What happens when you mix politics, bathrooms, and sexuality? Let the joking begin. A politician walks into a transgender bar. [Fill in the blank here.] Afterwards, he tries to explain: “I really only wanted to use the bathroom.” Ha ha. But the serious business is the busybody politicians in North Carolina and Tennessee who have […]
Whose Bathroom Is It, Anyway? [Good Life series] Read More »
Four of Illinois’s last eight governors went to prison. We’re batting .500, if I’m counting correctly. I don’t know if that’s bad news (Illinois has more corruption) or good news (We’re better at catching the bastards). Here’s Wikipedia’s list: “Otto Kerner, Jr. (D) was 33rd Governor of Illinois … Kerner was convicted on 17 counts
Illinois governors in jail Read More »
Beware the compromisers — a lesson from this generation’s history. In 1998, President Bill Clinton announced: “We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say Government is the problem and those who say Government is the solution. My fellow Americans, we have found a Third Way.” Third Way politics became popular in the
Third-Way Politics and Its Bitter Fruits [Good Life series] Read More »
Two from Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile’s The Doctrine of Fascism (1932): “Fascism sees in the world not only those superficial, material aspects in which man appears as an individual, standing by himself, self-centered, subject to natural law, which instinctively urges him toward a life of selfish momentary pleasure; it sees not only the individual
Fascism — three quotations from the source Read More »
Mao Zedong, in keeping with Marxism, argued this about the nature and purpose of art: “In the world today all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines. There is in fact no such thing as art for art’s sake, art that stands above classes, art that
Art and morality, Mao and Warhol Read More »
Here’s Albert Shanker, who was president of the American Federation of Teachers for twenty-three years, from 1974-1997: “When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.” The quotation’s accuracy is disputed, but it captures perfectly the relevant stances in education’s structurally adversarial dynamic. As in legal proceedings, attorneys
Teachers unions and what’s good for the children Read More »
My article, co-written with María Marty, was published in PanAm Post: The opening: “Pope Francis has given us several glimpses of his position on liberalism. His are criticisms are direct and sometimes crude. And while the Pontiff got some points sort-of right, his message revealed mostly a lack of knowledge—or an intentional denial—of the principled
The Pope’s Four Big Mistakes About Libertarianism — article published Read More »
Here’s Dr. Ann Laing, superintendant of the Racine, Wisconsin Unified School District: “The African-American families are the ones who are most prone to enroll their kids in the fly-by-night schools that cropped up after vouchers existed, and they don’t know how to make good choices for their children. They really don’t. They didn’t have parents
Educational paternalism and race — superintendant Ann Laing edition Read More »