What happened in Ferguson, Missouri? And is this important to the nation? Continue reading
Blog Posts and Writings Tagged: Governance
Blog 55. Democracy and bankruptcy
Do all democracies drive themselves into bankruptcy?
In recent years we’ve seen cities descend into bankruptcy. Continue reading
Blog 54. Money, McCutcheon, and the Supreme Court
What happened?
On Wednesday, April 2, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision on the McCutcheon case, in which Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee claimed that the Federal Election Campaign Act restricted his freedom of speech. In a 5-to-4 decision, the Court agreed that limitation of political spending limits personal speech. Continue reading
Blog 47. The elephant in the room
Of the economically developed countries of the world, the U.S. has the most dysfunctional society—that is, we have depression despite material goods, materialism without community, more teen and single parents, less trust, more impoverishment, higher infant mortality, more drugs, obesity, school bullying and school shootings. Continue reading
Blog 46. Carnage or courage?
A Sunday story.
Most of these blogs have talked about science, society, and complex systems. Today, I offer a more personal story, a story that may, in the end, circle back to the big questions. Continue reading
Blog 39. Is federal regulation legal?
In drafting the federal constitution, the founding fathers didn’t foresee a government involved in administering diverse things like air travel, radio waves, rivers, and food purity. The Constitution specifically allows regulation of interstate commerce and postal roads, but, for example, does it allow federal regulation of pollution in rivers? Continue reading
Blog 36. Italian Earthquakes and Scientific Illiteracy
In America, we have a society infused with technology but a populace that is scientifically illiterate. That leads to governance by political correctness rather than by critical evaluation. We’re not alone; similar things happen elsewhere. Continue reading
Blog 35. Complex Terrorism
Terrorism doesn’t work, but fear of terrorism works very well.
Scientific American on terrorism.
The August, 2013 Scientific American offered an article, “Five Myths of Terrorism,” by Michael Shermer. Shermer says terrorism doesn’t work because the terrorists have reason to perpetrate violence; they aren’t under central control, they are not unique geniuses, and they are not deadly compared to the annual average of 13,700 homicides. Shermer notes that most terrorist groups failed to attain their strategic goals.
Shermer is wrong because he ignores the effectiveness of the terrorist acts of 9/11. Continue reading