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...
Oct 15, 2013 | Class Issues, Health Care Reform, Mental Illness, mic
Published: mic (October 15, 2013) Co-authored by Ariel Gordon Elder abuse may not be making national headlines, but it ought to be. In Mercer County, Penn., a woman was dropped off starving and emaciated because her grandson spent $86,000 of her money on drugs and personal amenities. Across the country in Oregon, four elderly plaintiffs are in the process of suing a retirement community for...
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...
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...
Oct 1, 2013 | Conservativism, Economic Policy, History, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: mic (October 1, 2013) It would be nice if Republicans would occasionally listen to the words of their party's first president. Abraham Lincoln, February 27, 1860: "Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves justified to break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is, shall be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action?...
Sep 30, 2013 | Democrats, Elections, Elections - Other, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Parties
Published: mic (September 30, 2013) While it’s easy enough to talk about politics in terms of any given immediate cycle, Democrats should always try to keep the big picture in mind by asking themselves the most important question: How can we win the next election, the election after that, and other elections into the future? The answer, I believe, can be found in the Lehigh Valley. In my 16...
Sep 25, 2013 | Conservativism, Economic Policy, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, President Obama, Republicans
Published: mic (September 25, 2013) After 21 hours of orating, Senator Ted Cruz's one-man jeremiad against Obamacare has officially come to an end. What in the world are we to make of it? Certainly the punditocracy has not come up short on feedback. Top Republicans are livid at Cruz for what they perceive to be his grandstanding, even going so far as to send research to Fox News correspondent...
Sep 13, 2013 | Foreign Policy, History, mic, Military-Industrial Complex/Security State, President Obama
Published: mic (September 13, 2013) Political insight can come from the darndest places. On this occasion, inspiration struck me in the midst of insomnia-induced light reading. My nocturnal literary companion, Kristin L. Hoganson's classic historical monograph Fighting for American Manhood, was discussing the various ways in which Victorian ideals on masculinity influenced America's imperialist...
Sep 12, 2013 | Arts and Entertainment, General Advice, mic
Published: mic (September 12, 2013) Every so often there is a silver lining to bad news, and this silver lining in particular should resonate with independent filmmakers. As a recent New York Times headline blared: "Huge Summer for Hollywood, but With Few Blockbusters." What followed was a piece reviewing the "darker realities" behind Hollywood's seemingly "blockbuster" summer, which despite a...
Sep 11, 2013 | Foreign Policy, History, mic, Military-Industrial Complex/Security State, Terrorism
Published: mic (September 11, 2013) While it's a tad unorthodox to opean a political op-ed with two historical quotes, this pair strikes me as particularly prescient: 1. "They [the Union of states] will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican...