Weekly Wavelength

This is one of the easiest ways to share your ideas on Politicolor. Every week we ask our contributors two questions and post their answers in an effort to help you find good ideas on the web.

What didn’t you know last week?

Facts from the The Time Magazine article linked below… the law creating the Federal Trade Commission was 8 pages; The Social Security Act was 28 pages; The conference version of the financial reform bill 2,319 pages (Keith/K2)

So what I found interesting this week was what the presidency meant to certain individuals, and what they’d do if president. Really interesting to consider in light of the discussion at Montpelier regarding Madison’s conception of the office and how it relates to our modern understanding of the executive office. (Heidi)

That James Madison never traveled on a boat – except maybe to cross the Long Island Sound. So says Ralph Ketcham, THE Madison biographer. (Shayne/Conteach)

Civil War reenactors take Fredericksburg so seriously that they’ll lie dead on someone’s lawn all day when *shot*. (Keith/Hobbes21)

McChrystal should pursue his future in the pages of a comic book. I had to read the Rolling Stone article for myself and now have to admit I sometimes enjoyed the mythology built up around this guy. (Shellee/Stepwinder)

What are you reading?

Time magazine article-The Best Laws Money Can Buy; The article is about the work of lobbyists in Washington.  Last year $3.5 billion was spent on lobbyists in D.C. (the biggest bargain in town is the subtitle of the article), no mention of how much was spent when you add in all of the state governments.  The question that the article makes you think about is, do lobbyists help the system work or are they just buying off the system for large corporations?  One proud lobbyist in the article states, “I think lobbyists provide input that makes the system work better.”  Another person in the article recommends a Constitutional amendment stripping for profit corporations of their first amendment rights.  What is the proper role for lobbyists?  Is this simply petitioning the government or is it corrupting the system?  Is the root of the problem the always increasing costs of running for office? (Keith/K2)

Revolutionaries by Jack Rakove; It’s providing some great insights into not only the individual men of the American Revolution, but the different circumstances within each colony that encouraged and sometimes forced the founders to become revolutionaries. (Heidi)

A piece about what we cannot know about Wilson’s illness at the end of his presidency. It does seem that Edith Wilson and those surrounding her were not thinking about the good of the country. (Shayne/Conteach)

Straight from the reading list at Montpelier’s Institute… Federalist 39, the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Debates on the Bill of Rights. (Keith/Hobbes21).

The Wisdom of Crowds; The author takes a page from Aristotle when he says large groups of people are smarter than an elite few. This is my latest effort at cultivating an audiobook habit. Not sure it’s going to stick… guess we’ll see how much I remember when I finish listening to this one! (Shellee/Stepwinder)