David

David

David is the father of 8 children. When he's not busy with that full time occupation he works as a technology professional. He enjoys discussing big issues with informed people, cooking, gardening, vexillology (flag design), and tinkering.

Picking Up the Pace

I realized yesterday that I have been losing steam on my review of the Federalist papers partly because the idea of 84 posts is rather daunting. I also realize that I am not obligated to break them up exactly as…

Fortune 535

Check out the Sunlight Foundation’s Fortune 535. It gives numbers of the net worth of each member of Congress based on congressional reporting requirements. Some of the numbers won’t be very surprising, but others will probably make you take a…

Federalist No. 10

A larger republic would be less susceptible to factions and the multi-level structure of government would allow for issues of local concern to be solved at a local level with only "the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national." But the advantage of a larger republic breaks down when large groups of people abandon their own thinking in favor of adopting the thinking of someone else and the advantages of a multi-level governmental structure evaporate when the vast majority of issues are presented as falling into the category of "great and aggregate interests."

Establish Criteria, Not Quotas

My wife was politically low-key when I first met her. I have enjoyed the fact that she has started to become more interested in political issues and principles of good government. This morning at breakfast, without any warning, she asked…

I Finally Dig Digg

When Digg arrived on the web I wrote it off as another Slashdot – nothing wrong with it, but no reason for yet another account to remember. I change my tune today because of the fact that there are no…

Strengthening Families, One Cell Phone at a Time

Laura made an interesting observation today. She suggested that cell phones might actually make for stronger extended families with nearly ubiquitous features such as free nights and weekends and free long distance as well as not quite universal features like…

Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Reports from the CBO that a Universal Health Coverage Bill would be budget neutral are obviously based on the third kind of lie (namely statistics). Could someone please point out to me where this plan gives health care providers an incentive to provide efficient, high-quality care? It seems to me that insuring all our uninsured citizens will never pay for itself in a system that thrives on inefficiency - as the current system does. Adding inefficiency couldn't possibly pay for itself.