Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL and Washington, D.C. January 4, 2021—Thinking Outside the Boxe has released the transcripts of the question and answer session from its 2020 Annual Symposium. Participants included correspondents from Clermont, Florida; Orange County, California; Novi, Michigan; and Gastonia, North Carolina. The Symposium examined the early pandemic response and centralized public-health authority, … Continue reading Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Q&A Session from 17th Annual Symposium
Author: thinkingoutsidetheboxe
Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — I taught music for years, so let me say the uncomfortable thing first, because nobody at these tables who isn't a musician is going to. The singing evidence is real. In March a choir rehearsed in Washington state — sixty-one people, one infected, and fifty-three of them caught it and two … Continue reading Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Las Vegas, Nevada Correspondent — I'm the wrong person to be neutral here, because the case that made this national was about my industry. Nevada capped worship attendance at fifty people. Not fifty percent — fifty people, in a building of any size. A casino floor operated at half capacity, which in this town is … Continue reading Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — Minnesota is the state with the most direct stake in this and most people here know it. In 2010 we kept our eighth congressional seat by fewer than nine thousand people. That was the last seat apportioned in the entire country. Had the count gone slightly differently, it would have gone … Continue reading Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Bismarck, North Dakota Correspondent — I'd say we won't know for some time, and that not knowing is itself the problem. The count was suspended in the spring, the schedule was compressed, the end date moved more than once and finally landed in mid-October after the Supreme Court allowed the shortened deadline. Then last month … Continue reading Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Election Day 2020 Champagne Summit
Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL and Washington, D.C. November 3, 2020—Thinking Outside the Boxe has released the transcripts of the question and answer session from its special Election Day Champagne Summit held on November 3, 2020. Participants included correspondents from Clermont, Florida; Dayton, Ohio; Owatonna, Minnesota; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Prescott Valley, Arizona; Wheeling, West … Continue reading Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Election Day 2020 Champagne Summit
Regardless of the outcome, has the 2020 campaign revealed deeper problems in the primary process, debate structure, or campaign finance system that both parties should address before the next cycle?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — Yes, and the useful thing about this question is that it can be answered before anyone knows who won. The primary calendar and the debate rules amplified early momentum and limited sustained scrutiny. A candidate who survives the first three contests acquires an aura that substitutes for examination, and both … Continue reading Regardless of the outcome, has the 2020 campaign revealed deeper problems in the primary process, debate structure, or campaign finance system that both parties should address before the next cycle?
Briefly, what are the three or four most important issues that the winner must address in the first year, and which candidate is better positioned to handle them?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — Finish the acute phase and get a vaccine distributed, assuming one works, without leaving permanent emergency rules behind. Restore economic activity and employment. Re-establish order in the cities that had sustained unrest. Set a coherent course on China and critical supply chains. Trump's instincts on reopening, on order, and on strategic … Continue reading Briefly, what are the three or four most important issues that the winner must address in the first year, and which candidate is better positioned to handle them?
Foreign policy differences on China, Iran, Russia, and alliances have received less attention than domestic crises. Which candidate’s approach is more likely to reduce long-term strategic risk, and why?
Sydney, Australia Correspondent — I don't have a vote and I'm not going to pretend to a preference, but I can tell you how this looks from an allied capital, and it's more mixed than either campaign would like. On China the substance was correct and I'd say so plainly. The prior consensus underweighted the … Continue reading Foreign policy differences on China, Iran, Russia, and alliances have received less attention than domestic crises. Which candidate’s approach is more likely to reduce long-term strategic risk, and why?
Trust in media, technology platforms, and government institutions has fallen further during this campaign. Does the next president have any realistic ability to improve that trust, or has institutional credibility become a structural problem beyond one administration?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — Institutional credibility is a structural problem now, and it was structural here long before it was structural nationally. A president can stop making it worse. He can reduce the pressure on agencies and platforms to police speech. He can't make a newsroom cover something it doesn't want to cover. Trump … Continue reading Trust in media, technology platforms, and government institutions has fallen further during this campaign. Does the next president have any realistic ability to improve that trust, or has institutional credibility become a structural problem beyond one administration?
