Dec 11, 2013 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, mic, Religion and Religious Issues
Published: mic (December 11, 2013)
Even as Pope Francis is honored as TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year on Wednesday, we should remember how conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News editor Adam Shaw have denounced the perceived liberal love for the new pontiff. While the individual leftists who have praised specific papal policies can speak for themselves, I figured it was time for a much broader statement on why liberal infidels (like me), who do not believe in a religion should deeply admire the Catholic leader.... Read Original Article
Oct 18, 2013 | Democrats, Economic Policy, Immigration, mic, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: mic (October 18, 2013)
Right now congressional Democrats have an abysmal approval rating of 31%. Not surprisingly, however, their Republican counterparts are doing even worse, polling at only 20%. By comparison, President Obama’s approval rating remains in the low 40s, suggesting that if anything, legislative Democrats are being damaged more by their institutional association with Republicans than anything else.
... Read Original Article
Oct 17, 2013 | Democrats, Economic Policy, mic, Political Parties, President Obama, Republicans
Published: mic (October 17, 2013)
America, it is time to doff your proverbial hat to President Barack Obama. This is what a leader looks like.
It isn’t simply that he managed to protect his signature legislative legacy, the Affordable Care Act, from being mutilated and/or defunded by congressional Republicans. While that is quite the accomplishment in its own right (one that will be appreciated more with the passage of time, as its major provisions begin to change lives for the better), it is far less important than the precedent Obama has set through his conduct during the shutdown fiasco.
... Read Original Article
Oct 16, 2013 | Conservativism, Economic Policy, Libertarianism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: mic (October 16, 2013)
The Senate has presented its bipartisan bill to end the government shutdown and avert a debt default. With the fate of America’s financial future now resting in the hands of right-wing firebrands, it is perhaps appropriate to remember the words of Edmund Burke, the 18th century British statesman widely regarded as one of the great paladins of conservative thought:
“It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.”... Read Original Article
Oct 10, 2013 | Conservativism, Economic Policy, History, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: mic (October 10, 2013)
Before you ask, I present the definition of “snollygoster,” courtesy of TheFreeDictionary.com:
One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.
While not born of this crisis, snollygoster is an antique in the American political lexicon, tracing as far back as the 1840s and allegedly inspired by the Pennsylvania Dutch folk monster, the snallygaster.... Read Original Article
Oct 2, 2013 | Conservativism, Democrats, Economic Policy, History, Liberalism, Libertarianism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Originally Published: PolicyMic (March 8, 2012)
Republished on PolicyMic (October 2, 2013) as “Government Shutdown Question: Would the Founding Fathers Fight Liberalism?”
Editor’s Note:Although this article was originally published on March 8, 2012, we felt it would be valuable to offer the perspective of a PhD student in history on the ideological debate accompanying the current government shutdown.
... Read Original Article
