Beyond Labels

On Monday, April 15 (Patriot’s Day), we’ll discuss how the country, and therefore the demands on Washington legislators, have changed since the “Founding Fathers” drafted the Constitution.

In particular, since the size, scale and scope of the nation have grown, and Federal control of each citizen has also grown, legislators’ (and judges’ and Executive Branch members’) “span of control” has grown dramatically—well beyond what any one person can fathom.

Should this increased complexity be reflected in changes to our constitution and laws? For example:

• As our 535 legislators have become (understandably) reliant on experts (lobbyists) to help them navigate the complexity, how should lobbyist influence be managed? Are current laws adequate? Do we need more control? Or different control mechanisms?
• Recognizing that no legislator will ever become expert in everything under their control, should we accept and recognize that fact by establishing reasonable term limits? What maximum term seems most appropriate? What benefits would there be? What detriments? How might term limits be accomplished?
• In a similar vein, is it time to reconsider the lifetime appointments of Federal judges (and justices)? Net-net, is this unlimited tenure a good or bad thing for the country? Is the fact that it is now “topical” mostly a reaction to President Trump’s appointments, or has increasing desire for judicial term limits been a consistent trend across time?

By the way, here are two “good reads” from the New York Times published over the course of the last week. We’ve touched on these topics many times, and they struck me as being reasonably balanced. Others may (will) disagree:

The Problem With Putting a Price on the End of the World (NYT Magazine, 4/9/19)

Would ‘Medicare for All’ Save Billions or Cost Billions? (NYT 4/10/19)

Following up on our many discussions on climate change (and what to do about it), I thought I’d draw your attention to the attached Op/Ed piece from the New York Times.

Nuclear Power Can Save the World (New York Times Op/Ed)

I agree with them that nuclear power will very likely have a significant role in our electricity generation once we get serious about reducing CO₂ emissions.

Two of the authors recently published a book, “xxx,” with a foreword written by the third. I usually try to assess whether Op/Ed authors are “fringy” or not; here are two reviews of the book.

A Bright Future by Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist (Financial Times–Book Review)

A Sensible Climate Change Solution, Borrowed From Sweden (The New York Times–Book Review)

The New York Times one is overall supportive of the nuclear argument; the Financial Times is a bit more reserved, but appears to agree that increased nuclear-powered electricity production will very likely need to be a part of a future CO₂ energy production mix. But read them yourselves and form your own view.

Topic for April 8, 2019 Criminality or Sickness?

Psychopaths are 8 times more likely to commit and recommit crimes. In a recent book Kent Kiehl discusses the differences in the brains of “normals” vs. psychopaths. The Psychopath Whisperer covers research findings on criminal psychopaths. The good news, 77% of U.S. psychopaths are incarcerated. For the bad news, read Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test, which posits that the “Masters of the Universe” on Wall Street can be diagnosed as psychopaths. [I am told to take Ronson’s book with several grains of salt: it is only book banned by the SSSP psychopathy society.]

For discussion: “Are the hundreds of thousands of criminal psychopaths culpable or sick?” which may segue toward a Tom Cruise “Minority Report” future, and ultimately, what can our health care system do about all of this……