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Thanksgiving and Federalist Paper No. 3

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The following is a summary of Federalist Paper No. 3, which was authored by John Jay. The third Federalist Paper hopes that a union of the states would be more peaceful than a group of states, and notes that, at least at the time of publication in 1787, that conflict with the American Indian tribes was between states which were unable or unwilling to to prevent violence by European settlers, and not American Indian tribes and the United States government. The essay identifies two common causes of conflict between two nations, with the two causes being the breaking of a treaty and direct violence. Jay states, “The number of wars which have happened and will happen in the world will always be found to be in proportion to the number and weight of the causes, whether real or pretended , which provoke and invite them.” If there is a cause for war, a strong union of states, “will also be more in their power to accommodate and cool, in that respect, as well as in others, will be more in ...
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A Warning About Anarchocapitalism

Anarchocapitalist or right-libertarian writing sometimes seems to wrongly imply that for-profit corporations are more peaceful or less violent than governments. Anarchocapitalism is rule of a for-profit corporation. A government is considered strong if it has a monopoly on the use of force within its boundaries. Since strong governments have a monopoly on the use of force, corporations may seem less violent. However, some corporations profit from violence, and at times, for-profit organizations engage in violence. For example, for-profit corporations traded slaves, or profit from war. If government was a business, then proposed decreases in funding to Medicaid represent savings, and therefore increased money or profit. However, if people who rely Medicaid do not have another way to have healthcare, the quality of people’s health may decrease, and mortality may increase. Since the purpose of a for-profit corporation is to generate money, especially for shareholders, if the corporation...
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Law Firms' Settlement with Trump

            The New York Times reported that law firms agreed to give President Trump’s administration $600,000,000 in legal services. According to Google, the law firms can charge $800-$2000 per hour, say $1000 per hour, and also according to Google, the total number of lawyers employed by the law firms is probably between 10,000 to 20,000 lawyers. $600,000,000/$1000 = 600,000 of lawyer work hours. If the law firms employ 10,000-20,000 total lawyers, then that’s an average of about 30-60 hours, or about a week to a week and a half, of free work per lawyer.          The work that these lawyers complete for President Trump could allow him to target other people more easily, or some lawyers could target other people on President Trump's behalf.
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Independent Agencies and the Constitution

            According to the book about Constitutional law of which I read parts of tonight, the three branches of government have different roles and responsibilities. The legislative branch creates laws, the executive branch enforces them, and the judicial branch decides individual cases and interprets law. Three reasons are provided that President Trump’s executive order from the date of February 18 th , 2025, regarding independent agencies is risky. President Trump suggests moving independent agencies to the executive branch because of lack of accountability. Since the agencies were created by the legislative branch, they may be accountable to the legislative branch. The order seems to imply that the independent agencies would have more legitimacy if they were a part of the executive branch because of the election of the President, however, the officials in the legislative branch who created the agencies also won elections, which is also a source of leg...
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Authoritarianism and Wealth Inequality in the United States

             President Trump, with collaborators in the Republican Party, on the Supreme Court, and support from business, wants to prevent changes that would improve democracy and capitalism in the United States. In their efforts to prevent these changes, they have decided to make everything worse, so that any improvement is only to a return to a previous status quo, and not a genuine improvement. From my understanding, the actions of Trump and Republican Party are only another step in an effort that has continued for decades to undermine civil rights, women’s reproductive healthcare, and worker’s rights, among others. Decisions from the Supreme Court have undermined voting rights, decreased women’s reproductive healthcare, increased the influence of wealthy donors in politics, and given the President legal immunity. Income and wealth disparity continues to grow.             If wealth accumulati...
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Best Books that I Read in 2024

Best Books that I Read in 2024               After reading parts of, “Why Nations Fail,” by Robinson and Acemgolu, and “The Politics of Place,” which is a description of Montesquieu’s writing by Baudoch, I have two concerns. “Why Nations Fail,” describes how extractive or exclusive political and economic systems slow innovation as current systems do not benefit from new technology, but the new technology could lead to more inclusive political or economic systems. “The Politics of Place,” describes that societies often promote security, liberty, and prosperity. After reading parts of these two books, societies must determine security, liberty, and prosperity, but for whom and when? Security, liberty, and prosperity immediately, but for people who are already safe, already well-educated, already free, and already prosperous? Books with parts that I enjoyed: Why Nations Fail by Robinson and Acemoglu The Politics of Place...
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Globalization, Protectionism, in Fight for Liberty

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            I was reading Fight for Liberty, which is a collection of essays that attempts to defend democracy and human rights, sometimes from a neoliberal perspective. I briefly read an excerpt where one of the essays defends globalization. Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of trade across the historical borders of nations, and globalization contrasts with protectionism. Protectionism is the preservation of business interests by using barriers to slow trade across borders, sometimes with tariffs or other measures, that prevent the money or business interests of one country from being harmed by the money or business interests of another country. Globalization, as it is currently practiced, represents that the people with money or business interests in different countries do not have to protect their interests from each other, are not in competition with each other, and have more in common with each other than the p...
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