What We Are Reading Today: The Age of Choice
Author: Sophia Rosenfeld
Choice touches virtually every aspect of our lives, from what to buy and where to live to whom to love, what profession to practice, and even what to believe. But the option to choose in such matters was not something we always possessed or even aspired to. It turns out that not only are we not very good at realizing our personal desires, we are also overwhelmed with too many possibilities and anxious about what best to select. There are social costs too. 'The Age of Choice' tells the long history of the invention of choice as the defining feature of modern freedom.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Running a low-turnout Georgia runoff election could cost $100 per vote
ATLANTA (AP) — Miller County Election Supervisor Jerry Calhoun says he's not sure anyone will vote in an upcoming Democratic primary runoff. After all, the southwest Georgia county only recorded one vote in the June 17 Democratic primary for the state Public Service Commission among candidates Keisha Waites, Peter Hubbard and Robert Jones. Two other Democratic ballots weren't counted, probably because voters chose Daniel Blackman, who had been disqualified. Turnout wasn't much higher among Republicans, with 40 votes cast in Commissioner Tim Echols' victory over challenger Lee Muns. 'I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm worried about it for the runoff, but there's nothing I can do about it," Calhoun said of the July 15 Democratic runoff between Waites and Hubbard. Statewide turnout for the primary on June 17 reached just 2.8% of Georgia's 7.4 million active registered voters. That includes more than 15,000 people who likely voted for Blackman and didn't have their votes counted. But the Democratic runoff might struggle to reach 1% turnout statewide. And counties could spend $10 million statewide to hold the election, based on a sampling of some county spending. That could be more than $100 per vote. People who want to change Georgia's runoff system say this election shows how the state spends money only to have decisions made by a fraction of people who voted the first time. 'It's a terrible waste of resources," said state Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat. But key Republicans are opposed to two methods used elsewhere — letting someone win without a majority or using ranked choice voting to determine a majority. In the meantime, some Republican-dominated counties are using a state law to reduce the number of polling places for the runoff. In many states, finishing first is enough to win, even if it's far short of a majority. Georgia is one of only nine states, mostly in the South, that require runoffs. And it's one of only two states, along with Mississippi, that demand a runoff if no candidate wins a general election majority after a partisan primary. Historians say runoffs were created in part to make it harder for Black candidates to win office, giving white voters a chance to unify around a candidate. Georgia legislators in 1995 lowered the threshold to avoid a runoff, requiring a candidate to a earn only a 45% plurality. Republicans changed the threshold back to a majority after a GOP candidate lost a 1996 Senate race. Draper introduced a bill in 2023 to lower the threshold back to 45%, but it went nowhere. House Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican, is among many who believes a majority is an important electoral mandate. 'To actually win an election you should receive, in one form or fashion, at least 50% plus one of the vote. And so I am not in favor of a plurality system," said Anderson, whose committee oversees election legislation. Another option would be letting voters rank their choices and determining the winner using second or third choices. That's the system New York City voters are using to elect a mayor. Scot Turner, a former Republican state representative who champions that system, said turnout is typically lower for runoffs, silencing voters who don't return. He said ranked choice voting would broaden participation, ensure a majority chooses the winner and save money. 'It's a tweak of our existing system that maximizes turnout and lowers cost,' Turner said. 'Because we see these massive drop-offs in turnout for runoffs, those are disenfranchised voters. Their votes are tossed as if they never were cast.' Georgia issues ranked-choice ballots to military and overseas voters. But many Republicans oppose expansion, with the Georgia Senate passing bills to ban its further use. What some counties are doing is limiting the number of polling places for the runoff. State law allows a county to open only one polling place for a primary runoff if fewer than 1% of a county's registered voters cast ballots in the initial primary. That's likely to apply to some Republican-dominated counties. A few rural counties, including Miller County, already operate only one voting location. Cherokee County, with nearly 208,000 active voters, announced Friday that it would open only one polling place after fewer than 2,000 people cast ballots in the Democratic primary. Elections Director Anne Dover said the decision would cut the cost of the runoff in half, saving about $70,000. Travis Doss, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said Friday that as many as 20 counties are considering that option.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court lifts third country deportation limits; liberals pen scathing dissent
The Supreme Court on Monday lifted judge-imposed limits on the Trump administration's deportations to countries where migrants have no ties over a scathing dissent from the court's liberal justices. The administration warned U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy's injunction was endangering immigration officials stuck in Djibouti guarding a group of convicted criminals, who were destined for South Sudan until Murphy blocked the flight. The majority did not explain its reasoning to lift the ruling. In a 19-page dissent, the three liberal justices said their colleagues were 'rewarding lawlessness.' 'Apparently, the Court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the Government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote. 'That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable,' she continued, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The case will now return to an appeals court, and it could ultimately return to the justices on their normal docket. 'Rather than allowing our lower court colleagues to manage this high-stakes litigation with the care and attention it plainly requires, this Court now intervenes to grant the Government emergency relief from an order it has repeatedly defied,' Sotomayor lamented. As part of its broader immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has looked to third-country removals, a process by which authorities deport a migrant to a country other than the one on their deportation order issued by an immigration judge. The administration insists it is acting lawfully and is conducting the deportations to more easily remove violent criminals. Represented by immigration legal groups, several anonymous noncitizens sued over claims that the administration's actions violate multiple federal laws and their constitutional due process rights. Murphy, an appointee of former President Biden who serves in Boston, in April agreed to their request for a nationwide injunction blocking the deportations unless the administration gives the migrants sufficient ability to raise claims they will face torture in the third country. The battle reached the Supreme Court's emergency docket soon after Murphy agreed that the administration's effort to deport a group of convicted criminals to South Sudan, a war-torn country in East Africa, violated his order. 'That injunction lacks a plausible basis in law and jeopardizes this country's foreign-policy and national-security interests,' Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote of the judge's injunction. 'It obstructs immigration officials from using a critical means for effectuating long-overdue removals of a class of aliens that includes some of the most heinous criminals. And it subjects third-country removals to judicial superintendence under a moving set of goalposts,' he continued. The judge didn't force the migrants' return to the United States, but he said immigration authorities must retain custody until they can raise any legal claims. The Trump administration landed the plane at a military base in Djibouti, and it has warned about the safety and health consequences for the agents who continue to guard the migrants. The May 20 South Sudan flight came days after Murphy said a planned flight to Libya would violate his order. 'Defendants' own choices — to violate the district court's orders and to opt to implement the court's remedy for those violations overseas — are causing the operational and diplomatic difficulties about which they complain,' the immigration legal groups wrote in court filings. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Monday's Mini-Report, 6.23.25
Today's edition of quick hits. * A 6-3 ruling from SCOTUS: "The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for the Trump administration to deport convicted criminals to 'third countries' to which they have no previous connection. The court in a brief unsigned order put on hold a federal judge's ruling that said those affected nationwide should have a 'meaningful opportunity' to bring claims that they would be at risk of torture, persecution or death if sent to countries the administration has made deals with to receive deported immigrants." * 'Devastating' was overstating matters: 'Iran's military said it targeted America's Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar with a 'devastating and powerful' missile attack today in retaliation for the U.S. attack on three of Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a statement from the IRGC published by Iranian-state media Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.' * A dubious denial: 'A senior Qatari official denied reports that Qatar was given an explicit tip-off that the Iranians were launching an attack on Al Udeid Air Base.' * The Strait of Hormuz: 'One way that Iran could potentially retaliate for the American strikes on three of its nuclear sites, analysts say, would be to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil and gas. In meetings at the White House, senior military officials have raised the need to prepare for that possibility, after Iranian officials threatened to mine the strait, a narrow 90-mile waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Such a move could pin any U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, American military officials say.' * In Ukraine: 'President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited Britain ... just hours after a major Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv killed at least nine people and injured over 30. The attack was the latest in a series of deadly and intensifying Russian strikes on Ukraine. But concerns are growing in Kyiv that such assaults are drawing less attention and condemnation from Western allies as their focus shifts to the Middle East and the U.S. entry into the Israel-Iran war.' * On a related note: 'Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested during an economic forum that the 'whole of Ukraine' belongs to his country, even though Russia only controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.' * Kilmar Abrego Garcia's fate: 'A federal judge on Sunday rejected the Justice Department's bid to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia pending his federal criminal trial in Tennessee, citing the importance of due process while noting that he could still separately be held by immigration authorities.' * Keep a close eye on this one: 'China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early Friday, 61 of which crossed the central line in the Taiwan Strait that unofficially divides the sides, an unusually large number as tensions remained heightened in the region. It wasn't clear why so many planes were scrambled between late Thursday and early Friday, as tabulated by Taiwan's Defense Ministry. The planes were sent in two separate tranches, it added.' * A startling headline from last week: 'Alaska just hit a climate milestone — its first-ever heat advisory.' * VOA's precarious future: 'The Trump administration sent layoff notices on Friday to more than 600 employees at Voice of America, a federally funded news organization that provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedom.' * In related news: 'In a hearing Monday to determine the future of Voice of America, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth scolded the government for not complying with his preliminary injunction from April.' See you tomorrow. This article was originally published on
