I briefly commented on two stories today on HuffPost Live: Hillary Clinton and her new book deal: The Death Penalty and the Craiglist Killer: My most recent appearance on HuffPost Live, before today, was on March 20. It can be viewed here. Check out my Feb. 28 Huff Post Live appearance HERE. My March 14 can be viewed HERE. Read more
I originally wrote the following for BCC back on January 18, 2010. I want to share it here today on the the 45th anniversary of his martyrdom. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my very favorite figures in the history of American politics and social thought. I have always had a special respect for the civil rights movement, even during my days as a conservative. But King himself holds a special place in my thinking today. I think this is largely because... Read more
The care perspective was first identified by Carol Gilligan who argued that there are two moral voices: justice and care. Justice, the masculine approach to morality, focuses on universal abstract principles such as equality, impartiality, and universality. Within a Mormon context, I think the principle of agency, as well as obedience would be added to this list. The classic justice perspective is Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. The categorical imperative asserts that we should act according to principles that we would... Read more
I will be on the Huff Post Live’s News Block today (Thursday) at Noon Eastern/10am Mountain. I will be commenting on a variety of issues. I will post those topics when I am informed of them shortly before the live chat. My most recent appearance on HuffPost Live was on March 20. It can be viewed here. Check out my Feb. 28 Huff Post Live appearance HERE. My March 14 can be viewed HERE. I am excited to see what we will... Read more
The feminist idea of care is both a response to the canon of ethical and political theory as well as an alternative approach to that canon. In this essay, I contend that caring relationships are a valuable and necessary component of a just society, and as a result necessary in any theoretical argument about social justice. Yet, it could be asked whether the theory of social justice advanced by the philosopher John Rawls adequately incorporates the idea of care. I... Read more
Approaching Justice will be covering General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live from Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. We will be have live open-threads for each of the sessions. We will have full coverage for the 4 general sessions and more limited coverage of the priesthood session. What would you like to see us cover during conference? Read more
It is Opening Day! Okay, yesterday was opening day but the Orioles open their season today. Yesterday didn’t count. Baseball is an important part of my family’s Spring and Summer…and hopefully Fall. I am an Orioles fan. I was raised in Maryland. I started following baseball shortly after the Orioles won the World Series in 1983. I grew up in the Cal Ripken era. Shem (11) and I started following Major League Baseball together last year. Shem also plays in... Read more
Introduction A feminist analysis of any major thinker or school of thought within the historical canon of political theory is bound to find many problems. This is surely the case when considering the social contract tradition and the most prominent modern thinkers within this tradition: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacque Rousseau. To a certain extent these thinkers make many of the same mistakes that classical and other modern moral and political theorists made. First, women are often ignored as... Read more
“How can the freedom of citizens be secured in a socialist state?” asked political theorist William Connolly. In Free to Choose, Milton Friedman makes an automatic connection between the economic freedom and political freedom, implying that socialism by its very existence denies freedom to its citizens. Economic freedom, as defined by Friedman, is laissez—faire capitalism or market activity with very minimal government assistance or regulation. Political freedom, as defined by Friedman, includes the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion,... Read more
NOTE: I posted this last year at Faith-Promoting Rumor. Today, the Easter Bunny brought me the Blu-Ray of Lincoln. I have not seen it, yet. I hope to write on it soon. For now, here are my thoughts on Lincoln, Easter, and the Gettysburg Address. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Few words are more well... Read more
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