The Political Science Interpretivist

University students have been in the news lately because of their protests on campuses and in the streets. Unfortunately, the mainstream media often convey false impressions about the intentions of the protesters. As a result of such misreporting, the meanings to the students of the encampments is widely misperceived. For instance, I recently heard one misinformed person talk about the encampments as if they were a colony of bonobos doing it all day in those tents. As a political scientist who studies all sorts of political behavior, I would like to add a little clarity to our understanding of the mental state, or intentions, of the protesters. Of utmost importance to keep in mind is that the feeling that is moving the majority of the student protesters is a strong compassion for their fellow human beings who are suffering so much in Gaza. The compassion felt by these protesters includes the feeling of such abhorrence for the slaughter they see going on in Gaza that they must

Many Americans have seen the two recent films,  Oppenheimer  and  Elvis . Well, I’ve been wondering lately if there is any cultural connection between them. If so, it would likely have become visible in the 1950s. While the A-bomb and the H-bomb were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, the 50s is the first full decade under their shadow. Elvis is the first Superstar of Rock-n-Roll. Is there anything about living in the wake of The Bomb that set the stage for his massive appeal? What about the phenomena of Rock-n-Roll itself? Once those bombs had demonstrated their awesome power to the World, they became a part of “Civilization” – especially in Western countries, and most especially in the USA. As Oppenheimer showed, The Bomb was our baby. What effects, if any, did living with the very real threat of The Bomb being used again have on the minds of the folks, like us, who lived through the 50s, or were born into that time frame? How, if at all, did this life-threaten

                                                                                                      Originally, back in 1975, the PBS News Hour, under McNeil/Lehrer, was a source of reliable and intelligent programing. Judy Woodruff did her best to uphold those standards. But since Judy left, in 2023, the News Hour has become an embarrassing source of patent disinformation. The latest example: somebody named Manisha Sinh, from some foreign country (Pakistan?), was given uncriticized time to totally MISINFORM the audience about the US Constitution’s THREE requirements for any president. Art 1, s. 1 states, the person must be 1) “a natural born citizen,” that is, born to an American parent (not necessarily in the country). A baby born to an American astronaut on the moon can become President of the USA. 2) 35 years old. 3) 14 years a resident within the US. But that guest didn’t say that. She only got one out of three correct! She said 35 years old, but then “born in the US” – f

El Salvador had its national elections on Sunday, Feb 4th. The Great Nayib Bukele (“boo-kelly”) won a second term.  Small wonder, as according to a variety of pollsters, his approval ratings have been in the 90s throughout his first 5 year term. In other words, his people Love him! (Biden’s ratings range between 30% and 40%.)  In something like California’s system, the winning candidate has to get a majority of the vote or the election will go to a runoff in March, but that won't be necessary because Bukele won by a landslide. Official count not in yet, but could be over 80%.   Internet Voting was used for Salvadorans living outside the country. There are around 800,000 registered to vote abroad (about 6M in country). Most of them live in the US, especially in California and Texas. For those who had not registered to vote online, there were about a dozen voting centers set up in several US cities. For the Los Angeles area, three voting centers were set up. Every one of them ha

D avid Easton’s theory of the political system has long been  misrepresented  as requiring a mechanistic theory of causation, thus dehumanizing political behavior. The widespread claim that his vision was of the political system as striving for equilibrium is totally false.   Easton was a humanist. He envisioned human political behavior as a consequence of the meanings people create volitionally in their own minds and social context. He rejected the automaton theory of political behavior.     He also understood the relationship between system performance and public opinion and sentience. A well operating system will likely result in public satisfaction and support. Poor operation, the opposite.   That, in turn, implies a  standard,  or norm, by which to assess how well a political system is performing. Indeed, Easton's theory of the empirical political system can also be used as a way to assess how well a political system is operating. Efficiency and effectiveness are elements to b

The New York Times published a story on Saturday (8-5-23) that is couched in critical and disparaging undertones about Progressive philanthropist, Neville Roy Singham. This post will factor out the negative, and inject a more positive tone to the story's facts.  Mr. Singham, whose father was a school teacher, built up his own tech company optimistically called “Thoughtworks” (get it?). In 2017, he married Jodie Evens. He was 69, she, 68. Six months later he sold his company for $785M. The couple wanted to devote their lives and resources to benefit humanity. Jodie was already an activist. She, along with another woman, Media Benjamin, founded a peace and justice group they called “Code Pink,” in 2002. The two ladies, and their supporters, foresaw that George Bush’s lies about Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), was leading the nation into a completely unnecessary war. Of course, that’s what happened in February 2003, when the US invaded Iraq. They also protested against

The Honorable Mike Gallagher, WI Chair   Dear Mr. Chairman: You and the Select Committee are misinformed about the Nature and Intentions of the Chinese Communist Party. They are not our Enemy. They are not an Evil Force. Indeed, according to The World Bank, in the last 30-40 years under the governance of the CCP “more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty.” ( https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview#1 ) That is the greatest Humanitarian Achievement since the invention of vaccines. The number of people helped exceeds that of the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall Plan combined. (Re-Interpreting the Meaning of China for the USA https://interpretat.blogspot.com/2022/02/re-interpreting-meaning-of-china-for-usa.html ) Something that you, the Committee, and the American people don’t hear from the US media is that the Chinese people appreciate what the CCP has done for them. Several different pre-COVID social science studies show this appreciation.