Lee on Oct 30 2008 | Filed under: Books, Culture, Lee's Page, Libertarianism
Synova wrote a little post that gets halfway to where I would come down on this perennial parlor game of the John Galt general strike. Sy recognized that to be successful, such a revolt would realistically be a miserable experience for a society, resulting in bloodshed and economic ruin. But she does not depart from [...]
ChrisB on Sep 05 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Libertarianism
Todd Zywicki, of the Volokh Conspiracy, takes a look at libertarianism in the McCain/Palin ticket and notes a distinct western vibe to the first all-western ticket in our history. He had an interesting observation that I think captures a lot of our hesitation about McCain.
The only caveat to this is that McCain’s westernism is tempered [...]
MikeR on Aug 25 2008 | Filed under: Libertarianism, MikeR's Page
Newmark’s DoorWe can’t enact or enforce enough laws to manage ethical behavior.
“Goo-goos”–good government advocates–have been fighting corruption in government through endlessly tweaking campaign financing reform laws and ethics laws for at least 40 years.
Senator Stevens is the latest case and even though he may have been up to no good, Newmark thinks it will be [...]
MikeR on Aug 24 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Greg MankiwA review of a new book called Nudge. “is nonetheless nudging people in the direction that somebody thinks will make them better off.”
Smacks of manipulation to me. Seems like education and greater transparency would be a better solution.
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MichaelW on Aug 06 2008 | Filed under: Law, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Society, regulation
Because of my background in working with emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, and generally abused kids, I am often to drawn to stories about the results of extreme neglect of children. I saw some awfully hard cases with some of the kids I worked with, including a kid who was found as a toddler scrounging [...]
Lee on Aug 02 2008 | Filed under: Lee's Page, Libertarianism
Jordan Page (who is a kind of Ronpaulist Joan Baez) reflects on the “Revolution March,” a July 12th Ron Paul protest rally in Washington DC, in part organized by Adam Kokesh (who of late believes the Washington police are involved in a clandestine conspiracy against him).
Now, I grew up in the libertarian movement such [...]
Lance on Jul 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Society
Peg pointed me this way, and I really enjoyed nodding in agreement. Of course, I have long nodded in agreement with Megan. Especially on these:
2) Gay marriage. I’m basically pro, but I take the Burkean arguments seriously.
3) Immigration. Again, I’m pro–but while I think the anti-immigration side makes often ridiculously ahistorical arguments about [...]
MichaelW on Jun 23 2008 | Filed under: Health Care, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page
The idea of state funded and administered universal health care is a bugbear of libertarians everywhere, and especially those who are subjected to such a system as a matter of course. Routinely held up as one of the worst of the lot of state-run systems is Britain’s NHS. Now, direct from the trenches [...]
MichaelW on Jun 23 2008 | Filed under: Books, Domestic Politics, Election 2008, History, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Philosophy, social science
Over the weekend I read with fascination William Saletan’s review of the new offering from George Lakoff, “The Political Mind,” and was struck by the remarkable similarities between it and the revolutionary syndicalism espoused during the prior fin de siècle.
In particular, Saletan summarizes Lakoff’s principal idea as the need for progressives to recapture [...]
MichaelW on Feb 12 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Education, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, regulation
Via Glenn Reynolds, Wired posts an article describing the fight to include evolution in the science curriculum for students in Florida and Texas:
Charles Darwin was born 199 years ago Tuesday, but the debate he ignited about the origins of species rages on. Florida’s department of education will vote next week on a new science curriculum [...]
Lance on Jan 22 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Publius Endures examines the premises of the paleo-libertarians which populate the Lew Rockwell universe. He gets much right. In fact, the local majoritarianism he identifies in their thought is the same reason they could not only argue against the Iraq war and the conflict in the Balkans (reasonable) but wax eloquent about forcing our views [...]
Lee on Jan 19 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
John Tabin at Reason takes a look at how libertarian hopes in various candidates have collapsed in the course of the primaries. The rise of the statist McCain and the theocratic statist Huckabee, looking like some kind of libertarian nightmare. Tabin concludes that the staunch federalist Fred Thompson is the last plausible libertarian option, and [...]
Lee on Jan 15 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Over the Christmas break John Robb tried his hand at being a libertarian Edward Bellamy of sorts, writing a historical overview of a fully privatized United States from the vantage of 2025. It’s not a society I’d care to live in, but it’s a fitting medium for John. The thing that struck me reading the [...]
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