Category Archives: Uncategorized

In 2009, Massachusetts took a national lead in banning gifts of more than $50 to doctors from pharmaceutical and device companies. The idea was that doctors should be making such decisions on the merits, and an increasing array of data suggested that s… Continue reading →

What a sane court would do: pick an issue that it turns out needs re-argument, and carry the case over until the fall, when it can be decided after an election. Continue reading →

I was also asked to address the graduating class at Loyalsock Township High School, in Williamsport, PA — my high school, from which I had graduated 33 years ago. Here’s the speech:
I have three young children — two boys, 8 and 5, and a girl… Continue reading →

Most Americans can surely agree that Congress, as much as possible, should be unconstrained by incentives that compel it to behave differently than would a representative sample of Americans, coming together to try to do what’s best for our country. Continue reading →

What decent citizens and reformers like Howard Schultz need to do is to use their power to get Congress to end its addiction, by pushing for reforms that would make it possible for government to act sanely and independently of special interest funders. Continue reading →

As many of us believe that our nation has come to another moment of crisis in its capacity to govern, some of us believe we must begin to talk through whether fundamental reform through a convention will be required. Continue reading →

H.129 is terrible public policy. The Internet is essential infrastructure for the 21st century, and communities that rely solely upon private companies to provide public infrastructure will always have second-rate service. Continue reading →

Buddy Roemer has announced that he is launching an exploratory committee to consider a run for the presidency. He has also announced a campaign different from the campaign of every other candidate. A president, Roemer says, "must be free to lead": free of commitments to anything save the principles he commits to. So Roemer’s campaign will take no PAC money. It will take no more than $100 in contributions from any individual. And everyone who contributes anything regardless of how small will be disclosed. This should be emulated across the board. Continue reading →

As a "free culture warrior," I was a bit surprised to learn that, according to David Wallace-Wells in The Nation, I was in the business of "exhort[ing others] to piracy." Was I now, and had I always been, a pirate? There’s a fallacy at the core of this argument. Continue reading →

The Tea Party is right to push to abolish earmarks from Congress, and the defenders of the status quo are either deceivers, or just plain dumb. Continue reading →