Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man

—Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

Supermajority requirements in the Senate and state legislatures are crippling U.S. public policy. Time to limit minority veto power:

• Los Angeles Times, December 2012: Mr. Smith wants his filibuster back

Race: the legacy of slavery continues to haunt the present:

• Fort Myers News-Press (Florida), 16 March 2006: Contrary to a widely-held belief, Robert E. Lee described “the painful discipline" of slavery as necessary for Africans’ “instruction as a race,” and did not free his slaves — Lee held similar views about Mexicans and Asians: Lee County needs to re-examine link to Confederate general
• Pacific News Service, 23 January 2003: The assault on affirmative action: Bush’s Snake Dance on Race

Electoral reform needed to get rid of gerrymandered congressional districts, guarantee all citizens effective representation, and ensure fair and color-blind representation of minorities:

• Los Angeles Times, July 2003: European electoral systems, with ‘31 flavors,’ offer citizens better representation: ‘Baskin-Robbins’ Voting
• Christian Science Monitor, May 2003: Beyond gerrymandering and Texas posses: US electoral reform
• Christian Science Monitor, August 1995: Let’s Dump Single-Member Electoral Districts: Proportional representation would ensure minorities a place in legislatures
• Los Angeles Times, July 1994: Making Every Vote Really Count: "Winner take all” isn’t fair—a proportional system would offer minority voices a chance for representation

US Latin America policies under George W. Bush lead to increasing isolation, “anti-Americanism”:

• Globe and Mail, 25 March 2003: Though France took the heat for its promised veto of the U.S. war resolution on Iraq, in fact Latin America was the resolution’s defeater: Why Washington is isolated in its own back yard
• Newsday, 27 February 2003: U.S. Policies Fuel Latin America’s Problems

The terrorist challenge:

• Sacramento Bee, 18 August 2002: Collective punishment is not only unjust but counterproductive: Sanctions punish and inflame the innocent
• Pacific News Service, 3 October 2001: From a European perspective, the US is in some ways disturbingly similar to its fundamentalist adversaries: Quid Pro Quo - Europe Needs U.S. to Recognize EU Power

Political trends: independents gain strength as two-party system weakens and the US polarizes:

• Globe and Mail, 29 May 2001: The defection of Senator James Jeffords of Vermont was about a lot more than control of the US Senate: Get ready for a third U.S. party

Presidential election 2000:

• Miami Herald, December 2000: Other countries do a better job: The most glaring defect is partisanship in counting ballots
• Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 2000: Statewide recount is best resolution of flawed Florida vote count

The political implications of economic integration:

• New York Times Book Review, 8 July 2001: The Merger: A journalist explores the marriage of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico
• Pacific News Service, 23 April 2001: U.S. Free Trade Policy Not as Free as it Appears
• Journal of Commerce, 6 December 1999: The Seattle protests—the real issue is democracy, not trade: World Trade Organization not responsive to the public
• Journal of Commerce, 20 November 1997: Trade and the Return of Robber Barons
• Wall Street Journal, March 1993: No Rule of Law, No Free Trade
• World Policy Journal, Summer 1992: The United States and the New World Order: Bolstering Democracy in the Americas
• Ottawa Citizen, September 1992: North American Free Trade: Trading away democracy? The new deal highlights the need for a continental parliament
• Opening statement before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at its hearing on “The Likely Impacts of Passage or Defeat of NAFTA”, 4 November 1993: Why Democracy Must Accompany Free Trade

Popular culture:

• Newsday, July 1999: JFK Jr.: Kennedy—A Victim of Camelot Culture
• Pacific News Service, May 1999: High school shootings: What role does the “jock” culture of conformity play in high school violence?
• Chicago Tribune, January 1999: The millennium: Can’t Anyone Count Anymore?

With safeguards, the property tax is often the fairest tax available to local government:

• Los Angeles Times, April 1998: The City That Staged a Rebellion and Embraced Property Taxes
• St Petersburg Times, October 1997: As property taxes roll back, other taxes rise

Misinterpreting the Second and Tenth Amendments:

• Origin of the Second Amendment
• The meaning of the Second Amendment, according to the US Supreme Court: United States v. Miller (1939)
• Houston Chronicle, July 1995: States, not extremists, have militia-forming role

How U.S. foreign policy can undermine human rights abroad:

• Fresno Bee, November 1997: Death squads lure U.S. support in Colombia
• Christianity & Crisis, 30 April 1984: Grenada as looking glass: Playing the “Russian game” in the Americas

The costs of not observing democracy and human rights abroad:

• Worldbusiness, Nov/Dec 1995: Political risk in emerging markets

Immigration and democracy:

• Pacific News Service, May 2002: Can Europe keep its Western values with unassimilated immigrants?
• San Francisco Chronicle, 1994: Summit of the Americas Shouldn’t Ignore Immigration

Drugs and public policy:

• Journal of Commerce, March 2000: “War on Drugs” a game of illusion and pretense on both sides
• William F Buckey Jr et al, National Review February 1996: The War On Drugs Is Lost
• Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 1997: Narcotics and narcodollars—reciprocal addictions: Drug money runs Latin economy

Holding to populist principles can win elections, even against the tide:

•  Journal of Commerce, November 1994: How Did Bernie Sanders Win?

When is civil disobedience justified?:

• Howard Zinn: Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order
• 19th Century state personal liberty laws supported slaves, in open defiance of the federal Fugitive Slave Act

The politics of human rights:

• Early ban on slavery: Vermont Constitution (1777)
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton on women’s rights: Declaration of Sentiments, 1848.
• Abraham Lincoln on Jefferson, human rights, and property rights, 6 April 1859: Letter to Henry L. Pierce
• 19th century radical anti-slavery U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, 1811-1874.

On the meaning of freedom:

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859.
• International Interactions, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, 1981: Foreign Relations as Extensions of Inner Relations: The Semantics and Ambiguities of American Freedom

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