This is part 4 of a 4-part series exploring what is wrong with the United States’ government. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 If you’ve read parts 1, 2, and 3, you can probably guess the issues I’m talking about go beyond the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Presidency. For example, to make those kinds of changes,…
American politics are weird. There is a huge disconnect between the symbolically important elections and the practically important elections. Many voters are suckered in by the symbolism and ignore the practical. In other words, they vote in the elections for the “Big” positions, like President, Senator, and maybe even Governor, but they sit out the…
Major League Baseball made the decision to move the 2021 All-star Game out of Atlanta because of the new Georgia voting laws. This is absolutely the right decision, but I have to admit to being a little surprised. It’s been a long time since Jackie Robinson, and in my experience, MLB can’t even make the…
I voted today. That’s no shock. I’ve voted in every election, primary, referendum, and ballot question since I turned 18. Voting is very, very important to me. Every time before today, I’ve been an enthusiastic voter. Today, I don’t think I could have been less enthusiastic. I’m lucky I made it to the polls myself….
The Democratic nomination of Joe Biden is basically settled. Realistically, it has been since the beginning of March. But many states, including my own, still have primaries upcoming. In some cases, there are still primary races for non-presidential contests. For most of us in these states, though, we have been disenfranchised from the primary process….
We are a week away from election day. Typically, odd-year elections get extremely poor turnout at the polls. That’s always bothered me. People are always saying that they wish they could make a difference (or the related statement that they are disappointed that they can’t make a difference). Realistically, odd-year elections are the time when…
In my last post, I talked about politics and epistemic confidence. My conclusion was basically that when it comes to political issues, high epistemic confidence is not warranted. That creates a problem. How are we supposed to handle the responsibility of voting if we don’t (or at least shouldn’t) have much confidence in our political…
My partner’s excellent piece on Hartford’s Downtown North fiasco got me thinking. I want to say from the outset, that I agree with Jamil’s take. The stadium was a bad idea and poorly executed. But, I’m an optimistic sort. I try (unfortunately I often fail, but I try) to find something positive in any situation….
