Federalist No. 57 contains a statement describing the proper goals of any constitution boiled down to two simple points: The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and...
This is a question – not a dissertation. I would like to get more perspectives and experience than I have on the question of how citizens can have the most political influence. Suggestions must be activities that all citizens can participate – in other words, holding office does nto count because if I hold...
When I listed the options yesterday for how to deal with the AIG bonuses I obviously missed one. One member of the house thought up the idea that we could tax AIG bonuses at 100 percent. The beauty of his bill is that it is written to apply to large bonuses at any company...
Despite rumors to the contrary, this country is still based on the rule of law – especially when the law favors a guy who has a "bonus" in excess of $6 Million dollars coming to him. By now almost everybody has certainly heard about the $165 Million of bonuses being paid to AIG execs....
When the legislative session started in January my representative, Becky Edwards, promised to blog each day of the session. Now that the session has ended I want to thank her for keeping that promise as well as the rest of her efforts to keep her constituents informed of what she was doing to represent...
The legislative process has been compared to sausage making and we are often told that we don’t want to see the process. At the blogger meeting in the Senate President’s office yesterday what we got among all the talk about various bills was a peek at the sausage making process. Personally I found the...
I have never been a fan of Rush Limbaugh or Governor Huntsman which makes the false dichotomy presented here all the more ironic for me. Rush Limbaugh told a recent gathering of conservatives that the party needed to return to its conservative roots to start winning again. But Huntsman has been attracting national attention...
Yesterday there was a very short story on NPR that caught my attention. Apparently a number of Chinese military ships came very close to an unarmed American military ship in international waters. Close was specified to be under 20 feet at one point which is very close in nautical terms. The suggestion by the...
Federalist No. 55 and Federalist No. 56 explore a subject which has grown increasingly interesting and important to me the more I have studied – that is a consideration of the proper size of the House of Representatives. Here I find, unsurprisingly, that a few assumptions were made which have proven to be critically...
It’s been a long time since I stumbled across something that belongs in my personal perspectives series, but I could not pass this up when someone I’ve long interacted with describes his love for America (which love I share): I too love America. I love her for the ideals and principles of liberty upon...