I saw two maps shown by John King on CNN when he was analyzing the 2012 election. They illustrated with striking clarity the political divide in this nation. Those maps pointed towards a possible path liberals could take to reasert their importance in the political system. The first map showed the states, colored red or blue, depending on which presidential candidate won a majority in each one. In that election they were pretty evenly divided. Then he showed a map of each of the individual cou...

Let’s suppose there is this man in America. He is wealthy. He considers himself a “conservative guy” but he is not ideological. At one time or another in his past he has said he is in favor of a higher minimum wage, higher taxes on wealthier people, and even universal health care. Yet, he cannot bring himself to self-identify as a Democrat. Given the alternatives available, he sees himself as a Republican. For all that, he has never been politically active, other than voting and contributing t...

As always, in the current  race for the presidency each of the candidates claims to have the “best” plan for the economy—without demonstrating any cognizance of our economy’s real flaws. For people on the political left, the problems most commonly cited are unemployment and poverty. People on the political right most often cite tax rates and the size of the debt public debt. Chronic instability as such (wobbling between recession and inflation) hardly ever gets mentioned, though if we are experi...

Justice Anton Scalia died, and there is always sadness in death. People loved him and cared about him and will miss him. Justice Scalia was also an important member of the Supreme Court. Intellectually, he was a devout ‘originalist.’ In that, he was at best wrongheaded. Originalism is the doctrine that we must apply the Constitution to the issues of today based on what the words in it, and arguments for and against it, meant to the people who debated and wrote that monumental document. That i...

In 1688, England experienced its ‘Glorious Revolution,’ transitioning nonviolently to a constitutional monarchy. As part of the changes associated with that event, control of the money, which had always been the prerogative of all monarchs, was kept from the Crown and (eventually) put in the hands of the Bank of England (established in 1694). With that, the central-bank monetary model was formally established. Today, almost all nations employ a version of that model. [The only notable exceptio...

Things are not going well for our ‘Western’ (or ‘Modern’) way of life. To save it, we must make fundamental changes. The most important thing is to reduce arbitrariness. “Reduce arbitrariness” might not be what the reader expected there, but as John Locke said, arbitrariness in human relations is injustice. As a concept, “arbitrariness” is less abstract than “injustice” is (if not by much). As a practical matter, less arbitrariness in human relations means more liberty. We cannot hope to eradi...

There has been yet another mass murder using a gun in the U.S., and now we have the inevitable reiteration of the arguments for and against ‘gun control.’ To my mind, all we need to wrap this up is to read the Second Amendment and do what it says. Here it is: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." - Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution There is no avoiding some interpretation. The amend...

We humans are rational beings. We need rationality in our lives. We especially need rationality in communal life, to govern governance. Ideology was conceived to replace theology for governing governance. Ideology is secular, but it is not rational. Ideologies are based on secular beliefs, just as theologies are based on spiritual beliefs. Ideologies are in effect secular religions. There are multiple ideologies; ideology is divisive. There are multiple theologies; theology is divisive. There ...

Frosti Sigurjonsson, a member of Iceland’s Parliament, has presented a proposal for a “better” monetary system for that nation to adopt. The proposal is the product of a study commissioned by Prime Minister Sigmundur Daviö Gunnlaugsson. There are, of course, many issues involved in any idea for a different kind of monetary system, but let's focus on the biggest, most general aspects of the Icelandic proposal. Make no mistake: this proposal truly is something new under the Sun. It would change t...