Author / Sam Klein
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There’s A Reason Santorum Endorsed Rubio
Rick Santorum was running out of steam. After a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses, a contest he won in 2012, the ultra-conservative candidate withdrew from the race for the GOP nomination. In the seven Republican debates we’ve seen this cycle, Santorum never earned a spot on the main stage, nor the central podium on…
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Another Stab at the Death Penalty
Last year I argued that the frequently employed cocktail of questionably sourced sedatives and heart-stopping drugs is unreliable, and that its use in lethal injections for condemned criminals in the United States amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. (Re: Cruel and Usual, WUPR 21.2.) But what is “cruel and unusual,” really? This language, pulled directly…
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Ode to a Grecian Spurn: A Case for the Grexit
Oxi! The citizens of Greece spoke in late June, voting by a 22.6 percent margin to reject their creditors’ austere demands in exchange for a bailout. Germany, a primary Greek creditor and fellow Eurozone member was entitled—if not obliged—to feel slighted by the results of the referendum. Germany’s economy drives the Euro, and Greece is…
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A Panacea for American Democracy
The concept I am about to introduce is not, as my alluring and sensationalist title may suggest, the single answer to repair our population’s system of electing people to represent us. However, it has the potential to make a huge difference in how campaigns are run, how elections unfold, and, ultimately, how many Americans support…
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Collective Bargaining is Not a Spectator Sport
BY SAMUEL KLEIN Nobody likes a lockout. Not the fans, not the players, not the owners, and not the countless workers and members of the media who rely on professional athletic events taking place as scheduled. So why are there so many lockouts, and why do they last so long? The numbers stack up quickly.…
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Lessons From The (Supposedly) Deep Blue
BY SAMUEL KLEIN What a dramatic evening. The Senate flipped, the House was reinforced, and gubernatorial upsets were plenty. Many races expected to be practically guaranteed to go left were too close to call hours after the polls closed. One of the biggest shockers of the night hit me close to home, happening in the…
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Cruel and Usual
BY SAMUEL KLEIN In a harshly lit room, a physician, an employee of the state, twists open three valves in sequence. Lethal chemicals, often from an undisclosed source, rush down narrow plastic tubing into the veins of a condemned inmate. Within a few minutes, the inmate’s heart stops beating, leaving the body of the vicious…
