I have from time to time offered the view that in understanding political controversies, it is helpful to seek the answer to two questions: who benefits? and who pays?
Today I came across a review of a book by political scientists who have studied and sought to explain polarization. Political scientists Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole, and Howard Rosenthal present their findings in Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches (Walras-Pareto Lectures).
The review summarizes their findings: "[The authors] succeed in cutting through the seemingly crazed rhetoric of
conservative extremists in and out of Congress and reveal what it's
really all about: protecting the economic interests of the wealthy....
"What is really interesting about this analysis is that it implies that
the sizzling rhetoric coming from the right -- personal attacks on the
President, anti-gay rants, renewed heat around abortion and
contraception -- is just window dressing. By the evidence of voting
records, what the right really cares about is economic issues favoring
the affluent -- tax cuts, reduced social spending, reduced regulation of
business activity, and estate taxes. This isn't to say that the enraged
cultural commentators aren't sincere about their personal belief -- who
knows? But the policies of their party are very consistent, in the
analysis offered here. Maybe the best way of understanding the extremist
pundits is as a class of well-paid entertainers, riffing on themes of
hatred and cultural fundamentalism that have nothing to do with the real
goals of their party."
Who benefits? Who pays?
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Why Wasn't The Higgs Boson Discovered By America?
A serious/humorous take on the issue by New York Times columnist Gail Collins in today's on-line issue here. Worth reading.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Special Meeting Oriental Town Board Mon. 5:30
Posted this afternoon at the Town of Oriental Web site:
The manager is requested to distribute this notice to all appropriate parties.
"I hereby call a special meeting of
the Board of Commissioners of Oriental for 5:30PM on Monday, July 9,
2012 to First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall on Broad Street. The
purpose of the meeting is to consult with counsel concerning the South
Avenue Street end transactions and the Fulcher contract with the Town.
The Board may go into closed session during this meeting."
"Bill Sage, Mayor"
We have no idea what the meeting intends to accomplish.
Worth remembering: The Town has already held the required public hearing. The Board can close the street at any time.
Oriental Croaker Fest 2012
A bit hot, but the opening of the Croaker Fest at 4:00 today went well and was enjoyed by all. Good music. Tasty food. And I loved the root beer floats (they benefit Hope Clinic, but they are not just morally good - they taste great!)
South Avenue
Last Tuesday night, Oriental Town Attorney Scott Davis at one point said he's convinced there's a legal way for the Town Board to close South Avenue and other streets and obtain the waterfront parcel on Raccoon Creek that Chris Fulcher offered to donate the Town. So do I and for the past six months I have been quietly feeding information to the Town Board along those lines.
But the Board seemed committed to the existing contract which barters rights of way held in trust for the public for property rights held in fee simple which the Town can sell at any time. I remain opposed to that scheme, as I wrote in yesterday's County Compass.
There are signs at least some commissioners may be rethinking the issue. I hope so.
But the Board seemed committed to the existing contract which barters rights of way held in trust for the public for property rights held in fee simple which the Town can sell at any time. I remain opposed to that scheme, as I wrote in yesterday's County Compass.
There are signs at least some commissioners may be rethinking the issue. I hope so.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Big Science And National Security
Remember the scenes early in "2001: Space Odyssey" when the fictional troubleshooter sent to the moon encounters Russians along the way? Any contemporary update to that movie would have to encounter Chinese in space.
Why are they there and what does it mean for us? Here is a good article in today's New York Times with one answer. It need not be the only answer.
Big science is expensive. Nations will have differing priorities for their scientific endeavors, but be assured of one thing: their first priority will not be to compete in markets. It will be to gain a security advantage.
There are different ways to accomplish this. When the Space Station project became too expensive for an increasingly parsimonious America, we turned it into the International Space Station. Today, without Russian participation, we wouldn't be able to get astronauts to the station.
In the early 1990's as the Superconducting Super Collider was running into problems with Congressional appropriations, an effort was made to internationalize the project. The effort proved too little and too late.
It might be better to think "international" at the outset. Now, at the Large Hadron Collider, we are the tail instead of the dog.
Why are they there and what does it mean for us? Here is a good article in today's New York Times with one answer. It need not be the only answer.
Big science is expensive. Nations will have differing priorities for their scientific endeavors, but be assured of one thing: their first priority will not be to compete in markets. It will be to gain a security advantage.
There are different ways to accomplish this. When the Space Station project became too expensive for an increasingly parsimonious America, we turned it into the International Space Station. Today, without Russian participation, we wouldn't be able to get astronauts to the station.
In the early 1990's as the Superconducting Super Collider was running into problems with Congressional appropriations, an effort was made to internationalize the project. The effort proved too little and too late.
It might be better to think "international" at the outset. Now, at the Large Hadron Collider, we are the tail instead of the dog.
Higgs Boson
The recent cautious announcement that scientists at Europe's Large Hadron Collider may have found the elusive Higgs boson reminds me that this important step in high energy physics could have occurred in the United States except for partisan and regional politics.
More than twenty years ago, at a project in southern Dallas County and Ellis County, Texas, the United States had dug an enormous circular tunnel deep underground near Waxahatchie, Texas, for what was known as the Superconducting Super Collider. This was to be the showcase of US high energy physics, and was a project of the Department of Energy.
I was briefly involved as a contractor working for SSC's project management office.
When completed, the SSC would have been three times as powerful as Europe's Large Hadron Collider, and would have been in operation more than a decade ago. The Higgs Boson would have been old hat by now, and Waxahatchie, Texas rather than Geneva, Switzerland, would be the research center drawing physicists from all over the world.
But by 1990, US research budgets became tighter, other massive projects such as the International Space Station and other scientific communities competed strongly for the dollars. Each of those projects also had supporters in Congress. Just at that time, the Texas Congressional delegation became particularly vocal about balancing the budget. As a result of all of that, coupled with resentment by other members of Congress, support for SSC evaporated.
The project was cancelled in 1993.
An enormous hole in the ground remains under Ellis County, Texas.
No one knows what discoveries the SSC would have achieved by now. Almost certainly the Higgs boson would have been among them.
Since I posted this observation July 5, NYTimes columnist Gail Collins on July 6 posted a set of more humorous observations about the Higgs, Waxahatchie and American Politics. Worth reading here for a chuckle, but a serious thought as well.
More than twenty years ago, at a project in southern Dallas County and Ellis County, Texas, the United States had dug an enormous circular tunnel deep underground near Waxahatchie, Texas, for what was known as the Superconducting Super Collider. This was to be the showcase of US high energy physics, and was a project of the Department of Energy.
I was briefly involved as a contractor working for SSC's project management office.
When completed, the SSC would have been three times as powerful as Europe's Large Hadron Collider, and would have been in operation more than a decade ago. The Higgs Boson would have been old hat by now, and Waxahatchie, Texas rather than Geneva, Switzerland, would be the research center drawing physicists from all over the world.
But by 1990, US research budgets became tighter, other massive projects such as the International Space Station and other scientific communities competed strongly for the dollars. Each of those projects also had supporters in Congress. Just at that time, the Texas Congressional delegation became particularly vocal about balancing the budget. As a result of all of that, coupled with resentment by other members of Congress, support for SSC evaporated.
The project was cancelled in 1993.
An enormous hole in the ground remains under Ellis County, Texas.
No one knows what discoveries the SSC would have achieved by now. Almost certainly the Higgs boson would have been among them.
Since I posted this observation July 5, NYTimes columnist Gail Collins on July 6 posted a set of more humorous observations about the Higgs, Waxahatchie and American Politics. Worth reading here for a chuckle, but a serious thought as well.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
On Patriotism
This fourth of July, Robert Reich has published a thoughtful piece here on patriotism.
There's nothing I can add to it, so I won't try.
There's nothing I can add to it, so I won't try.
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