I had an interesting and instructive experience Saturday, on several counts. As I had said before signing off last week on my blogcation, I left not only the blog, but Facebook and Twitter behind. I tried to disconnect a little. In truth, I did make a couple of personal comments on Facebook, and I checked […]
The (Lost) Art of Democratic Argument – A Day Trip (3)
from Eric Scheie at Classical Values, on the subject of “odious debt” from which a citizenry might be granted relief: The Cato Institute has another piece on odious debt: Most debts created by Saddam Hussein in the name of the Iraqi people would qualify as “odious” according to the international Doctrine of Odious Debts. This […]
The (Lost) Art of Democratic Argument – A Day Trip (2)
Yesterday at the Huffington Post, Shawn Amoei offered a post entitled “Neocon War Plans Undermine Iranians’ Quest for Democracy.” The post opened, after that already auspicious title, The “Bomb Iran” crowd, fresh off their historic blunder in Iraq, is now at it again with Iran. As if the daily drumbeat of articles and op-eds advocating […]
The (Lost) Art of Democratic Argument – A Day Trip (I)
The other day I posted a TED video of Harvard’s Michael Sandel on “The Lost Art of Democratic Debate,” or argument. Today, we’ll look at some random (hmn) examples of what he might have been talking about. Here is Sharron Angle, Tea Party challenger to Nevada’s, and Democratic Party Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, from […]
Veiled Threats
I have written several times before on the subject of wearing the burqa or niqab in public. I have argued that A general ban on the veil in public is not defensible in a liberal, democratic society, so I think the recently passed French ban is a mistake. I defend a general right to wear […]