Demand More

It is easy to forget the basic truth that the winner of the American presidential election in November will not be the person who is most qualified.  It will not even be the person who gets the most votes (as Al Gore found to his detriment in 2000).  Rather, it will be the person […]

We have forgotten how powerful one person has become over the course of seven years.
Today, the President of the United States is the most powerful person in the history of civilization. More powerful than Caesar, the Tzar, or the Fuehrer.
In the course of seven years, the President has assumed the following powers:

He has assumed […]

A Nobel Price-winning economist estimates that the American war effort in Iraq will cost the United States at least $3 trillion and as much as $5 trillion.
United States GDP (the sum total of economic activity) in 2007 was an estimated $13 trillion dollars. $3 trillion is about 23% of $13 trillion.
It helps to put […]

Demand More is undergoing some changes for the better. We’ve instituted an email list at right, which will allow you to receive commentary by email. Something we’ve struggled here for some time is the dilemma of quality over quantity of posts. While we’d love to be able to post daily (and indeed […]

Note: This is Part 1 of a continuing series on the rise of corporate power and its implications for the 21st century.
If the last two years of Democratic rule in Congress have taught anything, it is that party affiliation has no meaning at high levels of power.
Democrat and Republican, both, seem interested in protecting […]

Last week, President Bush signed into law the 2008 Defense Bill. Section 1222 of this bill restricts any funding for any permanent military bases in Iraq. It also prohibits the United States from exercising control over the oil resources of Iraq. This is the full text of that section:
SEC. 1222. LIMITATION […]

A federal appeals court rejected claims by three former Guantanamo inmates that they were entitled to compensation for torture sustained while detained by the United States. The Court of the Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that CIA agents who tortured inmates at Guantanamo were acting within the scope of their employment; as […]

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has been in a perpetual state of emergency. Because law requires that states of emergency expire after two years, the President of the United States, without any fanfare, renews the state of emergency when required. The last such renewal was on September 12, […]

“Well, it’s nice to know the elections aren’t totally rigged.  Maybe.” My first initial reaction to the results of the Iowa caucus. Because if they were, or at least if they all were, then Romney would have won Iowa for sure. Possibly Clinton, but definitely Romney, the man who has groomed himself […]

2007 was not a good year for privacy. Privacy International, a British group, has put together a map showing those countries where privacy is under threat due to the increasing use of surveillance. According to its survey, 2007 was one of the worst years ever for privacy. Surveillance was “endemic” in […]