Harvard Debates the US Economy
Examining the lessons of the Harvard Political Union debate.
Post Tagged with: "Opportunity"
Governor Ed Rendell at the IOP Forum Live Blog
Ha Le reports live on Governor Ed Rendell at the IOP Forum
A Broken Social Contract?
How London's other half lives and is born to fail: the developed world’s worst social mobility and equality levels reveal a broken social contract.
Weighing In: More to Ponder on Monday’s Rally
Let us heed our President’s call for enduring national unity.
Liveblogging Larry Summers at the IOP
Professor Summers speaks for the first time since his return to Harvard
The Dangers of Direct Democracy
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 process in 1911, enabling citizens [...]
The Relative Value of Valor
The New York Times Magazine has a fantastic article about the puzzle of the paucity of valor awards–those medals given for high acts of courage. Only six Medals of Honor have been awarded in Iraq or Afghanistan: a fraction of previous wars either absolute or percentage terms. In the Pentagon’s defense, the article quotes one spokeswoman: Addressing the drastic drop [...]
Response to Sam on Racism and Rand Paul
Sam, I agree with you that Rand Paul is off base in his remarks about the Civil Rights Act, but I have a few quibbles about the way you make your argument. (I see that when you aren’t going after Ayn, you are going after Rand with equal intensity. Young libertarians seem to love the Rands as much as young collectivists seem to despise them!) Now I [...]
An Assault on the Defense of Manliness
Sometimes the only way to properly criticize someone with ridiculous views is to quote them at length, and then, channeling Seth and Amy from “Saturday Night Live,” say with as much surprise and disdain as one can muster, “Really?!” I found myself saying “Really?!” a lot this morning when I read Rachel Wagley’s “defense of manliness” in the Harvard Crimson. [...]
Paper and Ink (Online)
As the business manager of a print publication, I can’t help but jump into a discussion about the issues raised in Jeffrey Kalmus’s article in the most recent issue of the HPR about the decision by the New York Times to charge for online content. Two experiences last week stirred my thinking about the economics of print journalism. The first [...]
Half the Sky
Last week was slavery week on the HPRgument (apparently!). We talked about “intern slavery,” twice, and then American slavery. But what about today? Slavery of course is still a very real problem; in absolute terms, by every estimate, there are more slaves today than there ever were in history, and the trade of human lives is more active and more hazardous [...]
