I should be grading, preparing new lectures, or otherwise tackling a productive task. But I seem to know a surprising number of swing voters (albeit none living in swing states). So I want to suggest a few things to keep in mind when choosing a presidential candidate. 1) You are voting for a party…
Author Archives: Jason
Has the President Read This Blog?
Ok, yes, I know that’s unlikely, especially considering my dearth of posts lately. But after listening to his speech tonight (while proctoring a final exam for my students), I noticed this first part of James Fallows’ assessment: 1) Citizen Obama. The most interesting “new”-ish approach in the speech was the theme that ran through the final one-third…
John Roberts: A Moderate Chief Justice
In my pre-ACA ruling posts, I was critical of Chief Justice Roberts but also still holding out hope that he’d find a way to thread the needle. Now I’m ready to congratulate him on a job well done. Here are what I regard as the highlights of the ACA ruling: A sound principle of judicial…
Judicial Activism
As a follow up to my last piece and the blog entry by James Fallows, I’d like to address the balance between ideology and deference in the Supreme Court. Fallows is upset that justices who claimed a fealty to precedent are now going “out of their way … to decree new law contrary to what…
Institutional Norms and Moderate Politics
James Fallows today touched on one of the foundations of political moderation as I’m defining the term here. That is a commitment to institutional norms that supersedes (or at least compliments) other values. Say, for instance, you’re a conservative Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. Most of the time, fine, act like a Republican and vote with your…
The Constitution Basis for a Federal Health Care System
Having now outlined my fundamental views on the Constitution, this post seems a bit superfluous. But perhaps it will serve as a useful example. In case you’ve forgotten by now, this is part of a series on health care. You can find the initial post and links to the others in the series here. As a…
Fairness in Tax Policy
We’ve begun to discuss the specifics of tax policy in a few of the comment threads, so I thought I’d bring that discussion here. I’ll do my best to keep the explanation simple, but if you’re not into tax policy I understand. Jacob and I started with a discussion of what constitutes “fairness” in…
Taxation and Slavery
Written on June 15, 2012 by Jason in Abstractly, Citizenship, Conservatism, Economy & Budget, Libertarianism
In his recent comment,* Jacob made several references to slavery, both historical and metaphorical. I’d like to unpack them a bit since they reflect the foundation of some of our differences. In his first reference, Jacob references the historic institution of slavery. He suggests that “the majority of Americans were better off as a result…
On Taxation, Redistribution, and the “General Welfare”
In my last post I leaned heavily on “promot[ing] the general welfare” as justification for action by our government. This phrase is necessarily vague and calls for some clarification as to what I perceive as it’s boundaries. Jacob has offered what I would characterize as a conservative/libertarian reading. In his view, “the general welfare” implies…
The Foundations of My Constitutional Beliefs
Jacob asked me to explain why I think it’s acceptable for the federal government to get involved in health care, education, etc. In many ways, this gets to the central purpose of the whole blog, but I think it’s worth trying to give a more succinct answer to the specific issues he raised. So here is a…
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