Author Archives: olneyce

You Decide – S Kevin Drum points out an interesting conflict in conservative values. They desperately want the Keystone pipeline, but making it happen requires using eminent domain for private interests. Which was the issue at stake in the Kelo … Continue reading →

Part III – Same sex marriage: federalism as a wise strategy? (Part I of this series is here, Part II is here) When the question of federalism comes up, my progressive friends have consistently cited gay marriage as an example of … Continue reading →

Part II – Federalism in the 21st century (Part I of this series is here) In the last few months I’ve had several fairly drawn-out conversations about federalism with some friends. I have taken the position that it is essentially … Continue reading →

An informal poll: Q1: if you could restructure our constitutional system slightly, so as to remove the decision over gay marriage from the states and place it solely in the hands of the national government, would you do so? Q2: … Continue reading →

So there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Obama’s announcement. For one thing, it isn’t really a surprise. It’s been obvious for a long time that Obama wasn’t ‘really’ troubled by gay marriage. Which means there’s clearly a … Continue reading →

Lots of talk in the last few days about Obama, his administration, and their opinion on gay marriage. I want to come at this from a slightly different direction. Let’s assume that Obama really is pro-gay marriage, but is pretending … Continue reading →

The Face That Launched 1000 Shits – Death Cab for Cutie Empty Cans – The Streets This is, I think, the one thousandth post on Heartache With Hard Work. When I started this blog six years ago, I had no … Continue reading →

I very quickly grow bored with the standard argument about hypocrisy in politics. I definitely think that people ought to make judgments about abstract notions of the good in politics (my Rawlsian influence shining through), but I am certainly not … Continue reading →

The Boss is still very much The Boss. The few doubts I had after his disappointing album a couple years ago have been completely wiped away in 2012. Wrecking Ball is right there in the conversation for his best work … Continue reading →

Scott Lemieux points out a very silly column about the death penalty. He points out the lunacy of acting like the morality of the death penalty should be judged based on extreme cases. That is, of course, a good point. … Continue reading →