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Trumpism & the eclipse of Constitutional conservatism

Today, the shuttering of the Constitutional limited-government conservative movement was completed. It only remains to be seen if this is a passing fad or a lasting change. The Republican party has officially switched from crony-capitalist, neo-con war mongering to European far-right style agrarian, isolationist, nativist, protectionist populism, à la Trump. The Trump phenomenon has at least one positive outcome. All the unprincipled impostors and charlatans on the right have revealed themselves. This is a good thing. This is cathartic. THE BLACKLIST Politicians who have endorsed Trump include : Chris Christie Sarah Palin Ben Carson Mike Huckabee Bobby Jindal Jeff Sessions Rick Scott Jan Brewer Rick Perry Aside from these, here are the other prominent Trump apologists, sympathizers and endorsers in the media & politics : Michael Savage Ann Coulter Sean Hannity Bill O’Reilly Laura Ingraham Fox News The Drudge Report Breitbart Rush Limbaugh Jerry Falwe

Prohibition of envy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

" One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others. " (attributed variously to Robert Heinlein & Archibald Rutledge). The idea of envy (or, covetousness) is an important subject in the Abrahamic faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The prohibition against covetousness rounds out the Mosaic moral code, codified as the 10th and final commandment in the Ten Commandments -- the injunction against coveting one's neighbor's property. The rationale behind this is the acknowledgement that all blessings arise from God's sovereign providence and it is not for his creation to question whom and how and when he chooses to bless. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines covetousness as : 1. " feeling or showing a very strong desire for something that you do not have and especially for something that belongs to someone else ", or 2. " marked by inordinate desire for we

Technology companies ranked by revenue per capita

As of April 19, 2016, we have the following ranking of some prominent technology companies, in order of revenue per employee: Company Revenue Per Employee Apple $2M Netflix $1.9M Facebook $1.37M Alphabet $1.2M Microsoft $0.79M Qualcomm $0.76M Cisco $0.68M PayPal $0.58M Intel $0.51M Juniper Networks $0.48M NetApp $0.48M EMC $0.48M Yahoo $0.47M Amazon $0.46M Adobe $0.38M Salesforce $0.35M VMWare $0.33M LinkedIn $0.32M Citrix $0.31M SAP $0.31M Oracle $0.28M eBay $0.24M IBM $0.21M It is interesting to note that these numbers are far exceeded by pharmaceuticals (e.g. Gilead, $3.2 M) and simply dwarfed by energy companies (e.g. Valero, $13 M and Philips $10 M).

My politico-philosophical and ideological progression (from 2004 - present)

Notes 1. circa 2012 : some sections of the Tea Party gradually shifted focus to and became more vocal about populist nationalism -- i.e., militaristic posturing & economic protectionism. I do not associate myself with these ideas. However, I continue to retain immense gratitude for the original movement and its current champions, Ted Cruz, Justin Amash etc., as profoundly influential in my political maturation. 2. While I am a libertarian, my Patriot and social-conservative ideological roots are influential in the following manner: (A) I am still Patriotic to the American idea (Jefferson, Madison, anti-Hamilton) and the Constitution -- not to the corrupt crony-capitalist, welfare-warfare-statist federal government that has co-opted the media and academia, and (B) I am socially conservative personally, but not polit

A negotiated platform between conservatives and progressives, based on libertarian principles?

Can conservatives and progressives agree on a negotiated platform based on a common commitment to some libertarian ideas? An attempt follows, in which I first identify the common core and then discuss the contentious issues and how we may negotiate toward a compromise. I. Common Ground -- The Core On all these issues, left-leaning and right-leaning libertarians have policy proposals that are the same or similar enough and may be palatable to both wings. Criminal Justice Reform decriminalize all drugs (including recreational) decriminalize prostitution decriminalize gambling reprieve all prisoners currently in for the above crimes Economic Policy NO to Corporatism, Cronyism, Corporate Subsidies, special interest kickbacks, pork, etc. -- the federal budget will not be used to subsidize any particular corporation or industry (aerospace, defense, ethanol, sugar, solar, wind, etc.) no bailouts for banks or corporations -- no more too big to fail audit the Fed reduce bu

A liberty and free-market economics curriculum

#liberty #libertarianism #laissezfaire #freemarketeconomics #commonlaw #austrianeconomics

Diversity in politics

There are so many strains of thought and ideology in secular democracies around the world, exemplified, perhaps best, in contemporary American political life. Some of these strains of thought are compatible with others and may even be subsets of others. Many of them are violently opposed to others. In the American context, we see, at least, the following :  environmentalism cultural progressivism economic socialism progressive-lite Keynesian welfare + neocon warfare hawks = the establishment / moderates / centrists civil libertarianism non-interventionism social conservatism Constitutional conservatism free-market libertarianism populism, protectionism & nativism, anti-progressivism, anti-establishment A neat left-right divide no longer makes sense. Most people find themselves on a spectrum between very different political philosophies and emphases. The two major political parties represent uneasy marriages that exist because for historical reasons or current