I don’t know how many of you lived in the mid- to late 1960s, during the summers of rioting in large (and sometimes small) cities in America, but this week I have had the same feeling I had then, at age 10-12.  It seemed as if our very civilization was threatened, even if it wasn’t.  […]

America weeps. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Five Dallas police officers. The first two men were killed by law enforcement officers, the last five killed trying to secure a protest based on the first two deaths. America searches for solutions. Struggling with words to grapple with such a time as this, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said, “We […]

Here is the most recent Bereans podcast, this one on the rule of law and the FBI’s decision regarding Mrs. Clinton.  

Christians are in the midst of an existential crisis as they think about their country, their obligations, and the future. It is understandable and probably well past due. However, even though we have the opportunity to evaluate critically, in doing so, we are lapsing into lazy, categorical thinking. Our view of country is still too […]

240 years ago, more or less on July 4 (the actual date of the signing of the Declaration is debated), the members of the Continental Congress signed a document that severed the bonds of the American colonies from their British rulers.  For many Americans, this day is still cause for celebration for that reason, as […]

In the period from about 1890 to 1920, labeled the Progressive Era, political thinkers, economists (a new profession then) and public intellectuals told Americans and Europeans that the best way to get efficient government that actually worked was to create independent boards, commissions and other similar organizations.  We were told they would be free from […]

Way back in the late 1970s, when the Law and Economics movement was really getting underway, one of the “stars” of that intellectual movement was Richard Posner, a law professor at the time, and one interested in hos economics might be applicable to law.  At the time, I was also developing an interest in economics, […]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but the issue of trade keeps coming up in the news, whether from Donald Trump and the Trumpists or from Paul Ryan or from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, all claiming to have the right position on trade and the place of the United States in the global […]

In today’s Wall Street Journal (gated) reports on a political battle over the provision of food stamps, and it illustrates much of what is wrong in Washington DC.  Many of us lament the almost doubling of the number of people receiving food stamps, with only a slight drop off well after the recession is over.  We […]

A vote is a crude instrument. It is often a binary choice that cloaks oodles of complexity. Consider a typical ballot for office. Are votes cast for or against candidates? What factors are driving the decision? Economics? Party? Social concerns? Foreign policy? Personality? Charisma? Or, more grimly, for how many voters do racism, envy, and […]