Politics on For Your Consideration

An 1859 Note on Citizenship

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

While reading through the Springfield Daily Republican to investigate early baseball games, I found an opinion piece discussing naturalized citizenship in the United States. This paragraph stuck with me in light of the current administration. The emphasis partway through is mine.

The truth is that Mr. Cass and his party have receded from the doctrine always hitherto held by our government. The right of voluntary expatriation has always been the American doctrine. It is the true doctrine, for if there is any universally acknowledged civil right it is the right of each human being to choose his place of residence on the globe. This right is as unlimited as is the corresponding duty of each man to submit to the government and laws under which he has placed himself. When a foreigner becomes a citizen he is not admitted to half citizenship, but is wholly a citizen, endowed with all the rights, subject to all the liabilities and entitled to all the protection of a native born citizen. The constitution and laws make no distinction between the two classes, with the single exception that the president of the United States must be native born."

The Life and Times of Artemis Diehl

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Enjoy these brief scenes featuring Artemis Diehl, an American businessman renowned the world over.

Indiana Pi Bill and Irrelevant Authority

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

There are better sources for exploring exactly how the current political regime’s actions rhyme with other populist and fascist movements. Instead, let’s consider a story that is tamer while also being emblematic of current policies.

In 1897, a state representative in Indiana attempted to legislate that a disproven mathematical statement was true and, in the process, implied that π is equal to 3.2.¹

The New Behemoth

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Just as the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A fearless leader with a torch, whose flame

Is the unleashed misery, and his name

Torment of Exiles. From his warding-hand

Burns world-wide scorning; his wild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Bring, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries he

With blazing lips. “Take back your tired, your poor,

I Wrote My Representative

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Representative DeLauro,

I’ve never written to my representatives. I’ve voted in elections, chatted idly with friends at times, but otherwise admit to not being terribly participatory in the political process.

I’m writing now because I am deeply concerned about recent policy decisions—or attempts at policy decisions—from the Trump administration that affect my friends and millions of Americans’ well-being. The rapid pace and nature of these changes threaten the democratic principles I believe we all value.

Self-Satirizing Nonsense and The Department of Education

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

From a recent Chalkbeat article by Erica Meltzer and Marta W. Aldrich:

Former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn has been named to serve as deputy education secretary in the incoming Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump announced the pick in a post on Truth Social Friday evening. […] He also misstated her name as Peggy Schwinn, rather than Penny.

We again enter a period of time where The Onion has its work cut out for itself. The next paragraph of this article is also pitch-perfect in its matter-of-fact approach to reporting on how ridiculous everything is.

"Un-American"

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The great kind of insight someone outside the United States can provide. The tough thing when I discuss Trump & Co. with friends is the disbelief and necessity of accepting that a good chunk of the country likes what is happening.

Guy English on Mastodon:

The least you all could do is to refrain from using “unAmerican” to describe the distinctly American things that are going to happen.

Inauguration

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m fortunate to have been in seventh grade precisely when I was. Every four years in October, my middle school’s seventh-grade social studies classes held an election unit. Students were selected to be presidential, senate, and gubernatorial candidates; there were campaign managers, Secret Service agents, lobbyists, fundraisers, and speech writers.¹ It was good-natured, well-constructed, thoughtful, and impactful. Twelve years old was a good time for this, too: we were mature enough to engage with some of the policies but not cynical or set in our ways beyond whatever influence our parents had over us. I don’t recall any personal conflicts. Everyone focused on embodying their roles as best as possible, and I had a tremendous amount of fun.

I Voted for Kamala Harris

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The oldest posts on this blog comprise a three-part series I wrote in fervor after the 2016 election. I was a college student who couldn’t drink alcohol yet but had learned a tremendous amount about the world while working as a residence advisor. I empathized with the experiences of others with incomprehensibly different life stories. I saw the fear, frustration, and numbness that came over people I loved and cared about. It was awful.

"The Great School Rethink" and Assessing Ideas

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Last fall I read The Great School Rethink by Frederick Hess, who works with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. He focuses largely on education policy initiatives, many of which might be familiar: school choice, assessments, funding distribution, and curriculum adoption, among others. While I find these topics and the debates around them interesting, my main takeaway from reading this book was broader. It reminded me that a person is not static, and when we talk with someone we have to focus more on the thoughts they’re presenting and not conflate that with our notions of who the person is when taken as a sum of their parts.

Fear and Power

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In the discourse among citizens, abortion is nearly an undebatable issue. It’s a hill to die on, where opposing views argue across each other about whose values are more important: bodily autonomy, or fetal life. These sides have moved further away from each other. When I was first of an age to even consider the ramifications of abortion, I commonly heard phrases like “pro-life with exceptions.” With the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade, it seems the anti-abortion crowd is taking the ball and sprinting the other way. Whatever common ground existed has rapidly evaporated.

The Spirit of Competition

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Competition is a slippery idea. In both professional and casual interactions, people often walk a fine line when showing a desire to compete. It can be fun and humorous to have a friendly intensity, but there’s always a tipping point where it becomes uncomfortable for those involved. Competition is one of the most natural things in the world, but needing to play out the act of competition in society muddies the waters.

Evidence-Based Education Part 0

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

As part of a new role at work, I’ve been researching aspects of funding for education in the United States. A recurring phrase is evidence-based interactions. I’m going to explore some of the facets of this idea, from its definitions and origins, to potential ramifications of its increasing usage in education.

This post is a placeholder for those future investigations. The educational landscape is of interest to many people, and learning about some of the guiding tenets can help explain a lot of the situations states are finding themselves in. I’m excited to be diving in.

2020 Election Pre-Processing

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Although this is admittedly a privileged position to be in, the 2020 election snuck up on me. I got my mail-in ballot for California, but let it sit on my desk. I knew inside would be races for positions with which I was unfamiliar, having only lived in San Diego for a couple years and not knowing what the political environment was on the local level. In addition, the California Voter Information Guide let me know there would be 11 propositions that were difficult to parse, and had at least 4 pages each of thorough explanation and official arguments for and against them.

Some Links RE: Protests and BLM

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t feel equipped to write more about this right now, but there have been others whose words I would be happy to share; they are not directly from those affected, but instead are from those of similar backgrounds as me. They are mainly from technology podcasts, which I think others are unlikely to share around. Just listen to the introductions of each, and they provide good viewpoints and resources in their show notes.

George Floyd, Minneapolis, and Processing

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to form any words that describe the thoughts swirling in my head with regards to the situation in Minneapolis. I can’t deny the selfish thoughts in my head: A week after I come back to Minnesota to be with family for the summer, this all happens. There’s also the privilege I hold that allows me to sit here and process everything from the safety of my home (or even potentially ignore it if I had a mind to.)

Space Force - Part 3

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This post has very little to do with the Space Force as an entity. I’m mainly interested in describing my experience reading the legislation that formed the Space Force. It was quite the trip, causing me to think about how legislation is written, who reads it, and who checks whether it’s accurately and precisely formed. For reference, this is all pulled from the National Defense Authorization Act (PDF warning).

Space Force - Part 2

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

While reading through the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, which is the act passed by Congress in December 2019 that establishes the United States Space Force, I was struck by how the legislation reads. It is surprisingly straightforward, and also incredibly amusing at times. There is a lot to be said about about legislation which I alluded to in the first post related to the Space Force. But, I will restrain myself here, focusing solely on how the pertinent information in the legislation compares to Space Policy Directive-4, which was discussed last week.

For those interested in reading along, the relevant part of the aforementioned act begins on p. 949 of the PDF linked above (which is p. 902 as labeled in the document.)

Space Force - Part 1

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

While researching documents related to the formation of the Space Force, it made the most sense to begin with Space Policy Directive-4. The Space Policy Directives have been a series of executive orders released by President Trump starting in 2017. The first three of these established the desire to return to the moon; discussed regulations of the commercial use of space; and worked through how to approach space traffic management, respectively. The fourth directive establishes the United States Space Force.

Exploring the Space Force

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A year and a half ago, Trump announced his intentions of forming a sixth branch of the US military: the “Space Force”. Just last week, a defense bill was passed that included appropriations and direction for the creation of said branch. This felt like an excellent opportunity to dive back into research mode and figure out what I could using primary sources. So I’ve been spending time digging up memos, executive orders, and legislation related to this process. Over the next month or so I’m planning on writing a few posts discussing how we got here, what the stated intention of the Space Force was, what it sounds like it will be immediately, and what it might become in the future.

Qualifications

Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Much of the rhetoric that has been pervasive over the past year, and especially with the election of President Trump, is related to how much value society places on qualifications when it comes to hiring and listening to people to help run the government.

The Election and Change (Election Processing Part 3)

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

One of the main themes that has come up in the two days after the election is change.

Many people believe that much of what occurred is a result of people wanting change after having eight (or more) years of the government not listening to them. The Democratic party did not listen to this, putting up a candidate that was perceived as having no potential for anything different from what President Obama has done, while the Republicans were taken by someone who spoke of nothing but radical change, all the change against the current system that anyone could possibly want. Protecting the borders, opening up trade, reducing government expenditure and regulations, as well as social issues. As a result there was a significant part of the populace who gravitated towards Trump, wanting change and believing he was the only candidate who could make it happen.

As I thought about this, I did not want to focus too much on particular policies so I apologize if I become too critical of certain proposals. There is no proof that any policy, conservative or liberal, actually works as well as anyone wants. There are so many factors and much coincidence involved in when a certain policy is enacted during a period of time that, to me, much of what has gone on (in particular, economically) in our nation has become a wash. In my math jargon, it is an undecidable problem. Due to this, I want to focus on the dynamics of change in general and how reasonable it is to expect change, as well as how the change being called for by Trump supporters compares to the change that was hoped for by many Americans who opposed him.

Regarding the Election (Election Processing Part 1)

Thu, 10 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

While I have no doubt that these words will likely fade into the backdrop of the political discourse that is occurring as a result of the recent election, I need to write this for my own sake, to make sense of what America will become over the next four years and beyond.

The Election and Education (Election Processing Part 2)

Thu, 10 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Read part 1 here.
In light of the election, I have been on a bit of a thought and writing spree. While I recently processed through a fair bit of the election as a whole, there is so much that will be affected that I need to take it bit by bit. Right now I am thinking about education, particularly mathematics education, as this is something very near to me and something I have a strong passion for.