Politics
What Should You Ask Yourself Before You Vote?
October 25th, 2012
The biggest—and longest-running—marketing scam going in American society? Politics, of course. From the sixth-grader running for student-body president who promises longer recesses to the U.S. presidential hopeful who promises not to raise taxes, candidates will say anything to win your vote. Your job is to sift through the ideological bullshit—to say nothing of the nonsensical mudslinging—and figure out the answer to this question: Who’s more likely to put “getting the job done” higher on the to-do list than “furthering my ideology”? Read more »
Seven Questions
Jon Ralston
Nevada’s foremost political pundit on our Legislature’s biggest problem, why he’d make a poor candidate and the billionaire he believes would be a great public official
October 25th, 2012
For most of the American electorate, Nov. 6 can’t get here soon enough. The unsolicited marketing phone calls, the junk mail, the attack ads—it’s like the 12th round of a grueling heavyweight boxing match, and we’re up against the ropes, signaling for the trainer to throw in the towel. For political columnist/commentator Jon Ralston, though, this time of year is nirvana. Read more »
Politics
Of Big Raises and Food Pantries
October 11th, 2012
So, when the higher-education system holds a diversity summit just in time for regents’ elections, or a college spends an estimated $100,000 on consultants to figure out why too few students graduate, it’s bad enough. But when they approve pay raises for the well-paid while their employees need free food to get by, it’s time to ask them and your legislators why they don’t believe in accountability. Read more »
Politics
3 Questions This Week
October 4th, 2012
As it turns out, he likes us, he really likes us. At one point a couple of years back, the relationship between Barack Obama and our fair Valley was so chilly that it made even the happiest mayor on the planet unhappy. Now the president digs us so much that he makes regular stops, including his extended stay at Lake Las Vegas on Sept. 30-Oct. 3 in preparation for the silly season's first presidential debate. Vegas Seven asked UNLV political scientist David Damore about the political meaning of the president's visit. Read more »
Politics
A Tale Of Two Coattails
September 27th, 2012
One story of the 2012 elections in Nevada has been the fate of the presidential-candidate coattails. Barack Obama’s have grown. Mitt Romney’s have, it seems, been ripped clear off the coat. Read more »
Dispatch
Underdogs in L.A.
Congressional hopefuls will travel a long way for some Tinseltown support
September 27th, 2012
Los Angeles and politics can make strange bedfellows. What other city can boast of/apologize for sending the Terminator to the governor’s mansion and the Gipper to the White House? Not to mention L.A.’s greatest policy legacy, Proposition 13, the regressive-tax Rosetta Stone of the “I’m OK, you’re a parasite,” Ayn Rand-inflected philosophies of young-gun conservatives such as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, vice-presidential hopeful Paul Ryan, and late-blooming-but-making-up-for-lost-time Mitt Romney. In case you want to know how this story ends, check out California’s public education, once the envy of the world and now scrambling to keep pace with Alabama. Read more »
The Latest Thought
What Would Murray Do?
As the campaign settles into a race for the ideological middle, a look at how Las Vegas’ late, great libertarian radical might have addressed the country’s ills
September 20th, 2012
Murray Rothbard loved the intersection where politics and economics collide. The legendary libertarian intellectual, who taught economics at UNLV from 1986 until his death in 1995, was a devoted anarchist. But like many an anarchist, he was fascinated with government, and if he were here today he would be blogging endlessly about the current presidential race and America’s economic funk. Read more »
Politics
Technology and the Base
September 20th, 2012
The major political party conventions are done, and now the micro-targeters take over, the political marketers who understand your voting, shopping and Internet browsing histories better than you do. Armed with iPads and other touch-screen devices, they’re deploying armies of political activists and phone bankers who have two goals: Get Las Vegas Valley voters to the polls while critical TV and Internet commercials push down opposition turnout. Read more »
Politics
Berkley, Heller and the Slippery Meaning of Ethics
September 13th, 2012
It’s time to stop worrying about ethics and start worrying about right and wrong. They aren’t the same thing. Ethics are the fixed principles of conduct within a particular professional sphere—journalistic ethics, political ethics, etc. Right and wrong involve the best thing to do in a real-world situation where real people can be helped or hurt by your actions. Read more »
Politics
Why Vegas Is an Election Darling
September 6th, 2012
Since becoming president, Barack Obama has visited Nevada at least 11 times, usually making more than one public appearance when he does. Mitt Romney has appeared here twice since assuring himself of the GOP nomination. Rest assured, they’ll be back, as will Rep. Paul Ryan, a visitor soon after his selection as Romney’s running mate. Meanwhile, both campaigns are pouring millions of dollars into Nevada. What did we do to deserve all of this love? Read more »
