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It’s a fine idea for unspeakably rich folks to give away some of their swag rather than creating a class of hereditarily unspeakably rich folks. But allowing the unspeakably rich to determine which public purposes will, and won’t, get attention isn’t exactly democratic, is it now?
Archive for August, 2010
August 30th, 2010
Category: Technology and Society
So it appears. The cost of computing will continue to fall by a factor of 1000 every fifteen years. That means everything keeps changing.
August 28th, 2010
Category: Drug Policy
Why won’t the Obama Administration open up scientific research on the medical utility of cannabis?
August 28th, 2010
Category: Crime Control
Formal social control – law enforcement and the criminal justice process – controls crime mostly by leveraging informal social control: individual conscience and local norms. Treating offenders with respect turns out to be more than just good manners.
August 28th, 2010
Category: Public management
If rude clerks at the DMV “undermine democracy,” then aren’t the cable companies an argument for socialism?
August 28th, 2010
The Financial Reform Act surprisingly includes the long-awaited requirement for natural resource companies to publish what they pay to kleptocrats.
August 28th, 2010
Mark and I have a short piece in Newsweek praising an innovative anti-drunk driving program in South Dakota, which has reduced road deaths and may also be reducing the prison population. You can learn more about the program from the National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime; what I want to add here are the [...]