Intellectual property is one of the most important institutional developments of the modern age. The protection of trademarks, patents, and copyrights has generated more wealth and economic growth than any human innovation other than the domestication of plants and animals, thousands of years ago. It has financed more than 90% of all literature and visual […]

During the election process of 2020, Republican elected officials made a series of statements and policy decisions that show pretty clearly that they wanted to suppress the votes of Black Americans. If you object to their statements and actions, but for some reason voted for Trump, this is not a criticism directed at you. In

How the political tide shifts in a week! On June 6, I reflected on what it means to be Southern-born and to reject the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy. That seemed to match the general zeitgeist: only a few days later, Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed changing the names of U.S. military bases named after C.S.A.

Some well-intentioned Americans are still wondering why the term “All Lives Matter” is being criticized at this moment. It might seem that the expression “Black Lives Matter” is an argument for special treatment of African-Americans. Out-of-context, this call for the recognition of the worth of only one group’s lives might seem like a rejection of

I was born on Fort Bragg, adjacent to Fayetteville, North Carolina. My brother, who was born in New York City, would taunt me that his side won the Civil War, and my side lost. So I had a early resentment to a Unionist viewpoint. Then we moved to Connecticut, where my 5th-grade Social Studies teacher

Today is June 4, the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which an authoritarian regime violently cracked down on peaceful (if boisterous) protesters calling for democracy. One of the protesters at today’s march in Oakland reminded me with his sign, and emphasized how important it is to remember the struggles for democracy, rule

On Sunday night, rioters set fire to part of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. Those rioters are working to undermine the message of the protesters. The protesters grieve at the murder of George Floyd and all other people of color who have been harassed, intimidated, beaten, humiliated, tortured, and murdered by police and