27. October 2016

What is the cause of the extreme divisiveness in American society? New York Times columnist, David Brooks, in his October 21, 2016 column “Repairing Moral Capital” (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/opinion/how-to-repair-moral-capital.html) has a good explanation. It is the lack of shared habits, norms, institutions and values, that make common life possible. I would describe that characterization as generally accurate but would substitute the conflict between “private citizens” and...

02. July 2016

All of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Brexit by those opposed to it (as well as many who voted for it) provides a lesson for both the political elite which created the EU (and elites in all liberal democracies) and the ordinary folks who felt alienated or betrayed by it. An elite will almost always have the upper hand in managing social affairs but when it pushes the little people too hard by taking away their economic security, their belief in authority structures, and even...