Reading Magna Carta is quite interesting. Most people, like me, think it is about freedom as such, but in the end it is a business contract. And war was necessary to have it written. “Neither we nor our officials will… Read More »Magna Carta, 1215 – The National Archives
Profesional military has its downsides. “an overweening executive that now most endangers the bargain, threatening to break the American civil-military bargain by dragging the military into politics. Remember, the civil-military bargain is not merely a pact of submission by the… Read More »Collections: The American Civil-Military Relationship
Interesting way to look at your life economic standing. “I have never once considered myself part of the working class.Why not? Because I have never thought of class as being defined by a present snapshot of someone’s lifestyle or material… Read More »I have never been working class
We are not in a normal society in terms of history. “We are often so used to liberal societies – or illiberal ones that use liberalism’s language as a mask – that we miss the radicalism of that vision. As… Read More »Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism
There is login in the madness. “Once balancing fails, everyone’s interests suddenly recalculate in a diametrically opposed way. So long as balancing was possible, it was in most state’s interests to oppose the leading power in an effort to contain… Read More »Collections: The Status Quo Coalition
Adverbs matter. “‘great’ is not the superlative of ‘good’ (that, as a reminder, is ‘best’); I am not asking if the United States has had a positive impact on the world here (once again a deeply subjective question). Instead ‘greatness’… Read More »Collections: Is the United States Exceptional?
Definitions matter. Especially if people want to misuse terms for shady purposes. “by the narrow, technical definition, the United States is not, and has never been, a nation and is unlikely to become one in the near future.” https://acoup.blog/2021/07/02/collections-my-country-isnt-a-nation/
Statistics and stuff. “The first written mention of a controlled trial can be found as early as the 7th century BC in the Book of Daniel 1:11-16. The eponymous prophet asks the steward of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, for… Read More »In Praise of Observational Evidence
Hard topic for me. “what passes for early-career innovation is often a rediscovery of existing techniques, principles, and observations, that when presented as novel insights is read by the rest of the room as inexperience and chutzpah. (That’s been me,… Read More »Good Careers at Bad Companies
Only Carthage really threatened Rome. “Carthage spends a combined forty-years at war with Rome in the third century, peaking at more than 160,000 men in the field, matching Rome on land and at sea, matching the Roman capability of fighting… Read More »Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part V: How a Carthaginian Army Fights