Contributions by:

Michael J. Thompson

What’s The Matter With Capitalism?

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The Demise of the Critique of Capitalism Capitalism’s effects on society, culture, individuality, politics are vast and all-encompassing.  It is impossible to explore all of its dynamics in a single essay, but there is above all a salient reality that we can glimpse through any critical analysis of capitalism in modern life, especially in America.  That…

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John Locke In Jerusalem Written On The 300th Anniversary Of The Death Of John Locke

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The year 2004 passed without any mention of the 300th anniversary of the death of John Locke. But thinking about Locke and his contributions made me think almost at once of the conflict in the Middle East; about ethnocentrism, the role of religious identity and political identity; the ways that secularism and liberalism are unique…

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Beyond The Vote: The Crisis Of American Liberalism

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It almost goes without saying that one experiences a profound sense of bewilderment with each reading of the polls for the 2004 Presidential election. The statistical dead heat may have come as little surprise to some, but the unshakable anxiety that it invokes in those on the left is unquestionable, and the reasons are obvious.…

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The Price Of Heavenly Peace: Tiananmen Square 15 Years Later

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Anyone who has walked along Chang’an Boulevard in Beijing in the last 15 years cannot help but be transported back to the spring of 1989. The ground still elicits the images of the tens of thousands of students and workers that gathered there to demand democratic reform of the Communist state. Even today, it is…

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On the Bush Tax Cuts — Logos Summer 2003

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The science of economics is a political science. —Max Weber Few domestic political issues have been debated with more passion than the tax cut that was proposed by the Bush administration and recently passed by Congress. The tax cuts have been characterized as everything from a giveaway to the rich to a stimulus package for…

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Iraq, Hegemony And The Question Of American Empire 

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It is rare that political debates typically confined to the left will burst into the mainstream with any degree of interest, let alone profundity. But this has not been the case with the question of American empire and the recent military campaigns in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. For many on the left, this…

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The Treason of Intellectual Radicalism and the Collapse of Leftist Politics

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Radical politics in contemporary western democracies finds itself in a state of crisis. When viewed from the vantage point of social change, a progressive transformation of the social order, political radicalism is found wanting. This would seem to go against the grain of perceived wisdom. As an academic enterprise, radical theory has blossomed. Figures such…

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