Category Archives: conservatives and liberals

Oligarchy is a Symptom, Not the Cause

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September 28, 2026 — The American political system is broken.  We should ask how it got that way and should hope that the answer could contain a clue as to how it might get back on track.

Of course, many factors are at play.   The long list includes things that cry out for reform, like gerrymandering of Congressional districts.  But most will not bear the weight of being identified as a single fundamental exogenous cause of all the others, nor explain why this has happened now, in the early decades of the 21st century. read more

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1776

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June 29, 2026 — Adam Smith’s book The Wealth of Nations shares with the Declaration of Independence its 1776 birth year and hence its 2026 semiquincentennial.  Both documents incarnated a set of liberal ideas that we associate with the Enlightenment.  Much is made of the egregious respects in which men who spread these ideals, at the time, fell far short of extending rights to the entire population.  This is true, of course.  But saying so leaves out how absent altogether these ideals had previously been for almost all previous civilizations in history. read more

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Abundance

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November 2, 2025 —  In search of an alternative vision to MAGA that might appeal to common-sense working Americans, some Democrats have rallied around the word “abundance.”  That is the title of a recent book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, touted as a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting revelation.

To begin, let me say that Ezra Klein is one of my favorite columnists and podcasters.

To the extent that abundance can be used as an effective political slogan, I am all ears.  In its favor, “abundance” is short enough to fit onto a bumper sticker, the word is neither too common in speech nor too uncommon, and it sounds like something we should all want.  It could fulfill the purpose of Democrats admitting past mistakes, which at this point is de rigueur if they are to develop an effective political strategy.  But abundance seems to me an arrow that is not particularly well-aimed. read more

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