Stevens was a top Republican campaign strategist for many state and national elections, including Bush and Romney. His thesis: Trump isn't an aberration of the Republican party; he is its culmination. What happened to balancing the budget? Small government? Personal responsibility instead of playing the victim? Character counts? These principles that were supposedly the bedrock of the Republican party were abandoned over night when Trump was elected.
The rise and fall of the liberal empire: Book review of “Why Liberalism Failed”
In politics, each side usually blames all the problems on the other: it's either the rainbow-loving communist godless liberals or the oppressive wealthy capitalist overlords and their witless redneck cronies. But here in Why Liberalism Failed, Deneen argues that the problems are systemic, built into liberalism itself and its underlying assumptions. By liberalism, he... Continue Reading →
Book review of Thaler’s “Nudge”: How libertarian paternalism avoids the polarization of the right and left
I added this book to my list after I read an article about the 2017 Nobel Prize winner in economics, Richard Thaler, and his concept of libertarian paternalism. Our lab reading club ended up voting to read it this month for our book of the month! The book itself is based on two premises: (1)... Continue Reading →