[Originally posted at the main page.] Three months after the infamous Kelo v. New London opinion was issued in June 2005, Professor Thomas W. Merrill testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his surprise at the public’s “stunning” and “overwhelming… Continue Reading
A dear friend, who has done premier work in the neural sciences and several books on philosophical psychology, remarked that he wanted, as the epitaph on his gravestone, "He died without a theory." A former colleague of mine remarked that… Continue Reading
Reacting to my previous post analyzing the President’s statements Friday last, Burt Likko could not “reasonably understand Obama to be arguing for a proposition to the effect of ‘Everything belongs to society ab initio, so the government should be able… Continue Reading
The President has been insisting for some time now that those who earn more than $250,000 a year are not paying their “fair share.” One must assume that the President is aware that these “wealthy” Americans are in fact paying… Continue Reading
In our discussion in the comments at the main page, Tom Van Dyke and I discussed whether Chief Justice Roberts’ decision in NFIB v. Sebelius, aka, the Obamacare case, demonstrated the essence of statesmanship (and possibly a shrewd power play)… Continue Reading
[I won’t likely have time to do any deeper analysis of the decision until the distant future, in news-cycle terms. At any rate, the decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is too important not to offer an initial… Continue Reading
[Originally posted on the main page] Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on inequality. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in the Symposium so far, click… Continue Reading
Nick Hanauer’s TED talk—the one that apparently was “banned” (i.e., not immediately released on the TED site but available on YouTube)—makes the argument that middle class consumers, not businesses, create jobs. Consumo ergo sum, as Fr. Robert Sirico describes the… Continue Reading
[Originally posted on the main page] A caller on NPR’s Talk of the Nation offered a very interesting story about whether a college degree is a sound investment. Note the reflexive defense from Kathleen Shea Smith, a student counselor who… Continue Reading
Does the Constitution assume certain presuppositions on the part of those it means to govern? If so, what are those presuppositions? I submit the answer to the first question is yes, and explain the presuppositions that by necessity must be… Continue Reading