Political Science is the science of politics, or the science of the nation-state. It is the art of diplomacy, the study of ideas, ideologies, and influence, the science of strategy, economics, and rhetoric, and more. Perhaps political science is best summed up by Aristotle in his discussing of man’s role in creating the ideal nation-city-state:
“Political science aims at what is the highest of all goods achievable by action…. though it is worth while to attain the end [AKA happiness/arete/”the greatest good”/”the highest good”] merely for one man, it is finer and more godlike to attain it for a nation or for city-states. These, then, are the ends at which our inquiry aims, since it is political science, in one sense of that term.” – Aristotle on the meaning of life, virtue, morals, ethics, and the city-state, Nicomachean Ethics 350 BC
All nations have some sort of class system or class structure, generally based on wealth, birth, or status. We explain modern and historic social class systems and the general logic behind them to see to what extent they are natural and what extent they are convention.
I fact-check Dinesh D’Souza’s movie Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party.
Marx and Mussolini called for extreme evolutions of socialism, Mises called for an absolutist return to individualist liberalism, but all miss the mark.
The term “Deep State” describes the part of government that stays around throughout different administrations. The ingrained “establishment.” A state within a state so to speak.
Criminal virtue is a concept eluded to in Machiavelli’s the Prince. It describes calculated “criminal acts” that can help one get ahead in politics.
The Civil war was about slavery, but it wasn’t “just about slavery”. Sectionalism, Protectionism, and States’ Rights were also factors.
Bernie Sanders says he is a Democratic Socialist, but he describes an American version of Social Democracy and not text-book Democratic Socialism.
Steve Bannon eluded to a “National Populist” “Deconstruction” agenda in a recent speech. We take a look at the historic meaning of those terms.
Federalism describes a union of entities under a central government, and the different types of Federalism denote how power sharing works.
The New Deal Coalition and Conservative Coalition are two coalitions that are emblematic of both the 20th century party switches and the modern parties.