Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Basic Assumptions
It has been a very, very long time since I decided to rename this blog "Basic Assumptions." It has been an even longer time since I made any new posts. What I wanted to do when I did the renaming was talk about current political problems by deconstructing them to their cores and building up from there what the solutions might be. In full disclosure, I am a libertarian. So, for me, the most basic answer to most political problems is "let the free market handle it, get out of our business, and leave us alone!" I am, however, a soft libertarian. For me, that means not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Instead of eliminating all entitlements because many of them are deeply inefficient and can hurt our economy, I say, let's talk about why we have those entitlements in the first place and what alternate solutions we can muster for those problems. My hope is that these will be solutions which appeal to common sense bipartisan Americans. This will, by the way, be specifically about American politics. While I have studied European parliamentary systems, I don't think it's really my business to recommend what they do with themselves. They can do whatever they want, though I hope they stop crashing everyone else's economies. Tomorrow, or whenever, I will begin with the most basic assumption of all, what is the purpose of government. I hope it will be interesting enough to read.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Basic Assumptions
So, I've decided to take this blog in a new direction. It seems to me that with all of the number crunching and minutiae debating happening in DC, nobody is willing to address the big philosophical questions of governance. In the political world in which I travel it has become very posh to shit all over political philosophy and philosophy in general. "It's not practical!" "Where's the data?" "How does this apply?" I wonder, though, without engaging with the philosophy, how can we move beyond the pros and cons of specific policies written by FDR or LBJ? From the right we hear about eliminating government programs and from the left we hear about supporting them, but nobody proposes real alternatives to them which could be more efficient and effective and which could better reflect where we want to be in 20, 50, or 100 years.
So, my three readers, keep looking and soon I'll be pouring in my own philosophy, starting with the most basic assumptions about government. So please read and comment and build a conversation.
So, my three readers, keep looking and soon I'll be pouring in my own philosophy, starting with the most basic assumptions about government. So please read and comment and build a conversation.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
McConnell Warns of Risk to Party, and Country, of Default - NYTimes.com
McConnell Warns of Risk to Party, and Country, of Default - NYTimes.com
You know, maybe this IS a good thing. The President didn't even need to stand on principles to push the Republicans into intransigence. Now, if he can continue to look like a compromiser and if Republicans continue to eat their proverbial young, Democrats can come out on top and set the stage for some real decision making moving into the election cycle. It would be interesting to see.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Op-Art: Like it or Unfriend It - Graphic - NYTimes.com
A rough reminder of our complicated history, as seen through Facebook.
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