Departments

;

Liberty and Power

  • Aug 27, 2004

    Liberty, Power, and Geeks

    by Liberty and Power

    Sigh. We have a wonderful debate about same-sex marriage and all kinds of good stuff about 527s, but Aeon posts a thread on sci-fi and it gets the largest number of comments I've seen since I've been on L&P. Don't get me wrong, I love sci-fi, but we might have reached new heights of geekdom - and living up to libertarian stereotypes!
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Bush, Kerry, Vietnam, and Those 527s

    by Liberty and Power

    I discuss President Bush’s position on 527 committees and John Kerry’s statements about his time in Vietnam in an article titled “Cynical Presidential Candidates.
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Where Did America Go?

    by Liberty and Power

    How distressing is it that today it is perfectly acceptable for anyone, including the President of the United States, to advocate the censorship of political speech during a campaign? The references to technical-sounding "527 committees" just obscure the fact that private individuals donate their own money to place anti-Bush or anti-Kerry commercials on television. Calling on the government to stop this--by
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Let Him Through, He's A Scientist!

    by Liberty and Power

    According to a “group of international scientists,” the following are the top ten science-fiction films:

    1. Blade Runner

    2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

    3. Star Wars+ The Empire Strikes Back

    4. Alien

    5. Solaris (1972 version)

    6. The Terminator+T2:Judgement Day

    7. The Day The Earth Stood Still

    8. War of the Worlds

    9. The Matrix

    10. CE3K

    I guess the group of s

  • Aug 27, 2004

    Polyannish on Polygamy

    by Liberty and Power

    Tossing another two cents into the Bean/Horwitz debate below:

    My question in my initial comment was "If the State of Illinois were to declare interracial marriages invalid, should the university roll over and refuse to grant benefits to interracial couples?" I haven't seen an answer to that yet.

    And on polygamy: I certainly think polygamy should be legal (regardless of whether it's likely to be stable and regardless or whether it's likely to win public accep
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Did Pol Pot Torture Kittens?

    by Liberty and Power

    Though some people don't seem to get it, there are valid reasons to criticize certain Bush campaign attacks on John Kerry. Moreover, those reasons needn't include adoration of the pompous patrician from Massachusetts.

    Let us assume that Kerry is bad, nay, evil, nay, worse than Bush. (I believe the first two charges and am willing to entertain arguments for the third.) Does it then follow that anything negative (or ostensibly negative) said about him must be accepted or

  • Aug 27, 2004

    Oops!

    by Liberty and Power

    I forgot to plug my article in defense of"price-gouging. I argue that if we must have a law, let's have one that requires gouging. It's here.
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Metaphor Is Also a Refuge for Scoundrels

    by Liberty and Power

    From Paul Krugman’s column today in the New York Times:

    “What we need, according to [John Kerry’s view of the country’s health-care problems], is for the government to assume more of the risk….”

    Translation: Far heavier tax burdens should be imposed by threat of violence on the most productive people in the country, the very ones who do most of the saving and investing, that is, the financing of life-saving

  • Aug 27, 2004

    Same Sex Benefits Retort

    by Liberty and Power

    There is a short and long-term POLITICAL problem here that libertarians, comfortable with theory, are wont to tackle.

    In the long-term, we (even Horowitz intimates this), may want the State out of the "marriage business," but in the short-term we live in the real, nitty-gritty world of state-governed rules that tightly bind state institutions in particular (note to Horowitz: your point concerning the latitude of private firms is well-taken but I, and most professors and st
  • Aug 27, 2004

    Eternal Vigilance!

    by Liberty and Power

    NYC has already had more protest-oriented arrests in the past couple of days than Boston had during the entire Democratic convention last month. Yesterday, ACT UP activists stripped on Eighth Avenue to protest the Bush administration's AIDS policy, among other things, and were promptly carted away by the cops. Mayor Bloomberg didn't flinch:"This is New York. Of course, we had seven naked people on Eighth Ave. What's t

  • Aug 27, 2004

    Same Sex Benefits

    by Liberty and Power

    I wanted to take a moment to respond to Jonathan's argument below, but I didn't want to stick it in the comments.  First, Rod's point in the first comment is right on target - why should anyone who self-describes as a libertarian (whether as a pure noun or as an adjective modifying conservative) care how the state defines marriage?  If the recognition of same-sex relationships is the right thing to do, it's th

  • Aug 26, 2004

    A Libertarian Interpretation of Same Sex Benefits

    by Liberty and Power

    NOTE: My campus is currently roiled by our Chancellor's refusal to extend various benefits to "domestic partners" (a euphemism for homosexual partners). By state law, he or the college board CANNOT extend the same benefits to homosexual couples as to married ones. Some libertarians defend this as an expansion of "liberty," but leaving aside the question as to whether the State should be involved in the first place (moot: it is), libertarian supporters of same-sex benefits are
  • Aug 26, 2004

    Naked Boys Singing! NOT

    by Liberty and Power

    Some Republicans are not very happy campers over Dick Cheney's words of support for his lesbian daughter, which come, curiously, a few days before the GOP convention in NYC. Apparently, the federalist idea that marriage regulations should be decided on a state-by-state basis is just not appealing to those who seek a national, constitutional amendment defining the institution in strictly heterosexual terms.

    Now comes word th

  • Aug 26, 2004

    Crime and Causation

    by Liberty and Power

    An exceptional column appeared in today’s Washington Times. Author Stanton E. Samenow puts forth what is becoming an increasingly radical idea; when we look at the reason for the commission of a crime, maybe we might want to look at the person who actually committed it rather than rap music, violent TV, neglectful parents, missed summers in the Hamptons, or poor toilet training.
  • Aug 26, 2004

    And A Child Will Lead Them

    by Liberty and Power

    Hats off to the U.S. Women's Soccer Team and their thrilling victory over Brazil for the gold medal today on two scores from the young players - not the vets. I confess that I've been a huge women's soccer fan since my days as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, and seeing the so-called"Class of 1991" win the gold was a fitting way to say goodbye. It also signaled something that may take some getting used to for American fans - losing. Brazil was clearly the better side to
  • Aug 26, 2004

    The Olympic Idea

    by Liberty and Power

    NBC's coverage of the Olympics has included a few touching human interest stories, allowing us to glimpse a spiritual subtext to the physically demanding competitions on the field. Some of these stories are of an historical nature. In one feature, Tom Brokaw detailed the Olympic games of 1944. 1944? History records that there were no games during World War II. But these games were unique.

    On the 60th anniversary