Three Good Reads:

First, George Will, Obama in the Wilsonian Tradition.

Wilson was the first president to criticize the Founding Fathers. He faulted them for designing a government too susceptible to factions that impede disinterested experts from getting on with government undistracted. Like Princeton’s former president, Obama’s grievance is with the greatest Princetonian, the “father of the Constitution,” James Madison, class of 1771.

This Instapunk (the newest member of Magna Cum Blogroll) article is related too.  As his name implies, Instapunk is somewhat more blunt when describing Obama’s apparent penchant for heavy handed government, rather than representative democracy.

I wonder what Obama sees when he looks into Putin’s eyes. I’m thinking soulmate. And maybe a touch of envy. Putin gets to kill his political enemies and direct the exculpatory investigations afterwards.

Last, the idiocy of Enhancing Democracy by Limiting Speech:

All this evidence should dispel the fear that future congressional debates will pit the senator from Exxon Mobil against her distinguished colleague from Bank of America. It turns out that where corporate expenditures are allowed, corporations a) don’t do much or b) don’t get much for what they do.

But many people in Washington have no time to waste examining the real world. As soon as the court decision came down in January, ruling that the corporate spending ban violated free-speech rights, they demanded action to undo this unconscionable wrong. * * *

That’s the difference between a corporation and a government. A corporation can spend millions trying to influence your choices. A government, granted sufficient power, can just take them away.

Socio-Political