A libertarian view about why voting doesn’t really matter and why there is not point to vote rationally. The book provides and excellent discussion about what the American population thinks to be the truth, compared to the numbers. With the election coming up it was an interesting read, though it may depress you about how intelligent (or not intelligent) Americans are.
An interesting perspective on the largest single factor that changed Israeli foreign policy. A good insight into why the Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Israel act the way they do. Anwar Sadat is a really interesting man. I wish I knew more about him. It’s also too bad he was assassinated.
Mark Lilla’s study of how religion became separated from politics centers around Hobbs, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel. I have never read a more insightful analysis of LEVIATHAN.
“A reorientation would have to take place, turning human attention away from the eternal and transcendent, toward the here and now. The old habit of looking to the divine nexus for political guidance would have to broken, and new habits developed. For Hobbs, the first step toward achieving that end was to get people thinking about-and suspicious about-the sources of faith. If they could start to see ignorance and fear behind most religious beliefs; if they became skeptical of claims of revelation; if they learned to distrust priests and ministers; if they questioned political interpretations of scripture; if they linked religious fervor with political violence-in short, if they began to think of religion as a human phenomenon rather than a divine one, the spell of political theology might be broken. Then, and only then, could sane thinking about political life begin.” (p. 218)
THE STILLBORN GOD is the perfect antidote to the poisons of the Religious Right.
“Power changes people, and it changes nations,” Robert Kagan says in his slim, insightful guide to contemporary politics. In a little more than a 100 pages, Kagan explores the upcoming competition of the U.S. and China (maybe a war), the frustration of radical Islamists to turn back the clock of modernity 1,400 years, and the surety that terrorists will acquire and use nuclear weapons. In a couple of hours, Kagan can reorient your geopolitical vision.
