I have so far avoided taking any position on the two main candidates for president. For my colleague Mark Smith, don’t worry, I will. I intend to continue the path of avoidance in this blog. Today I would like to examine and evaluate each candidate’s economic program. I say nothing about their personal morality, or […]
Archives
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Grudem and the Costs of Trump Support (Part 3)
05 Aug 2016
Wayne Grudem, the theological guru, has created a firestorm by publishing an argument in favor of voting for Donald Trump. While I respect Grudem, I have three major problems with this advocacy. First, Dr. Grudem minimizes Trump’s weaknesses, which causes him to put too much faith in what Donald Trump might accomplish (Part 1). Second, […]
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Missives from the Morass: DNC Style
29 Jul 2016
The City of Brotherly Shove hosted the Democratic National Convention. Wisely, I did not attend. The DNC was, like its GOP counterpart, a historic affair. At the end of it all, a major party nominated a person uniquely unfit for the presidency. Granted, Hillary Rodham Clinton is a woman, but as she would surely prefer, […]
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As we are reminded in Hamilton; An American Musical, after they won the Battle of Yorktown to finish the War for Independence, American soldiers sang, while the redcoats were forced to listen to, a common drinking song of the day, The World Turned Upside Down. It was especially significant because it underscored the existence of […]
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Missives from the Morass: July 21
21 Jul 2016
Well, I thought it might be historic. It is, and the party nominee has not even taken the floor yet. Ted Cruz finished second in the G.O.P. nomination campaign and was booed off the floor of the convention last night. John Kasich, the host Governor and also a presidential candidate, has not darkened the door […]
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Missives from the Morass: July 20
20 Jul 2016
So it was, at 5:58 p.m., July 19, 2016, that Jeff Sessions, U.S. Senator from Alabama, officially nominated Donald J. Trump as the Republican Party’s candidate for President of the United States. While a heavy majority of GOP delegates rose to their feet with a lusty cheer, an obvious rump stayed on their rumps, arms […]
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Missives from the Morass: July 17
18 Jul 2016
My soundtrack for the drive up to Cleveland was Hamilton: An American Musical. My oldest daughter, Madelaine, is an evangelist for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterwork. The writing is vibrant, the music is beguiling, the vocal performances are remarkable, and the emotion generated, even by the soundtrack (after all, I am not wealthy enough to afford the […]
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Making Britain Great Again? Does Brexit=Trump?
28 Jun 2016
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 […]
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The Conservative Soul for a Supreme Court Seat?
19 May 2016
“Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!” Thomas More, Act 2, A Man for All Seasons Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency, yesterday released a list of Supreme Court prospects that might fill Antonin Scalia’s vacated seat. The […]
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All of Trump’s Men
18 Mar 2016
“During all that time I didn’t see Willie. I didn’t see him again until he announced in the Democratic primary in 1930. But it wasn’t a primary. It was hell among the yearlings and the Charge of the Light Brigade and Saturday night in the back room of Casey’s saloon rolled into one, and when […]