While we should not ignore the problems we do have, we should also not ignore the means that have given us the exponential improvements we have enjoyed. Jonah Goldberg in The Suicide of the West emphasizes that human progress is neither natural or inevitable.
Read More“If Wyoming has to do things the same way as New Jersey, then the battle over federal power — and especially the metastatic power of the ever-more-princely presidency — must be understood by partisans and culture warriors as existential. That, and not the endangered state of what remains of American federalism, is what most deeply ails the body politic.”
Read More“In a liberal democracy, the role of liberalism very often is to prevent democracy from doing what democracy wants to do — liberalism is the grown-up who tells democracy, “No.”
Read MoreThe left has exhibited far more hostility to free speech than Trump has ever remotely considered.
Read MoreWarren shows no understanding of what profit is. It is the signal that determines the best allocation of resources. The better ideas attract the most capital through the profit incentive. Profit is a byproduct of innovation and ideas. Ms. Warren would substitute this with a government bureaucracy who will determine the proper allocation of resources. The would not only squelch economic growth and innovation, it would increase corruption exponentially as businesses curried political rather than consumer approval. Startups would head overseas.
Read More“What do you imagine would happen to the price of a Honda Civic if the federal government gave every young person in the country ten grand and a subsidized loan that could only be used for the purchase of a Honda Civic? “
Read MoreBut repression on the Venezuelan model is not extraneous to socialism — it is baked into the socialist cake. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro (and Castro!), Chàvez, Maduro, Honecker, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, the Kim dynasty, Shining Path: No ideology is that unlucky. “
Read MoreThe politically correct nonsense is worse than illiberal. If they got their wish we would be bored into submission. The diversity they claim to cherish would disappear from American thinking.
Read MoreIt is the illiberalism of the left that should be marginalized. This obsession with white privilege is ludicrous. Those who decry Amy Wax and Charles Murray as racists are just narrow-minded idiots. Those who dwell on people rather than ideas have small and weak minds. Those who dismiss a life’s work because of a single, questionable irrelevant comment, in or out of context, are petty little tyrants.
Read MoreThe left thinks it wins when it silences dissent. This never works, even when it is forced by violence and tyranny. It only impoverishes their own understanding. When I am demonized I do not go away, even though I will no longer engage with you. As one political server noted, the voting booth is the ultimate safe space.
Read MoreThe left has become so illiberal that they not only reject ideas, but they reject the rights of free expression to those who hold those ideas. Their strategy to win an argument is to deny that the argument even exists. By demonizing the opposition as racists, misogynists, bigots or hate-speech, they can dismiss them as unworthy of debate and deny them any platform for expression. The accusations do not have to be true to be effective.
Read More“We end up with a political discourse in which both sides are, at their broadest points, heavily invested in their insistence that there is no good-faith disagreement about policy — there is only the eternal conflict between the guys in the white hats and the guys in the black hats.”
Read More“But these are stupid times, especially for Republicans, who in their pursuit of fleeting political advantage must pretend to be something other than what they are and pretend that Trump is something other than what he is. “
Read More“When the moral equivalent of World War II is not available, then the next best thing is the moral equivalent of Hitler. “
Read MoreThe two world wars of the 20th century required of an expansionist central government that facilitated progressive goals. Peace reduces the need for this central power, thus they seek the “equivalence of war” to sustain progressive central power.
Read MoreIf we want to secure our children from the mentally deranged, then address it locally. Require your local councilmen and commissioners to beef up school security. Hire the needed security personnel (including plain clothed), install the necessary surveillance equipment, provide the checkpoints and metal detectors. Add it to the budget and raise your taxes. When you own the problem, you can solve it.
Read MoreAmerica’s success is a combination of constitutional liberty, heterogeneous culture that has a healthy disrespect for authority, solid protection of property rights, a respect for the common man and a classless society, and willingness to risk and fail. There are certainly hundreds of other attributes, but the combination is uniquely American. Government’s function is to foster and protect the elements of our productive society.
Read MoreGreat moves forward, disruptive ground changing innovations do not happen consistently. They do not adhere to a plan or a budget. The best we can do is create an environment that does not stifle them, that attracts the bright and the motivated, but we do not know if they come from great tax policies, cultural collusion, ethnic diversity, great education, or just an environment of free thinkers.
Read MoreIt is a money decision. Trump money-balled the electoral college and targeted just enough to win. It is a poor investment to invest in races that are so overwhelmingly blue. The result in the current scenario us that the most populous centers do not get a seat at the table and have little leverage to gain any. Thus the critical loss of the state tax deduction that hurts them disproportionately. (now they have to argue that their wealthy taxpayers deserve a break.)
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