American Regional English: Vestiges of an Empire

In 2012, a mere fifty years after the project had begun, the fifth volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) was finally done. Sadly, the project’s director, Frederic Cassidy, had died in 2000 at the ripe old age 90. “On to Z” had been his typical way of ending phone conversations. Visiting the dictionary’s offices some years ago—ironically to use their French dictionary—I had no idea of the size of the project. Instead, I engaged a few of the staff on my thesis that regional “Englishes” in the U.S. are only natural, given the empire-scale of the republic of republics. In fact, I would argue that it is unnatural that there are not more linguistic differences from Maine across the continent and up to Alaska and over to Hawaii.

The full essay is at Essays on Two Federal Empires.

Germany’s Wulff Toppled While Wisconsin’s Walker Fights On

At the beginning of 2012, Wisconsin and Germany were both suffering from the plight of compromised figureheads. In the case of Wisconsin, the figurehead is also the chief executive, whereas in Germany they are distinct offices, so the situation in Wisconsin was more intractable. Germany’s figurehead office has much less political power, so any occupant is more dependent on maintaining credibility and stature.

The full essay is at "Germany's Wulff and Wisconsin's Walker."

E.U. Presses Italy to Tax Church Businesses

One of the chief benefits of federalism is the ability of one system of government to check another within the overall federal system. In the European Union, the state governments have so much power at the federal level—in the E.U. institutions—that it is difficult for the E.U. Government to check excesses and abuses in the state governments. E.U. law, regulation and directives rely on the state governments, albeit to varying extents. In the United States, the case is the reverse. The U.S. Government holds so many of the cards that the state governments cannot act to check abuses in the federal government. Actually, for all of the power that the U.S. Government has amassed, it does a horrible job in aiding citizens against abuses in their own state governments. Fortunately, we can look to Europe for a bright spot: the E.U. Commission and Italy, á grace de Mario Monti who is both governor of the state of Italy and a former commissioner in the E.U. Commission (the E.U.’s executive branch).

The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.

Sarkozy’s Electoral Campaign in the E.U.: Not for the U.S. Presidency

On February 15, 2012, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy formally announced his intent to file as a candidate for the office in what would be his second term. The announcement took place just over two months from the election (April22nd). If no candidate wins an absolute majority, the two top candidates would be on the ballot in a runoff held on May 6, 2012.[1] The European sense of a decent length for a campaign “season” could be taken to heart by Americans.

The full essay is at "Sarkozy's Electoral Campaign."

1. Gabriele Parussini and David Gauthier-Villars, “Sarkozy Launches His Bid for New Term,” The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2012. 

Gay Marriage in New Jersey

Just after New Jersey’s legislature passed a law legalizing gay marriage, Gov. Chris Christie followed through on his promise to reject the bill by quickly vetoing it and renewing his call for a ballot question to decide the issue. In returning the bill to the Legislature, Christie reaffirmed his view that voters should decide whether to change the definition of marriage in New Jersey. "I am adhering to what I've said since this bill was first introduced – an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide," Christie said in a statement; "I continue to encourage the Legislature to trust the people of New Jersey and seek their input by allowing our citizens to vote on a question that represents a profoundly significant societal change. This is the only path to amend our State Constitution and the best way to resolve the issue of same-sex marriage in our state.”[1] Why stop at issues requiring a constitutional amendment? Although technical legislation requires representatives to wade through and discern specific ramifications pro and con, broad policy questions could also be subject to binding referendums. That is to say, representatives could be seen as doing only what the electorate cannot viably do.

The full essay is at "Gay Marriage in New Jersey."

1. Angela Santi, “New Jersey Gay Marriage Bill Vetoed By Chris Christie,” The Huffington Post, February 17, 2012. 

Democracy and State Governments at the E.U. Level

In mid-February 2012, Mario Monti of the E.U. state of Italy addressed the European Parliament. In his speech, he advocated increasing the legislative body's power. The Parliament's 754 representatives represent E.U. citizens just as the members of House of Representatives represent U.S. citizens. The representatives in both of the legislative chambers are democratically elected to represent the people in local or regional districts rather than states more generally. The chambers are “national” in that they bypass the state governments. The latter are represented in the European Council of Ministers and in the U.S. Senate, both of which are legislative in nature and thus can be stylized as the “upper chamber” in federal lawmaking.

The complete essay is at Essays on Two Federal Empires.

Sanctity of Contract Breached on Mortgages

An audit in 2012 by San Francisco county officials of about 400 foreclosures “determined that almost all involved either legal violations or suspicious documentation. . . .  The improprieties range from the basic — a failure to warn borrowers that they were in default on their loans as required by law — to the arcane. For example, transfers of many loans in the foreclosure files were made by entities that had no right to assign them and institutions took back properties in auctions even though they had not proved ownership. . . . About 84 percent of the files contained what appear to be clear violations of law, it said, and fully two-thirds had at least four violations or irregularities.”[1] The problem seems to be systemic, suggesting that judges should be able to modify mortgages on the basis of nullified contract.

The full essay is in Cases of Unethical Business, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.com.  

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1. Gretchen Morgenson, “Audit Uncovers Extensive Flaws in Foreclosures,” The New York Times, February 16, 2012.

The Profitable Aristocracy: On the Conditionality of the Managerial Elite

Downton Abbey, a television series that began in 2011 on PBS’s Masterpiece Classics, depicts through narrative life in a British manor beginning with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. For European viewers and more generally for the rest of us, the program proffers a glimpse of the world a century back. The advent of the telephone and phonograph seem to pierce through the manor’s socio-economic hierarchy that had undoubtedly been in place for centuries. It is the sheer social distance between the servants, almost regardless of their particular rank within their hierarchy, and the nobility in the house that is so striking to me. Moreover, the “Your Lordship” and “Your Ladyship” are not contingent on the manor’s owner employing or even paying the servants.

The full essay is at "The Profitable Aristocracy."

Russian Private Property: Based on Fairness or Legality?

In a move to shore up popular support before the presidential election in 2012, Vladimir Putin called for a windfall levy on the dishonest privatisations of the 1990s. “We need to close the problems of the 1990s, of what, speaking honestly, was dishonest privatisation,” he told tycoons meeting at a congress of Russia’s big business lobby. He went on to say, “We need to establish the social legitimacy of private property itself and social confidence in business.”[1] The implication is that just acquisition is requisite to private property being recognized as legitimate, societally.

The full essay is at "Russian Private Property."

1. Catherine Belton, “Putin Calls ForWindfall Levy on “Dishonest” Privatisations,” Financial Times, February 10, 2012. 

Distinguishing Entitlements from the Safety Net

In 2012, Congress lost sight of the fundamental purpose of a safety net, extending it beyond the difference between life and death. By zeroing in on the purpose of a safety net, Congress can both save money and better provide for the survival of those who are not providing it for themselves. Of such people, where survival itself is at stake, questions of being deserving pale in comparison to society’s obligation to fend off starvation, sickness and homelessness. Ironically, by extending the safety net beyond survival, Congress has undercut its role in providing for its citizens’ survival.

The full essay is at "Distringuishing Entitlements."

Obama’s Educational Waivers: Toward the Political Consolidation of an Empire

A decade after the No Child Left Behind federal law was enacted, “President Obama freed 10 states from some of its crucial provisions.”[1] The states’ freedom from a deadline for bringing all students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014 came with strings—accepting Obama’s own educational agenda, which focuses on accountability and teacher effectiveness and includes higher standards than the ones set in NCLB. Many state education officials have criticized the 2014 deadline as “an impossibly high bar” that “did not take into account the needs of some of the most disadvantaged children.” In announcing the waivers from the deadline, Obama said that the goals of NCLB should be met “in a way that doesn’t force teachers to teach to the test, or encourage schools to lower their standards to avoid being labeled as failures.”[2] However, if the standards are to be even higher, might even fewer schools wind up passing—even if the deadline is extended?

The full essay is at "Obama's Educational Waivers."

1. Winnie Hu, “10 States Are Given Waivers from Education Law,” The New York Times, February 10, 2012. 
2. Ibid.
3. Personal Correspondance.

Conflicts of Interest and Paradigm-Shifts: The Case of Financial Regulation

It is perhaps all too easy to perceive a sea-change in perception when the reality of societal change is much more gradual. There is something to the argument that John D. Rockefeller’s reputation was salvaged in the 1930s not because the old man was passing out dimes, but, rather, simply because he had outlived his critics. Similarly, Thomas Kuhn, in his text on paradigm changes in scientific revolutions, bemoans that the advocates of a default theory must finally die off before their darling can finally be replaced by a new one. In other words, any given person is not apt to shift paradigms. The culprit, I suspect, is pride, which Augustine suggests in his writings is inherently self-idolatrous. I believe the human brain is capable of accepting inter-paradigmatic change, just as a person can be humble. That this is not the norm does not mean that we ought not raise our expectations to it.

The full essay is at Institutional Conflicts of Interest, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.

Leadership Vision at Facebook

On Charlie Rose, a television show, in early 2012, a former CEO of Coke told Charlie that companies view corporate social responsibility as lying within the domain of strategy. Specifically, it is in a company’s strategic interest that its sources of raw materials do not “dry up.” A corporation’s societal responsibility dovetails with its interest that the corporation’s own “footprint” (a.k.a. “Big Foot”) not put the company’s own survival at risk. One could say a company is “responsible” (as if it were felt as a duty rather than simply self-interest) for safeguarding those things on which it depends. In other words, it goes out from its immediate interest in securing supplies to assume a “societal” role in protecting the sources themselves, as if acting as a good citizen. The motive is more like stewardship—the objective being maintaining an ability to extract the material in the long term. Profit, in other words, is foremost, and any word of duty is mere marketing. This does not mean that leadership vision beyond profits as an end is a façade.

The full essay is at "Taking the Face Off Facebook."

Refusing for Its Own Sake: Israel on the Palestinian Unity Government

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority reached a deal for a unity government with Hamas on February 6, 2012—which was also the sixtieth anniversary of the Accession Day of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that a unity government with Hamas would rule out any chance of making peace with Israel. Meanwhile, the E.U. and U.S., as well as the state of Israel, had conditioned recognition and aid to Hamas on that party renouncing violence, recognizing Israel, and agreeing to previous agreements reached between the P.L.O. and Israel. In short, for all that achieving a unity government requires in terms of hard decisions and effort, the accomplishment was not exactly valued by Israel and the West. Aside from the baleful consequences in refusing to recognize something of value out of stubbornness and inflexibility, Israel and the West may have been hurting themselves by ruling out a chance for peace at the outset.

The full essay is at "Refusing for Its Own Sake."

Windfall Oil Profits

Conoco Phillips reported a 66% increase in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011, “attributed to high crude prices and asset sales.”[1] With the prices of most crudes above $100 a barrel, the company gained a windfall that vastly made up for a drop of nearly 3% in its refining and marketing business. Chevron, on the other hand, reported a 3.2% decline in fourth-quarter earnings due to “poor refining results” that “overwhelmed higher revenue from oil sales.”[2]

The full essay is at "Windfall Profits."

1. Clifford Krauss, “Higher Oil PricesRaise Earnings at Exxon Mobil,” The New York Times, February 1, 2012. 

2. Ibid.