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.
The Democrats are bracing for big losses in next week’s election. While the Democrats may, as Nate Silver argues, still have some modest chance of retaining both houses of Congress, […]
Is an Obamaville in your future? That’s the question asked by a mailer sent in by one of Greg Sargent’s readers. The mailer is sponsored by the 60 Plus Association, […]
When I wrote a couple of days ago that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is wrong to blame immigrants to Germany for failing to adapt to German norms quickly enough, one […]
Conservatives have long accused billionaire George Soros of funding activist watchdog group Media Matters. Soros has been suspected of being behind every liberal group after giving more than $23 million […]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is wrong. At a meeting in Potsdam, Merkel told young members of her own party, the Christian Democratic Union, that attempts to build a multicultural society […]
For all the obstacles President Obama has faced—the terrible economy and the bitter, partisan bickering—he managed to accomplish much of what he set out to accomplish. He implemented a recovery […]
The Democrats are likely to take a beating in the fall midterm elections. Right now FiveThirtyEight projects that they will lose almost 50 seats in the House, and come close […]
At the end of September, a federal court struck down an Ohio law forbidding companies from labeling dairy products as made from milk that is “rBGH free,” “rBST free,” or […]
House Democrats are in trouble. Even with substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats have been unable to get the economy back to operating at full capacity. Whatever the […]
The recession ended more than a year ago. That’s what economists say, at least. But while output may be growing again, that doesn’t mean the economy is running smoothly. Nor […]
Not every scientific paper is great work, as any scientist will tell you. But shoddy work gets ignored or quickly debunked. There is an enormous incentive for scientists to debunk […]
Arguments about green technologies tend to focus on what, if anything, the government should do to get people to adopt them. Those who would dismiss them generally argue that global […]
This year Californians will vote on a ballot proposition that would legalize the sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Democrats around the country will be […]
Yesterday, Ezra Klein flagged an excellent idea from progressive think tank The Third Way: why don’t we give taxpayers a receipt for their taxes? As The Third Way’s David Kendall […]
Three House Republicans want to eliminate energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX), Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced the Better Use of Light […]
In a recent post, I argued that the tax burden on the rich is not as great as some would have you believe. It’s not that there is anything wrong […]
When I wrote that the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would come up for a vote, I said that it was unlikely to be repealed. What I should have […]
Who will be the Republican candidate for president in 2012? Sarah Palin recently said after a trip to Iowa that she would run “if nobody else stepped up” with solutions […]
Yesterday I wrote that just about the only substantive thing the Republicans promise to do differently from Democrats in their recently released “Pledge to America” is to extend the Bush […]
Tomorrow, the Republicans plan to roll out their “Pledge to America” outlining what they plan to do if they regain control of Congress. The platform is an updated version of […]
Two political action committees backed by former Bush political advisers Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie—American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS—have raised a combined $32 million so far this year. They raised […]
Writing in the New York Review of Books blog, Notre Dame professors John T. McGreevy and R. Scott Appleby recently provided a useful lesson on the history of religious discrimination […]
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” may come up for a vote after all. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wants to bring the 2011 defense authorization bill, which contains a provision […]
As usual, California is the battlefront for energy and climate change issues. Oil refiners Valero and Tesoro have spent $5.5 million dollars in support of California’s Proposition 23, which would […]
Every week, it seems, we get more bad news about the economy. Today the Census Bureau reported that the median household income in the U.S. fell several hundred dollars in […]
Batwoman is gay. Originally introduced as part of DC Comics’ 52 series as part of a push to introduce more minority superheroes, the new Batwoman was fleshed out by Greg […]
Yesterday, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Virginia Phillips declared the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy unconstitutional. In her ruling—which comes on the heels of […]
It is technically illegal for the government to torture prisoners. Almost no one would deny that. Section 2340 of the federal criminal code makes it a crime punishable by up […]
President Obama doesn’t get enough credit. As fellow Big Thinker Kris Broughton wrote in a recent post, it’s ridiculous to say that Obama hasn’t accomplished much while in office, whatever […]
Plastic bags are still legal in California. San Francisco and a handful of other California cities already ban the bags, but California lawmakers rejected a bill brought by Democrats that […]