Let’s run through the basics. As of now, the Republicans control the House (233-199) and the Democrats control the Senate (55-45). There is little doubt the GOP will hang onto the House (most people think they will pick up some seats there), but the Senate could go either direction. There are 36 Senate seats being […]

One of the calumnies of those espousing an ever-expanding view of the state in determining social outcomes against those who would prescribe any limitations on what the government could do is that it is pure “selfishness.”  Indeed, it is alleged that opponents of a larger state believe in a “rugged individualism” where, as President Obama […]

Probably not the smartest idea to blog on the subject of race in a way that plays off Star Trek; after all, its a very serious issue and worthy of substantive discussion and debate.  Unfortunately you won’t be getting any of that in the next few days in the media, and you certainly haven’t in the […]

I read this in an article on the present state of the humanities by Heather MacDonald.  It is a quote from an unknown humanities work: “Total presence breaks on the univocal predication of the exterior absolute the absolute existent (of that of which it is not possible to univocally predicate an outside, while the equivocal […]

Have you heard about the “Tiny House” movement?  Many probably haven’t, though some may have lived in tiny houses growing up (that was “accidental” unlike this movement).  This movement however is a conscious attempt to provide affordable housing in cities where housing is all but unaffordable except for the well-off.  As you might expect, some […]

As one who tries to keep up with events, but still seeks perspective, I feel tugged between extremes. An overdose of current affairs leads to despair because the fog of news hides the sunshine of hope. Living in the clouds, however, detached from what is actually happening, is a path to obsolescence. So, I too […]

I was sitting in my office yesterday struggling to stay awake while I prepared a class on international balance of payments. I glanced over at my bookcase and saw this “Sider” sandwich. Ron Sider’s 1977 classic title: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (this particular copy is the 1984 second edition) was wedged in […]

Fifty years ago today, Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most memorable speeches, “A Time for Choosing.” In the speech, Reagan is stumping for beleaguered Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, who was about to undergo a thorough beating at the hands of Democrat Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society. Steve Hayward, currently the Reagan Professor […]

Now this is obvious pandering to the hard left of the Democratic Party–surely Mrs. Clinton knows better, doesn’t she?  Hillary says that businesses don’t create jobs, and worse yet, this is somehow a version of “trickle down” economics that’s been tried again and again and failed. Oh, where to begin–as one of my colleagues at […]

In a recent New York Times article, Stephen Rattner made the rather remarkable argument, when boiled down,  that two pending Federal cases brought by corporations and shareholders affected by the 2008 bailout, intended ostensibly to address the 2008 recession, ought to be decided on the basis of the litigants wealth, not by the normal rule […]