War: the ultimate shovel-ready project.
Friday, August 21, 2009 - 00:22
Comments
Where in these words does it indicate that the national government may regulate only interstate commerce?
I know it's been interpreted that way since about 1808 (not 1789), but why? Does the text actually support that interpretation and no other? Not according to William Crosskey's detailed study of word usage in the late eighteenth century (Politics and the Constitution in the History of the Unites States).
It's not as if the framers of the Constitution were unable to write, "between Citizens of different States." They used that phrase in defining the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Maybe the Antifederalists were right. Maybe the Constitution did grant the national government plenary power over commerce and much else.
"The Congress shall have Power ... To regulate Commerce ... among the several States....
I know it's been interpreted that way since about 1808 (not 1789), but why? Does the text actually support that interpretation and no other? Not according to William Crosskey's detailed study of word usage in the late eighteenth century (Politics and the Constitution in the History of the Unites States).
It's not as if the framers of the Constitution were unable to write, "between Citizens of different States." They used that phrase in defining the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Maybe the Antifederalists were right. Maybe the Constitution did grant the national government plenary power over commerce and much else.
Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 23:36
Watched Clint Eastwood's two excellent Iwo Jima movies,"Flags of Our Fathers" and"Letters from Iwo Jima," this weekend. Moral: the world would be a better place if no one thought his country was something to fight or die for. That's also the moral of"The Americanization of Emily." I highly recommend all three movies.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Sunday, August 16, 2009 - 10:48
My old friend Dan Klein of George Mason University has compiled a fascinating group of quotations on not-the-usual topics for Econ Journal Watch."Intellectual Hazard: A Liberal Selection of Quotations" is here (pdf).
Sunday, August 16, 2009 - 11:14
Barack Obama and many others want the government to get into the health-insurance business. Very good. Is the government in any other kind of insurance? As a matter of fact, it is: flood insurance. It essentially has a monopoly. Here's a Reuters story about the House last month extending the"troubled [i.e., broke] program" for six months while postponing a comprehensive overhaul. Why does it need an overhaul?
The program has been deep in debt ever since the costly hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Repeated rescue efforts have failed....
[T]he administration said it favors forgiving the 40-year-old program's $19 billion debt.
This would not be the first time the program was bailed out by Congress or had its huge debt forgiven. This trouble did not begin with Katrina. See this article I wrote 16 years ago. (Scroll down.)
About the postponement of comprehensive reform, Reuters reports that Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank"said discussion on repairing the program needed to be put off due to other pressing matters, including healthcare and financial regulation reforms."
Translation: Government can't fix what it's already screwed up right now because it's too busy screwing up some other things.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 11:24
Why should the people get something through government–that is, at the point of a gun–simply because they want it?The rest of TGIF is here.
Friday, June 26, 2009 - 09:31
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Palestinians can have their own country ... if, if, if, and if. See details here.
Reminds me of the story philosopher Norman Malcolm told about Wittgenstein:
When in very good spirits he would jest in a delightful manner. This took the form of deliberately absurd or extravagant remarks uttered in a tone, and with the mien, of affected seriousness. On one walk he"gave" me each tree that we passed, with the reservation that I was not to cut it down or do anything to it, or prevent the previous owners from doing anything to it: with those reservations they were henceforth mine.Cross-posted at Free Association.
Monday, June 15, 2009 - 08:21
Rachel Maddow called Obama's "prolonged detention" plan "one of the most radical proposals to defy the Constitution."
Keith Olbermann didn't mention it, preferring to focus on the closing of Gitmo and Cheney's speech.
Kudos to Maddow!
Keith Olbermann didn't mention it, preferring to focus on the closing of Gitmo and Cheney's speech.
Kudos to Maddow!
Friday, May 22, 2009 - 09:49
My take on the inauguration is here. Here's a taste:
The peaceful transition from the Bush to the Obama regime is indeed the occasion, but let’s focus on exactly what is being transferred. Despite the oratory about hope, change, and renewal, government — as someone, perhaps George Washington, said — “is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force.” If that is right — and I contend it is — then in the inauguration we have the irony of a peaceful transfer of something that is anything but peaceful: the legal power to use physical force.
This is something to celebrate?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 08:29
I spent much of my recent vacation reading Henry Hazlitt's chapter-by-chapter demolition of Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), The Failure of the"New Economics" (1959). I didn't expect to read the book cover to cover, but after only a few pages I had to keep going. It is that well-written and interesting. I'm now a few pages from the end.
The more I read the more I thought: Keynes was surely joking. No one in his position could really be that confused, contradictory, and ignorant of economic logic. It had to be a gag on the economics profession, an emperor-with-no-clothes experiment.
Thus I smiled when I got to Hazlitt's statement in chapter XXV,"Did Keynes Recant?" (p. 398):
At any rate, I highly recommend Hazlitt's book. Don Boudreaux says that Richard Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker proves that any subject, no matter how complex, can be written about clearly and accessibly. I say the same about The Failure of the"New Economics."
Cross-posted at Anything Peaceful and Free Association.
The more I read the more I thought: Keynes was surely joking. No one in his position could really be that confused, contradictory, and ignorant of economic logic. It had to be a gag on the economics profession, an emperor-with-no-clothes experiment.
Thus I smiled when I got to Hazlitt's statement in chapter XXV,"Did Keynes Recant?" (p. 398):
Keynes was a brilliant man. Much of what he wrote he wrote in tongue-in-cheek, for the pleasure of paradox, to épater le bourgois [shock the middle class], in the spirit of Wilde, Shaw, and the Bloomsbury circle. Perhaps the whole of the General Theory was intended as a huge (400-page) joke, and Keynes was appalled to find disciples who took it all literally.If it was a joke, Keynes helped inflict much misery and oppression on innocent people just for a laugh. I guess for the elitist Keynes, the well-being of the masses can't be allowed to impede his bold and daring lifestyle. It is for people like him that secularists like me wish there was a place of fire and brimstone.
At any rate, I highly recommend Hazlitt's book. Don Boudreaux says that Richard Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker proves that any subject, no matter how complex, can be written about clearly and accessibly. I say the same about The Failure of the"New Economics."
Cross-posted at Anything Peaceful and Free Association.
Sunday, January 4, 2009 - 12:14
Everyone committed to individual freedom in general and the right to keep and bear arms in particular will be interested in the Second Amendment Book Bomb. The book is The Founders' Second Amendment by Stephen Halbrook, a top gun-rights scholar whom I've known for years. The point of the book bomb is to bring public attention to the right to keep and bear arms by putting Steve's book at the top of the bestseller lists. I pass this along from the sponsor:
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The Second Amendment has already won a historic victory on June 26, 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and bear arms. However, the Heller ruling was immediately attacked and efforts continue on the national level and across the country to undermine gun rights. Therefore, to secure the Second Amendment now and for the future the American public must be made aware of the reasons why the Founders sought to protect this right.
And now we have the tool to do so. Fascinating, seminal, and inspiring, the new book, The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, by Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, is the perfect way both to educate ourselves and to reach friends and family who don’t yet understand Second Amendment rights. Our goal is to reach one million Americans with Dr. Halbrook’s book during the Holiday Season and throughout the New Year ahead. Will you help?
To achieve this goal the Second Amendment Book Bomb website has been established to create a phenomenon so great that even the mainstream media will have to take notice. Let’s spread The Founders’ Second Amendment so far and wide that Americans across the political spectrum, and all walks of life, will be discussing the Second Amendment in every possible venue.
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Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 09:17
I am saddened to announce that my longtime colleague and Freeman. managing editor, Beth A. Hoffman, passed away Monday at the age of 58. Beth, who joined the FEE staff over 30 years ago, was beloved by the Foundation’s many friends and supporters. She worked tirelessly and ably in a variety of capacities, including the editing of books and other materials. But her great love was The Freeman, which she served as managing editor for many years. While her important work was behind the scenes, it was not unheralded. She was a true champion of liberty whose contributions were many and long-lasting.
She will be missed.
She is survived by her husband, Peter, and son, Ted.
She will be missed.
She is survived by her husband, Peter, and son, Ted.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - 10:18
Chris Matthews, host of"Hardball" on MSNBC (it really should be called Nerfball), last night found the idea of an African-American libertarian laughable. Now why in the world would he want to insult African-Americans that way?
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 09:16
Another presidential election has come and gone, only this time the results are astoundingly and, yes, satisfyingly historic. In light of our racial history and leaving aside political philosophy, I am overjoyed at what Barack Obama’s election means. I cannot put it better than Will Wilkinson did at The Fly Bottle, “It means something profound that a black man was elected to the most visible, high-status position our society offers. The mere fact that Obama won truly does make our society a better place.” I also share Wilkinson’s reservations. In a truly free society, the presidency would not be the most visible high-status position our society offers. That designation would be reserved for a variety of private-sector roles. Unfortunately, however, the presidency does have that status today, and Obama’s election must be appreciated from that perspective. Relatedly, I am uneasy about, though understanding of, the public displays that followed John McCain’s concession Tuesday night. Again, Wilkinson: “[F]rankly, I hope never to see again streets thronging with people chanting the victorious leader’s name.” Amen.
President-elect Obama’s many supporters and well-wishers have great confidence in his ability to solve the economic problems that vex American society. That ability is said to lie in his cool judgment, his good intentions, and his eloquence. Let us grant that he possesses all three. Valuable as they are, they will be useless if he attempts to solve our economic problems directly by an exercise of power. That’s because there is something he does not have -- something no man or woman can have: the power to repeal the laws of economics.
The rest of this week's TGIF,"Humility or Hubris?" is at the Foundation for Economic Education website.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 09:22
I am saddened by the news that Marshall Fritz, my friend and constant source of inspiration, died yesterday at age 65 after a long struggle against cancer. Marshall was founder of both the Advocates for Self-Government and the Alliance for the Separation for School and State. It was in the latter context that Marshall and I worked together. He founded the Alliance in 1994, just as my book Separating School and State was being published, though neither of us knew in advance what the other was up to. Marshall's conferences (SepCons) were important gatherings of the wide variety of advocates of education freedom and opponents of government schooling. The Alliance continues to play a key role in promoting liberation of families from the state.
Marshall was a great public speaker, whose eloquence flowed from his love of life and his love of liberty. Because of his enthusiasm about the future and his great humor, Marshall was unforgettable. He was as decent a human being as I've ever known. Through all his medical challenges he was unfailingly optimistic and inspirational.
I will miss him very much.
Marshall was a great public speaker, whose eloquence flowed from his love of life and his love of liberty. Because of his enthusiasm about the future and his great humor, Marshall was unforgettable. He was as decent a human being as I've ever known. Through all his medical challenges he was unfailingly optimistic and inspirational.
I will miss him very much.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - 12:11
Around the corner from FEE's offices, on Main Street in Irvington, N.Y., there's a life-size statue of Rip Van Winkle awakening from his 20-year slumber. After reading Jacob Weisberg's Newsweek and Slate columns this week, I feel as though I must have been asleep for an equally long time. According to Weisberg, editor in chief of Slate, the financial turmoil taking place worldwide is the fault of . . . libertarians. That must mean libertarians have been in a position to repeal generations of deep-seated government intervention in the financial and related industries, including the Federal Reserve system. That would have taken a long time, yet I don't recall reading that a libertarian revolution occurred in the United States. Surely it would have been in the newspapers. Hence, I must conclude that I, like old Rip, was slumbering all those years. I missed the revolution! It's the only possible explanation. Unless Weisberg is wrong.
The rest of this week's TGIF,"Who Needs Evidence?" is at the Foundation for Economic Education website.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Friday, October 24, 2008 - 10:11
I don't think Republicans would be using Obama's middle name if it weren't Middle Eastern-sounding. Do you?
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - 18:56
If you want to see the criminality of the U.S. government in all its glory, observe that Rep. Barney Frank, one of the men responsible for the current economic debacle, will head the investigation into what caused that debacle.
About the bailout of Wall Street, Frank had the nerve to say,"We were the EMTs rushing to the rescue of an economy that suddenly found itself choking, but now we have to perform more serious reform."
A better analogy would be this: Frank & Co. were choking the American people and while doing so, they picked the people's pockets and handed their money to Wall Street.
When will guys like this finally go to prison?
Cross-posted at Free Association.
About the bailout of Wall Street, Frank had the nerve to say,"We were the EMTs rushing to the rescue of an economy that suddenly found itself choking, but now we have to perform more serious reform."
A better analogy would be this: Frank & Co. were choking the American people and while doing so, they picked the people's pockets and handed their money to Wall Street.
When will guys like this finally go to prison?
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Saturday, October 4, 2008 - 11:48
Some cable commentators, Joe Scarborough, for one, think Sarah Palin deep down is a libertarian. It must be really deep down because there was no sign of it last night. Her explanation for the economic turmoil is "greed and corruption on Wall Street," which she promised McCain and she would clean up. You couldn't even tell from her remarks that Fannie and Freddie were creatures of the government. She pointed out that McCain favored tough regulation of them years ago.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Friday, October 3, 2008 - 14:32
Have you noticed how many pro-"free-market" politicians and pundits believe that theory is a luxury we cannot afford in this time of crisis? What they are probably too dense to realize is that their support for a bailout of Wall Street is also based on a theory. Only it's a bad one.
With allies like that, we hardly need adversaries.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
With allies like that, we hardly need adversaries.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Friday, October 3, 2008 - 14:27
