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2. Politics
More Political Economy Schematics
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3. Minimum Wage Political Path1905 to 1938
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Opinions, Videos, Book Reviews
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Created 8/16/16
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Basics Building America's Democratic Federalist Republic 1. The Early Colonial Period 2. Determining Political Power and "We the People" 3. Increasing We" of "We the People" 4. Thomas Jefferson Leader of the Opposition 5. Thomas Jefferson Leader of the Opposition 6. Capitalistic Democracy Profitable Government
Many Elections
Economics of Political Economy
Other Stuff
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The Original Purpose of the U.S. Constitution Democracy and a Republics are often used interchangeably though they represent two different political philosophies. A Republic has "power controlled by the people." A "Democracy begins with Majority Rule."Founding father Madison said ...defines a faction as "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community". Socrates counters by arguing that we should not regard the opinion of the majority, but only the opinions of those who are wise or knowledgeable. Plato's Crito or audio Plato's Crito Federalist George Cabot of Massachusetts feared ..."the terrible evils of democracy," and felt Jefferson was unstoppable,..." From p368 of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, 2012 a biography by Jon Meacham as summarized by Walter Antoniotti5 Times the Electoral College Went Against the Popular Vote Federal Government's Share Has Change Little
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A dystopian 2x2 for our time. Ian Bremmer
Readings
Noam Chomsky on Madison and Aristotle
on Democracy as a system
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Washington Post Opinions 11/3/16
Bring Back Earmarks
Gerrymandering is the biggest obstacle to genuine US democracy Other Opinions
What the 1% Don't Want You to Know E. Snowden Everything about Donald Trump
"The Death of Expertise"
Noam Chomsky on Madison and Aristotle 10 min video
Imperial from the Beginning:
Inspiring Rant: Your Democracy Has Been Stolen;
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The Limits of Power Video The End of American Exceptionalism, Bill Moyers sits down with history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich who identifies three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism, and calls for a redefinition of the American way of life. The Limits of Power Democracy Now interviews Andrew Bacevich, a conservative historian who spent twenty-three years serving in the US Army.
How You Can Kill Al-Qaeda in Three Easy Steps
review from
Boing Boing
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Don't Know Much
About History The Shifts and Shock What We Learned from the Financial Crisis by Martin Wolf 9/11/14 Seven Bad Ideas How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World by Jeff Madrick Reviewed by Peter Richardson 2014 Hoodwinked An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them, by John Perkins Education and Income Inequality, chapter 21 The Age of Turbulence, Adventures in a New World, by Alan Greenspan"Nickel and Dimed" On (Not) Getting By in America is a book written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Written from the perspective of the undercover journalist, ...23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalismis critical and a good source of the twenty-three itemsVideos by Ha-Joon Chang Part I Part II Part III The Center Holds Obama and His Enemies is "the thrilling story of one of the most momentous contests in American history, the Battle Royale between Obama and his enemies from the 2010 midterms through the 2013 inauguration." Video by Jonathan Alter, 2013 "This Time Is Different" is a history of financial collapse from 1300 to the present. "The Shock Doctrine: The evil of “Disaster Capitalism”, a book report video was posted to the Crooks and Liars blog on December 1, 2007 |
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War and Politics Guns, Germs, and Steel - the fates of human societies '... attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations, as a whole, have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority." |
Strange Rebels:
1979
and the Birth of the 21st Century.
By Christian Caryl.
Basic; 400 pages argues that 1979 belongs to the select club of real turning-points: "years in which one era ended and another was born. 1917 proved to be a bloody dead end and 1848 proved to be, in A.J.P. Taylor’s phrase, “a turning-point in history when history failed to turn”. But others, such as 1789 (when France’s ancient régime collapsed) and 1517 (when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door), resound down the ages." Editors note: Was the liberalism of the 20th century coming to an end? |
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Free Trade Doesn't Work by Ian Fletcher, adjunct fellow at the United States Business and Industry Council, and CPA' In his effective 267 pages of text, Ian Fletcher dissects and often demolishes fundamental teachings about the benefits and risks of trade and replaces them with evidence based updates. He then recommends a practical alternative based on clear objectives. |
Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson from Stephen Lendman of counter currents "Our democracy and way of life are now threatened because of our single-minded pursuit of empire with a well-entrenched militarism driving it that's become so powerful and pervasive it's now an uncontrollable state within the state." |
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More Book Reviews "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama from Roger Darlington When this bestselling book was first published in 2006, Barack Obama had spent just two years as a United States Senator, the only African American in the upper chamber; by the time I read it in the summer of 2008, he was the presumptive Democratic nominee in the presidential election and the favorite for the White House. The title comes from a sermon by Obama's then pastor Rev Jeremiah Wright whom the politician was forced to repudiate in the course of the Democratic primary, while the sub-title is "Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream". Whereas Obama's first book "Dreams From My Father" was biographical and written almost in the style of a novel, this later work is essentially a set of nine political essays - over 360 pages covering Republicans and Democrats, values, the US Constitution, politics, opportunity, faith, race, the wider world, and family - although there are many personal anecdotes and the style is remarkably fluent. The overall impression is of a thoughtful, perceptive, measured and caring politician who in American terms is refreshingly liberal and empathetic. This is a man who life experiences ensure that he understands poverty in the USA and in the world and sides with the disposed and the powerless.
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"Hard Choices" by Hillary Rodham Clinton
from Roger Darlington This is quite a tome: some 600 p He sees government more as part of the solution than the problem, favors provision of healthcare and abortion rights, backs affirmative action for minorities and trade union representation for workers, wants greater investment in education, science and technology, and energy independence, and believes than America should be less autocratic abroad and more willing to talk to opponents as well as allies. But he supports the death penalty in limited circumstances, understands the cultural meaning of guns in rural communities, and generally shows respect for the views of his political opponents. There is little detail to his policies but he sets out his principles very clearly and eloquently. His main theme is "the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, and our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem". For a top level politician, his frankness is astonishing - he admits at different times in his life to "a chronic restlessness", "self-indulgence and self-destructiveness", and a "style of communicating that can be rambling, hesitant and overly verbose", and even acknowledges that "of all the areas of my life, it is in my capacities as a husband and father that I entertain the most doubt". What drives him? "My fierce ambitions might have been fueled by my father - by my knowledge of his achievements and failures, by my unspoken desire to somehow earn his love, and by my resentment and anger toward him". (thankfully no footnotes or end notes). But it covers a lot of ground: the four years (2009-2013) that Hillary Clinton spent as Secretary of State during the first term of the Barack Obama presidency. Her natural abilities, plus a book team of three, ensure that it is well-written, informative and thoughtful, but there are no significant differences of opinion with Obama or criticisms of world leaders because Clinton is keeping her options open for a run at the presidency in 2016. Will she run? She simply states" "I haven't decided yet". I hope she does and I hope she wins. This was my position before reading her memoir and my view is simply reinforced by reading the book. When Clinton failed to win the Democratic primary race against Obama, she famously declared: “Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it”. When Obama won the presidential contest, she had no interest in becoming Vice-President and every intention of returning to the Senate. Then, when Obama invited her to become Secretary of State, she was “floored”, turned it down, and took two weeks to be persuaded. Obama kept his promise of access and she reckons she was at the White House more than 700 times during her four years in office. In the book, she mentions very few differences with the White House, perhaps the most important being her wish to arm rebels in the Syrian civil war and Obama's decision not to support this approach. It looks to have been a relationship that quickly developed mutual trust and at the end Obama declared that they had gone from "a team of rivals" to "an unrivalled team". She ended up visiting 112 countries and travelling nearly one million miles with more than 2,000 hours (equivalent to 87 full days) in the air. She claims that, over the years, she had developed the ability to sleep almost anywhere at any time (me too). |
She describes Secretary of State as being three roles - the country’s chief diplomat, the president’s principal adviser on foreign policy, and chief executive of a department of 70,000 personnel - and she characterizes the nation’s foreign policy are comprised of the 3 Ds – defiance, diplomacy and development. She makes the usual distinctions in foreign policy between 'hard power' (military forces in its various forms) and 'soft power' (diplomatic, economic and cultural influences) and advocates an approach of what she calls 'smart power' - the right combination of different elements of hard and/or soft power for each particular situation. After a couple of introductory chapters, “Hard Choices” does not follow a chronological approach but instead the bulk of the book (some 450 pages) comprises a series of chapters on different countries and regions around the globe: after a general chapter on Asia, specific ones on China, Burma, Afghanistan and Pakistan; then chapters on Europe, Russia, Latin America, and Africa; and, after a general chapter on the Middle East, dedicated chapters on the 2011 Arab Spring revolution, Libya, the 2012 death of the US ambassador in Benghazi, Iran, Syria and Gaza. Only at the end are there a few thematic chapters on global challenges such as climate change, energy and human rights. The book is dotted with some fascinating facts and figures on different countries and issues. A key feature of the Obama/Clinton partnership was the so-called "pivot strategy", an effort to re-focus American attention more towards Asia and so, in a break from precedent, Clinton's first trip was to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China with a first ever visit by a US Secretary of State to ASEAN. Understandably she expresses concern about tensions especially in the South and East China Seas where China is increasingly flexing its growing military muscle. Another distinguishing feature of the new administration was an attempt to “reset” relations with Russia and Clinton even presented a mocked-up reset button to Russia’s Foreign Secretary Lavrov. However, the button was labeled ‘peregruzka’ (overcharged) rather than ‘perezagruzka’ (reset) and the effort soon ran into Putin's belligerence. For anyone interested in international affairs or global politics - like me - this is a really interesting read which takes us through all the major trouble spots of the world, almost all of which - perhaps most notably the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran's nuclear aspirations and the assertiveness of Russia - remain active. In each case, Clinton sets out the historic background to the challenge and then describes her efforts to improve the situation. Although inevitably in a memoir, the account is somewhat self-serving and there is very little in the way of rethinking, it is a sensible and sensitive review which reflects considerable knowledge, commitment and passion for social justice. The only real expression of a change of view is in relation to a decision before she even ran for the Democratic nomination: the vote to authorize military action in Iraq. She writes: "I came to deeply regret giving President Bush the benefit of the doubt on that vote" and "While many were never going to look past my 2002 vote no matter what I did or said, I should have stated my regret sooner and in the plainest, most direct language possible". The theme of the book - captured in the title and alluded to many times - is that all decisions in international affairs are complicated and difficult trade-offs of principle and pragmatism. As she puts it: "Keeping America safe, strong and prosperous presents an endless set of choices, many of which come with imperfect information and conflicting imperatives". She refers to "our classic dilemma" and asks" "Should we do business with a leader with whom we disagreed on so many things in the name of advancing core security interests?". As she explains: "The question of nations working together on some issues while clashing on others is part of a classic debate within foreign policy circles" and "Straight up transactional diplomacy isn't always pretty, but often it's necessary". In the end, she insists: "As you've seen throughout this book, there are times when we do have to make difficult compromises. Our challenge is to be clear-eyed about the world as it is while never losing sight of the world as we want it to become |
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Fun Stuff Geopolitical Risk in 2017 32 min I. Bremmer Video |
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Washington More Polarized Because
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Voters More Polarized |
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Only Older Voters Voting
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Which are the world's strongest democracies?
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Supreme Court Vacancies get filled quickly.
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2016 Election Issues and Demographics
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Election Issues |
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What Was Not Talked About!
Country Economic Issues
Individual Economic Issues
Political Issues
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Was the 2016 Election the Most Out-of-Whack in US History
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Comparing Political Economy Philosophies Concise Studies Schematics
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2017 Political Theory Applications Videos "Liberalisms' great trick has been to naturalize very difficult political contests." Are the Populists Threatening Democracy? Carnegie/Time Forum: A Populist Revolt Panel A Populist Revolt: Carnegie Time Forum Short-Term Politics Versus Long-Term Returns
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the-supreme-court-under-roberts-is-tilting-to-the-left-would-neil-gorsuch-change-that |
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“Most intellectuals have a self-understanding of themselves as the conscience of humanity,” said the Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein. “They revel in and admire someone like Vaclav Havel. Chomsky is contemptuous of Havel. Chomsky embraces the Julien Benda view of the world. There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege and the principles of truth and justice. If you pursue truth and justice it will always mean a diminution of power and privilege. If you pursue power and privilege it will always be at the expense of truth and justice. Benda says that the credo of any true intellectual has to be, as Christ said, ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ Chomsky exposes the pretenses of those who claim to be the bearers of truth and justice. He shows that in fact these intellectuals are the bearers of power and privilege and all the evil that attends it." Source |
EDWARD SNOWDEN Everything about Donald Trump
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Basic Philosophy Help Complete Understanding
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| Readings The Era of Distortion 2004 D. Brooks sees the Internet Heard before Facebook
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UN Details Its Failure to Stop 1995
Bosnian Massacre Finally
Clinton overruled larger Western Europe's large Democracies and the
massacre ended.
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3. From Quick Notes Political Economy Basics
Capitalism
US Political
Eras
Political Eras One 1788 to 1892
Has
Capitalism Failed?
Building America's
Democratic Federalist Republic
The Early Colonial Period Economic Normality Changed Seven
Times 1945-2015
Rising Income
One-Page US Economic History
Most Severe Recessions
2p
Economics 101&102
Review Materials
Economics
Interactive Class Notes
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