Millions of people find cycling to be a pleasurable activity, and some even find it a useful supplement to (or even replacement for) a car. Still, it’s easy to overstate cycling’s value as transportation tool–call it biking zealotry for the moment–and people who point out that fact do a great public service. On the other hand, the essay “Four wheels good, two wheels bad” is an […]
John LaPlante
About John LaPlante
Posts by John LaPlante:
The legacy of past government action: The UMore Park
Milton Friedman is said to have quipped, “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” There’s plenty of empirical evidence for that statement, some of which is actually set in concrete, in the form of ruins on a parcel of land in the southeast corner of Minnesota’s Twin Cities metro area. If you drive in the Dakota County city of Rosemount, you’ll see abandoned […]
Life imitates political science books
Before The Clash of Civilizations, Harvard professor Samuel Huntington gained fame (or in some cases, notoriety) with his book Political Order and Changing Societies, which was first published in 1968. There’s one passage that has stuck with me ever since I read it years ago: When an organization confronts a changing environment, it must, it is to survive, weaken its commitment to its original functions. […]
Mayor Chills Speech
Mike Maguire, the mayor of Eagan, Minnesota, doesn’t like to see political yard signs this time of year, so he’s suggesting that candidates, in the words of ThisWeek newspapers, “join him in signing a pledge to delay putting up yard signs until closer to the election.” #Civics Fail Sorry, mayor, but democracy is indeed cluttered and filled with political noise, as you suggest. Then again, that’s […]
ObamaCare Threatens Federalism
It may be time to change what they teach in political science 101 and in school civics classes. You see, an elementary distinction between the U.S. and most European democracies is that the other countries have a much more centralized government. Regional and local governments, such as they are, exist to carry out the rules of the capitol. It’s called a unitary system of government. […]
Coffee at the public library
The Star-Tribune reports on one of the latest “new” developments in the Dakota County (Minnesota) library system: A space set aside for a coffee shop at the Eagan library has remained unused, 18 months after a major remodeling project of the building. There are several problems with the cafe proposal. Is the sound of coffee grinders compatible with the quiet tones of a library? Can […]
Good things CAN happen on Monday
As widely expected, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a monumental ruling this morning. As the Washington Post put it, “The Supreme Court ruled for the first time Monday that the Second Amendment provides all Americans a fundamental right to bear arms, a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates who have chafed at federal, state and local efforts to restrict gun ownership.” There’s plenty of murkiness […]
Is “conservative art” an oxymoron?
John J. Miller, the National Review editor who brought us a list of top conservative rock songs, is at it again, with a list of 10 top conservative novels. You can find the list here, and many more suggestions, from readers of his personal website, here. I’m surprised there aren’t any Russian novels on his list.
Social engineering at school
The experts are moving in on a longstanding childhood tradition: the best friend. From the New York Times: “increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend?” Why? For one thing, it sometimes makes the job of school principals more difficult. Great. Rearranging childhood for the convenience of […]
The Overton Window
The “Overton Window” has a lot of notice these days. John Miller provides some information about it here. I was privileged to have met Joe Overton on at least one occasion. The “Window” is a fine piece of analysis that would fit into any political science or sociology class dealing with changes in the public discourse concerning politics.