Political philosophy
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The Party’s Over
This is the second post in the series about my most recent article, “‘Third Parties’ and Democracy 2.0”, (2015) 60:2 McGill LJ 253. I introduced the paper, which deals with the repercussions of political and technological changes on our framework for regulating the participation of persons other than parties and candidates in pre-electoral debate, yesterday. Today, Continue reading
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Les légitimités et le droit
Un récent billet de Pierre Trudel illustre bien certains problèmes dans une pensée, malheureusement, commune face au conflit « étudiant » qui sévit actuellement dans quelques universités et collèges du Québec. Se présentant comme une position de compromis entre l’immobilisme gouvernemental et irrédentisme des associations étudiantes pro-grève, cette pensée réclame l’ « encadrement » d’un droit de Continue reading
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Quand on se compare
Les traditions tant française qu’américaine de laïcité sont moins monolithiques qu’on ne l’a parfois prétendu. Reste qu’imposer la « neutralité » aux individus est injustifié. Continue reading
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The Market for Political Lemons
Andrew Coyne is right that political promise-breaking can be a big problem, but he might still be wrong about it needing to be solved. Continue reading
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How Power Corrupts III
I have already touched on the issue of the meaning of Lord Acton’s dictum, that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I have invoked J.R.R. Tolkien’s treatment of the pernicious influence of power on those who once wield it even once they relinquish it, and discussed Mikhail Bulgakov’s claim that “all power is violence done to people.” Boris Continue reading
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Damned Lies
One of the most pressing, if not the most pressing, problems in contemporary politics is the problem of lies. Perhaps it is not so much a contemporary as a permanent problem, though that does not make any less urgent. But perhaps it is even more pressing now, due to the intellectual trends permeating our society, Continue reading
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Ignoramus et Ignorabimus
I have mentioned the problem of political ignorance a number of times on this blog, notably in connection with legislative inaction on access to justice. The idea ― which I have shamelessly borrowed wholesale from Ilya Somin (who explains it, for example, here) ― is that most people are ignorant about political matters writ (very) large Continue reading
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Une Injustice
J’ai déjà écrit, ici et ailleurs, que l’omission des droits de propriété de la Charte canadienne, qui était censée permettre aux gouvernements de poursuivre des politiques économiques et sociales égalitaires, a des effets pervers qui font en sorte qu’elle leur permet plutôt de transférer de l’argent des pauvres aux mieux nantis. Dans ce billet, je veux Continue reading
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What to Thump
This morning the Supreme Court heard the oral argument in Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (Ville de), a case on the validity, under the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms of a municipal by-law authorizing the mayor and those municipal councillors who wish it to publicly read a prayer just prior to the official Continue reading
Double Aspect 