This is part 3 of a 3-part article. Read Part 1 Here Read Part 2 Here The most accurate way, then, to diagram the American governmental system is to diagram the local system correctly, then the federal and state levels with their three branches each, separations of power and checks and balances. But how exactly does one diagram the local … [Read more...]
Why Tribes are Vital to Success in the 21st Century, Part 3: Foundations of American Freedom
June 16, 2010 by 1 Comment
Why Tribes are Vital to Success in the 21st Century, Part 2: Freedom at the Local Level
June 15, 2010 by 1 Comment
This is part 2 of a 3-part article. Read Part 1 Here Civics 101 The first constitutions and governments in America were local, and there were hundreds of them. These documents were the basis of later state constitutions, and they were also the models in which early Americans learned to actively cooperate to govern themselves. Without … [Read more...]
Why Tribes are Vital to Success in the 21st Century, Part 1: Our Tribal Roots
June 14, 2010 by 1 Comment
This is part 1 of a 3-part article. Subsequent segments will be published daily. SETH GODIN'S RUNAWAY BESTSELLER Tribes took a quaint anthropological label and turned it into a pop culture buzz-word. And while his timely ideas helped articulate a fresh and needed approach to marketing and beyond, the power of tribal culture is far greater … [Read more...]
Beyond the Vote, Part 2: The End of History
June 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
This is part 2 of a 4-part article. Read Part 1 Here Read Part 3 Here Read Part 4 Here Francis Fukayama predicted in the 1990s that with the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War this conflict between the rich and poor nations was over; he called this “the end of history,” citing both Hegel and Marx. In the ensuing model of … [Read more...]
Sunday Poem: Ozymandias by Percy Shelley
May 30, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Explore the Sunday Poem archives here. Ozymandias Percy Shelley I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which … [Read more...]
The 8 Facets of Freedom, Part 1: False Two’s
May 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
This is part 1 of a 5-part article. Read Part 2 Here Read Part 3 Here Read Part 4 Here Read Part 5 Here A new tribe is needed. Actually, its constituents have been around for a long time. But they have functioned as individuals, sometimes as families, and more rarely as small groups of people. But as a tribe or nation, it has never … [Read more...]
Changing Lanes, Part 3: The Historical, Jurisprudential Shift To Individualism
April 22, 2010 by 1 Comment
This is part 3 of a 5-part article. Read Part 1 Here Read Part 2 Here Mediating entities are the glue that holds society together. For Tocqueville, the “intellectual and moral associations” provided by these mediating entities were so important that “nothing . . . more deserve[d] attention.” How then did we get to the point in modern … [Read more...]
State-Sanctioned Torture: A Clear Road to Tyranny
April 7, 2010 by 1 Comment
Finding the correct solution to a problem is often not so much a matter of stating an answer as it is a matter of asking the right questions. On the issue of state-sanctioned torture, the real question isn’t whether waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques constitute torture; it’s whether the state should be allowed to exercise … [Read more...]
