Philosophy, et cetera

There's a lot to be said for Yang as a presidential candidate: he's funny and likeable (able to use humour to deflate Trump's ch...

Many voters seem to worry more about the threat of "liberal elites" looking down on them* than about authoritarian elites skewing ...

Many liberals seem up in arms about McCain's choice of the inexperienced Palin to be "a heartbeat away from the presidency". T...

I was very impressed by Obama's "energy rebate" -- really an unconditional cash injection , in stark contrast to the idiotic g...

After all the smears and innuendo about Obama's being insufficiently "American", this ( ht ) is too ironic: Senator McCain wa...

Should campaign donations and spending be regulated, and if so, how? Limiting donations makes sense, in hopes of preventing regulatory cap...

Hillary Clinton is worried that the will of the people is not being upheld ( ht ): Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in th...

Inspired by hilzoy's post , I figure a quick renovation of the classic cartoon is in order: "I think you should be more explicit h...

Hilzoy offers some lessons from the Great Gas Tax Pander : Clinton is presently making a big deal about the fact that she is "a fighter...

Matthew Yglesias translates Clinton's apparent support for McCain's proposed "summer gas tax holiday": Clinton doesn'...

Wow . Has any politician ever given such a serious, thoughtful, and thoroughly good speech on race relations in America? I don't know w...

Can people reasonably disagree about what people can reasonably disagree about? Put another way: can we expect to achieve a reasonable conse...

David Brooks speaks of "negativity and cheap-shot campaigning". But it's worth noting that these are two very different thing...

(1) I'm fascinated by the Washington state GOP caucus debacle. There appears to be some possibility that the local GOP officials stole t...

At a campaign stop in Newton, Iowa, on Dec 30, Obama reportedly claimed: I am not a nuclear energy proponent... the only nuclear legislatio...

I know some intellectuals are put off by Obama's rhetoric, complaining that his campaign represents the victory of "style over subs...

Hilzoy describes how " Hillary Clinton, and her husband, have told a series of lies about Barack Obama ", and why this matters:* ...

1. Meta-politics I think our top priority should be to strengthen democracy : improving the political system to make it more responsive to ...

Stanford Law Prof. Lawrence Lessig makes the case for Obama over Clinton. First, view his lecture on corruption , or read the posted summary...

Here 's a fun quiz (HT: Parableman ). My results: Kucinich 38 Gravel 35 Richardson 27 Clinton 26 Edwards 26 Dodd 24 Obama 23 Biden 22 Pa...