Category / 2017 / Constructions / International
Articles from October 2017’s theme, “Constructions.”
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7 Years of Plenty, 70 Years of Famine: Understanding Venezuela’s Crisis
“I’d have been better off broke.” This is how Abraham Shakespeare, a $30 million American lottery winner, described his windfall. “It’s just upheaval that they’re not ready for,” a financial consultant explained. “People have had terrible things happen.” A common “filler” story for news channels is the “Curse of the Lottery.” These cautionary tales warn…
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How to Debate Non-Interventionists
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say “the U.S. should mind its own business” or “we should leave the Middle East alone” or “alliances with none, trade with all.” Every time I do, I cringe a bit; not only because I disagree, but also because points like that are quite difficult to…
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The Trinitarian Streak: Religious Orthodoxy and the American Presidency
For the past 104 years, the chief executive of the United States has been a Trinitarian Christian. 1. I would like to show how American presidents have become more religiously orthodox. 2. I would like to explore various explanations as to why American presidents have embraced orthodoxy. When William Howard Taft is remembered, it is…
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The Last True Conservative
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to repeal Obamacare, more officially known as the Affordable Care Act or by the acronym “ACA,” over 50 times since its passage. Two separate Republican presidential nominees – Mitt Romney and Donald Trump – and countless potential Representatives and Senators campaigned, and in many cases won, on promises…
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The Greatest Supreme Court Justice
Justice Byron White does not have an excellent reputation among legal scholars or among the general public. Conservatives do not usually remember White too fondly because of his liberal rulings, and he is usually not particularly beloved by liberals because of his conservative rulings. When noted Yale law professor Robert M. Cover wrote his famous…
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The (Mis)construction of Knowledge
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in two rulings nearly 15 years ago that sex offenders’ rate of re-offense, at almost 80 percent, is “frightening and high.” Since then, his “statistic” has been used by hundreds of lower courts and lawyers to defend policies that banish offenders from most communities. The severity of the punishment would be…
