There has long been an interest among Americans in the rationale and intentions of those who helped write our Constitution. This fascination suggests a consensus that certain qualities of the Constitution played a role in setting the United States on its path to prosperity and international influence. This also suggests that there are many who […]
To continue to piece together the puzzle of partisan polarization, I turned to one of the great scholars of behavioral economics, Mancur Olson. Professor Olson’s work, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities seeks to explain how his theories of collective action in societies can lead to suboptimal outcomes in […]
After reviewing It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, I was ready for some other possible explanations for our polarization problem. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, James Piereson’s Shattered Consensus: The Rise and Decline of America’s Postwar Political Order seemed like it could be an antidote. Although the book is a […]
A few years ago, I was blessed to have picked up a copy of J.M. Roberts’s “A Short History of the World” and my life has never been the same. I had never before conceived of history with such broad strokes — where patterns manifest themselves over hundreds or even thousands of years. It was a true […]
Economists are in the business of predicting events. They spend their days combing through data, looking for patterns that lead to models which ostensibly help us better predict which fiscal or monetary policy will create a desired outcome. But in the final analysis, the most consequential events are the hardest (read: impossible) to predict, as […]
What made Lincoln great? Was it his war leadership, his steadfast honesty, the compelling nature of his life story? A combination of these? Was it his emancipation of American slaves? While it is hard to pinpoint any single quality or achievement that has made Lincoln into a demigod of American history, many would agree that […]
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about the polarization epidemic our country faces. You don’t have to read too far into my previous review to see that I wasn’t too impressed with the approach recommended in The Dividend Era. Focusing on partisanship and trying to simplify issues is not the way to get America […]
Every once in a while a book comes along that has the potential to change everything. Books that truly make one smarter or fundamentally change the way the reader looks at the world fulfill the moniker “educational” in the truest sense. I pity the person who tries to write a book that does this for […]
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”— Leo Tolstoy Readers of this site might sometimes get the feeling that I’m too critical of conservatives. Admittedly, I do spend a fair amount of time trying to bring a more thoughtful, positive approach to conservative principles. My ultimate goal is to […]
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” — James Madison It is one of the hallmarks of American politics today to complain away about our bureaucracy. Why is it that a driver may wait in line for two hours to get her license renewed, while someone who wants to sign up for car insurance can get signed […]
