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Liberty and Power

  • Dec 18, 2006

    Blacks Versus the New Deal

    by Liberty and Power

    Quite some time ago, I mentioned that I had come across some fascinating cartoons by"L. Rogers" in The Chicago Defender which were highly critical of the New Deal. The Defender was the leading black newspaper in the United States.

    As David Bernstein and

  • Dec 18, 2006

    Pinochet and Friedman

    by Liberty and Power

    Brian Doherty of Reason has a thoughtful piece on the"relationship" between the right-wing Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, and Milton Friedman. The typical left and right analyses of Pinochet and the economic policies followed by his regime are inexcusably simplistic. So Doherty's take is a welcome example of care and nuance.
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  • Dec 17, 2006

    Obey: "A Lot of People Will Be Left Short"

    by Liberty and Power

    This news is mildly encouraging:

    Republican leaders left behind just enough spending authority to keep the government operating through mid-February, less than halfway through the 2007 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Democrats have signaled that when they take control of Congress in January they will extend that funding authority for the remainder of the year based largely on
  • Dec 14, 2006

    Iraq Study Group: Death by Consensus

    by Liberty and Power

    When John Kerry came back from fighting in Vietnam, he famously inquired, How do you ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake? Regarding the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group (ISG), a lot of people would like to know, How do you ask a man to be the last to die for a bipartisan compromise?
    The rest of my op-ed "Death by Consensus" is at the website of
  • Dec 12, 2006

    Questions on Mises V and VI: Two Questions on Fiat Money

    by Liberty and Power

    Monetary self-education continues below the fold.

    When Ludwig von Mises wrote The Theory of Money and Credit, it was unclear to him whether any country had ever employed a purely fiat currency -- that is, a currency that was neither a commodity nor a promise to pay a commodity. The year was 1912; virtually all monies were then either actual commodities (ie, coins made of real gold or silver) -- or they were credit money (ie, a promise to pay real gold or silve

  • Dec 12, 2006

    Free Speech Resolution on the Ballot at the AHA Meeting in Atlanta

    by Liberty and Power

    Over thirty members of the American Historical Association endorsed a free speech resolution, more than enough to put it to a vote at the AHA business meeting in Atlanta on Saturday, January 6. Here it is:

    RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE USE OF SPEECH CODES TO RESTRICT ACADEMIC FREEDOM

    Whereas, The American Historical Association has already gone on record against the threat to academic freedom posed by the Academic Bill of Rights;

    Whereas, Free and open discourse is essential to the

  • Dec 11, 2006

    A Dictator Dismantled

    by Liberty and Power

    This account struck me as a fair appraisal of Augusto Pinochet.

    "Pinochet was admitted late to the plot that led to the coup against President Salvador Allende on September 11 1973. His genius was to appropriate power to himself and to use terror, both to eliminate opponents on the left and to intimidate those members of the armed forces who upheld constitutional rule. The dictatorship he installed was not
  • Dec 10, 2006

    Simon Jenkins on the Possibility of a Realistic America

    by Liberty and Power

    You can read another fine article from Simon Jenkins here.

    "Strong countries can bomb and invade weak ones but not conquer them. They can sow destruction but not ordain peace. America will have humiliated only itself in this region and will not return for a long time. While its withdrawal from Europe would have been dreadful during the cold war, its withdrawal from this debacle can only be welcome.

    "T
  • Dec 10, 2006

    Andrew Sullivan on a Sinister New America

    by Liberty and Power

    For once, Andrew Sullivan has written a column that is well worth reading from beginning to end. Go here to read his take on the detention of Jose Padilla and what it portends for individual liberty in these United States of America.

    "More than two centuries after the construction of the US constitution, almost eight centuries since Magna Carta, Americans are at the mercy of a new king, who can jail without char
  • Dec 9, 2006

    An Interview with David Starkey

    by Liberty and Power

    Britain's highest-paid historian is also acclaimed as"Britain's rudest man." He doesn't suffer fools gladly. So how would he get on with The Independent's intrepid interviewer? Go here to find out.
  • Dec 9, 2006

    G. I. Justice

    by Liberty and Power

    [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

    The government gives us our rights.

    Or so many Americans have been taught to believe.

    Now the authors of the U. S. Constitution were far from perfect – to put it mildly. But they would never have dreamed of claiming that they were giving people rights. Alexander Hamilton, for example,

  • Dec 9, 2006

    Global Warming and the Scientific Method

    by Liberty and Power

    One of the best reading experiences I ever had came in the form of The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley. In her novel she chronicled the plight of the Norse people living in Greenland as the medieval warm period ended during the 14th century. As it grew colder each passing year fewer ships came to trade and food became more and more scarce. Life degenerated into an absolutely brutal struggle for survival.

    Smiley's book is