Author

José Azel 176 posts 0 comments

José Azel is a scholar and author. Dr. Azel‘s latest book is “Reflections on Freedom.”

Why Do We Vote As We Do?

José Azel Mar 27, 2020 80

Democratic voting does not always produce good goverments. Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the final free election of the Weimar Republic, and Hugo Chavez’s election in Venezuela are just two salient examples. Thus, understanding voting…
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Opinion

The Thinking Revolutionaries

José Azel Mar 7, 2020 128

In her book “Something That Will Surprise the World”, historian Susan Dunn brings together a collection of important letters, speeches, and essays, of the most notable Founding Fathers: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton,…
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Opinion

A Place to Transform Aspirations into Achievements

José Azel Feb 14, 2020 91

Democracy and free markets form the sociopolitical environment that allows us to transform our aspirations into achievements. And, for most people, the United States is the place that epitomizes both democracy and free…
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Opinion

When the Nile does not flood, kill the pharaoh

José Azel Jan 30, 2020 410

The yearly flooding of the Nile, the result of enormous precipitation on the Ethiopian Highlands, has been a critical natural cycle in Egypt since ancient times. The floods were then seen as the annual coming of the gods and…
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Opinion

The Wisdom of the Electoral College

José Azel Jan 17, 2020 840

The United States is a republic, not a democracy. We owe this distinction to the ageless wisdom of the Founding Fathers. Think about it this way; suppose you live in a condominium building of ten apartment units. Nine of the units…
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Opinion

Why I am Not an Immigrant

José Azel Jan 3, 2020 268

Before a dear reader jumps the gun with a punishing email, let me make clear that,this is not an anti-immigration column. I have published, in these pages, several defenses of immigration; see for instance, “Migration as an Individual…
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Opinion

The Potemkin Village of Economic Rights

José Azel Nov 27, 2019 218

In politics and economics, a Potemkin village means a hollow or false construct. Literally or figuratively, a construction created to deceive people into thinking that a situation is better than it really is. The term…
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Opinion

The Hardware and Software of Latin American Development

José Azel Nov 14, 2019 187

Economist and historian Thomas Sowell tells an old Russian fable of two poor peasants – Boris, who had a goat, and Ivan, who didn’t. One day, a fairy comes along and offers Ivan a single wish. And, Ivan wishes for Boris’ goat to die.…
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Opinion

Why Not Jeffersonian Ward Republics?

José Azel Oct 29, 2019 286

It was not supposed to be this way. The United States was not conceived as a gigantic, cumbersome, highly centralized state. The Founding Fathers envisioned an American polis weighted much more towards local and regional…
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Opinion

Why do we object to freedom?

José Azel Oct 10, 2019 191

By definition, an expanded government requires diminished liberty. Any function we ask of government requires us to surrender a measure of our freedom, and our treasure. And yet, large segments of the population favor an…
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Opinion

American Exceptionalism in Division and Conflict

José Azel Sep 27, 2019 157

American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is unique among nations with respect to its democracy and individual freedoms. The idea of American exceptionalism stems from the American Revolution. In the…
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Opinion

Those who have nothing to say, and say it very badly

José Azel Sep 12, 2019 393

Philosopher Karl Popper (1902-1994), castigated obfuscating writers as those "who have nothing to say, and say it very badly." Popper, a forceful defender of liberal democracy, was particularly critical of highbrows…
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