February 01, 2007
Anti-Semites and Anti-anti-semites
The American Jewish Committee accuses, among others, Tony Judt, of being anti-semitic; Judt, among others, responds that the AJC, is cynically trying to suppress genuine debate on the Middle East. Who's right? Neither of them, although on the merits the AJC has the better of the argument. Judt got into hot water on this issue three years ago for a...
January 11, 2007
Putting on the tinfoil hat again
What if Congress refuses to appropriate money for the surge and the Dear Leader just ignores it? I realize that this question may sound flip, but given the Bush Administration's desire for a permanent constitutional crisis, I think that it might be worth wargaming right now. The conversation now in Left Blogistan is whether Congress should refuse to appropriate money....
January 26, 2006
More from Mr. Justice Frankfurter
"A constitutional democracy like ours is perhaps the most difficult of man's social arrangements to manage successfully. Our scheme of society is more dependent than any other form of government on knowledge and wisdom and self-discipline for the achievement of its aims "
December 31, 2005
Polarization Update
We got a number of great responses to my posting on polarization. Here's a response: A number of respondents suggested making it easier to vote in primaries, including internet-based or mail-in voting. I've been suspicious of this in the past, because of fears of concerns about identity-confirmation and a loss of the civic ritual of voting. But the former concern...
December 20, 2005
Polarization
I just got finished teaching Congress this semester, and for my money, the most policy-relevant idea that I came across comes out of David King's work on political polarization. Briefly put, there is a large literature in political science that argues that political polarization in Congress can be explained by the decreasing competitiveness of Congressional districts. In a perfectly competitive...
