Who do you think will win the US. Presidential election?  Why

Who do you want to win? Why?

Comment below, or post your comments at you site and notify me, I will link you.

How, in your opinion, is the world doing as far as economic and social progress is concerned?

Please comment below or write a blog at your site and notify me here - I'll link you

solidstatetheory

virtus1

What are the legitimate responsibilities of a government and how should it be financed?

Virtius1

Tychecat

Please respond below or write a longer comment at your site and mention it below - I'll link you

Assuming that the growth of civilization throughout the planet has led to a more friendly and humane life for most of its inhabitants, which of these basic philosophic attitudes to you favor? Why?

Real Economic, Social, and cultural development has been the result of the actions of notable individuals throughout history

The rise of world civilization has basically been the result of members of different cultures collective action

Please respond below or write a longer comment at your site and mention it below - I'll link you

As baldmike2004 gently reminded me in the last topic posted here, the origin of this site was as a place where viewers would post longer comments at their own sites and those sites would be linked here. With the rise of FaceBook and twitter, there has been a decline in essay-length comments at most xanga sites. 

I would like to encourage viewers of this site to comment at their own sites and indicate links to those sites as well as comments here.

Here's a question or two to encourage such effort:

What is the real difference between the views of the  present candidates in the upcoming U.S. presidential election?

Tychecat 

Baldmike2004

How should the present world-wide financial crisis be solved?

Baldmike2004 

Write a comment about either of these at your site and indicate the link below.

As the US - and indeed much of the world - is in the midst of a Political Season, there is probably far too much political discussion ongoing. Soc, however cannot resist asking a few questions:

What is the proper function of Politics in a democracy?

Does the party system subvert true democracy, or is it inevitable in a parliamentary/congressional form of government?

Would you be interested in viewing a blogsite written and managed by members of one of the really high IQ societies?

Not MENSA - that's too plebian for this bunch. Someone has suggested an "Open" high IQ site perhaps to attract more members.

What do you think?  What would be the advantage of viewing such a site, which would be managed by people with IQs  in the top  one tenth of one percent?

Do you know of any such sites currently running?

Recently I've been asked about how I view methods of teaching gifted (really really smart) HS students. The suggested method is breaking subjects into flexible "Units" which students complete at their own speeds - the very bright student speeding through many more units faster than the rest of the class.

Teachers presumably (as the the Khan Academy system) would act more as a supervisor and tutor than as a lecturer. The units would be either commercially produced or made by the teacher ( a daunting task for many teachers).

In your opinion, would such a system improve the learning of gifted students, or just allow them more time to pursue their own narrow interests and emerge semi-educated?

What part should digital/computer access play in gifted education?

Do you know any gifted students? What problems, if any, have they had with their schooling?

How do kids learn anyway?  What was your school experience?

  Democracy - that is the right of the people in a nation to vote to select their leaders in a free and fair election and said elected leaders to be responsible to the electorate  - is the current preferred form of government in the majority of the world's governments.

A problem with this form of political selection is that if suffrage is adult-universal, then a majority of voters may not be informed or may not vote in their own best interests because they don't really understand what those are. The theory is that in the long run the majority will either select right or easily correct any errors of elective judgment, either by recall or at the next election.

Is this enough of a check and balance to insure the best form of government, or should there be other criteria or campaign checks to insure fair elections?

Should groups be allowed to band together anonymously (as for example corporations) and exert influence on elections and government?

Steve Jobs once said: "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough - it's technology married with Liberal Arts, married with the Humanities that yields us the result that makes our heart sing"

Recently some state and national leaders here in the US have questioned the  value of a liberal arts education; they want more stress on science, math and other "more valuable" areas of study.

What do you think? Are too many students wasting their time in college on Literature, Art, Music, History, Humanities, etc, when they should be studying Math, Science, and Engineering?