Michael Austin

Professor-turned-administrator and political commentator. Author of six books including "That's Not What They Meant! Reclaiming the Founding Fathers from the American Right" (Prometheus Books).

The GOP and Immigration: It's About Free Market Principles, and Survival

I hate, in Rome, a Grecian town to find; To see the scum of Greece transplanted here,Received like gods, is what I cannot bear.Nor Greeks alone, but Syrians

By Michael Austin

June 16, 2013

Who Owns Your Metadata? (Hint: Not You)

In a recent discussion about privacy and metadata, a good friend of mine—who is also a judge and is in the habit of issuing search warrants—highly recommended that

By Michael Austin

June 12, 2013

How Much Privacy Should We Trade for Security?

Could we maybe stop pretending that this is an easy question? Now that we know that the NSA is analyzing telephone and Internet metadata, searching for patterns that might indicate

By Michael Austin

June 10, 2013

The "Instant Expert" Culture

I am one of the most useless human beings I know. Sad but true. I have three degrees in English literature, I did not get my first job until I

By Michael Austin

June 8, 2013

The "Instant Expert" Culture

I am one of the most useless human beings I know. Sad but true. I have three degrees in English literature, I did not get my first job until I

By Michael Austin

June 8, 2013

I Am Outraged! How the Government Is Destroying Our Privacy

I had to wait a day longer than most people to start being outraged about America's new wiretapping scandal. I learned about the government’s nefarious deeds yesterday

By Michael Austin

June 7, 2013

The IRS Scandal: Asking the Right Questions

so long as the people know where the speech is coming from.”Justice Antonin Scali The current “IRS scandal” raises a lot of legitimate questions that deserve answers. If, as

By Michael Austin

June 5, 2013

Packing Courts and Playing Politics

Good news folks: by the end of the week, everybody you know will be an expert on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. And people who have never been quite

By Michael Austin

June 3, 2013

The Rage of Caliban

“The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not

By Michael Austin

June 1, 2013

Why Can't We Be Friends? Social Media and Democracy in the Age of the Echo Chamber

So, Thomas Jefferson aside, I was unfriended today. It’s not the first time, I’m sure; Facebook is a big place. But it is the first time that the

By Michael Austin

May 30, 2013

Free Markets Are Useful, Not Moral

To true believers, both communism and capitalism are immune to historical critique. Tell a group of devout Marxists that communism has failed wherever it has been tried, and they will

By Michael Austin

May 29, 2013

Two Cheers for Capitalism

"As riches increase and accumulate in few hands. . . the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard."-Alexander Hamilton Knowing full well that I will

By Michael Austin

May 27, 2013