Is radical environmentalism a threat to democracy? Are liberal values strong enough to withstand a committed opponent? It's time to take The Sniff Test.
I tried, I really tried, to 'get it' about Rawls, but the task always defeated me. He struck me as just being intensely boring. Couldn't understand, and still don't understand, why he was ever taken up by academia.
In my mind I can see Rawls having a quick chat over coffee with his publisher. And the publisher, eyes suddenly brightening: 'John, do you think you could make a crashing 500 page book out of that?'
And so was born a world of very mild, but unduly prolonged, student suffering.
It's a dull and jargon-filled read, but has received a modicum of renewed interest with the publication of 'Free and Equal' by Daniel Chandler, which was reviewed favourably by the BBC and Guardian.
Rawls exercised influence through the 'The West Wing'. President Bartlet was a devotee and clearly pushed his agenda. The film makers stopped in 2007, perhaps assuming a real life Bartlet was ascending to the presidency.
Barack Obama apparently read Rawls, but did little to introduce a maximin. As the US approaches historic levels of wealth inequality, the size of the challenge of moving from theory to practice mounts.
I tried, I really tried, to 'get it' about Rawls, but the task always defeated me. He struck me as just being intensely boring. Couldn't understand, and still don't understand, why he was ever taken up by academia.
In my mind I can see Rawls having a quick chat over coffee with his publisher. And the publisher, eyes suddenly brightening: 'John, do you think you could make a crashing 500 page book out of that?'
And so was born a world of very mild, but unduly prolonged, student suffering.
And I was one of those students Michael.
It's a dull and jargon-filled read, but has received a modicum of renewed interest with the publication of 'Free and Equal' by Daniel Chandler, which was reviewed favourably by the BBC and Guardian.
Rawls exercised influence through the 'The West Wing'. President Bartlet was a devotee and clearly pushed his agenda. The film makers stopped in 2007, perhaps assuming a real life Bartlet was ascending to the presidency.
Barack Obama apparently read Rawls, but did little to introduce a maximin. As the US approaches historic levels of wealth inequality, the size of the challenge of moving from theory to practice mounts.