Progressive Democratic policy promoters have been working overtime during this primary season to flood the field with ideas. The latest one making the rounds in stump speeches and media appearances is the YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) movement. The Atlantic has the details: The four candidates are demonstrating how much traction the YIMBY movement—the […]
Read more "YIMBY is Bad Politics"Bernie Sanders recently announced a campaign policy to cancel all outstanding student loan debt. I often think Sanders proposals are unimaginative and unattainable. This one is actually pretty feasible, which makes the response to it by conservatives and more moderate liberals all the more absurd. The common ground in these flanking criticisms is “why should […]
Read more "On Cancelling Student Loan Debt"Nate Silver has some startling news for us: Bulletpoint No. 1: Actually, maybe the moderate Democrats are more popular with swing voters Bulletpoint No. 2: High-information voters love Elizabeth Warren — and not Bernie Sanders Silver’s points here all match up with common sense. Who is surprised that moderates are more popular with less partisan […]
Read more "Data Says Completely Obvious Things and My Analysis of the Current Democratic Field"Few things moderate my politics more than bad faith arguments and policy positions that ignore the messy reality of economic conditions, political viability, and democracy. Perhaps no single outlet does more to keep me a center-left moderate than the Jacobin. A recent piece entitled “A Defeat for Frackers” is a great example of this. My […]
Read more "A Defeat for Frackers?"Fossil fuels also produce an enormous amount of energy at a fairly low cost—that’s why we use them in the first place. We depend on them because rich countries, such as the United States, have failed to invest in any other arrangement. But the fossil-fuel companies that have plotted and lobbied and coddled to prevent […]
Read more "The Cost of Modernity"Late last summer, I sold the 1850 brick Italianate row house I had renovated over the last five years and purchased a massive 1910 late Victorian home. My “new” home has been well cared for over the years. The original windows are still intact throughout (and were re-roped at some point in the last five years or […]
Read more "West Central Kitchen Update"Academia is deeply broken, a product of its wild success and staggering failures. It cranks out the finest scholars, leaders, and minds the world has ever seen. It also buries students in unmanageable debt and breaks many of those same scholars with its insidious caste system. How can a system that is so successful that […]
Read more "Academia’s Caste System"