Mike Edwards's Blog, page 8
February 22, 2012
Upcoming Appearances & Interviews
As always, you can find the latest info on the events page on the event page over at the website for Democracy Despite Itself.
Thurs, Feb 23 at about 1:20 Eastern:
I'm giving a radio interview for a web-based radio network based in London called Monocle 24. (If you miss the interview tomorrow, you'll be able to listen to it later on at that same link.)
Fri, Feb 24 at Books Plus in Fernandina Beach, FL (near Jacksonville):
Danny will be giving a talk and doing a book signing, starting at 4pm.
Tu...
February 14, 2012
The Lost, The Dead, and The Unregistered
The Pew Center released a report today which outlined the huge problems with voter registration in the United States. The report mentions really two separate issues:
1) Roughly 1/4 of all eligible voters, about 51 million people, are not properly registered to vote. In 2008 this caused more than 2 million voters who either showed up to the poll or filled out ballots to not have had their vote counted. And that's not counting the people who realized at the last minute that they wanted to...
February 13, 2012
February 9, 2012
Check out Fox and Friends Sunday
This Sunday at 6:30 AM Danny Oppenheimer, my coauthor, will be appearing on the Fox and Friends morning show to promote our new book on democracy. In case you don't know, Fox and Friends is the Fox News Channel's answer to the Today Show or Good Morning America; it runs from 6am to 10am Eastern time (check your local listings), and Danny is scheduled to appear about a half hour into the show. Check him out!
January 31, 2012
Symbolic Fairness
Congress is rapidly moving forward on legislation that would end the insider-trading exemption enjoyed by members of Congress. This is exactly the kind of law that Congress needs to pass–although for reasons that have more to do with the long-term consequences than the short-term effects of the law in question.
Now, current law actually isn't too unreasonable. Yes, the exemption gives members of Congress a huge advantage when constructing their stock portfolios. But having 535 people...
January 19, 2012
Democracy Despite Itself Available on Kindle Now!
Download your copy today. Also, Danny will be giving the first of many author events on this Saturday, Jan 21, at Book Soup in Los Angeles. Check him out if you're in the area. For a full list of events, please keep an eye on the book's website.
January 4, 2012
Iowa Caucus: What Is It Good For?
One primary down, fifty-some to go. (Territories get delegates too, although not many on the GOP side of things.) Michelle Bachmann (sixth place) has quit the race, Rick Perry (fifth place) did some soul searching before deciding to carry on, skepticism about New Gingrich (fourth place) is growing, while Ron Paul (third), Rick Santorum (second) and Mitt Romney (first) are all media darlings for the day. And all because 120,000 Republicans took the first steps towards selecting 25...
December 28, 2011
A Season of Hope
It is pretty easy to be pessimistic about politics these days. Between the bad economy, a government that seems permanently gridlocked, cable news shows that seem to delight in fear-mongering, and political ads that constantly remind us about the worst elements of human nature, optimism is not horribly in vogue.
And yet Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years are all holidays that, to one degree or another, celebrate hope and renewal. And so I thought it was a good time just to reiterate one of t...
December 12, 2011
What We Don't Know Can Hurt Us
My coauthor sent me article yesterday which does a very good job of giving a real-world example of a couple of the principals we discuss in our book. In the article Daniel Klein, an economics professor at George Mason and a self-proclaimed libertarian, describes how he boldly penned an extremely controversial Wall St Journal op-ed piece based on some research he had done–only to have to retract everything he said a few months later when it became clear that he was flat-out wrong.
The...
December 1, 2011
Fairness and Education
According to a New York Times article, Florida education officials recently released a set of rules requiring that all incoming students must demonstrate that their parents are legal Florida residents before they can receive in-state tuition to any public college or university. The rule, which does not affect admission, is supposedly aimed at illegal immigrants, who will find their tuition quadrupling.
While I cannot speak for the authors of the rule, my guess is that there are two reasons...
