Topic: History

Free Markets, Government, History, Regulation

The Government Shouldn’t Decide Who May Practice Law

– August 9, 2022

“Legal licensure wouldn’t be a matter of concern if it were not backed up with the power to exclude and punish anyone who dares to compete with the guild.” ~ George Leef

Government, History, Philosophy

Hannah Arendt’s Chilling Thesis on Evil

– August 6, 2022

“As Arendt explained, ‘Going along with the rest and wanting to say ‘we’ were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible.'” ~ Lawrence W. Reed

Crisis, Government, History, Inflation

Biden Borrows the Nixon Playbook on Recessions

– August 1, 2022

“The White House’s definitional wordsmithing could not overcome the onset of worsening economic realities in 1974, and its frequent appeals to the NBER determination could not run down the clock against a prolonged recession.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

Environmentalism, History, Media

A Cooler Assessment of Heatwave Deaths

– July 26, 2022

“Chasing after sensational headlines predicting doom and gloom do us a disservice. It hides the progress we have made historically and prevents us from using this history to guide public discussions.” ~ Vincent Geloso

Government, History, Philosophy

Conservatism, National or Constitutional?

– July 22, 2022

“National conservatives seem to be trying to beat the left at its own game: to deploy the same disastrous methods but merely switch the ends. This is not a path to lasting improvement.” ~ Tyler Syck

Economic Education, Government, History

Association, Causation, Expectations, and Caveat Civis

– July 18, 2022

“We must recognize that in our current circumstances, honesty requires any serious answer (at least part) to involve ‘it depends,’ not the plethora of ‘trust me; follow my plan, because I know what to do’ from beltway snake oil salesmen.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Books, Government, History

Revisiting the Sage of Monticello

– July 17, 2022

“Kidd has written an excellent moral and spiritual biography of Thomas Jefferson. Contrary to those who claim Jefferson was a secular rationalist, he shows that the Sage of Monticello took Christianity seriously even as he rejected key tenets of orthodoxy.” ~ Mark David Hall

Classical Liberalism, Government, History, Philosophy

The Rule of Law

– July 13, 2022

“The rule of law gives warrant to liberalism. We should better learn to expound on how liberalism promotes the rule of law and how the governmentalization of social affairs tends to destroy the rule of law.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Art and Culture, Government, History

Rule, Britannia?

– July 11, 2022

“Will a sense of British identity prevail over the ambitions of Scottish, Welsh, and Irish nationalists? That is unclear. Perhaps the better question is whether enough people in England will even care.” ~ Samuel Gregg

Economic Education, Free Markets, Government, History

Free Riding, Expressive Voting and Charity

– July 6, 2022

“To the extent the free-rider problem does arise, it is true that government intervention can change how much charity is provided. But that does not mean the result is closer to what we ‘really want’ to give than what we actually give.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Art and Culture, Government, History

Happy Birthday, America; Now Mind How You Go

– July 4, 2022

“America the Beautiful, I wish you a happy birthday. I thank you for your generosity over these decades, and I say sincerely, ‘Mind how you go.’ The world needs your seeking to be fair and just, and full of possibility, not divided and rancorous, and a threat to yourself.” ~ Llewellyn King

Authoritarianism, Government, History

From Victims to Pawns: New York’s About-Face on Marijuana

– July 2, 2022

“Politicians’ sudden moral awakening would be much more believable if their efforts sought to deliver maximum benefit to the people they harmed rather than to deliver maximum benefit to the political class under the guise of helping their former victims.” ~ Antony Davies