Imperial Exceptionalism

Theodore Roosevelt, center, during construction of the Panama Canal, 1906 It is hard to give up something you claim you never had. That is the difficulty Americans face with respect to their country’s empire. Since the era of Theodore Roosevelt, politicians, journalists, and even some historians have deployed euphemisms—“expansionism,” “the large policy,” “internationalism,” “global leadership”—to disguise America’s imperial ambitions. According

By |January 29th, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: |Comments Off on Imperial Exceptionalism

Frontiers 134: Mike Gravel, A Political Paradox

Steven Spielberg's recently released film “The Post” has generated a lot of interest in the Pentagon Papers and Mike Gravel, who wasn’t in the movie but played a role in making the top-secret government documents public. Alaskans elected Gravel to the U.S. Senate in 1968, almost a half-century ago.  He now lives in California and will turn 88 in May. 

By |February 7th, 2018|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , |Comments Off on Frontiers 134: Mike Gravel, A Political Paradox

Senator who released Pentagon Papers: Republicans are ‘cowards’ if they don’t release FISA memo

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, the lawmaker who entered the infamous Pentagon Papers into the public record, said lawmakers are cowards if they don't release a memo prepared by House Republicans supposedly detailing surveillance abuses by the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)   The former Democratic senator who entered the classified “Pentagon Papers” into the Congressional Record, making

By |January 31st, 2018|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: |Comments Off on Senator who released Pentagon Papers: Republicans are ‘cowards’ if they don’t release FISA memo

China Builds Bridges and Highways While the U.S. Mouths Slogans

The Marshall Plan birthed a U.S.-led global order—now China is building a new world China is trying to build excitement around Xi Jinping's "One Belt, One Road" plan to expand trade with roads, railways and ports. Art installations like "Golden Bridge on Silk Road" and themed commercial products are supporting the campaign. Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters (Originally published May 12, 2017)

By |January 31st, 2018|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: |Comments Off on China Builds Bridges and Highways While the U.S. Mouths Slogans

What We Don’t Talk about When We Talk about Russian Hacking

Jackson Lears American politics have rarely presented a more disheartening spectacle. The repellent and dangerous antics of Donald Trump are troubling enough, but so is the Democratic Party leadership’s failure to take in the significance of the 2016 election campaign. Bernie Sanders’s challenge to Hillary Clinton, combined with Trump’s triumph, revealed the breadth of popular anger at politics as usual

By |December 30th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off on What We Don’t Talk about When We Talk about Russian Hacking

Is Direct Democracy Better Able to Withstand the Influence of Special Interests?

A new Stigler Center working paper looks into the effects of referendums and public initiatives on public policy and finds that direct democracy better represents the will of the majority, and therefore might also be better able to counteract the power of special interests over policymaking. The rise of anti-establishment populist movements in the U.S. and Europe is one of

By |June 2nd, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off on Is Direct Democracy Better Able to Withstand the Influence of Special Interests?

The Left/Right Challenge to the Failed “War on Drugs”

More and more conservatives and liberals, from the halls of Congress to people in communities across the country, are agreeing that the so-called "war on drugs" needs serious rethinking. First, we should define our terms. The "war on drugs" that was started by Richard Nixon in 1971 and persists to this day, refers to illegal "street drugs" -- cocaine, heroin,

By |May 26th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: |Comments Off on The Left/Right Challenge to the Failed “War on Drugs”
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