Joel Levin, Author at Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research

A Different Danger: Coronavirus and Our Basic Rights

Posted by Joel Levin | Mar 19, 2020 | Democracy and Human Rights, Social Policy Issues

We Americans take pride in our freedom. No one can take that from us. Is that true? What about a bug with the name of COVID-19, the coronavirus? What about every mayor, governor or health commissioner in the United States? Could any or all of them put us in a lockdown, the term generally associated with inmates in a prison, to be let out when, if and in a manner they determine? Does the common welfare (health) override somehow all of our rights: no speech, shopping, worship or walking the dog? Perhaps no voting (that later).

Trump, Barr, Stone and the Rule of Law

Posted by Joel Levin | Feb 17, 2020 | Democracy and Human Rights, Foreign Policy and International Affairs

The barely disguised intervention of the President and the Attorney General in what is, in many ways, the ordinary legal process criminal case of Roger Stone seems troubling, but we have some difficulty seeing just why.

PROSPERITY, INEQUALITY and DEMOCRACY

Posted by Joel Levin | Feb 1, 2020 | Democracy and Human Rights, Foreign Policy and International Affairs

Do you care about equality? Here is a simple test. Suppose you had to choose between two societies. In the first, the wealth among the citizens is relatively even, with everyone having between 90 and 110 units of that wealth, with units made up of money, personal goods, housing, cars, and the usual collection of consumer goods we all love, collect, covet, and want to own.

IMPEACHMENT AND DEMOCRACY

Posted by Joel Levin | Jan 21, 2020 | Democracy and Human Rights, Politics, Government and Law

There are righteous claims that surround the impeachment of President Trump, claims about the proper process, the gravity of the offenses, the appropriate legal analogies to criminal trials, and who one should believe about what.

CHANNELING YOUR INNER MADISON AND HAMILTON

Posted by Joel Levin | Jan 17, 2020 | Democracy and Human Rights, Foreign Policy and International Affairs

What are we to make of the words of the Constitution in understanding the issues that matter today? Did the Founders have views of abortion, automatic weapons, gerrymandering, or Obamacare worth considering or, more dramatically, views that should bind us?

Author: Joel Levin

A Different Danger: Coronavirus and Our Basic Rights

Trump, Barr, Stone and the Rule of Law

PROSPERITY, INEQUALITY and DEMOCRACY

IMPEACHMENT AND DEMOCRACY

CHANNELING YOUR INNER MADISON AND HAMILTON