archive

Go back to an old idea

Joel F. Murray (UC-Davis): Death and Taxes: How the Late 20th Century Transformation of American Political Culture Ended a 70-Year Political Consensus on the Estate Tax. A review of Joshua Rubenstein’s Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary’s Life (and more). Nathalie Tocci and Koen Vlassenroot on collapsing "government", emerging "governances". Fire researchers have shattered dozens of arson myths in recent years, yet American courts continue to convict people who are likely innocent of the crime. A review of The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey D. Sachs (and more and more and more and more and more and more and more). Scientists who model ethnic violence find that in Switzerland, separation is key to peace. An interview with Diana Lobel, author of The Quest for God and the Good: World Philosophy as a Living Experience. As the "Arab Spring" turns to fall and New York's "Occupy Wall Street" protest continues to draw international headlines, a new model of social and political protest has emerged. Alex Klein on the well-intentioned lie that led to Occupy Wall Street’s downfall. From Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas, an interview with Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War (and more). On billionaires, secretaries and taxes: The better way to reform the tax code, and make it a bit more progressive, is to go back to an old idea — a progressive consumption tax.