tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51869552011-04-21T18:49:03.976-04:00Micahnoreply@blogger.comBlogger781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-15359803865920512162007-02-15T17:27:00.000-05:002007-02-15T17:29:19.583-05:00

Defunct: This blog remains defunct. After a leave of absence last year, I have decided not to resume blogging. As before, I have left the archives of old posts in place for whatever interest they might continue to have.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1130560509739184012005-10-29T00:28:00.000-04:002007-02-15T17:27:40.994-05:00

Leave of absence: I have taken a leave of absence from blogging for 2005-06. This blog has been defunct for a long time, and I had been posting at Crooked Timber. I have not posted in awhile now and will remain away for the year. I considered dismantling this blog but have decided to leave it standing so that others can access old posts, for whatever they might be worth.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1070763170983198222003-12-06T21:07:00.000-05:002003-12-06T21:15:06.793-05:00

Voter competence under compulsory voting: I posted what follows over at Crooked Timber, but it seems appropriate here, too. Dan Ortiz has an article called "The Paradox of Mass Democracy," printed in recent book called Rethinking the Vote (OUP) that raises some interesting questions about the relation between compusory voting and voter competence. Ortiz argues that democracies are supposed to

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1068230015195137502003-11-07T13:31:00.000-05:002003-11-07T13:33:55.046-05:00

Rawls and the Law: Larry Solum has fabulous coverage of the Rawls conference at Fordham. Wish I could be there, but Solum's comments are the next best thing. Don't miss them--go here and scroll up.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1064587743622372772003-09-26T10:45:00.000-04:002003-09-26T10:50:57.630-04:00

Women in the Judiciary: a group I work with at the University of Virginia law school is hosting a panel on "Women in the Judiciary" later today. Two federal appellate judges and a justice from the Virginia Supreme Court will take questions for about an hour and half. Dahlia Lithwick (to whom this slightly scary fan blog is devoted) kindly agreed to moderate.Preparing for the panel, I came across

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1063854523197494322003-09-17T23:06:00.000-04:002003-09-17T23:10:06.293-04:00

What's the hurry? Bruce Ackerman has an op-ed piece in the New York Times today arguing that the Ninth Circuit should not delay the vote in California. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by Ackerman’s willingness to limit the possibilities raised by the equal protection claims upheld in Bush v. Gore. Here’s his argument:This time around, the candidates in California have already invested

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1062098802403421062003-08-28T15:26:00.001-04:002003-08-28T15:28:10.036-04:00

Give Children the Right to Vote? I'm taking a course on election law, and the professor mentioned a proposal today that I hadn't heard about before. He said there's a movement in Germany to propose a constitutional amendment that would give children the right to vote from birth. I thought he was pulling our leg at first, but listen to this segment on NPR. The idea is that parents (or principal

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1062098625588754892003-08-28T15:23:00.000-04:002003-08-29T15:37:04.200-04:00

Double posting: I'm not sure about this yet, but I thought I would start posting some of what I write over at Crooked Timber here as well. We'll see how it goes.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1058756028665509542003-07-20T22:53:00.000-04:002003-07-20T23:04:20.626-04:00

Crooked Timber: I'll be blogging over at Crooked Timber for the foreseeable future. I've very much enjoyed writing this blog, but it's time to branch out, so to speak. Hope you'll keep reading at the new blog.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1057013175693280802003-06-30T18:46:00.000-04:002003-07-20T23:06:11.486-04:00

More on Gadamer: Josh Cherniss has some thoughtful things to say about the question I posed below: was Gadamer a Nazi? Josh thinks thatone of Gadamer’s greatest personal virtues was also a part of his greatest moral failing, and that this same double-edged quality accounts for both an attractive strength, and a worrying weakness, in his work. Gadamer seems to have suffered from an excess of

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1056914458872852502003-06-29T15:20:00.000-04:002003-06-29T15:21:09.330-04:00

Light blogging over the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to get an artice out, and then I'll be out of town for about a week. It's that time of the year when your friends get married!

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-1056654070232515942003-06-26T15:01:00.000-04:002003-06-26T15:01:10.226-04:00

Lawrence: the Supreme Court surprised a lot of people today, I think, in using the privacy justification to strike down the Texas law against sodomy. Another decision for the casebooks. For the majority and dissenting decisions, as well as a map showing which states are affected by this decision, go here.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-959631302003-06-23T20:11:00.000-04:002003-06-23T20:26:04.000-04:00

Affirmative action: if you're looking for a good round-up of the day's commentary, Larry Solum has compiled an excellent set of resources.Given that so much has already been said, I've decided not to blog about the substance of the Grutter and Gratz decisions. But I will say that these are the first landmark cases to come down since I started law school. As the excitement passes, I'm looking

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-959441632003-06-23T09:15:00.000-04:002003-06-23T09:15:32.316-04:00

Blogger fodder: in about an hour, the Supreme Court is supposed to release some major opinions on affirmative action, homosexuality, and free speech (to mention only the big three). That should keep the blogosphere going for a few days . . .

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-958092812003-06-18T20:19:00.000-04:002003-06-18T20:34:45.000-04:00

Was Gadamer a Nazi? Richard Wolin seems to think he was, at least during the early years of WWII. Arts & Letters Daily is linking to a scathing review of a biography of Gadamer by Jean Grondin in which Wolin argues that Gadamer was actively complicit with the Nazi regime:Time and again, Gadamer's own ethical transgressions are compounded by Grondin's post hoc rationalizations. "It was certainly a

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-957312452003-06-16T17:59:00.000-04:002003-06-16T17:59:11.210-04:00

Not Geniuses, but damn good web-designers. Ezra Klein, Joe Rospars, and Matt Singer have opened up shop together. The blog looks terrific. Go check them out.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-956311122003-06-13T11:11:00.000-04:002003-06-13T13:18:48.000-04:00

Weithman and public reason: Lucas Swaine (Dartmouth) reviews Paul Weithman's (Notre Dame) recently published Religion and the Obligations of Citizenship in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. I haven't yet had the opportunity to read Weithman's book, but I'm very much looking forward to it. His other contributions to debates about public reason are careful and precise (two special virtues in an

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-955984992003-06-12T14:06:00.000-04:002003-06-13T11:39:56.000-04:00

Bernard Williams has died. I haven't yet seen links for a memorial but will post them as soon as they are available. Here is a brief biography for Williams from the philosophy department at UC-Berkeley:Professor Williams received the M.A. degree from Oxford University. After serving in the Royal Air Force, he held a series of academic positions in England. In 1967 has was appointed Knightbridge

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-954540162003-06-09T02:14:00.000-04:002003-06-09T02:16:30.000-04:00

The Strauss reading list: so it seems that the Strauss story isn't going away. Leo Strauss' daughter, Jenny Strauss Clay (a professor of classics at UVA) defends her father's legacy in the New York Times. Another tribute to Strauss--this one by Bret Stephens--appears in the Jerusalem Post. But the only recent contribution that I've found really valuable is today's post by Josh Cherniss, who I had

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-953694032003-06-06T09:41:00.000-04:002003-06-06T09:41:44.000-04:00

Anonymous: now who wrote those unclaimed Rawlsian pick-up lines in Chafetz's run down of the best (postable) entries? Only a Straussian could figure it out!

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-952372192003-06-03T10:18:00.000-04:002003-06-03T10:43:16.000-04:00

Regards from Oxford: I've stopped in Oxford on the way back to the States. Not much to report, except that construction never ceases on Cornmarket Street. I've also managed to scrounge up a couple entries for OxBlog's "best political theory pick-up lines." Unfortuntely, I didn't manage to work in "colonization of the lifeworld." But, then again, we Rawlsians don't do that sort of thing . . .

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-950500942003-05-29T16:53:00.000-04:002003-05-30T04:18:02.000-04:00

Regards from Israel: I'm traveling this week, so I won't have the chance to blog very much. On the drive from from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem this afternoon, we had the strangest weather I've ever seen. I've watched ominous, green and purple skies driving through Kansas, stopped for white-outs in Colorado, waded through floods in southern Virginia, and even bunkered down for a serious hurricane in

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-949052732003-05-26T14:26:00.000-04:002003-05-26T19:26:15.000-04:00

Taking Strauss (less?) Seriously: I've been following the recent flare-up about Strauss from a distance. I thought I would cobble together the major posts for people who might be interested but haven't had the time or the patience (understandably) to look for this stuff. If you're new to this debate, the recent discussion was kicked off by a spate of articles about how neoconservatives in the

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-949008292003-05-26T12:10:00.000-04:002003-05-26T12:14:04.000-04:00

Bloggered: it appears Blogger is migrating old blogs over to a new format. At the moment, I don't have access to my template to update my blogroll, etc. There are so many pages out there deserving of recognition . . .

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-948641642003-05-25T12:49:00.000-04:002003-05-26T20:28:55.000-04:00

The good life: some folks in this town must be living it. I can't believe I spent four years in England and never went to Hay-on-Wye. Maybe it's because most of the bookstores there have put their inventories on-line. At any rate, I'm planning to correct my mistake next week. I'm hoping to be in Hay for the last day of its literature festival. The sheer amount of programming for the week-long

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-947499692003-05-22T15:09:00.000-04:002003-05-22T15:21:23.000-04:00

Seldon v. Swift: as Chris Bertram points out, the latest issue of Prospect has an excellent exchange between Anthony Seldon and Adam Swift about the social justice of private education. For more on Swift's book How not to be a Hypocrite, see my earlier entries on "Political theory for everyone" and "Education and hypocrisy." Permalinks are bloggered, but both are archived at 3/23/2003.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-946617172003-05-20T21:34:00.000-04:002003-05-21T09:23:51.000-04:00

The Cool Name Theory: in the social sciences, good theories are supposed to have (i) parsimony and (ii) explanatory power. So how about this: to make it into the canon of great political philsophers, your name has to be amenable to a suffix like "ism," "ist," "ian," "ite," "an," etc.Consider: Plato(nic), Hobbes(ian), Locke(an), Hume(an), Kant(ian), Hegel(ian), Burke(an), Marx(ist/ism), Milli(an)

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-946598102003-05-20T20:48:00.000-04:002003-05-20T22:12:29.000-04:00

Philosophical lexicon: so Jack Balkin and Larry Solum have a gigantic, jurisprudential argument going back and forth. In the midst of it all, Tom Runnacles has this noteworthy comment:The almighty battle between Professors Balkin and Solum, over the merits of the 'neo-formalist' view of judicial decision-making, proceeds apace. In his latest post, Larry is momentarily dismayed when the argument

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-939034392003-05-06T23:03:00.000-04:002003-05-06T23:03:08.080-04:00

Hart is out: although he was never fully "in," Hart's decided not to run. Wish I had more time to comment, but last exam is around the corner.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-938199432003-05-05T16:20:00.000-04:002003-05-05T16:22:04.000-04:00

Rorty in Oxford: never thought I'd see the day. Well, actually, I still haven't. But some friends of mine have been attending lectures that Rorty is giving this week in Oxford. The schedule is available here. It's also great to see that the Oxford Research Seminar in Political Theory is up and running again. I had the privilege of helping to organize that seminar for a couple years. Looks like

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-934098642003-04-28T13:21:00.000-04:002003-04-28T15:48:07.000-04:00

SSRN: I'm sort of new to all this, but David Fontana, a colleague of mine from Virginia and Oxford, has posted two interesting papers.Refined Comparativism in Constitutional Law. From the abstract:This Article lays out a "refined comparativist" approach, whereby a court would consider comparative constitutional law only when faced with a "hard case," the comparative constitutional law can add

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-933843702003-04-28T02:33:00.000-04:002003-04-28T02:34:34.000-04:00

Dean Scott and Contract Theory: Solum has posted a link to a forthcoming article from Scott and Schwartz. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm very much looking forward to doing so when my exams are finished. Solum's comments are extensive, and it'll be nice to go back to them as well. As an aside, I had the privilege of taking contracts from Dean Scott last semester. I'm not

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-930148052003-04-21T20:55:00.000-04:002003-04-22T00:57:55.000-04:00

Sabl responds: Andrew sent the following message today. In it, he answers various criticisms of his article on Cohen's critique of Rawls, a summary of which is posted below. Here's Andrew's message:First, I would like to thank Micah for hosting this comment. I'm not a blogger myself, and rely on his generous donations of space.As someone unused to the blogosphere, I'm afraid that my comments

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-927142292003-04-16T09:44:00.000-04:002003-04-20T14:49:33.000-04:00

Political theory and political philosophy: as promised, Jacob Levy has some comments on the difference between them and what causes it.Update: Russell Arben Fox comments on Levy here. I hope to have something to say about this eventually, but it'll have to wait a little while.Update (2): Then again, maybe I won't have anything more to say. I don't have much to add to what Tom Runnacles says about

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-926847362003-04-15T21:04:00.000-04:002003-04-15T21:04:52.950-04:00

Blogging hiatus: with exams around the corner, I probably won't be blogging much--if at all--over the next two weeks. Hope to be back as soon as possible.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-925416682003-04-13T16:54:00.000-04:002003-04-13T16:54:36.966-04:00

Solum's second post on Rawls is available here. The argument is unfolding.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-924972042003-04-12T15:54:00.000-04:002003-04-12T15:56:38.000-04:00

Apology to "non-Rawls" readers: most of what I've posted over the last week or so is related to the debate over Rawls. I know that this debate is somewhat esoteric and that not everyone can, or even wants, to follow it. For those who are interested but not immersed in this stuff, I can only recommend some readings that will help make the major arguments clear. For those who aren't interested,

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-924948652003-04-12T14:51:00.000-04:002003-04-12T16:55:59.000-04:00

Larry Solum defends Rawls in the first of a series of posts. He starts with an intriguing proposal:Let us put the question posed by Cohen to Rawls i[n] a special session of the Original Position. That is, let's suppose that the representatives have already selected the two principles, and now they must choose whether the principles shall apply to the basic structure--call this the basic structure

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-924525002003-04-11T17:42:00.000-04:002003-04-11T17:42:32.106-04:00

Recruiting for Hart: Ezra Klein has become Director for Student Operations in California for Gary Hart's presidential campaign. Ezra is recruiting students to staff two offices in California, but he also has information about internships in other locations. If you're at all interested, check out his letter here.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-923697622003-04-10T12:53:00.000-04:002003-04-10T12:53:09.936-04:00

Rawls and Nozick: if you're unfamiliar with the works of these great philosophers, you can learn something about their ideas--and their temperaments--from a couple of links have been circulating the last couple days. I thought I would post them here just in case anyone missed them. David Estlund had a wonderful tribute to Rawls in the current issue of Dissent. Julian Sanchez's interview with

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-923371012003-04-10T00:00:00.000-04:002003-04-11T01:28:29.000-04:00

Comments on Sabl's argument by Jacob Levy at Volokh, Russell Arben Fox, and Matthew Yglesias.Update: Chris Betram weighs in on Sabl's critique of Cohen, and Jacob Levy promises more.Another update: Tom Runnacles has a lengthy and thoughtful reply to Sabl. Thanks so much to all those who've taken the time to keep with this discussion!

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-922579432003-04-08T21:20:00.000-04:002003-04-09T00:38:48.000-04:00

"If You're Such a Liberal, How Come You Love Conformity?" is the title of a recent article by Andrew Sabl that takes the debate about Cohen's critique of Rawls in a new direction. In an earlier post, I said that this debate is really just getting started. One of the consequences of Cohen's critique will be a discussion among liberal egalitarians about their own fundamental moral and philosophical

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-922018782003-04-08T01:16:00.000-04:002003-04-08T02:43:36.000-04:00

In defense of seditious libel? Josh Chafetz at OxBlog commented earlier today about local authorities who declared certain federal laws unconstitutional. In the midst of his post, Chafetz wrote, "The [Virginia and Kentucky] Resolutions argued that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional, which they undoubtedly were." This got me thinking. I agree that the Sedition Act was

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-920042262003-04-04T16:03:00.000-05:002003-04-04T16:06:04.000-05:00

Fox and Unlearned Hand both have interesting posts today. Russell Arben Fox has a lengthy response to Gary Hart's question concerning whether it's democracy or liberalism we really care about in the Islamic world. Also, I loaned my copy of Adam Swift's book to Unlearned Hand--who is, as others have rightly noted, quite learned. Swift straightens out the mess that is Berlin's two concepts of

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-919444392003-04-03T18:30:00.000-05:002003-04-03T18:33:27.000-05:00

Is there progress in moral and political philosophy? The guys on OxBlog are pondering the question: "Has our knowledge of truth and justice advanced beyond [Plato]?" Chafetz answers yes, and I agree completely. When I've got more time, I'll try to say more. Issuing lots of promissory notes here . . .

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-919410572003-04-03T17:23:00.000-05:002003-04-03T17:28:10.000-05:00

Should politicians blog? Charles Kuffner and Ezra Klein are having an important discussion about whether it's a good idea for Gary Hart to be blogging. Personally, I think the only problem with Hart's blog is that it doesn't link to a certain other blog . . . But, more seriously, I think Ezra's right that controversy over political blogging can only be a good thing for Hart's potential

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-919388552003-04-03T16:44:00.000-05:002003-04-03T18:33:03.000-05:00

Leviathan in Milton, Melville and beyond: Patrick Belton, a friend from Oxford and current contributor to OxBlog, has a wonderful post today about the idea of leviathan. His comments were prompted by the discovery of a "colossal" squid caught this week by fisherman off the coast of Antarctica. Belton is blogging at his best.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-918846552003-04-02T21:43:00.000-05:002003-04-02T21:44:33.000-05:00

Even more on Cohen's critique of Rawls: one of Jerry Cohen's former students, Tom Runnacles, defends the line. As I said below, this debate is really just getting going.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-918068172003-04-01T19:52:00.000-05:002003-04-01T19:52:19.000-05:00

Affirmative action: the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Michigan cases today. For a great set of related links, see Solum's Legal Theory blog.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-917934002003-04-01T16:00:00.000-05:002003-04-01T16:08:19.000-05:00

Updates on political theory in blogosophere: Bertram, Solum, Yglesias, and Fox all have more to say about Rawls and Cohen's critique of the Difference Principle. Political Theory Daily Review has some good links today. One is to a review of Richard Posner's new book Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy. I saw Posner present some of the chapters of this book at a panel in London about year ago. He

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-917291972003-03-31T15:40:00.000-05:002003-03-31T16:01:31.000-05:00

Rawls, Cohen, and the Difference Principle: Chris Bertram and Lawrence Solum have been posting on Jerry Cohen's critique of Rawls's difference principle. If you're new to this debate, Adam Swift has a very accessible introduction to the basic arguments toward the end of the equality chapter of his book Political Philosophy. Solum says he doesn't see why Cohen's argument has had such success:

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-916569062003-03-30T12:54:00.000-05:002003-03-30T19:29:53.000-05:00

Gary Hart has started a blog. Hart, who is considering running for president in 2004, recently completed a doctorate in political theory at Oxford. His dissertation was published last year by Oxford Press. The book is called Restoration of the Republic: The Jeffersonian Ideal in 21st-Century America. Hart could be the first presidential candidate-blogger. Here's what he says about it:The

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-916539062003-03-30T11:44:00.000-05:002003-03-30T11:49:36.000-05:00

Brandeis and Yoda? So here's a line from Justice Louis Brandeis' famous concurrence defending the freedom of speech in Whitney v. California (1926): But they [the Founders] knew that order cannot be secured merely through fear of punishment for its infraction; that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-916071242003-03-29T11:31:00.000-05:002003-03-29T11:41:27.000-05:00

See the advertisement above? (Actually, you might not, since it comes and goes.) There's a small irony here. I just noticed that the ad at the top of my blog says, "Define Libertarian: Come learn about libertarian ideas at a free summer student seminar." It's posted by the Institute for Humane Studies. I went to an IHS seminar for grad students a couple summers ago, and I've been recommending

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-915743292003-03-28T18:43:00.000-05:002003-03-28T19:24:25.000-05:00

Junkets for Judges: At the risk of becoming a one-horse blogger, I think it's worth commenting on the efforts of special interest groups, especially those on the right, to influence American federal judges. I've already discussed the left's failure to fund think-tanks. Here's one place where that failure really hurts. Consider this report from the Community Rights Counsel (CRC): [R]ight-leaning,

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914956612003-03-27T14:03:00.000-05:002003-03-27T21:19:01.000-05:00

Are libertarian parents hypocrites? Natalie Solent disagrees with Swift, but she's got an interesting take on the issue of educational hypocrisy: Another reason for keeping my twitching Doc Martens under control is that Swift does make some very logical points. I might make some use of them myself, seeing as I am the mirror image of his rich socialists, a poverty stricken enthusiast for

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914950402003-03-27T13:52:00.000-05:002003-03-27T14:10:45.000-05:00

Education and hypocrisy: Adam Swift makes his case in the Guardian:Recent years have certainly seen a substantial increase in the number of parents choosing independent schools for their children. I don't know how many of them have principled objections to private schools, but I'm sure that many are leaving the state sector reluctantly, driven away by what they regard as its inadequacy. The more

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914893892003-03-27T12:06:00.000-05:002003-03-27T12:21:47.000-05:00

Dahlia Lithwick needs a blog. As Orin Kerr from Volokh points out, Lithwick has a great article about yesterday's arguments before the Supreme Court. I suppose this is as good a time as any to express my general admiration for Lithwick's coverage of the Court. I'm not about to start a completely loony web-page in her honor. But you've got a be a fan of anyone capable of writing an article on

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914481412003-03-26T20:28:00.000-05:002003-03-26T20:33:09.000-05:00

Lawrence v. Texas: Litigator Tom Golstein, of Goldstein & Howe, has a good--and at times highly amusing--report on the oral arguments before the Supreme Court today.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914432452003-03-26T18:53:00.000-05:002003-03-27T01:25:40.000-05:00

Trying Saddam? So far I've stayed away from posting anything war-related, and I'll probably continue that policy. But Jeff Blumenthal asks an interesting question. What would we do with Saddam if we caught him? How, exactly, would we try him? By military-tribunal, by Nuremburg-style tribunal, by means of the U.N.? See Blumenthal's article for some possible responses.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914412872003-03-26T18:15:00.000-05:002003-03-26T18:17:39.000-05:00

Permalinks should be operational: thanks to Jacob Levy for pointing out the problem. I'm still figuring out the basics, and I appreciate the help.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914256712003-03-26T13:35:00.000-05:002003-03-26T16:02:08.000-05:00

Books on Political Philosophy: Chris Bertram offers a really good overview of recent introductions to political philosophy, including books by Jonathan Wolff, Andrew Levine, and Jean Hampton. He's definitely right that Swift's book can't stand on its own because it doesn't cover major topics like democracy, political obligation, and rights--which is something Swift acknowledges in his

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-914210932003-03-26T12:06:00.000-05:002003-03-26T12:33:30.000-05:00

The American Constitution Society has been busy this year. The list of events is really impressive, considering the ACS is only in its second year. As a rival to the Federalist Society, it's off to a great start. Notice, also, that the ACS is explicitly engaged in the project of countering conservative influence. Its mission statement is not nearly as bashful as that of the New America Foundation

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913986102003-03-26T02:29:00.000-05:002003-03-26T02:31:36.000-05:00

Not so new, but slightly improved. After flirting with near blog-disaster, things seem to be running as before--with the addition of archival links. I've also added links to Timothy Waligore at Free Dartmouth and a couple more familiar pages with theory or philosophy stuff. I hope I haven't forgotten any pre-disaster links, but I'm sure I'll get some subtle reminders if I have.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913898932003-03-25T23:09:00.000-05:002003-03-26T01:13:53.000-05:00

Technical difficulties: I'm obviously experiencing some, so I hope you'll bear with me as I sort out some template issues. Thanks. Update: Had a small meltdown trying to add archives. Not quite up to speed yet, but getting there.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913862652003-03-25T22:06:00.000-05:002003-03-25T22:08:33.000-05:00

Think-tanks, continued. Klein has responded to my criticisms. His entire argument is worth considering, but here's the concluding part: I think money that could be going to start Think Tanks is better off being put in liberal radio stations, and grooming effective left-leaning talk show hosts, and winning elections. You say we need to fund Think Tanks so they can produce and publicize new policy

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913739112003-03-25T18:05:00.000-05:002003-03-25T18:41:18.000-05:00

Are think-tanks irrelevant? Some readers have argued that I'm wrong about the need to fund think-tanks. On the left, Ezra Klein thinks:We've always been the smarter party . . . Polls show that our policies are favored by far more of the populace than Republican ones. Nobody could deny that Gore came off as more intelligent than Bush in the debates. The reason we are losing is not that we don't

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913572192003-03-25T12:53:00.000-05:002003-03-25T16:02:36.000-05:00

Political theory for everyone: Adam Swift has just published a book called How not to be a Hyprocite: School Choice for the Morally Perplexed. (Disclosure: Swift was my doctoral supervisor at Oxford.) As Will Hutton notes in his review, Swift is asking some tough questions: "Is it hypocritical to send your child to a private school while acknowledging it should not exist? Is there a reasonable

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913517052003-03-25T11:09:00.000-05:002003-03-25T11:13:30.000-05:00

From Charlottesville to Oxford and back again: now proudly and officially linking to Oxblog.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-913241462003-03-24T23:16:00.000-05:002003-03-24T23:55:35.000-05:00

Broadening the Diagnosis: Zizka has an interesting comment on the disengagement of the academic left: [T]he media-domination myth and the liberal-university myths are both relics of a time (the 60's, and diminishingly up until 1980 or 1984) when it was more or less true. And a lot of liberals did pick up that professorial persona -- masterful, bland, civil, open-minded, ironic, and

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-912992442003-03-24T15:37:00.000-05:002003-03-24T18:10:41.000-05:00

Political theory lives in blogosphere! Check out the ramblings of new blogger Russell Arben Fox. Seems like we political theorists are discovering the blog in droves . . . and why not? Fox has some good links on liberal nationalists and the war.

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-912946932003-03-24T14:16:00.000-05:002003-03-24T14:22:54.000-05:00

Think-tanks in Britain: Lance Knobel makes a good point about the comparative lack of influence exerted by conservative think-tanks in Britain. Part of the reason might be that they just don't have the resources of their American counterparts. But the existence of organizations like the Social Market Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) should also be encouraging to the

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-912930572003-03-24T13:43:00.000-05:002003-03-24T13:44:34.000-05:00

Funding big ideas, continued. Myth #4: You need a big idea before you can get funding. The reason the left isn't funding think-tanks is because the left has no big ideas.Answer: there are two kinds of responses to this myth. The first is that it gets the relationship between money and ideas exactly backwards. You need to pay people enough money so that they have the time--even the luxury--of

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-912904682003-03-24T12:53:00.000-05:002003-03-24T22:14:54.000-05:00

Gaus on Eberle: Gerald Gaus reviews Christopher Eberle's important book Religious Convictions in Liberal Politics. There is a big, on-going debate between political theorists who think that citizens should not appeal to their religious views when they make political decisions and political theorists who think there's nothing wrong with invoking one's faith. Philosophers like John Rawls, Thomas

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-912336032003-03-23T13:52:00.000-05:002003-03-26T21:12:16.000-05:00

Funding big ideas, continued. Myth #3: The left has taken over American universities, so it doesn't need think-tanks.Answer: There are a lot of reasons why academics at American universities don't exert the kind of influence that we expect from a think-tank like AEI or Heritage. Here are five reasons that come to mind. I'm sure there are more. (i) Wrong audience: by and large, academics are

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-911909952003-03-22T14:48:00.000-05:002003-03-23T13:23:02.000-05:00

Funding big ideas, continued. Myth #2: The left should spend its money on projects to help people and not on some amorphous attempt to influence how the public thinks about politics. Answer: The left/center-left foundations mentioned below give money to thousands of particular projects in medical research, environmental protection, famine relief, community development, public radio, the fine

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-911638792003-03-21T23:37:00.000-05:002003-03-23T13:22:25.000-05:00

Why doesn't the left fund big ideas? Why doesn't the progressive left in America fund the study of big ideas? Much to their credit, libertarians and conservatives in the U.S. discovered long ago the importance of supporting students, academics, journalists, policy-makers, and publicizers. For example, having attended a couple of seminars and events sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186955.post-910721582003-03-20T13:24:00.000-05:002003-03-23T22:02:30.000-05:00

Just beginning . . .

Micahnoreply@blogger.com0