If you look up ‘slippery slope’ in any philosophy or logic textbook it will tell you that the slippery slope is a logical fallacy. All of the ones worth reading will and most of the bad ones will, too – because the Slippery Slope is in fact a logical fallacy. Trouble is, it’s also literally a political reality. How can it be both? Let’s look at why Slippery slope is a fallacy. Bob is a Reasonable Man. (TM) Bob does reasonable things … Continue reading “Fallacy for One; Truth for All”

In two words, sample size. Well, see y’all tomorrow… Okay, so there’s a bit more to it. The use of what I call micropolls is now the norm. Current US population is a bit over 327,000,000 – three hundred and twenty-seven million human beings. In order to find out what they are thinking about a given topic, modern pollsters survey 1004 people. It can vary a bit but most will be just slightly over 1000. If you try that with … Continue reading “What’s Wrong With Polls”

Marbury v Madison. Every school child knows this decision. They have no clue what case law is or why it matters – unless it’s some weird version they got from a half read Wiki article – but they know Marbury v. Madison. Well, they know the name and the effect – don’t expect that they know what the case was about. Which is true for us older folks as well. If you didn’t study it in college, you were never … Continue reading “The Marbury Mistake”

In a month I will be asking for you to buy from me – but I wanted to write this now while I don’t even have a store. Speech takes so many forms – and the humble tee shirt is one of them. We often think of political speech as being confrontational or formal, as in writing a congressman. But political speech is no different from any other speech – the whole point is to get the idea across. To … Continue reading “Buy a Tee Shirt”

My father was born at the turn of the last century. He graduated eighth grade – and yes, he actually graduated. Originally, ‘high school’ was advanced education for those planning to go on to college. Most people didn’t go to high school after they graduated from what we now call middle school. He was 62 when I was born. At that time he worked for one of the state’s largest farmers – who held property around the state. If something … Continue reading “Fact Checking, DIY”

All investigations begin this way. You have an idea of the what or you wouldn’t be investigating. Who, where and when – those you start with in varying degrees. But none of them are as critical to figuring out what is going on as why. In many cases, we can simply ‘follow the money’ – or power. Someone is getting something out of whatever is going on – or it wouldn’t be going on. Now, there are indeed a lot … Continue reading “The First Question is Always Why”