15. March 2017

The populist “revolt” globally crippling liberal democracy; rejecting reason and science in policymaking and governance; and rejecting globalism, tolerance, and diversity is a major regression of the Enlightenment goal of steadily improving society and governance.

08. November 2016

Political columnist, David Brooks, in a column in the New York Times on November 8, 2016 (http://nyti.ms/2fXfPI9) argues for a new third-party to bridge the divisiveness between the existing major parties, Democrats and Republicans. We have heard this so many times before. Given the structural impediments and the practical problems with forming any new major political party this is a worthless proposal. Working within the concepts of an 18th-Century political system with 18th-Century political...

12. July 2016

New York Times columnist, David Brooks, almost always has trenchent, lucid, and sober analyses of American society. His July 12, 2016 column laments the collapse of the "American ideal" and the failure of leadership throughout our country. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/opinion/are-we-on-the-path-to-national-ruin.html?_r=0) While almost always optimistic about even the most dire events Mr. Brooks shows some concern that American society may become even much worse than he had imagined. He is...

09. July 2016

David Brooks of the New York Times in his column of July 8, 2016 "The Power of Altruism" (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/opinion/the-power-of-altruism.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0) suggests that it's time to upend classical economics and political science to build collective institutions that counter the logic of...