Philosophy
The grand Enlightenment experiment in political self-rule and representative democracy that the United States was supposed to embody was dealt a potentially fatal blow some years ago with the Citizens United decision. Despite the rhetoric about free speech and the gross equivocation between free expression and money, the decision is one that essentially legitimized the bribing of political candidates so that, once elected, they could do the bidding of their corporate and capitalist overlords.
In the following TEDTalk presentation, Professor Lawrence Lessig explains and puts in context what this means for democracy, offers some insights into some possible solutions out of this political nightmare, and makes a powerful case for our moral obligation to overturn the corrosive power of money in politics, even if it feels futile sometimes.
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I live in the part of Maryland where you know you are below the Mason-Dixon line. This has given rise to something I've been thinking about. There's a kids' amusement area -- not a big theme park, but go-carts, laser tag, miniature golf,......
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As Bush attempts to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that includes what amount to permanent bases and immunity from prosecution for US troops and contractors, one realizes that even the person who spent so much time trying to trumpet the...
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- America The Beautiful
Kyler M. Robinson Socrates breaks governments into five distinct categories: aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. Government is not a stagnate phenomenon that remains strictly to one of these categories; they move back and forth...
Philosophy
Lawrence Lessig - We the People, and the Republic We Must Reclaim
In the following TEDTalk presentation, Professor Lawrence Lessig explains and puts in context what this means for democracy, offers some insights into some possible solutions out of this political nightmare, and makes a powerful case for our moral obligation to overturn the corrosive power of money in politics, even if it feels futile sometimes.
- Dc Congressional Representation
Today is the 51st anniversary of the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution which granted the residents of Washington, D.C. the ability to vote electors for the Presidency to the electoral college. Folks who live in the District...
- Politics And The Purse
I live in the part of Maryland where you know you are below the Mason-Dixon line. This has given rise to something I've been thinking about. There's a kids' amusement area -- not a big theme park, but go-carts, laser tag, miniature golf,......
- What Are The Necessary Conditions For Democracy?
As Bush attempts to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that includes what amount to permanent bases and immunity from prosecution for US troops and contractors, one realizes that even the person who spent so much time trying to trumpet the...
- A Fictional Tale? Or Something More?
Nick LaClair Comparative Philosophy Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith clearly illustrates the scenario of the transformation of a democratic man to a tyrannical man. Even tough hard to believe to many hardcore fans, as many Star Wars fans view...
- America The Beautiful
Kyler M. Robinson Socrates breaks governments into five distinct categories: aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. Government is not a stagnate phenomenon that remains strictly to one of these categories; they move back and forth...