Silence of the Gats

The proposition that democracy is an imperfect form of government is nothing new. Plato wrote a book about his proposed alternative, where a class of philosopher kings would replace the rule of the people, and this year is the two-thousand four-hundredth anniversary of his writing it. Who would actually be good enough, wise enough, just… Continue reading Silence of the Gats

Dueling Dotards

Throughout the history of civilization, great nations have risen and fallen, most often, according to the commonly accepted wisdom, by rotting from the inside out; usually, it seems, because of some virtue that proves, in the manner of Greek tragedy, to be a fatal flaw. While that may not be true in every case (the… Continue reading Dueling Dotards

Supreme Irony

As the New Year dawns, America girds its loins for its most crucial national election since 1864, when Abraham “Rail Splitter” Lincoln ran against his former Commanding General of the Army, George B. “Fuss and Feathers” McClellan. The major issue then was, of course, America’s Original Sin, racism, embodied at the time in a fratricidal… Continue reading Supreme Irony

James Comer Takes Congress on a Snipe Hunt

I get a lot of consulting business from politics, and, in fact, I get it from the entire philosophical spectrum. It turns out that everyone, from rock-ribbed conservatives to flaming liberal progressives, needs insightful advice and original ideas. Giving such advice does require a certain degree of circumspection, however. Take Joe Biden, for example –… Continue reading James Comer Takes Congress on a Snipe Hunt

Republican Roughnecks Ready to Rumble!

As José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori once said, “Poor, Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” He certainly knew what he was talking about – in the 1830’s, attempting to form a buffer between its Hispanic population and the Comanche nation (whose name, by the way, means ‘anyone… Continue reading Republican Roughnecks Ready to Rumble!