U.S. media reporting on the Iowa Caucus tell us that the 2016 primary candidates, Republican and Democratic, face voter dissatisfaction with American politics. “Outsiders” like Trump, Carson, and Fiorina, who have no previous political experience, are tapping widespread anger among Republicans and especially conservatives. The performance of governors like Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich […]
TRUMP CARDS
October 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Why Donald Trump leads Republican candidates in spite of breaking all the rules Trump confounds the political experts The conventional wisdom of political columnists up to recently has been that despite strength in the polls, real estate magnate Donald Trump had little likelihood of becoming the Republican nominee, let alone president; e.g. Sarah Fagen […]
Ernest Manheim’s Encounter With Jomo Kenyatta at the London School of Economics
July 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On March 8, 2013 results of the presidential election in Kenya gave Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the famed first President of independent Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, a narrow win (1). Kenyatta was a Kikuyu like his father. The runnerup in this history-evoking and bitterly contested election was Raila Amollo Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, He was the […]
Seymour Martin Lipset and American Exceptionalism
December 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
If everything else about him is forgotten, the noted American sociologist, Seymour Lipset (1922-2006) will surely be remembered for coining the term, “American Exceptionalism” through his 1996 book, American Exceptionalism: A Two-Edged Sword. Before I took up social science as a “second language” at George Mason University, Lipset’s last academic residence, I was a federal […]
The U.S. has entered a 21st Century “Gilded Age”. Can earlier history offer insights on reform?
January 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The “Gilded Age” from 1870 to ~1890 was a time of rampant public and private corruption. Congressional seats could be bought and sold. “Robber Barons” made giant killings through monopolies and manipulation – and brought on devastating panics. The signposts are all around us that ethics in government and society have deteriorated. In recent years record […]
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT REFORM: RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNOR TERRY MCAULIFFE
January 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Mining of a major uranium deposit in Virginia has multiple positive potentials for the state and the nation. But it has little chance for approval under Virginia’s outdated and inadequate natural resource management structures.
A 19th Century French Observer Sheds Light On America’s Unstable Politics
September 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Alexis De Tocqueville arrived in the United States in 1831. The French nobleman, superbly educated and with Enlightenment ideals, came with a companion to study democracy in the young nation. The last major representative system, the Roman Republic, had been overthrown in 27 BC by Julius Caesar, who had himself crowned leader of a Roman Empire […]
A Review of Trade Books That Warned of the 2008 Real Estate and Financial Meltdown
February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
On October 23, 2008 former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, arguably the most respected financial expert in the U.S., testified grim-faced in a Congressional hearing that the banking crash had taken him by surprise: