Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
Jeffery Marshall Ed.D., BG(R) 
Politics, Politicians, and Demonic Possession “One of the artifices of Satan is, to induce men to believe that he does not exist: another, perhaps equally fatal, is to make them fancy that he is obliged to stand quietly by, and not to meddle with them, if they get into true silence.” 1836 book “Quakerism …
Real Reform, Part 3: The Bureaucratic Cat Burglar Greenman HouseThe cat burglar creeps quietly into his target after doing extensive surveillance and steals the planned target. If the burglar does the job well, there is no evidence of a theft and it may not be detected for weeks or even months, depending on the target. …
Real Reform, Part 2: The Allosaurus in the Room Source: mrwynd from Denver, USA/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 “Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.” ― Frank Herbert This post picks up from Real Reform, Part1: Introduction. It addresses the Allosaurus in the room: Congress. The Allosaurus was a highly successful carnivore …
Real Reform, Part 1 Introduction In A New Contract With America, I included a bullet point about qualifications for congressional committee and subcommittee chairs: “Enact congressional policies to require minimum qualifications for committee and subcommittee chairperson positions. These qualifications will be like qualifications required for similar positions in the private sector or the executive branch. …
Deterrence and the Interagency Process, Part 2: Interagency “The evolution of the interagency process parallels Americas [sic] purposeful adaptation to changing global realities of the last five decades. But it is not an orderly evolution because of serious structural and cultural impediments, such as discontinuities from one administration to another and poor institutional memory.” Gabriel …
Deterrence and the Interagency Process, Part 1: Deterrence I came across an interesting article on LinkedIn on deterrence and how the military should be in control of it. I started a comment and midway through; I opened another browser tab to a quick search. When I got back to LinkedIn, my comments and the original …
Ethics, Morality, and Virtue: Relative vs. Absolute Meaning Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4 “Then the queen began to lament and to weep, …
Defending the Republic, Scenario 3: Takeover This is the third and most dangerous scenario introduced in Part 1 of Defending the Republic. While it may directly manifest from the triggers discussed below, most likely it will flow from scenario 2: Policy Domination stimulated by the trigger(s). If scenario 3 happens and is successful, the US …
The term rent-seeking is a derogatory term that implies companies and people seek to take more than they earn. It hearkens to some Marxist ideology as well. But, especially when combined with regulatory capture and bureaucratic corruption, is a valid concept. But what happens when the shoe is on the other foot and people and …
Measurement and Observation Alters the System: What Does this Mean for Social Science Research? When we read research papers or even the published results of surveys, we need to critically examine the samples, sample sizes, and statistical techniques used. We also need to understand the author/organization to understand what biases and motivations may influence the …
Why do we act in other than our self-interest? Is the rational actor/choice theory valid? Over a few blog entries (see the Defending the Republic series), I have wondered why people who do not seem to benefit from social justice efforts support and endorse them. Why would a white male push an agenda designed to …
Defending the Republic: Scenario 2 Policy Domination Defending the Republic, Part 1: Introduction provided a general introduction and an initial listing and description of the scenarios. The second part looked at the three variants of the Regulatory Capture scenario. Both asked why corporations are enacting social justice programs. The two blogs suggested that at …
Defending the Republic: Scenario 1 Regulatory Capture In Defending the Republic, Part 1: Introduction, I listed three potential threat scenarios. The first, regulatory capture is playing out now. While it seems to be the least threatening scenario, that may be a bit of an illusion. The regulatory capture scenario has 3 sub-scenarios, depending on the …
The Tragedy of the Commons: Wicked Logic In The Tragedy of the Commons: Rational Actors, I discussed linear vs. spiral logic. I suggested that western logic tended to be more linear and Islamic and other cultures, perhaps more spiral. But that is a generalization based on today’s conditions. In the past, western logic tended …
The Tragedy of the Commons: Rational Actor This is a follow on to Tragedy of the Commons: The Political Commons. It specifically looks at the rationality implied in Ostrom’s 8 points and the Rational Actor/Choice, Game, and Agency theories. What happens if the rational hypothesis fails or is different across cultures or relevant ranges? I …
The Tragedy of the Commons: The Political Commons I first came across the problem (tragedy) of the commons in a political science course in grad school. We read a remarkable work by Elinor Ostrom about the problem. Her work both resonated with me and left me looking for more. I thought the problem was bigger …
Defending The Republic, Part 1: Scenarios Over the last year, I’ve been thinking, researching, and writing (Corporatism Part 1, Part 2; Thoughts on Ukraine, Part 7: The Joint Corporatist Scenario, among others) a lot about corporatism. I’ve been searching for a reason why corporations are doing what they are doing with social justice agendas. Why …
DIE Hydra! The image above is above is Heracles and nephew Iolaus fighting the hydra. This was Heracles second of twelve labors. The hydra had nine heads and when Heracles destroyed one, another sprouted in its place. Heracles and Iolaus found that if Heracles destroyed a head and Iolaus burned it quickly, the head …
Critical Thinking and International Relations Theory After the Colonial era, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the First Gulf War, many analysts proclaimed the world was getting safer and humanity was changing for the better. Francis Fukuyama argued this point. Samuel Huntington took a different perspective and argued a clash of civilizations would keep …
Critical Thinking: Correlation, Causation, and Control During the fall, I like to step on acorn shells and crack them. There is a satisfying crunch sound that helps to break the monotony of several miles on the neighborhood trails. I understand it is a silly thing to do, but like I said, walking can be boring …