political philosophy
Could you choose your own legal code?: The Story
The bazaar where the merchandise is the law Imagine signing a legal code the way you sign a terms of service. Scroll past the tort reform clause. Check the box on property rights. Opt out of capital gains tax. Click "I agree." This sounds like science fiction.... Is moral progress real?: Dialecticians
The declaration and the guillotine August 26, 1789. The French National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Seventeen articles. Liberty, property, security.... Is moral progress real?: Progress realists
The chart nobody believes In 1950, roughly 60 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. By 2015, under 10 percent. Hans Rosling spent his last decade showing audiences this chart and watching their faces.... What are borders actually for?: Open borders
The trillion-dollar sidewalk In 2013, economist Michael Clemens published a calculation so large it sounded like satire. If borders were open — if people could move to where their labor was most productive — global GDP would increase by 50 to 150 percent.... What are borders actually for?: The Story
The invisible line Describe a border crossing to someone who has never seen one. A line, usually invisible, sometimes marked by a river or a fence or a man in a booth. On one side, a set of laws. On the other, a different set.... Who decides what counts as misinformation?: Speech liberalists
The Skokie principle In 1978, largely Jewish ACLU lawyers defended neo-Nazis who wanted to march through Skokie, Illinois — a community where one in six residents was a Holocaust survivor. The lawyers did not agree with the Nazis. Several had lost family in the camps.... What does governance need to become?: Subsidiarity advocates
The altitude principle In 1931, Pope Pius XI articulated what Catholic political philosophy had been circling for centuries: it is a grave evil to assign to a higher association what lesser organizations can do. Not decentralization — subsidiarity.... What does governance need to become?: Epistocrats
The bus that won Before the Brexit referendum, Ipsos MORI found British voters overestimated EU immigrants by a factor of three and believed £350 million per week went to Brussels — a number so thoroughly debunked the head of the UK Statistics Authority called it a clear misuse.... Is tradition a resource, a trap, or something else?: Catholic Social Teaching
Critical retrieval In 1879, Leo XIII commanded the entire Church to go back to Thomas Aquinas. Not to repeat him — to think with him, then think past him.... How free can you be inside a system designed for compliance?: Integralists
The curfew A fourteen-year-old is certain the curfew is oppression. She can articulate the injustice with perfect clarity. She is also wrong, in a way she will not understand for another decade, when she is the parent setting the curfew and discovering that the fear she dismissed... What is justice for?: Natural law
What a person is I teach philosophy at a small Catholic university in the Midwest. My students come in already knowing the positions — retribution, restoration, distribution. They can argue any of them on an exam. What they usually can’t say is why any of it matters.... The Open Question Feb 25: What's the future of America? Are we (USA) in a decline? Are we thriving? Does it matter? Think The Fourth Turning, Ray Dalio's changing world order, The Decline of the Roman Empire, rise of China, and whatever else you bring.
#openquestion
I'm considering the question, and what it means or infers. There is, possibly, so much my mind wants to -simultaneously- include and unpack. Are you asking for: My opinion? -or- My utopian dream?... Freedom- Identity vs Practice
American society is steeped in independence. We inherit it, however, do we wield it? Our founding documents frame liberty as fundamental— The Declaration of independence, The Constitution. Freedom can be looked at as protection from government.... Countering a Misguided Roadmap
In his article [*“*From Grief to Grit: A Christian Roadmap After Kirk’s Assassination*,”*](https://truthscript.com/culture/from-grief-to-grit-a-christian-roadmap-after-kirks-assassination/) Jon Harris lays out what he believes Christian men should do in response to Charlie Kirk’s... Neither King Nor Mob
INTRODUCTION Neither King Nor Mob I first encountered American politics as an argument, not a spectacle. At fifteen, I read The Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist responses.... INTRODUCTION Neither King Nor Mob I first encountered American politics as an argument, not a spectacle. At fifteen, I read The Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist responses.... Incorruptible Organizations AMA with Eric Ries. Wednesday 2/4 at 3:00 PM CT
Lean Startup author who now focuses on legal structures to protect mission-driven organizations from corruption. incorruptible.co
Free book giveaway! Register here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNfb54LuzwIIf I try to steelman @johnaweiss here, I get curious how you think about government? Genuine questions—do you think there is a version of government that is better than what we have (not that you have to have a solution in order to criticize something you don't like)?... What do you need from a candidate to convince you to vote for them? For me by far the most important thing is geopolitics. Given that America is the
world police
and is largely responsible for keeping world maritime trade routes open (on which the entire world economy rests - including the US economy), it is shocking to me how much people focus on internal things like crime, abortion, gun control (all of which are very important, but pale in comparison to the whole planet imo).I think America has done a good job of leading the world in the last 70 years despite also messing up many times, I struggle to think of any other power that could have done better. I’m very set on voting for Harris, but I hope to find out in this debate that she and her VP are better than I expect, and hopefully not worse than I expect.
I appreciate hearing this. I used to be super liberatarian-esque non-interventionism, but a few years ago I read "Prisoners of Geography", (highly recommend) written by a British veteran global journalist, and between the lines I kept being grateful that Team America really was...
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