the weaker party

Another post from Grits for Breakfast . Archie Parr was a party boss in South Texas and key to Lyndon Johnson's electoral success. And...

Here's an argument that we shouldn't : There are some things we shouldn't put to a vote. The majority can't vote to enslav...

Every several years, the Texas Legislature reviews the performance of state agencies to determine if they should be maintained. Here's a...

Apparently its not government party identifiers fear, but who controls it. From the Gallup Poll : (via The Monkey Cage ) So party identi...

Grits for Breakfast points out a provocative book that might revise the way we understand the evolution of the writ of habeas corpus and wh...

I just ran across a story with the following link to a definition of "coverture." . . .in most nations. The state or condition ...

A student sent me the following commentary touching on inaccuracies in the current campaign regarding the bank bailout (it was signed by Pr...

I'm almost finished grading the 2302 written assignment on Wilson and I noticed many talked about his support for the 17th Amendment, bu...

There really is little new under the sun, or in American politics. One of the commentators in the previous post mentioned that Shay's ...

From the NYT . Some smart folks discuss whether the current crop of outsider candidate is unusual historically. Most suggest no, but add t...

That's the possible budget shortfall in Texas this year. Proportionately worse than California's apparently.

Here the written questions I'm about to post for next week: For the 16 week classes 2301 -  Elections: Next week is election day, an...

Wikileaks , which already released confidential files relating to ther Iraq War, released more . - Commentary from the NYT .

From the Huffington Post :

More constitutional fallout from the Delaware debate: Can states compel school districts to teach creationism alongside evolution? Recent Su...

Thanks to the Delaware Senate debate we've had another in our periodic dust ups about the meaning of the phrase "separation of chu...

Nice .

From Bloomberg .... and Policito . If it made money, what are candidates successfully running against the TARP. What aren't members...

My favorite example of justifiable discrimination . Would legislation demanding that old folks retake drivers exams survive an equal protect...

We wrestled with this question in class today, and here are some links that go further. Apparently there is debate on the issue, but the maj...

From the NYT : Law enforcement and counterterrorism officials, citing lapses in compliance with surveillance orders, are pushing to overha...

My apologies to one of my classes for not being able to directly answer this question yesterday, but the Supreme Court has made some peculia...

One of the more curious aspects of the stimulus bill was the fact that while it contained tax cuts, no one seems to know that it did . Most ...

I've hit this topic below, and it does seem to be becoming conventional wisdom that just as the 2010 election was a reaction to the 2008...

This post does a better job than most .

Tea Party Schmea Party .

For 2301, and the extent of civil liberties in a time of war.                         For 2302, specifically f...

I'm receiving questions about extra credit, and I've made posts about it below. I want you to thoroughly review a book which covers ...

By now you've probably heard that I'm giving my 16 week 2301 and 2302 students the week off. There will be no assessment or written ...

Stop giggling. Do we a sufficient number of the world's leading researchers to guarantee that we will prosper in a knowledge based econ...

Here's a great example of the consequences of a decentralized, federal judicial system. While last week a federal judge in Michigan said...

While we are about to dig into the development of the executive branch, I thought it might be interesting to look at the role military has h...

From the story referred to below : Offline, Thiel is the lead backer of Seasteading , a movement to create law-free floating communes base...

This analysis of Pay Pal co-founder Peter Thiel is a bit harsh (I can't vouch for its accuracy), but it touches on political conflicts...

For 2302, here is an example of the rulemaking process. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a rule "that would requir...

... and  highlights the institutional differences between the two branches of government.

No surprise, but apparently it matters what questions you ask. While pluralities are in favor of a blanket repeal, majorities support mainta...

Daniel Larison ponders whether Republicans will be able govern effectively if they win control of Congress. The skills that allow one to wi...

Stephen Breyer wonders in a new book .

Here are a couple of juicy posts detailing political operative Roger Stone's successful effort to take down ex-New York Governor Eliot ...

From the NYT : Enough Tea Party-supported candidates are running strongly in competitive and Republican-leaning Congressional races that t...

After a Michigan judge ruled the health care law to be based the commerce clause, a Florida judge is more skeptical .

Possible extra credit if you review this book.

From Political Wire : Here's another good nugget from the New York Times Magazine piece on President Obama: "Obama advisers expec...

Yes . No .

Pat Sajak thinks maybe not .

An example of Checks and Balances and Civil Liberties. Story in the NYT . Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court for the Cen...

A prediction that Republicans will impeach Obama if they will control of the House. It backfird when they did it to Clinton, but that might...

How about that coverage of the Chilean miners ? Back in the 80s there was Baby Jessica . And of course there's this .

This new technology may lead to adjustments in how Supreme Court justices rule on free speech cases .

Digging into Texas' full economic picture raises questions about how well we are in fact doing.

Here's some evidence that they may not . It's a common point made by political scientists. Some analyses suggest that pocketbook e...

- NASA's compromise bill is launched without a bang - Dinosaurs, sex ed stoke Texas school board debate - No reprimand for appeals jud...

Not necessarily . In both 2301 (while we discuss civil liberties) and 2302 ( while we discuss the role of judiciary) we will wade into thi...

Michael Lind thinks so . As more wealth becomes concentrated in the upper 5-20% of the population, aggregate demand shifts to those items th...

How Caesarism Came to America .

Dear Students, Here are the written questions I'd like you to consider this week (week 7). I'll have these posted in BlackBoard so...

Glenn Beck's diatribes against Woodrow Wilson have placed the 28th President him back in the spotlight. Here's discussion about Wi...

Here's an article which discusses the potential development of a digital library -- which to some degree already exists on the web. Mat...

It seems that there has been a rash of bullying related suicides around the coutry recently. I say "seems that" because these trag...

The Washington Post details the options they've discussed .

Here's a heads up on the plan for 2301 on Monday and Tuesday. After we review last week's assessment, I want to read through the fol...

From the Onion . The Gallup Poll comments on the joke .

That's a reasonable conclusion from reading the following assessments of what got the country into the current foreclosure mess: The...

This isn't the most flattering portrayal of the recently resigned Jim Jones, but it helps us understand the role the position plays -- ...

We've discussed the volatility of the electorate and how the constitutional design is meant to minimize its impact on public policy. The...

- Some companies settle, some don't . - Will the results matter ?

Obama vetoed H.R. 3808 , the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010 . From WonkBook: The law, which would've allowed bank...

More transitions in the White House Staff: President Obama announced on Friday that Gen. James L. Jones , the national security adviser,...

Here's huge -- and relevant -- news. A district court judge has ruled that the individual mandate in the recently passed health care law...

Ezra Klein highlights actions by three separate executive officials involved in implementing economic policy. or providing advise about it: ...

Some checks and balances from Ezra Klein: Judges across the country are ruling foreclosures illegal because of faulty paperwork, report B...

The City of Houston is also wrestling with amendments to its historic preservation ordinance . The ordinance would make it harder to tear...

In local government news, Houston's City Council has agreed to a 380 agreement (named for the paragraph 380 of the Texas Local Governm...

Some commentary about today's oral arguments in Snyder v. Phelps . You should hire a pro to argue your case before the Supreme Court. As...

Following on a previous post, here are a few links regarding the nation/state issues brought up by California's proposal to legalize mar...

TNR says yes .

Here's an argument that they are not . Insurance companies are a huge beneficiary of health care reform and are donating heavily to the ...

The House is waiting for Senate action on more than 420 bills  it has passed this session.

The case involving the Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest at soldier's funerals ("God Loves Dead Soldiers," etc......

From CBS News .

For our discussion of federalism .

The most recent estimate of the final cost of TARP -- the bank bailout . -  Could Obama have played this better politically ?

From the Economists . Background Reading: - World Military Spending . - Wikipedia: Military Budget of the United States . A neat litt...

Friedman's Sunday article (post below) led to a rash of commentary wondering whether a third party could in fact run competitively in 20...

Andrew Sullivan thinks it might . The War on Drugs rests on the same constitutional theory as does mandatory health care. Here's an ar...

The biggest story you've probably never heard of .

Stephanie Cutter , Assistant to the President for Special Projects, is responsible for developing messages promoting health care legislation...

Joe Miller, the Alaska Tea Party candidate says yes and wants it repealed . It gives the national government too much power. - Wikipedia: ...

And the Supreme Court is back in session. Scotusblog has all the links you need to follow to get up to date on the upcoming year.

For 2302, a taste of things to come in our explorations of the executive branch.

The conventional wisdom right now is that the truce among Republicans is temporary and a -- potentially ruthless -- internal fight for the p...

Thomas Friedman has his doubts and is calling for a strong third party movement in 2012. He begins by reminding us -- as the founders would...

My 2302s might want to use this to help answer some of this week's short answer questions.

So say a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy . - An additional report on the impact of taxes: Who Pays ? 

Neo-Conservative Republicans are rightly concerned about the possible impact Libertarian Conservatives might have on the cohesiveness of t...

Campaigns are all about public relations, how to sell ideas to the electorate. The health care law has presented Democrats with a problem. T...

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint apparently intends to block all action in the Senate until after the elections by refusing to allow his c...

That's how the new Chief of Staff is described . It's a term that gets tossed around to refer to the more obscure people that work...

A report from the CBO . This should help 2302s answer some this week's written questions.