Globally Rational

//Two hundred and thirty-two years ago today, Thomas Jefferson announced the Americans’ future right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  But people often forget the next part of the Declaration of Independence, where he states “that to preserve these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of […]

Popularity: 39% [?]

//Welcome to the 68th edition of Carnival of the Liberals! It was very difficult to choose a reasonable number of articles from the many submissions that I received, but I think I managed to cut it down to the point where it’s not overcrowded.
I also included some comments about each article. I’ll have […]

Popularity: 65% [?]

//“Democracy” is a popular buzzword here in the US.  Everybody assumes that if a country is “democratic”, they are also automatically “free”.  While I don’t oppose the idea of freedom and liberty, I don’t think that they should be naturally associated with the word “democracy”.
In America, democracy and freedom both showed up at the same […]

Popularity: 55% [?]

//And the answer is Nelson Mandela.  Apparently, the US was against the anti-Apartheid movement because the South African white supremacists were our friends.  After it became apparent that South Africa’s racist philosophies were bad, the world came to accept Mandela as a hero… but we still never got around to taking Mandela off the US […]

Popularity: 46% [?]

//Back in February 2007, USA Today/Gallup asked Americans the following question:
“Between now and the 2008 political conventions, there will be discussion about the qualifications of presidential candidates — their education, age, religion, race, and so on. If your party nominated a […]

Popularity: 44% [?]

//We all complain about high gas prices… personally, I’m tired of seeing the complaints. Here’s why:

Prices aren’t determined by costs; they’re determined by supply and demand. Our demand for fuel is increasing (case in point: India/China) and the supply is decreasing. My only complaint is that the government wasn’t able to foster […]

Popularity: 65% [?]

//Today’s LA Times has already started to speculate as to Tim Russert’s replacement after his tragic death yesterday. Their selections are all the obvious ones… it’s mostly just NBC’s top political men, like Chris Matthews and David Gregory.
With all due respect to Matthews and Gregory, I don’t think that either of them will ever […]

Popularity: 49% [?]

//I’ve always wondered why people stay in a city that they hate.  I’ve met plenty of people in Boston or St. Louis or Columbia (Missouri) who complain about the weather or the costs or the people.  Why not just move to whatever place fits your lifestyle best?
This was a major part of my decision to […]

Popularity: 43% [?]

//Yesterday, I outlined the best possible sequence of events that could follow from Israel’s recent prisoner exchange with Hezbollah. The best-case scenario required some forward thinking from the educated part of the population, which would (hopefully) eventually start to promote tolerance. However, here is what will happen if even the educated people let […]

Popularity: 50% [?]

//Plenty of us have heard that over 60% of Americans aged 18-24 couldn’t find Iraq on a map of the Middle East (yes, a map of the Middle East… not even a map of the world) in a 2006 survey (that’s three years after the start of the war). I just took a look […]

Popularity: 61% [?]