15 Articles

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Nixon, Agnew, Quayle, Cheney--and Now Palin?
(1 comments) Why are the Republicans so cavalier in their selection of Vice Presidential nominees? A historical look, with some quotations from the Republicans at the National Review.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Flag Fetish
(6 comments) An article in Sunday's New York Times reports on conservative hostility to Obama. He doesn't wear a flag pin, they complain, and he doesn't put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. I remember when Americans weren't obsessed with outward shows of patriotism.

Monday, November 19, 2007
Debate in the Desert
(1 comments) Logical fallacies, the Nanny State, and Hillary Clinton's experience: Reflections on the Las Vegas Debate.

Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Curmudgeon Party
(9 comments) Mike Gravel and Ron Paul should run together on a third-party ticket. They could call themselves the Maverick Party, the Odd Squad, or the Curmudgeon Party.

Friday, September 28, 2007
Bad Debate Questions at Dartmouth
(6 comments) At the Dartmouth debate the other night, Tim Russert asked at least two absurd and pernicious questions. One is "would you torture Al Quaida's #3 man to save American lives?" The second objectionable question was whether Israel would have the right to make a preemptive strike if it "felt in danger"?

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Conscience Voters
(2 comments) We're values voters too.

Sunday, September 9, 2007
"Liberal" or "Progressive"?
(11 comments) Hillary Clinton has claimed to be a "progressive" rather than a "Liberal." What's the difference, and is she right?

Sunday, August 12, 2007
Clinton: "I'm Your Girl!"
(5 comments) On Friday's Hardball, Chris Matthews's two women guests were invited to respond to Hillary Clinton's use of the phrase "If you want X, I'm your girl" at the recent debate in Chicago. Was "girl," in this context, anti-feminist? he wanted to know.

Friday, July 27, 2007
Separation of Church & State: A Thumbnail Sketch
(3 comments) Who was John Locke? Jefferson considered him one of the three most important men who ever lived. It was Locke whose ideas provided the basis for many aspects of our Constitution, including the separation of church and state. Locke himself was a devout Christian.

Monday, March 26, 2007
A Royal Pardon?
The presidential pardon is a vestige of monarchy. Will our King George III pardon Scooter Libby?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007
War Profiteering, Past and Present
(5 comments) The film "Iraq for Sale" reminds this writer of polemics against war profiteering composed during the American Revolution.

Monday, October 23, 2006
The State, That's Me!
How George W. Bush more closely resembles a 17th-century absolute monarch than the leader of a free republic.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Pop Christianity
(4 comments) A critique of contemporary Christianity, with its simplistic notions of causality, its hostility to science, and its intolerance of ambiguity, complexity, and dissidence.

Friday, October 13, 2006
THE HAPPY EMPIRE
(2 comments) Our two greatest faults as Americans are provincialism and a deficit of historical imagination. Too often we lack a sense of historical depth and density. We have become indifferent both to our own ancestors and to future generations.

Thursday, October 12, 2006
Republican Newspeak
(2 comments) Did the Republicans learn how to frame our political debates by reading George Orwell?