Tag Archives: socialism

The Permission for Resistance

Brief except of a talk at the 92nd Street Y between Salman Rushdie and Irshad Manji, discussing the possibility of reform against extremism in the Islamic faith. Rushdie draws a fine parallel with the experience of the Western left during … Continue reading

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The Philippines as Red State

Filipino writer Benjamin Pimentel is surprised to discover that his countrymen were among the very few foreign populations to prefer John McCain to Barack Obama in a Gallup international survey. A happy place for Republicans in a lonely world apparently, as … Continue reading

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Socialism, Polls, Matt Drudge

You’ve probably heard that John McCain has denounced Barack Obama’s ‘spread the wealth’ formulation for tax policy as socialism. It’s an inflammatory but not unjustified charge, as a good definition for socialism is the equitable distribution of wealth to the … Continue reading

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Christopher Hitchens on Robert Mugabe

I’d heard that Hitch addressed the situation in Zimbabwe in his introductory remarks at the Freedom Fest 2008 debate with Dinesh D’Souza, but I hadn’t seen the video of it until today. It’s worth a watch. The subject of the … Continue reading

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Family in Trouble

American Daily The single most important building block of any nation is her families. Destroy that and you can easily lay claim to a nation’s soul. I agree. I think we have failed to maintain the nuclear family and lost … Continue reading

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Free To Fail

As anyone who reads my blog knows, I love competition.  Bridge is all about using your mind and creativity to best advantage – and then hoping that you can best the opponents due to it. In America, we’ve always been … Continue reading

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George Lakoff: Neo-Syndicalist

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. … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Domestic Politics, Election 2008, History, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Philosophy, social science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Backdoor Kyoto — The Next Chapter

The march of the watermelons towards control of US policy continues apace: Polar bears will now be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. But in announcing the listing, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said the decision should … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, energy, Environment, Law, MichaelW's Page, regulation, science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Another Western Way of War

From a somewhat shocking interview of Victor Davis Hanson by Swiss newspaper Junge Freiheit, Abe Greenwald clips a portion where Hanson ferociously thrashes the contemporary European Weltanschuuang. He calls it a secularized, socialist pacifism, that has deluded a continent into … Continue reading

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The Sickening

A Cuban medical office with a sign reading “No prescriptions available.” Photo by: Dr. Darsi Ferrer [via The Real Cuba]. News of Fidel Castro’s retirement has elicited some interesting responses. Chris Bertram’s has to be one of the most arrogant … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Education, Foreign affairs, Health Care, MichaelW's Page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Blessing of our Vice

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.   -Winston Churchill

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What Else Fascism?

There’s editorial sensationalism, and then there’s Keith Olbermann. Consider Mr. Olbermann on Bush recently: “If you believe in the seamless mutuality of government and big business, come out and say it! There is a dictionary definition, one word that describes … Continue reading

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Where’s The Youth?

The current dust-up over the Cuban-Che flag (flags?) hanging in the Houston campaign office for Barack Obama (opened by supporters, with actual staffers intended to occupy by next week), has spawned some interesting commentary. Captain Ed advised: Oh, my. Barack … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Election 2008, MichaelW's Page, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Blood For Oil

Joseph Kennedy II supports blood for oil. In recent months, my TV has been bombarded with ads from Joe Kennedy promoting his Citizens Energy program, such as the following: The heating oil distributed by Citizens Energy comes from Venezuela on … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, energy, Foreign affairs, Hugo Chavez, MichaelW's Page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Death by Fairness

photo: Simón Pais-Thomas Mick at Uncorrelated has another lovely post on the essentially vile character and politics of Mike Huckabee. Toward the end of his remarks he briefly hits Huckabee’s proposed Fair Tax: …and politically DOA policy planks like the … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Lee's Page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Noneconomic Man in Modern Europe

photo: Tal Bright Thomas Barnett bemoans the grotesque state of economics education in Europe, which often ranges from the anti-capitalist to the simply fatuous. But consider this item he cites: Great French HS textbook: “Globalization implies subjugation of the world … Continue reading

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Anti-FARC March in D.C.

John Lilyea has the goods: So I decided to add my voice to the millions worldwide from here in DC. I was really surprised that an ad hoc organization put together such a large demonstration in such a short period … Continue reading

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Chavez’s Demise

Assuming he doesn’t double down on the oppression, will come as his oil company collapses.

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The food crisis accelerates

Following through on what was reported yesterday, Hugo Chavez continues to step up the pressure on food producers: Venezuela’s top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of … Continue reading

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Retreat to the Fringe

Social conservatives and particularly crypto-socialist social conservatives (or “populists” if you prefer), are inevitably going to be a minority faction within the GOP. But to their great credit they themselves recognize this. The implications of that self-awareness are dire for … Continue reading

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Toward a New Italian Left

Here’s a fascinating little article on Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome and the new leading light of the Italian Left. Vetroni has worked to create a more moderate and flexible social democratic political culture in Italy. Modeling his new … Continue reading

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The Smell Of Socialism

What does socialism smell like? At first blush I can’t be much more specific than “pungent and bad.” Luckily the enterprising Catalan Socialist Party has brewed up a concoction as a campaign stunt that promises to answer this confounding quandary: … Continue reading

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That Didn’t Take Long

Hugo Chavez breaks his vow to not seek president-for-life powers again. According to Chavez the new referendum will ask: “two questions: ‘Do you agree that Hugo Chavez should continue as president?’ and concurrently ‘Do you agree to a small constitutional … Continue reading

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Venezuela’s coming Kristallnacht

McQ points us to a new, if all too familiar, turn the ugly situation in Venezuela is taking: Venezuelan Jews, long uneasy with the Chávez government’s alliances with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that espouse anti-Israel views, are concerned … Continue reading

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Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Echoing a wonderful discussion we had in the fall of 2006 on the nature of Fascism (see here, here and here) Jonah Goldberg writes a book which bristles at the use of the term by the contemporary left. I would … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Culture, Domestic Politics, History, Lance's Page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Milton Friedman vs. Naomi Klein

Happy New Year! To start off the year right, let’s have a look at a mock-up of a debate between Naomi Klein, reporter-activist extraordinaire, and Milton Friedman, king of economic liberty (via Instapundit). This video was put together by Devil’s … Continue reading

Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Milton Friedman Memorial Page, social science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments