Category: Politics

Concerning the nature of man and the state, and how best the latter can be structured to augment the former.

Mitt Romney’s Back and Forth on Obamacare

Unsurprisingly, the Romney campaign has been to this point vehemently against the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. It came as a bit of a shock then, when Romney had this exchange with Meet the Press‘s David Gregory:

GREGORY:  Well, let me ask you about a couple of specific areas.  On healthcare, you say that you would rescind the president’s healthcare plan on day one.  Does that mean that you’re prepared to say to Americans, young adults and those with pre-existing conditions, that they would no longer be guaranteed healthcare?

MR. ROMNEY:  Well, of course not.  I say we’re going to replace Obamacare.  And I’m replacing it with my own plan.  And, you know, even in Massachusetts where I was governor, our plan there deals with pre-existing conditions and with young people.  Everybody…

GREGORY:  So you’d keep that part of the federal plan?

MR. ROMNEY:  Well, I’m not getting rid of all of healthcare reform.  Of course, there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I’m going to put in place.  One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.  Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their– their family up to whatever age they might like.  I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company.

This has some interesting and contradictory implications, and those implications comprise today’s topic.

Continue reading “Mitt Romney’s Back and Forth on Obamacare” →

Bill Nye the Anti-Creationism Guy

A few days ago, before it went viral, I happened upon this video from Bill Nye (of Bill Nye the Science Guy) commenting on creationism:

 

The video certainly struck me as interesting, but not particularly controversial. Big Think, the YouTube channel that put out the video, frequently posts intellectually engaging videos that encourage viewers to reassess their ideas or consider new ones, and videos like this one are what I’ve come to expect from them as a subscriber. However, a few days later I discovered that it had attained over a million views, and as I check today the count is over three million. I’d like to discuss Nye’s comments and why they seem to have struck a nerve, for good or for bad, with so many people.

Continue reading “Bill Nye the Anti-Creationism Guy” →

Paul Ryan’s Convention Speech Analysed

Paul Ryan’s convention speech went over pretty well on the right in the United States. Jim Geraghty of the National Review had this to say about it:

 This speech, and his warmth and sense of connection when delivering it, almost unnerved me. I started worrying that I was seeing what I wanted to see, that I was hyping a pretty good speech delivered pretty well in my own mind. Except my Twitter feed was exploding. The delegates were going nuts. And it just seemed to be getting better and better as it went on. Conversational, direct, funny, detailed . . . this was Reaganesque, guys. I was a kid when Reagan was president, so I got lulled into a false sense of what American presidents were — I thought they were all that good. This felt like that.

You can read his full post here. Perhaps this was indeed the case for Mr. Geraghty. I myself was struck by the sheer number of untrue, openly fallacious claims in it, and today I would like to highlight them.

Continue reading “Paul Ryan’s Convention Speech Analysed” →