The Hard Luck of the Persecution Machine

Every year on this day, I must write something. Today, nearly a year ago, I posted an article to commemorate the occasion. The more that I study history, the more I'm able to understand why people of different countries and nations have progressed on such different paths, owing to a complex set of factors including history, culture and institutions. This is an article inspired by an event in the judicial sphere, but it concerns institutional development in a much broader sense. (June 4, 2010)