Is America a democracy?

Political scientist Robert Dahl said in 1971 that “a key characteristic of a democracy is the continued responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals.” The part I italicized emphasizes the key point, that a democracy involves more than enabling all citizens to vote freely in fair elections. While that is a minimal requirement, democracy also requires that political influence be distributed equally. [Read more…]

Supreme Court to hear case on prayer at government meetings

I went as a guest to a big function recently that was organized by a major corporation to honor its long-service employees. There must have been close to a thousand people in the ballroom. The program began with a prayer, as if the organizers did not care that in such a large group there would be a significant number who did not share the religious views of the prayer-giver. I am of course used to this kind of public piety. [Read more…]

Using the morality clause to split up gay couples

I wrote two weeks ago how the acceptance of adoption of children by same-sex couples preceded that of same-sex marriage because courts changed the standard for awarding custody to that of the best interests of the child. So as people started coming out openly as gay following a divorce, courts did not automatically disqualify them from gaining custody. But unfortunately, the best interests of the child can sometimes be used against gay couples because courts, especially in conservative parts of the country, often insert a ‘morality clause’ into divorce settlements, often without the parties knowing. [Read more…]

The puzzle of rising IQ scores

Nearly three decades ago, work by James R. Flynn revealed that average IQ scores in developed countries were rising at a stunning pace, of the order of 0.3 points per year or more. Later work showed similar explosive gains in developing countries and that the rise (now dubbed ‘the Flynn effect’) is still continuing. How did he find this? Recall that although IQ tests themselves have changed over time, each revision requires the IQ scores to be normed to always have an average value of 100. So does someone who scores 100 today have the same IQ of someone who scored 100 say fifty years ago, since they took different tests? Flynn found that if you give people today old IQ tests, their scores rose steadily the older the tests, suggesting that IQ tests have got harder over time. (James R. Flynn, Are We Getting Smarter?, 2012) [Read more…]

Film review: War on Whistleblowers

I just watched the latest work by guerilla filmmaker Robert Greenwald. He is developing a new form of journalism that makes documentaries on important issues that are timely because they are low-budget and filmed on a short schedule, and then sells them (or even gives them away free) directly to people, bypassing the usual channels of theaters or TV, and encourages them to arrange free screenings for others. He has produced and/or directed the following: [Read more…]

The Washington scandal machine

The Washington media talking heads had a wonderful week with the trifecta of scandals that suddenly engulfed the Obama administration. I paid just cursory attention to them, following my rule that the things that get the most attention from the chattering classes are the ones of least significance. The main consequence is to distract attention from major wrong doing that has bipartisan and elite approval, such as the continuing abuse of prisoners in Guantanamo, indefinite detention, the drone killing program, the egregious violations of civil rights, and the continuing swindling by the financial sector and the one-percenters. [Read more…]