This piece by Rebecca Solnit serves as the best example, but there are countless others as well. In short, many self-proclaimed liberals can’t stand that (1) their guy might be just as morally dubious...
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Democracy. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in the Symposium so far, click here. — We...
1. Part of me, of course, is sad Scott Walker won. He’s a conservative and I’m not. All things considered, I prefer when conservatives lose elections. That said, the rest (most?) of me is...
Shawn writes: After facilitating at a general assembly several weeks back, one of my best friends received a message from a participant thanking him for the empowering experience. Even in the “world’s greatest democracy,”...
Let me introduce my twin brother Ilarum, who of course tends to be wrong on a lot of things. Nevertheless, Today is his day to make a fool of himself shine. My twin is...
Ladies and Gentlemen this being the latest in a round of posts on democracy, is going to be long. I also promise that it will be bizarre. I would like to talk about two...
I’m afraid that in our recent discussion of democracy and coercion the conversation tended to hew toward the relative merits of democracy rather than on what I think was my more important point: namely,...
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that I was being slightly hyperbolic when I suggested that libertarians dislike democracy; let’s also shuffle aside the Michael Lind article I linked to and the various...
The analytical gymnastics Jennifer Rubin is forced to perform here to defend the invasion of Iraq are pretty impressive. If the Tunisian revolution spurs reform in neighboring countries, her line of reasoning goes, Iraq’s...
“It’s important to remember, though, that we’ve empowered the government to do this. We’ve decided, collectively, that our fears override our common sense, and we’ve accepted every step-up in security up to this point....
I am a proponent of globalization and I’ll admit that my understanding of financial markets is exceedingly limited, but I have a hard time disagreeing with Dani Rodrik’s claim that democracy, the nation-state, and...
A hot topic the last few months here at the League has been the issue of government accountability reform, and how best to loosen the grip of narrow interest groups over the federal government. ...
No, according to Larry Diamond, whose paper on Arab democracy is worth reading in full. Here’s an excerpt worth considering for the “Islam is a fundamentally retrograde, anti-modern religion” crowd:
In my recently concluded interview with Publius from ObsidianWings on the role of the administrative state, a central question was how citizens can better hold the executive and legislative branches accountable and prevent regulatory...
As many people should know, Obsidian Wings is often a bastion of worthwhile discussion and debate combined with unapologetic opinion in the sea of hackery and straw men that is the political blogosphere. Over...
On foreign policy, I’m something of a realist/intervention-skeptic, which is why I’m inclined to agree with Daniel Larison when he argues that democratization isn’t terribly compatible with stability: Egypt and Jordan can remain at...
“Moussavi passed through this system of ideological control; he’s no radical reformer. But what’s happened is that simply by representing an alternative, Moussavi became a vehicle for the expression of the hopes of people...
I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion that both sides of the “Did We Torture?” debate are doing themselves a big disservice in how they approach their arguments. This perhaps isn’t surprising since I tend...
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on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25Reading that article, I have no idea how gay people are involved in this. Normal people, and I inclu… on Don’t Go Torching Cyber TrucksHow I feel about this is incredibly complicated, I actually completely agree it's a bad choice, not…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25The answer is most certainly "...does not a victim make". They're contacting other men. He's contact…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25There should be at least some strategy to the district choice.
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25The question: "Are they victims?" has a strange and terrible logic. If the answer is "yes, those wom… on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25I went upstairs to tell Maribou about this and opened with "Do you know who Harry Sisson is?" and sh…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25There was a really funny tweet awhile ago about being out of touch with celebrity culture. This is m… on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25Primary challenges drive the Left further to the Left and the Right further to the Right. on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25A sex scandal without sex. Or even meeting anyone. Or even promising to meet someone and/or date the… on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25Young Democrat Harry Sisson has reportedly been dropped by Palette Management following what might b…
Bowling — Balling Up the Score
March 25, 2025
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Six Days of the National Pastime
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