Piketty’s Challenge: A Past That Consumes the Future

thomas-piketty_capital-in-the-twenty-first-century May 8, 2014
But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prosperity, and fall with the declension of the society. On the contrary, it is naturally low in rich, and high in poor countries, and it is…
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Spandex, Hegel, and the Double Dumb-Ass Victory

What_is_the_Proper_Soldering_Technique_6593119_460 May 7, 2014
It's inscrutable.
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A Tale of Two Bodies

your_local_pharmacy May 6, 2014
With pollen blanketing my car, I stopped by a “local” pharmacy on the way to work this morning. It’s an impressive new building, with a substantial parking lot, gleaming façade, and amenities scattered throughout the aisles. Certainly it was not…
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(Civic) Myths over (Religious) Markets: Defending the National Day of Prayer

May 1, 2014
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] I don’t often disagree with my old friend Michael Austin, partly because he’s much smarter and much better read than I, and partly because he’s so thoroughly and non-ideologically committed to a moderate, pragmatic liberalism…
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Death and Life in the Country

fox May 1, 2014
Hidden Springs Lane. There is something especially sad about opening up a hive full of dead bees. Several weeks ago I wrote about my hives and my hope that they would survive the winter. They didn’t. On a sunny spring…
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We Interrupt the Dispatches to Get Schooled in Masculinity

Bored-Students April 30, 2014
All things are socially constructed except the immutable doctrine that all things are socially constructed.
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Derby Time

4531765958_b7f0e9ef4c_z April 28, 2014
Louisville, Kentucky.  It’s Derby time here. If you have business to do with someone in Louisville this week, don’t expect a quick reply. I have always run hot and cold on the Derby, with its display of war toys before…
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Something Better than a Giant

welsh-countryside April 28, 2014
This Christmas my daughter bought for me a CD of Welsh hymns, folk songs, and patriotic anthems, sung by the burly baritone Bryn Terfel. He’s a tremendous performer, apparently renowned for his work in opera around the world. If you…
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Give Me the Local Color

04_14_52_web April 22, 2014
He shows me a map of New York and points to his home town.
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How Equality Makes Us Better (and Stupid)

declaration of independence April 21, 2014
Hidden Springs Lane. The concept of equality lies at the heart of the American system. School children learn by heart (or used to) those memorable lines from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truth self-evident that all men…
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Dollarocracy: Money-Power, Media-Framed Elections and Inequality

dollarocracy April 17, 2014
When searching for semi-precious stones, one must at times loosen jewels from the mineral deposits in which they’re locked.  This consideration applies to books as well as nature’s treasures.  One reads certain political books not necessarily because of agreement with…
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The Foal of an Ass, A Crown of Thorns, and 80 Linear Feet of Base Shoe

BASE-shoe April 15, 2014
I’m cheaper than I am smart.
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Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!

hemp bound April 11, 2014
From the perspective of a patriotic American who’s just researched hemp’s potential from Canada to Hawaii, Germany to Colorado, things are moving from fantasy to reality so quickly that it’s kind of making me believe in a societal version of…
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The New Briar Patch Puts All in Doubt

briarpatch April 8, 2014
You’d have to call this job rebarbative.
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Equality and the Culture of Perpetual Offense

defend equality April 6, 2014
Hidden Springs Lane. Rod Dreher has recently been pointing out (for example here) the various ways that those who voice public opposition to certain positions (especially gay marriage) are routinely denied their right to voice an opinion. The freedom to…
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Recovering Bliss From the Conditions of Disaster

car10 April 1, 2014
AM radio shouts at me, first the nut-jobs on the right, then the nut-jobs on the left.
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