William J. Watkins, Jr. | Saturday November 24, 2018 at 11:23 AM PST
I just returned to the United States after a short-term teaching stint at European University in Tbilisi, Georgia. It seems I’ve arrived home on the tail end of a controversy over the venerable Marbury v. Madison decision. According to luminaries at the Washington Post, anyone who questions the greatness of Marbury is a “crackpot”...
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Tags: Anti-Federalists, Federalists, James Madison, John Marshall, judicial review, judicial supremacy, Marbury, Matthew Whitaker, popular sovereignty, Supreme Court, Thomas Jefferson
Lawrence J. McQuillan | Tuesday November 6, 2018 at 8:56 AM PST
More than half of Americans receive more money from gov. transfer programs than they pay in federal taxes.
Tags: federal taxes, Franklin Roosevelt, James Madison, personal property rights, redistribution, social spending, Taxes, transfer payments, transfers, Welfare
William J. Watkins, Jr. | Tuesday January 17, 2017 at 11:30 AM PST
In January, the winds of political change often blow with ferocity. The District of Columbia is now bracing itself for a gale-force disruption as Donald Trump prepares to become the 45th President of the United States. An upheaval in foreign affairs, trade, and immigration policy is in the offing. It’s tempting to focus solely...
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Tags: American Revolution, Articles of Confederation, Federalist, James Madison, Treaty of Paris, Trump, U.S. history
William J. Watkins, Jr. | Wednesday December 14, 2016 at 4:10 PM PST
Thursday, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day, a time when citizens are told to celebrate the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Scholars such as Yale’s Akhil Amar describe the Bill of Rights as “the high temple of our constitutional order—America’s Parthenon.” Most of the public buys into this and believes that the...
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Tags: Alexander Hamilton, Anti-Federalist, Bill of Rights, James Madison, John Hancock, U.S. Constitution
Samuel R. Staley | Monday March 28, 2016 at 7:54 AM PST
The third installment in the Divergent movie franchise, Allegiant, inserted itself into cinematic pop culture with a whimper on its opening weekend, but the movie seems to be completing a unexpectedly weighty arc on the nature of politics. While almost certainly unintentional, the thematic arc is intriguing because it brings to life the warnings...
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Tags: Allegiant, constitutional economics, Divergent, factions, Federalism, Federalist No. 10, James Madison, public choice, Veronica Roth