In this fascinating discussion, Jonathan Haidt explores and increasingly divided nation and what we can do to overcome the division. There’s even an unintentional reference to the theory of concurrence from Everyone Agrees: Read more →
Politics
What Does it Mean to be Free? Review of The Free State of Jones
Netwon Knight decided at one point during the South’s secession from the United States, that he didn’t want to fight their war. Mississippi had seceded primarily over the issue of slavery and Knight didn’t own any slaves. He saw the conflict as poor people fighting for wealthy people and after losing his nephew, decided he’d had enough. So, he left.… Read more →
Only the Saints Can Withstand the Temptation of Political Power… And None of Them Want to be Politicians.
John Bel Edwards’s War on Prosperity
I awoke this morning to find my Amazon Affiliates account terminated. For anyone who does affiliate marketing or benefits from online ads, this can be a terrifying alert. You’ve spent years building up an online link network that is finally generating some income and you’re happy because after all that hard work, your family can finally eat. Then your account… Read more →
John Bel Edwards: Don’t Make Me Regret Moving to Louisiana
My wife and I decided to move to Louisiana from Texas in 2015 for her to be closer to her family and for me to be closer to good gumbo. It was a difficult move because Texas was the land of opportunity with no income tax, a flourishing economy, and the best brisket in the world. But, while I was… Read more →
The Morality of Libertarianism
Everyone is libertarian . . . for themselves. The trick is getting people to be libertarian for everyone else as well. No one likes it when people to tell them what to do. Nobody wants a nagging, paternalistic busy-body constantly poking and prodding in their personal or even public life. It’s offensive to one’s sense of sovereignty and basic reason.… Read more →
Agreement in the Time of Zika
2015 was pretty bad for the concept of agreement. Religious differences spurred despicable terrorist attacks; protests across the US resulted in antagonism between racial minorities and police; and caustic political vitriol seemed to be at an all-time high across the globe. As one commentator wrote, “If you ask 100 different people how we should fix this country, you are going to… Read more →
Why All Libertarians Should Be Pro-Life
At a gathering of liberty-minded young professionals the other night, someone asked if there was a way to unify all libertarians. The joking answer was, “Don’t bring up abortion.” Libertarians—more than any group of people—can find common ground on just about everything, but when it comes to the contentious issue of abortion, it seems that libertarian principles (and conversational civility)… Read more →
Let My People Rent!
We are in the midst of a dramatic sea change in technological society. Just a few years ago, for services like getting a ride or a night’s stay, we had to rely on bloated, bureaucratic corporations. Now, with technology and the Internet, anyone with a computer can become an entrepreneur in 60 seconds and offer those services to the rest… Read more →
This is What Happens When Every Kid Gets a Trophy
Millennials are the most social-justice-warring generation ever and it’s hard to imagine anything less appealing to them than an old white man forgetting to check his privilege and doing something so insensitive as becoming president of the United States. Yet, here the are in a recent Monmouth study, saying that they want old, white Bernie Sanders as president. And this… Read more →