http://bigthink.com/blogs/politeia <p>America today is at crossroads. The threat of a major terrorist attack is very real, but it may be the least of our worries. We are on the verge of a global environmental crisis; our system of industrial agriculture may be unsustainable; the world&rsquo;s fisheries are in danger of collapse. We are fighting two costly wars, neither of which seem likely to end soon. Health care costs are spiraling out of control. Our national debt is now the highest it has been as a percentage of GNP since World War II. And at the same time, we face important fights over abortion, same-sex marriage, and civil liberties.</p> <p>How we handle these crises will determine the course the world takes in the coming years. Politeia serves as a guide to 21st-century politics as played for the highest possible stakes.</p> Fri, 25 May 2012 07:12:09 -0000 Copyright Big Think. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/RZgeBFyt0IE/is-congress-becoming-less-literate http://bigthink.com/ideas/is-congress-becoming-less-literate Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:55 -0400 analyzed the Congressional Record and found that the average member of Congress speaks at 10.6 grade reading level on the standard Flesch-Kincaid scale. That’s down almost a full grade level from 2005 ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/is-congress-becoming-less-literate http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/mSctkH6CKWo/the-political-attack-on-political-science http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-political-attack-on-political-science Mon, 14 May 2012 23:18:53 -0400 voted 218-208 to block the National Science Foundation from funding political science research. No other type of research would be blocked by the NSF budget amendment. The NSF could still continue funding research in sociology, anthropology, and economics. The amendment would ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-political-attack-on-political-science http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/07PGoTn33ZM/obama-comes-out-for-same-sex-marriage http://bigthink.com/ideas/obama-comes-out-for-same-sex-marriage Thu, 10 May 2012 23:33:57 -0400 support marriage equality for gays and lesbians. The president’s support does nothing to alter the moral case for marriage equality. While Obama said he personally supported same-sex marriage, he didn't say he thought states should ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/obama-comes-out-for-same-sex-marriage http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/O_yYFnBisO4/how-romney-got-the-bailout-wrong http://bigthink.com/ideas/how-romney-got-the-bailout-wrong Wed, 09 May 2012 15:10:48 -0400 said he would “take a lot of credit” for the fact that the U.S. auto industry has rebounded. That’s a remarkable statement. In fact, it’s an outrageous statement. When the auto manufacturers were bailed out in late 2008, Mitt Romney was out of ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/how-romney-got-the-bailout-wrong http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/E85QzKvWITA/the-torture-lie-refuted http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-torture-lie-refuted Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:32:15 -0400 reports that a three-year investigation by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence committee confirms what we already knew: there's little evidence that our so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-torture-lie-refuted http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/19gQLIEuJ_o/why-the-experts-get-everything-wrong http://bigthink.com/ideas/why-the-experts-get-everything-wrong Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:37:07 -0400
Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/why-the-experts-get-everything-wrong http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/H6WGhO8RkF0/election-notes-can-romney-beat-obama http://bigthink.com/ideas/election-notes-can-romney-beat-obama Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:46:51 -0400 dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, it removed the last real obstacle standing between Mitt Romney and the nomination. The race has really been over for a while. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul remain in the race, but Romney has more than three times more delegates ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/election-notes-can-romney-beat-obama http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/ihademLU2X0/obamacare-isnt-radical http://bigthink.com/ideas/obamacare-isnt-radical Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:58:14 -0400 argued that the Affordable Care Act should be ruled constitutional. There are genuine reasons to be concerned about the scope of Congress’ commerce power, which has been used to justify the federal laws concerning what appear to be non-commercial issues that could easily be ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/obamacare-isnt-radical http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/8oSHEBriRIY/why-overturning-health-care-reform-would-be-a-mistake http://bigthink.com/ideas/why-overturning-health-care-reform-would-be-a-mistake Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:59:00 -0400 said Monday that overturning the Affordable Care Act would be “an unprecedented, extraordinary step.” But by all accounts oral argument in the Supreme Court went badly for supporters of Obama’s health care law. In one exchange, Justice Anthony Kennedy—who is widely expected to be ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/why-overturning-health-care-reform-would-be-a-mistake http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/politeia/~3/VPuYmJ8jwA4/election-notes-who-will-be-romneys-running-mate http://bigthink.com/ideas/election-notes-who-will-be-romneys-running-mate Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:24:47 -0400 Louisiana only delayed the inevitable. Santorum gained just 5 delegates in Louisiana on Romney, who is still 295 delegates ahead. Romney has won 55% of the delegates available so far, and needs just 45% of the remaining delegates to ...

Read More]]> Robert de Neufville http://bigthink.com/ideas/election-notes-who-will-be-romneys-running-mate