oklahoma that the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling into underground wells is likely linked to earthquakes in that state. Hey, conservatives, listen up. You often claim to oppose socialism. But this is a kind of socialism – the BAD kind. The oil […]
I don’t have much interest in electing Democrats as such. I’m interested in electing progressives. But in our two-party-dominated system, you do the best you can. And in that light, I found this article by Eric Laursen to be hopeful. In it he describes how the Congressional Progressive Caucus – a group of left-leaning House […]
We have had four presidential announcements now – three Republican (Paul, Cruz, Rubio) and one Democratic (Clinton). Of the three Republican announcements, the word “freedom” rings out twelve times. You hear “liberty” 26 times. How many times do you hear the words freedom and liberty in Clinton’s announcement? Zero, zilch, nada. Sigh. As I’ve written […]
Let’s take it as a given that the United States is the world’s preeminent nation state and that the U.S. president matters a great deal to international affairs. That said, there are three BILLION people in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore (where I live now) that likely don’t care what the three MILLION […]
As a good liberal, I prefer to see people as individuals rather than groups. I like to judge people by the content of the character and their actions, rather than characteristics they were simply born into. But let me take a moment and play the generational blame game in politics. This is going to sound […]
As ready as I’m supposed to be for Hillary Clinton, I have to admit that I find it hard to trust her – at least on the issues I care about most when it comes to the presidency. Let me be clear: I think she is one of the most qualified people to be president that […]
I do my level best to ignore Rand Paul, but since he’s now running for president, we have seemingly endless coverage. So, we get this piece in the Washington Post that concludes at one point: The Paul political brand is not personality-based. It’s all about the ideas. And the key idea is that liberty cannot […]
Here I am writing my first public thoughts about Ferguson. Awfully late, you say. Fair enough. But I had my reasons. Race is complicated and delicate, of course, and it’s not something I study consistently, so I was inclined to wait for the Justice Department reports and read other commentary. Also, let me say this: […]
Bill Poorman 