By William Watkins | Tuesday January 17, 2017 at 11:30 AM PDT | Comments Off on What Trump Can Learn from the Treaty that Created America
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
By William Watkins | Wednesday December 14, 2016 at 4:10 PM PDT | Comments Off on Bill of Rights Day: Opportunities Missed
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
By Sam Staley | Monday March 28, 2016 at 7:54 AM PDT | Comments Off on The Constitutional Economics of the “Divergent” Films
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
