Born This Way? by Jonathan Haidt

This article is subtitled "Nature, nurture, narratives, and the making of our political personalities." Born This Way?

Book Review: The Righteous Mind - WSJ.com

I've mentioned Jonathan Haidt here a number of times. I believe everyone could benefit by reading his books. When I say everyone I mean liberals, conservatives, libertarians and Objectivists. This review gives a good summary of Haidt's latest book.

Book Review: The Righteous Mind - WSJ.com

Ayn Rand's Long Journey To The Heart Of American Politics | The New Republic

Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, nicely summarizes Rand's influence on libertarians conservatives including Mitt Romney's VP choice, Paul Ryan, in Ayn Rand's Long Journey To The Heart Of American Politics | The New Republic. 

Science Asks: Why Can't We All Just Get Along? - The Atlantic

I've been eagerly awaiting the publication of Jonathan Haidt's new book, The Righteous Mind, which I plan on reviewing here (one of these days). In the meantime here is a good summary of Haidt's approach. Science Asks: Why Can't We All Just Get Along? - The Atlantic

Why liberals can't understand conservatives – Telegraph Blogs

Why liberals can't understand conservatives – Telegraph Blogs

I've mentioned Jonathan Haidt's work here before. Later this month his new book, The Righteous Mind, will be published. I'm eagerly waiting its arrival and plan to review it here. In the meantime, Ed West gives a nice summary.

The Coming Intra-Party Wars - Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle's The Coming Intra-Party Wars - The Atlantic posting on the debt limit battle contains two comments that caught my eye. The first one talks about the choices the Republican and Democrats will have to take.

The Democrats ... are going to face unprecedented conflicts between their constituencies in the decades to come. Fundamentally, we're bumping up against the willingness of the American public to pay more taxes, or accept spending cuts. Some constituencies are going to lose. Republicans are going to have to decide whether they'd rather have lower taxes, or a stronger military. And Democrats are going to have to decide who they care about more: old people, or poor people.

The other comment (which is the real reason I posted this) brilliantly captures the shell game we're playing on ourselves. I also agree with her comment on a single entitlement system. My very first post on this blog summarizes my approach to positive and negative rights.

Me, I'd like a single entitlement system that takes care of people who are actually destitute and unable to work, not this mad scheme whereby America's middle class is supposed to get rich by picking its own pockets.

Winning Body Language Review

Posted a review of Winning Body Language at my Flourishing blog:  http://scuoteguazza.blogspot.com/2011/07/winning-body-language-review.html. I mention it here because I don't see this subject discussed at all in the Objectivist world, probably because the predominant belief is that all meaningful communication takes place at the purely conscious, rational level. My reading on the subject leads me to conclude otherwise. See my review for a bit more information.