When the parties are this closely divided, small, sometimes extreme elements can exercise far more power than their numbers would justify. The solution is either to win with larger margins to relegate extreme minorities to the sidelines or to secure strong party leadership that can control errant minorities. The latter, at the moment, is like putting the toothpaste back in the tube. We apparently are one of the few countries where the political parties exercise no control over who runs under the party label.
Read More“Hyphenated capitalism is no capitalism at all. The better name for it is socialism lite.” Nikki Haley
Read More“Why wait until one can build popular majorities and win elections on your policy platform when unelected judges could give you the results now? Why should judges rely on broadly accepted principles of limited government when they could instead enforce polarizing but substantively rich principles of the public good? “
Read More” If critical race theory were critical in any meaningful sense (a more descriptive name might be self-satisfied race theory), it would critically explain why those politicians most answerable to black voters seem to do so little to improve their lot.”
Read MoreThey are not blind to the shortcomings of those ideals, nor are they willing to ignore the value of those ideals. Only by demonizing Enlightenment values can we find racism in math and science. In reacting to CRT as they are they are fighting to retain Enlightenment values.
Read MoreSo for a high premium price the Ivy League provides negative value. Students are either coddled or cowards. Getting expelled may increase your job value. Woke is a liability in the job market outside of academia and a few government positions.
Read MoreThe fact that the history of the Tulsa massacre is such an outrage is because it is so rare today; indicative of the phenomenal progress we have made. We cannot change the past but we can impact the future. That means reckoning with the past honestly but also reckoning with the present honestly. In Discrimination and Disparities Thomas Sowell addresses several other causes of inequities other than discrimination in the past and the present. Real progress requires honesty more than outrage.
Read MoreWhen you rob Peter to pay Paul you can always count on Paul’s approval, but you cannot count on Peter to remain cooperative. Peter has options.
Read MoreBanning books is no different than burning them. Tolerating this nonsense is how tyrannical minorities assume power.
Read More“Both ideologies aim to tear down the existing system and replace it with utopias that always turn out to be hellish anarchies: Islamic State in Raqqa, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle. Both are collectivist: Group identity trumps the individual. Both tolerate—and often glorify—violence carried out by zealots.”
Read MoreNew data indicates that the disease arrived here much earlier than we thought, has already spread to many more people than we thought, and based on the estimated cases as compared to diagnosed cases the mortality is much less than we thought.
Read MoreThe impeachment seemed liked a hail Mary from the inception, motivated more by rage than reason. That is precisely why the constitution designed the process as they did to start in the House and then move to the Senate. Rather than viewed as a Constitutional crisis, it should be affirmed as its proper functioning. It does not become a threat to the constitutional order just because you disagree with the outcome.
Read MoreTo those who claim insurance is immune to market forces, I would suggest that the problem is that it is not. If a grocery store was required to get a certificate of need to open up a new store and the competitors got to make the decision what would likely happen to the price of food. What would happen if an association of grocers could determine who is allowed to sell food? What would happen to the price of your auto insurance of you filed a claim for oil changes and preventative maintenance? What happens to anything when you restrict supply and expand demand?
Read MoreNo business is likely to prosper by neglecting its employees, customers, suppliers, or the community, but none of these ‘stakeholders’ can benefit unless the business can turn a profit and provide a suitable return to its shareholders. These actors who assume otherwise are either a)ignorant of business dynamics and the function of prices and profits or b) suffering from a guilty conscience and projecting their own moral compromises onto others.
Read MoreWarren is the epitome of the fatal flaw of our government; promising benefits without paying for them, hiding the costs in a maze of cross subsidies, mandates, taxes, regulations and proxies. Contending that she can execute this strictly on the backs of the rich is a grotesque lie that only fools would believe.
Read More“Mr. Philippon is no fan of regulation. On the contrary, in his view political lobbying ensures that regulatory regimes benefit the status quo by limiting the entry and growth of small firms that might become challengers to big market players.”
Read MoreScience and politics mixes as well as religion and politics. Politics puts science in a box; but science functions best best when there is no damn box. Healthy skepticism is demonized. The strength of an argument can be measured in its tolerance of and response to dissent.
Read MoreTrump maybe correct in recognizing China’s destructive trade policies, but he is wrong to think that alone justifies a trade war. He is wrong to think that Twitter is an acceptable negotiation platform, and he is wrong to think that he is the only national leader with stubborn pride. Xi does not face an election in 2020 and has the political advantage of waiting him out, even if there are in a weaker economic position.
Read MoreIf you prioritize economic growth over social spending, you will have a great measure of both: if you prioritize social spending over growth you will have less of both.
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