Dec 25, 2018Constitutionalism--Of its Virtues and VicesLike all human artifacts, constitutions reflect the limits of the human mind, limits of foresight and of moral judgment.
Dec 12, 2018Institutions + TheoryWhat we should really want is both institutions and theory--not only pure economic theory informed by the existence of specific institutions
Oct 15, 2018Read Old BooksWriters of old made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and
Feb 27, 2018Mental Models of RealityThey, like the rules they enjoin, are invested with considerable emotional meaning and therefore are believed for intrinsic reasons and not
Jan 26, 2018Nation, State, and DemocracyThe society and, in a sense, the nation preceded the state without having to be created by it. In such a setting, political parties represen
Nov 18, 2017Two Fallible Heads are Better Than OnePeople were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the
Nov 11, 2017The "We"We can see a crowd... Whether [it] is a mere gathering or a mass or an organized body or any other kind of social entity is a question which
Nov 10, 2017What's a government to do?...in consequence of this absence of rule or principle, one side is at present as often wrong as the other; the interference of government i
Nov 9, 2017Race Relations in the Twitter AgeSuch transformation will call for social surgery at once the delicatest and nicest in human history. It will demand broad-minded and upright
Nov 7, 2017Power: ComplicatedThe blame for society’s corruptions cannot be laid uncomplicatedly on power, since the exercise of power is always determined by the possibi