Jon Stewart On Bullshit Mountain

Check out more awesome Jon Stewart quotes we’ve collected right here.

The Real Roots Of “American Exceptionalism”

The Article: How Joseph Stalin Invented ‘American Exceptionalism’ by Terrence McCoy in The Atlantic.

The Text: Rick Santorum and the rest of GOP presidential gang all have a man-crush. Considering he was an outright intellectual elitist, a shaggy-haired liberal, and — horror of horrors — French, the object of their adoration seems a bit surprising, but the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville and his 1835 United States travelogue, Democracy in America, have surged into national politics this campaign cycle — often linked to the nascent expression “American exceptionalism.”

Across the nation, from Plano, Texas, to Keene, N.H., Santorum has brandished Tocqueville, lecturing on how America got revolution right while France didn’t. Last year Gingrich published A Country Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters, a book overflowing with praise for the Parisian writer. Going further still, the former speaker narrated a 2011 documentary called City Upon a Hill, which is produced by Citizens United (yes, that Citizens United). If you guessed that it leads with Tocqueville, you’re right.

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A Frat Boy’s Insightful Thoughts On Hazing And Binge Drinking

Kind of refreshing to have stereotypes debunked.

Bernie Sanders’ Best Quotes On American Politics

At a time when calling Barack Obama liberal is becoming more and more akin to confusing cheap linoleum with granite tile, it’s pretty easy to feel as if the circle of true, left-leaning leadership is wearing thin. If Republicans are the “Party of No,” Dems for some time have been the party of “I Don’t Know”. Enter Bernie Sanders, the Independent statesman from Vermont. All fire and brimstone, Sanders speaks for the people–not his pocket. And sadly, that’s an anomaly these days. Here’s big-hearted and bellicose senator at his best.

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The State–Not Entrepreneurs–Drives New Technology

The Article: It’s a Myth That Entrepreneurs Drive New Technology by Mariana Mazzucato in Slate.

The Text: Images of tech entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are continually thrown at us by politicians, economists, and the media. The message is that innovation is best left in the hands of these individuals and the wider private sector, and that the state—bureaucratic and sluggish—should keep out. A telling 2012 article in the Economist claimed that, to be innovative, governments must “stick to the basics” such as spending on infrastructure, education, and skills, leaving the rest to the revolutionary garage tinkerers.

Yet it is ideology, not evidence, that fuels this image. A quick look at the pioneering technologies of the past century points to the state, not the private sector, as the most decisive player in the game.

Whether an innovation will be a success is uncertain, and it can take longer than traditional banks or venture capitalists are willing to wait. In countries such as the United States, China, Singapore, and Denmark, the state has provided the kind of patient and long-term finance new technologies need to get off the ground. Investments of this kind have often been driven by big missions, from putting a human on the moon to solving climate change. This has required not only funding basic research—the typical “public good” that most economists admit needs state help—but applied research and seed funding too.

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