Playing Chicken With Our Economy

Playing chicken with our economic security is probably not the best or surest method of problem solving in a national crisis, nor is it a particularly exemplary model of leadership. Frankly, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and leads me to wonder if there is anyone out there not disillusioned with the political process yet. I’m sure there are a few idealists left, but there numbers are surely dwindling as representatives on both sides of the aisle prove obstinate in their unwillingness to budge on the issue and break the current partisan quagmire.

I Support Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!

Freedom of speech. 'Nuff said! The picture is courtesy of James Snapp, Jr. You can find others like it over at Robert Spencer's site.

Machiavelli, Augustine, and Centaurs

Therefore, a prince must know how to use wisely the natures of the beast and the man. This policy was taught to princes allegorically by the ancient writers, who described how Achilles and many other ancient princes were given to Chiron the Centaur to be raised and taught under his discipline. This can only mean that, having a half-beast and half-man as a teacher, a prince must know how to employ the nature of the one and the other; and the one without the other cannot endure. (Machiavelli 133-134)

One of my colleagues is teaching Machiavelli’s The Prince for the first time and asked me if I might provide some commentary on this magnum opus. Here goes. Machiavelli is THE veritable bad boy of political philosophy. His name has entered the English lexicon as an eponym synonymous with immorality, deception, and all manner of subterfuge and cunning related to realpolitik. Machiavellianism is rightfully associated with many of these attributes, but it would be an unfair assessment of this thinker to reduce his philosophy solely to these simplistic and overgeneralized bullet points. The reality of the matter is that Machiavelli offers some profound insights on human nature and its implications for the maintenance and management of political power in the City of Man.

Twenty-First Century Anti-Federalist

The recent Tea Party movement in the US has drawn both the ire and acclamation of many Americans. I think it was a stroke of genius to link the contemporary movement with the American revolutionaries because philosophically there is a logical connection between these partisans, even though they are separated in time by more than two hundred and thirty years. The bond that unites these two parties across time is Anti-Federalist sentiment.