“Nobody’s perfect.” That’s what Detriot Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga told reporters after umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base and cost Galarraga his perfect game in the 9th inning with two outs. After reviewing the replays once the game was over, Joyce admitted he was wrong. He provided a heartfelt apology and wiped … Read more
I’m sure this genre has been around as long as some public employees have made large salaries, but I’ve noticed a couple of recent such articles which I’d like to discuss. One is a Politico article about Capitol Police officers who make up to $175,000, with forty-four of them earning more than the average House … Read more
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,there has been no shortage of finger-pointing. There’s plenty of blame to go around, no doubt, but there is one group that the Right has mysteriously implicated in this disaster: environmentalists. In an editorial in the Washington Post last Friday, Charles Krauthammer wrote that environmentalists are partially … Read more
Thinking about my post from last night, I realized how strange you might think me for assuming that there’s greater risk to liberty from police and prosecutors misbehaving than there is from letting a certain number of criminals get off on “technicalities.” Thankfully, with impeccable timing, we got this report today from the New York … Read more
Explaining the right-wing movement The Tea Party movement attracted a lot of attention with its vocal opposition to the Democratic health care legislation, but it took shape at the very beginning of the Obama presidency. It arose out of widespread libertarian and populist outrage over the federal government’s intervention in the economy. While opposing the … Read more
With the predictable 5-4 lineup, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that, in order to exclude from evidence incriminating statements to the police, criminal suspects must have unambiguously invoked their right to remain silent. The case essentially asked, what constitutes a waiver of one’s Miranda rights? Does sitting silent, unresponsive, for nearly three hours, as did … Read more
In Federalist No. 63, James Madison wrote that the defining principle of American democracy, as compared to Athenian democracy, “lies in the total exclusion of the people in their collective capacity.” But since Madison wrote those words, several direct-democratic institutions have been introduced into American politics. California became the first state to adopt a ballot-initiative … Read more
To combat obesity and improve America’s health, change the food industry More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. For the first time since the Civil War, Americans’ life expectancy may be declining. These facts paint a depressing, and by now familiar, picture. After decades … Read more
The politics of an unpopular policy In 1993, President Bill Clinton pushed the last bill through Congress to increase the gas tax. Even this, however, was watered-down reform; the tax was not indexed to inflation and increased the price of gas by only 4.3 cents per gallon. The modesty of the increase should not be … Read more