Micah Tillman

My weekly article is up at The Free Liberal. You can read it here.

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“Can the Candidates Answer Politics’ Most Important Question?” at The Free Liberal
“‘Acts of God’ in the US” at Sight Magazine

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[ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ] [ Part 3 ]
You want my answer? You got it:
The government of an area is the group in that area with the most power.
That’s it.
This definition implies that there can be a difference between the de facto government of an area and the “official” government of an [...]

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Dr. Gene Chase, my academic advisor and mentor from my undergraduate days, pointed out to me that my friend from the same era, Anthony DeRosa, has written up some thoughts that are rather consonant with my own re the legalization of same-sex marriage.
I tried to leave a comment over at Anthony’s blog, but the log-in [...]

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[ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ]
I’m starting to think no one but me ever thought about this question. *grin* But what if you did? How would you do it?
Take Aristotle’s approach to definitions, for instance. He would identify the genus to which government belongs, and then specify its “specific difference.”
The “specific difference” of [...]

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As I mentioned below, part of the problem a lot of people have with the legalization of same-sex marriage is that they are afraid there will be no logically-consistent reason to stop expanding the legal understanding of marriage once the government starts.
I argued in my most recent article on the subject, that if the logic [...]

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That’s the question you have to be able to answer before you can really know for whom to vote. After all you wouldn’t want to hire a plumber who thought plumbing was a kind of art/sculpture, or a mechanic who thought automobile maintenance and repair were detailing and joy riding.
In the context of voting, therefore, [...]

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Imagine a person whose first language is Martian is learning English as his first “second language.” He has a basic understanding of English, but hasn’t learned “government” or the more usual governing-related words (”ruler”  / “governor” / “rule”  / “govern” / “in charge” / “head honcho” / “boss” / “top dog” / etc.).
Let’s assume that [...]

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I’ve got a new article over at The Free Liberal. You can read it here.

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(Don’t you just love clever titles?)
Since I live in a politically-divided household and teach a politically-divided student body, I expend a lot of energy trying to discover the fundamental assumptions made on both sides (and how those assumptions are connected). I’ve found John Locke to be particularly helpful here.
In his  Second Treatise of Civil Government, [...]

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