Addendum: I wrote this post back on April 22, talking about how our society likes to glamorize the worst criminals. I just thought I’d bring it back up again…
Governor Chafee’s veto of a minor bill to create “Choose Life” license plates indicates a belief that, democracy notwithstanding, people with views different than his must be excluded from the activities of government.
Taxpayers in Little Compton feel as if they’ve been thrown under the bus and plan to prove it to elected officials.
Finding a civic metaphor in peculiar Rhode Island traffic patterns.
Every year at the end of the General Assembly session, we see late nights and Representatives getting a little hot under the collar, both literally and figuratively. For some reason, our legislature thinks it’s a good idea to hold all the important bills until the last minute when everyone is tired and just want to go home.
At the Portsmouth Institute conference on “Catholicism and the American Experience,” Roger Kimball presented the art world as a hollow religion, standing in opposition to ordinary life just because.
Interpreting the travel of the Sakonnet River Bridge toll legislation is apt to make a Rhode Islander even more cynical.
Reflections upon a morning reading of the Declaration of Independence.
The structure of our government, these days, raises the question of whether “representative democracy” means what we think it means.
The sky is falling! 22 year olds are leaving college with $27,000 of debt and now they’ll have to pay 6.8% in interest on it! For a career path they chose. Can we stop with the hysteria and look at the bigger picture. They have plenty of time to pay it off and look at the long-term benefits.
Banning dog bans. Is that really the best use of our General Assembly’s time? Is the whole economy fixed? Are we just chugging right along now with low unemployment and high wages, similar to South Dakota? Nope. We’re worried about banning dog bans. And will this open up liability for the state?
The unexpected twists of the RI House budget debate indicate much deeper changes in Rhode Island’s political landscape, and voters should pay attention.
A letter writer opposing school choice legislation fails to mention circumstances of his career (and young retirement) that might be relevant to his opinion.
Using current controversies to contrive a trick for cooling off on a hot day.
A great deal of the power of ratings agencies have in the 38 Studios matter comes from their ability to convince government leaders that the informal understandings held by the financial class about ‘da way ‘da world really works can and should be used to sweep aside specific provisions of the law, so that government debt can more easily be imposed on the citizenry. So far, Rhode Island executive officials like Lincoln Chafee and Gina Raimondo, and legislative leaders like Gordon Fox and Teresa Paiva-Weed have indeed taken the view that financial industry preferences take precedence over fundamental law, and there’s just nothing that can reasonably be done about it. This idea of government will be imposed upon Rhode Islanders, by their state officials and Wall Street working together, unless…
The Roosevelt Society’s inaugural event, featuring “conservative black chick” Crystal Wright, raised the central challenge of the American Right… even though nobody seemed to see it.
Some thoughts on the obligation to be cranky and contrarian in modern day Rhode Island.
Continued debate about Rhode Island’s pension reform is disconnected from the reality of the pension system, not to mention the steps that the state really has to take to resolve its problems.
Experiencing the state budget process firsthand gives perspective on what’s wrong with Rhode Island and the apparent illusion of self-governance in the state.
The school choice debate comes down to philosophy and priorities, and the education of the public, in its vast diversity, should come first.
Len Lardaro’s attack on the credibility of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity ought to come with doubts about his Credibility Index.
Peter Steinfels offered some intellectually challenging opposition to conservative Catholics at the Portsmouth Institute conference on “Catholicism and the American Experience.”
The basic arguments for Rhode Island joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact for Presidential elections haven’t changed. They have never made sense and still don’t.
Robert George’s opening talk at the 2013 Portsmouth Institute conference on “Catholicism and the American Experience” argued for the necessity of religious freedom, in opposition both to theocratic imposition of doctrine and secular exclusion of existential searching.
Steve Frias will be speaking tomorrow evening at the Main Branch of the Cranston Public library, about his book Cranston and its Mayors, picking up a thread of often neglected history that is at least as relevant to the headlines today than are the more conventional topics of 20th/21st century American history.
Okay, this has been bugging me for a while.
The mounting scandals of the Obama Administration are washing away the boundaries that we’ve imagined exist between representative democracy and tyranny.
“I believe she will do everything possible to continue to push her corporate, right wing agenda”
Civilian Control of the Government
38 Studios but 1 Witness
6 Economic Development Bills, 4 No Votes
2 National Security Appointments
