Monthly Archives: November 2009
U.S. Foreign Policy: Time to Plant Olive Trees in China’s Backyard
Shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it became unquestionably clear that the United States of America had eluded the lion’s share of World War 2’s unprecedented damage, and emerged a superpower. In light of the rapid technological and economic developments America had undergone during and after the post-war period, the country’s borders had transformed themselves into gates which opened into the kingdom of heaven. The nation was not only recognized as the land of abundance and prosperity, but was also given the great responsibility of acting as the world’s sole guardian and protectorate. Uncle Sam even established himself as the de facto policeman of the global community, orchestrating everything from the international flow of wealth, to the political affairs of any one nation Continue reading
Homeownership: Good for You, Better for Me
In the market-driven economy of today, quid-pro-quo is often (if not entirely) the modus operandi. Unfortunately, not all transactions are fair in that the “benefit” one party receives is in fact harmful to them either immediately or over time. In drafting and eventually passing the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, the United States Congress set the American people on the fast-track to homeownership by strong-arming banks into offering home mortgages to minorities and low-income groups. Questions of legitimacy, a false sense of security and a dubious backhanded attempt at further controlling the American people come into question in addition to whether or not homeownership is a ‘right.’ Continue reading
Let’s be Realistic About the International Social Interest
The United States of America has often taken what should be considered a very idealistic view of the world, particularly when one considers the can-do attitude that persists despite economic troubles or war. This outlook was seen clearly through President Barack Obama’s electoral campaign and his focus on belief, hope, and change. However, this idealism—while it persists in people’s thoughts and hopes—has not always followed through in their actions. Looking back through history, interactions between people are not easily explained just by looking at their beliefs—questions arise regarding motivation. Why do some conflicts lead to war but not others? Has the growing focus on human rights throughout the world affected the ways that countries interact with one another? Historians and scholars have looked at such interactions and formed paradigms on how the world works and why. Over the past few centuries, the prominent view has been realism, focusing on national security and interests as the driving forces behind countries’ actions. However, in more recent years the Idealist view has become more popular. Yet while the approaches Continue reading
Rethinking Political Ideologies
Suppose that Legal Philosophy was ordered as a Left-Right Jurisprudence spectrum rather than by group—Natural Law, Legal Positivism, Legal Realism, and Critical Legal Studies (CLS). Suppose that Theology was ordered as a Left-Right Religion spectrum rather than by denomination—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahá’í, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. Suppose that the Natural Sciences were ordered as a Left-Right Science spectrum rather than by field—Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Astronomy, and Geoscience. This is the current state of Politics. One should feel a knee-jerk reaction seeing a complex and intellectually rich system of thought reduced to an overly simplistic uni-axis or multi-axis model that is ultimately inaccurate, but more importantly breeds tribal politics.1 Continue reading