Politics

A Divisive Campaign Would Be Welcome

by Sheldon Richman August 9, 2004

That was cute when Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry started his acceptance speech by snapping a salute and saying he was “reporting for duty.” Cute, but not quite truthful. If he becomes president, we will be expected to carry out his commands. It’s only in democratic folklore that government ...

The Colonial Venture of Ireland, Part 4

by Wendy McElroy August 1, 2004

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In the North, treatment of Catholics deteriorated as one of the most infamous measures in Irish history was passed — the Special Powers Act of 1922. Catholic-rights advocate Bernadette Devlin explained, It gave the authorities power to arrest people without a warrant on suspicion “of acting or ...

What a Republican Majority Has Not Meant

by Laurence M. Vance July 1, 2004

It has been more than a year now since the Republicans gained an absolute majority in Congress and the White House. The road to this majority began in the third year of Bill Clintons first term. The Republicans gained complete control of the 104th Congress (19951997), held on to control in the 105th Congress (19971999), and remained in power ...

The Colonial Venture of Ireland, Part 3

by Wendy McElroy July 1, 2004

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In 1912, Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith introduced a “Government of Ireland Bill” that attempted to establish an Irish parliament with a popularly elected lower house and an appointed senate. A small delegation of Irish was to remain at Westminster to represent Ireland’s interest in the ...

Our Elective Monarchy

by Sheldon Richman June 16, 2004

One of the myths Americans live by is that they rejected monarchy when the British left involuntarily in the late 18th century. Had a Martian been visiting the United States last week, he never would have believed it. Witnessing the state funeral and worshipful wall-to-wall cable-television coverage, our Martian would have sworn that Ronald Reagan had been the king ...

The Colonial Venture of Ireland, Part 2

by Wendy McElroy June 1, 2004

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In the 1840s, a new voice would be heard in Ireland: the Young Irelanders, who urged the Catholic peasantry to return to their Gaelic roots. Literary and political radicals, the Young Irelanders sprinkled Gaelic terms throughout their writings long before the language was revived in order ...

The Colonial Venture of Ireland, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy May 1, 2004

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Irish history has been likened to the cry of wind through a ruined house because so much of it deals with destruction and the breaking of a whole into parts. Centuries of conflict between Catholic and Protestant, Irish rebel and British authority offer a dramatic narrative ...

How Hitler Became a Dictator

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2004

Whenever U.S. officials wish to demonize someone, they inevitably compare him to Adolf Hitler. The message immediately resonates with people because everyone knows that Hitler was a brutal dictator. But how many people know how Hitler actually became a dictator? My bet is, very few. I' d also bet that more than a few people would be surprised at how ...

Campaign Finance Won’t Square the Circle

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2004

The new restrictions on freedom that constitute campaign-finance reform raise some important issues in political philosophy. It would have been nice if the five Supreme Court justices who upheld the law had addressed those issues. They didnt even notice them. The majority said Congress violated no constitutional stricture, particularly the First Amendment, when it barred political parties from raising or ...

What Bush Did Wrong during the War

by Sheldon Richman February 23, 2004

The brouhaha over what President Bush did or didnt do in Alabama during the war in Vietnam misses the point. Even if he put in all the time required by the Air National Guard, the real question, which nearly everyone evades, is: what obligation did a young man have with respect to that war? Every respectable politician must say (if ...

Don’t Look to Politicians for Inspiration

by Sheldon Richman February 11, 2004

The other day I heard someone lament that the current field of presidential contenders includes no one who can be looked to for inspiration. My first response was to wonder why anyone would look to that group for inspiration in the first place? Why indeed? I’m not sure where Americans got ...

Are We Electing a Military Ruler or a President?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2004

Amidst all the hubbub among the Democratic Party candidates for president over who supported President Bush’s invasion of Iraq and who didn’t, have you noticed that not one of them has brought up the Constitution and, specifically, the constitutional requirement that the president secure a congressional declaration of ...