This is the fourth article in my series begun with my earlier article Limits of Free Speech, all dealing with issues behind free speech and free expression. (I originally planned just two articles, but these topics sometimes take on a life of their own! I do think this will be my last on the topic […]
You may believe me or not, but I wrote the following article, which is unaltered except for this new opening paragraph, before the recent bombing at the Danish embassy gave tragic illustration of the sad folly and irreplaceable human losses that can result from hideous over-reaction to the words or images of a handful of […]
I will begin with a few remarks inspired by the responses to my last article Limits of Free Speech: Based on those insightful responses, I think that earlier article (which focused on the legal issues behind free speech) missed the more important question, which is how best to live with the moral responsibilities of free […]
I would like to describe an American perspective on free speech in today’s article. In US legal terms, “freedom of speech” is actually broader than it sounds, really extending to a freedom that applies to all forms of expression. For example, the US Supreme Court has held that laws forbidding burning the US flag are […]
In today’s article, I continue my recent discussion of political parties, begun in How Many Parties. In response to that article, the comments mainly focused on the problems with alliances, where alliances tend to defeat the intended role of a representative democracy where the parliament or congress ought to decide issues based on the majority […]
I want to begin by congratulating all of you in Pakistan on your recent elections, which appear to have peacefully moved your nation in a positive direction chosen by the people of Pakistan, in spite of fears that undemocratic forces would prevent such a move. I fervently hope that our own upcoming US elections can […]
With your very important elections just around the corner, this is not a time for one of my dry, six-page ruminations on political theory. It is also clearly not a time for unsolicited, specific advice on your election choices from an American; you know best your own political choices. I thought I’d venture something short […]
I have recently finished reading the excellent biography Benjamin Franklin, by Edmund S. Morgan. Franklin is my personal favorite among the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, an inspirational example, and, by all accounts, a delightful and brilliant human being. I can’t presume to speak for what Franklin, dead more than 200 years, […]
American travelers abroad experience something I call a “McDonald’s moment.” We will be walking along, noticing all the ways our surroundings are quite different from home, and we will turn a corner, and there is a McDonald’s restaurant, and there is a statue, or a picture, of Ronald McDonald (the official McDonald’s clown), and we […]
In graduate school, I shared an apartment with a very interesting fellow who argued in favor of the American Libertarian party. The Libertarians, in America, are a minor party that gets something like 1% of the vote in most elections, so they wield very little influence, but they make some interesting arguments in favor of […]
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