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The Illusion of 'Either-Or' Politics |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
10:32 am EDT, Jun 1, 2005 |
For some reason, commentators, pundits, and other analysts seem to like a world in which what is going on is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party—or for the soul of the Democratic Party. But, in fact, this world of binary outcomes is an illusion. The Illusion of 'Either-Or' Politics |
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FCC's New Standards-Bearer |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
10:32 am EST, Mar 17, 2005 |
President Bush has chosen Kevin J. Martin, one of the Federal Communication Commission's leaders in the crackdown on indecency, to succeed the agency's outgoing chairman, Michael K. Powell. The FCC under Martin is likely to be more active on indecency than under Powell. It was inevitable that the matter would wind up in court. FCC's New Standards-Bearer |
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The red and the blue, by Joseph Nye |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
2:25 pm EST, Dec 2, 2004 |
] Political elites, such as party activists and members of
] Congress, tend to be more extreme than the public.
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] At first, this seems puzzling, because they should have
] an incentive to move to the vote-rich middle. But many
] members of Congress represent districts that are safe for
] their parties, and the threat to their re-election comes
] in party primaries that are dominated by the more
] activist and extreme wings of the parties.
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] This tendency is reinforced by the rise of cable
] television, which attracts viewers by means of
] contentious "infotainment" programmes, and
] Internet bloggers, who engage in fierce polemics
] with no editorial filter. A very interesting analysis. I've said that whether you are red or blue has to do with whether you are more afraid of the communists or the fundamentalists. Americans intuitively understand that the structure of their political system is the reason that it doesn't seem to reflect their interests. This comment takes that a little deeper. I agree with his comment about the blogosphere. Its not a conversation. Its not a dialog. Its a million soap boxes. The popular ones tend to be the most polar because they are the most emotionally charged. The blogosphere, as it currently exists, is part of the problem. Its a check on the mass media, but it will be nothing more unless it can provide discourse. The red and the blue, by Joseph Nye |
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'Oops. I Told the Truth.' |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
2:12 pm EDT, Oct 17, 2004 |
The one thing that has gone totally missing, not only from this election, but from American politics, is national leaders who are actually ready to level with the public and even criticize their own constituencies. Good jobs are being outsourced to Indians and Chinese not simply because they'll work for less, but because they are better educated in the math and science skills required for 21st-century work. In China, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America, Britney Spears is Britney Spears. One-third of the Arab population is under the age of 15. 'Oops. I Told the Truth.' |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
10:22 am EDT, Sep 14, 2004 |
There are two sorts of people in the information-age elite, spreadsheet people and paragraph people. This is cute, but not particularly rigorous. It's really a set-up for the letters that would surely follow -- and they did. As expected, the spreadsheet people rush in to nitpick the column, pointing out problems with the data, citing counterexamples, and more. By comparison, the paragraph people argue that the framework itself is flawed, or that blue is really red. Ruling Class War |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
4:33 am EDT, Aug 1, 2004 |
I should never have gone back and read the speech again. I should never have gone back on Friday morning, in the unforgiving light of day, and re-examined the words Kerry had so forcefully uttered the night before. What an incoherent disaster. When you actually read for content, you see that the speech skirts almost every tough issue and comes out on both sides of every major concern. You can't base an entire foreign policy on process. So now I'm disillusioned. I haven't read Kerry's speech, but this comment resonated while my opinion of the essays on his website. Its pandering without a point. Like he is throwing a thousand lures into the water hoping that one resonates with you on an emotional level. The intellectual is left feeling empty. The only reason I'm voting for this guy is that I don't like some of Bush's policies. But what about the swing voter. The one whose not pissed off at Bush. I mean, is THIS GUY really going to be president of the United States? Does it REALLY make sense? Or is it going to come apart at the seams. You'll be left at the voting booth in a very dejected state. You can vote for the conservative christian who damaged our relationship with Europe and invaded a country based on an incorrect set of assumptions, or you can vote for Mr. Wishy Washy, or you can vote for the third party candidate. What you cannot vote for is what you want. A strong leader who can clearly articulate a plan for the war on Terror and the economy who also happens to have real respect for people who are different then he is. All Things to All People |
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Return of the 'Chicken Hawks' |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
5:41 pm EDT, Jul 24, 2004 |
The general trump-it-all insult that the antiwar crowd aims at the pro-war crowd these days is a neat little portmanteau term that manages to impute, at once, cowardice, ignorance, selfishness, bloodlust (as long as the blood spills from others' veins) and hypocrisy: "chicken hawk." "Chicken hawk" is interesting as an insult because it is such a pure example of reactionary thinking or, rather, the substitution of reaction for thinking. It is the sort of thing you say when you need to stop the argument in its tracks because you simply can't bear to address its realities. Return of the 'Chicken Hawks' |
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