Image Source In Michael Lotus and James Bennett’s America 3.0 an interesting observation is made about the nature of the American family: A less appreciated factor pushing assimilation [of immigrants] was the American legal system, which compelled people to adopt American marriage and inheritance practices. However attached immigrants may have been to their own practices, […]
Don Trioani, Stand Your Ground, (1976). Captain Levi Preston of Danvers, Massachusetts, interviewed about his participation in the first battle of the American Revolution many years later, at the age of 91, around 1843: “Captain Preston, what made you go to the Concord Fight? [Was it because you] were you oppressed by the Stamp Act?”“I […]
The folks over at Reason magazine have published an essay by Daniel Drezner titled “There is No China Crisis.” The essay is a long and meandering piece of apologia for the old DC model for dealing with China. I’ve written about this model and its failures before (especially see the posts “Give No Heed to […]
“The Freedman”John Quincy Adam Ward. 1863. Displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is a truism long accepted. I do not question the general truth this phrase attempts to convey, but I sometimes find it obscures more than it reveals. Men on opposing lines of […]
Renowned tech security specialist Bruce Schneier* has declared it is “time to take the internet back”: “The US government has betrayed the internet. We need to take it back“ Bruce Schneier. The Guardian. 5 September 2013. Government and industry have betrayed the internet, and us. By subverting the internet at every level to make it a vast, […]
“ADAMS and JEFFERSON, I have said, are no more. As human beings, indeed, they are no more. They are no more, as in 1776, bold and fearless advocates of independence; no more, as at subsequent periods, the head of the government; nor more, as we have recently seen them, aged and venerable objects of admiration […]
If you are reading this post you have probably heard of Senator Rand Paul’s 13 hour filibuster over John Brennan’s confirmation as Director of the CIA. The filibuster ended today, giving both Washington politicians and their internet observers a chance to declare their thoughts on the Senator’s actions. Many tweets, posts, op-eds, and press statements […]
Over the course of the last week the Transportation Security Administration’s new airport security measures have generated a great deal of public outcry and controversy. This bout of public dissatisfaction provides a rare opportunity that should not be wasted. For the first time in nine years Americans are seriously questioning at least one part of […]
It is one of James Madison’s best known sayings: “Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” As these words get dragged into the public discourse fairly often it is useful to know the context in which they […]
There are very few things I believe every citizen of the United States should read, hear, or see. This is one of them. The Republic stands on the strength of an informed citizenry capable of exercising oversight over their government. The government should always be an instrument in the hands of the people. As the […]
