Weighing In: More to Ponder on Monday’s Rally
Let us heed our President’s call for enduring national unity.
Post Tagged with: "Tradition"
In Defense of the Filibuster
Forcing senators to become Mr. Smiths in order to filibuster carries little harm, and may indeed be beneficial for the nation; however, disrespecting the sanctity of minority rights in the Senate is utterly unacceptable. The United States Senate must defend the 60-vote cloture threshold, for lowering this margin to 51 votes would give undue power to a simple majority. As Winston Churchill cautioned so many years ago, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. To our Senate: do not allow the upcoming filibuster reform to serve as a classic embodiment of this warning for generations to come. To Democrats and Republicans alike: reject Professor Zelizer's overly majoritarian call to arms. For the sake of the nation, in the name of tradition, today's filibuster as an institution must continue to endure.
Good Ross and Bad Ross Square Off In New York Times
I’m starting to think that Ross Douthat may have a split personality disorder. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Douthat has “a wonderful way of casually saying things that you don’t hear many conservatives say.” Today’s column is no different: he begins by explaining that the usual conservative arguments against gay marriage have “lost because they’re wrong.” He continues: [...]
Will Wealth Bring Democracy to Hong Kong?
As long as Hong Kong’s economy is booming, calls for democracy will remain on the backburner
House Democrats Vote to Raise Taxes
Just before its Memorial Day recess, the House passed a bill that, according to The New York Times, would raise the taxes that investment managers pay on carried interest, just at the moment new long-term investment is most needed. General executive partners of long-term investment partnerships, including investments in real estate, venture capital, private equity, and other investments, are paid [...]
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Harvard ROTC
At Harvard’s Reserve Officer Training Corps commissioning ceremony this Wednesday, Drew Faust urged Harvard’s class of 2010 future officers to: Help reinforce the long tradition of ties between Harvard and the military, as we share hopes that changing circumstances will soon enable us to further strengthen those bonds. What does the vague latter half of her sentence mean? By “changing [...]
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 [...]
Blumenthal Follow-Up
Like Scott Lemieux and Nate Silver, I foolishly trusted the New York Times bombshell about CT attorney general Richard Blumenthal. I jumped immediately to the question of what should be done about Blumenthal assuming he lied about his military service. It’s very easy to assume the worst about politicians, but sometimes (probably not too often) their denials and explanations can [...]
Good and Bad Arguments for “Discrimination” against Muslims
HPR staff writer Eli Martin has a piece in today’s Crimson criticizing European “Islamophobia.” I don’t want to baldly disagree with Eli that “outright discrimination toward Muslims in Europe is becoming a reality.” But I do want to complicate things a bit. Eli implies that burqa bans and the like could only be products of Geert Wilders-esque prejudice, neglecting a [...]
