Robert de Neufville
Contributor, Big Think
I lecture and write about politics and philosophy. I hold degrees in politics from Harvard and Berkeley, and have studied complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Other interests include theoretical physics, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and the game of Go. You can find me on Twitter at @rdeneufville.
Taxes in the U.S. Are Low and Progressive
Nobody seems to really like the U.S. tax system. Conservatives complain that taxes are too high, while liberals say the system isn’t progressive enough. Both may well be right. But, […]
Election Notes: The Battle for Michigan
The latest Quinnipiac poll has Rick Santorum ahead of Mitt Romney 35-26 among Republicans and voters who lean Republican. National polls are not by themselves be good indicators of who […]
Evolution and the Meaning of Life
In an aside to his contribution to our recent discussion of same-sex marriage (my contribution is here), Big Think’s Peter Lawler wrote that Darwinists agree with many religiously observant people […]
Marriage Equality Is a Civil Right
In an interview last year,Focus on the Family head Jim Daly seemed toconcede that same-sex marriage would be legal sooner or later. As Iwrote earlier this week, that’s because younger […]
Election Notes: Will Romney Lose Michigan?
It has been a bad week for Mitt Romney. He did win both the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll and the Maine Caucus over the weekend. But neither of […]
Why Same-Sex Marriage Will Be Legal Across the U.S.
It was a good Valentine’s Day for advocates of same-sex marriage. A week ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s ruling that California’s Proposition 8 forbidding […]
Will the Supreme Court Rule on Same-Sex Marriage?
On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2010 district court ruling that California’s Proposition 8 forbidding same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. It was the first time a federal […]
Election Notes: Santorum Wins
Rick Santorum beat Mitt Romney in all three Republican contests on Tuesday. Santorum won by sizable margins in both Missouri and Minnesota—where Romney came in third behind Ron Paul—although Missouri […]
Why More Republicans Aren’t Voting
In Florida four years ago about 1.95 million people voted in the Republican primary. This year 1.66 million people voted in the same primary. That’s 300,000 fewer people, a 14% […]
Election Notes: What Mitt’s Victory Means
Mitt Romney looks more and more like the Republican nominee after soundly defeating the Republican field in the Florida Primary. Romney managed to get more votes than Newt Gingrich and […]
Election Notes: Mitt Is Still the Favorite
The chance that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee fell since last week after Newt Gingrich beat him by 12 points in Saturday’s South Carolina primary. After the primary, […]
Obama Frames the Economic Debate
It has been clear for some time that the presidential election would be about economics. The killing of Osama bin Laden, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and the fall […]
Countries Are Not Like Corporations
Mitt Romney has experience that Barack Obama doesn’t. For all his obvious gifts, Obama has no real experience running private companies, while Romney is one of the most accomplished business […]
U.S. Election Notes, January 19
As we approach Saturday’s Republican primary in South Carolina, Mitt Romney’s nomination is looking more and more likely. Political futures marketIntrade now gives Romney an almost 90% chance of winning […]
U.S. Election Notes, January 12
Mitt Romney’s convincing victory in New Hampshire—exit polls showed him winning in a wide variety of key groups—made him the first non-incumbent Republican in years to win both Iowa and […]
Candidates Are Who They Say They Are
As a former pro-life governor of liberal Massachusetts, whose signature achievement was the health care plan that served as a model for Obamacare, Mitt Romney has to work hard to […]
U.S. Election Notes, January 5
Welcome to the first of my weekly roundups of the upcoming U.S. elections. President Obama’s approval rating remains below 50% and the economy continues to be weak, but political futures […]
What Do the Iowa Caucuses Mean?
Don’t read too much in to Mitt Romney’s narrow victory in the Iowa caucus. There’s no question that the relatively small state of Iowa has an outsize influence both on […]
Why the U.S. Should Borrow More
The hottest investment right now may be U.S. treasury bonds. Daniel Kruger reports this week that here was record demand for treasuries in 2010. At a recent auction for four-week bonds […]
Will Obama Be Seen As the Lesser Evil?
President Obama ought to be in a lot of trouble. With the economy still as bad as it is after three years in office, his prospects for reelection should be […]
Could Newt Win?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Mitt Romney remains the likely Republican nominee in spite Newt Gingrich’s recent surge in the polls. The smart money over at the […]
Why Americans Don’t Care
Compare the covers of the different editions of the latest issue of Time. In most of the world, the cover of the magazine features a striking image of an Egyptian […]
Can Voters Forgive Obama?
It’s the economy, stupid. The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama’s re-election chances hinge on the state of the economy. While some of my readers are already convinced for some […]
The Supreme Court and Obamacare
Obamacare is going to get its day in the Supreme Court. The court granted certiorari in—literally, informed the lower courts that it would hear—three cases challenging the Affordable Care Act […]
Robert Reich Speaks Against Inequality
“We may have democracy or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few,” Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “but we can’t have both.” That, in essence, was […]
The Divide Among Whites
White America is divided between those who are comfortable with the influx of immigrants from other countries and those who feel they threaten the American way of life. Obama’s race […]
Global Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Shot Up in 2010
Global emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide shot up in 2010. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that carbon dioxide emissions grew globally by 564 million tons, which is […]
The Rich People’s Congress
Members of Congress aren’t like you and me—they’re substantially richer. Roll Call reported this week that the total net worth of Congress was more than $2 billion in 2010. That’s […]
The Energy Efficiency Paradox
We generally assume that if we use more energy-efficient machines we will use less energy. If we install energy-efficient light bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs, for example, it will […]
The New Baby Bust
After WWII, birth rates in the U.S. rose dramatically. During the war, relatively few couples could afford to have children, and many young men were on the front lines anyway. […]