Consider this a Robin Hanson-style post.

Obama ran on transparency, civil liberties, press freedom, and a less militaristic foreign policy. However, his record is poor. His presidency has been more like a third Bush II term. How should we interpret that?

1. Obama was never sincere.
2. Obama was sincere, but power corrupts.
[...]

Four years ago, President Obama won the presidency while promising hope and change. Under George W. Bush, America seemed to stop being a country that respects freedom and the rule of law. Bush held suspected terrorists indefinitely without any hope of a trial, spied on American citizens, violated our rights under the Patriot Act, used [...]

In the market, most of my fellow citizens are my civic friends, part of a great cooperative scheme. One of the vile and repugnant features of democracy is that it transforms these people–people who should be my civic friends–into my civic enemies.

Today most Americans will do something morally rotten–they will vote, despite being [...]

1. I discuss third party voting (including the myth that Nader cost Gore the election in 2000) on Al Jazeera’s The Stream. At the very end, I blame bad media on bad voters–mainstream media sucks because of how we consume information.

2. Do hormones influence women’s voting behavior? Kristina Durante and her colleagues think [...]