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Liberty and Power

  • Feb 26, 2004

    Wendy McElroy, Subtle Censorship

    by Liberty and Power

    Dangerous forms of censorship are occurring below the radar-level of civil libertarians. Information is being both curtailed and promoted by the State -- depending on the material's slant -- in covert ways that receive far less attention than the more obvious suspension of Howard Stern. In the area of curtailment, consider: "Publishers face prison for editing foreign works." Democracy Now! reports,"The U.S. Treasury
  • Feb 26, 2004

    Amend to That

    by Liberty and Power

    Neal Boortz is suggesting new amendments to the Constitution.

    The popular libertarian response to the"what amendments would you add" question is that we really only need to add one more, which would say,"and we mean it."

    I agree with Boortz on repealing the 17th Amendment. I'd also repeal the 16th. I'd probably add something in the language of the repeal of the 16th that would forbid government on any level from income w

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Even More Wolf

    by Liberty and Power

    I don't think Gene should worry about offending me; I hang out with libertarians of all stripes, and am sadly accustomed to hearing far more un-PC remarks than anything Gene is likely to say! ("This is the movement we have chosen ....")

    But I do think we as libertarians should be worried in general that non-libertarians will be offended, and justifiably offended (i.e. this isn't just a strategic concern, though it is that inter alia), by our tendency to sh
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Yet More Wolf

    by Liberty and Power

    If Professor Long can't see anything self-dramatizing about statements like:

    Twenty years on, I am handing over a secret to its rightful owner. I can’t bear to carry it around anymore.

    and

    I am not at peace when the sun sets and the Book of Life is sealed: I always see that soft spot of complicity.

    Then I don't suppose I can argue him into it. To me it sounds like she's about to reveal her participation in a secret government experiment in biowarfare, rather than c

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Angel Redux

    by Liberty and Power

    I still think Gene is missing the point (as is Appelbaum). Wolf's decision to tell her story now isn't about her own victimhood; she's trying to prevent other people from being victims, and she can't consistently advise others to come forward if she's unwilling to come forward herself. She's not saying that a hand on the thigh has wrecked her whole life; the message she's sending is precisely not to"spend the next 20 years feeling victimized by an incident." (Should haras
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Iron-Jawed Angel or Shrinking Violet?

    by Liberty and Power

    If the story's true, then Harold Bloom's a common variety of pig, and Naomi Wolf is a self-dramatizing twit. I agree with Anne Appelbaum's take in today's Post:

    But in the end, what is most extraordinary about Wolf is the way in which she has voluntarily stripped herself of her achievements and her status, and reduced herself to a victim, nothing more. The implication here is that women are psychologically we

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Wolf Redux

    by Liberty and Power

    Call me politically correct (my view on political correctness is that while academic leftists could use less of it, libertarians could use more of it) -- but I'm puzzled at Gene Healy's reaction to the Naomi Wolf / Harold Bloom story. In criticising Wolf for"typing breathlessly about this incident twenty years after the fact," he ignores the
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Wolf and Wolf

    by Liberty and Power

    Naomi"Beauty Myth" Wolf, last in the news for charging Al Gore like a million bucks for telling him to wear earth tones, is accusing literary heavyweight (really--even his"boneless [?] hand" is heavy) Harold Bloom of making a creepy and awkward pass at her two decades ago. She was a senior at Yale. He was her professor. He brought"a bottle of Amontillado" to her apartment. (A flask of Amontillado? You've got to be kiddi
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Lead by Example

    by Liberty and Power

    The Rocky Mountain Progressive Network has challenged each Colorado lawmaker, both state and federal, who publicly supports the Federal Marriage Amendment to sign a Fidelity Pledge. It consists of a promise to uphold the institution of marriage by being faithful to their spouse. So far no one has signed the pledge.
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Constant on Blowback

    by Liberty and Power

    [cross-posted on Praxeology.net]

    Nearly two centuries before the September 11th attacks, French liberal author Benjamin Constant issued the following prophetic warning:

    The force that a people needs to keep all others in subjection is today, more than ever, a privilege that cannot last. The nation that aimed at such an empire would place itse
  • Feb 25, 2004

    Those Clever Senate Stock Traders

    by Liberty and Power

    In answer to Steve's suggestion that investors moved the stock price up after learning about the trades by Senators: If that was the case, how is it, as explained in the article I posted, that the researchers had such difficulty obtaining the information. Steve's suggestion is based upon the idea that info was readily available to investors. I think not! On the contrary, I doubt the Senators wanted it known.

  • Feb 25, 2004

    More Kudos to Chris

    by Liberty and Power

    The emperior has no clothes folks. The" conservative" movement no longer exists as Barry Goldwater, its father, knew it. We are seeing a transformation, not unlike the hijacking of the term liberal here in the U.S., of historic proportions.

    Several of my colleagues and I thought it might be good to add a few phrases to the proposed amendment just to give it some real meaning. First, let's give the federal government an adequate role by empowering them to approve of every marriage in the

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Senatorial Stocks

    by Liberty and Power

    Just a quick thought to add to William's post about senatorial stock portfolios: Yes, some of that might be explained by senators trading on superior information, but consider a different argument. It could also be that if Senator X buys a particular stock, and if her purchase of said stock becomes known, investors assume that the industry in question, if not the particular firm, might be the benefit of favorable legislatio

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Let Your Senator Be Your Stock Broker

    by Liberty and Power

    Well, now we have some more evidence, see below, as to why the Senate has long been referred to as a"Millionaires Club." And, in the meantime, the government goes after Martha Stewart! It might be suggested that Senator Hillary Clinton brought her Futures advisor with her from Arkansas, but the Senate insider corruption predates the Junior Senator from New York. Ain't life in the American Empire a grand thing, as Mr. Dooley might put it. Sounds a lot like the good old Roman Senate of two mill

  • Feb 25, 2004

    Ecstasy and Government Science

    by Liberty and Power

    Government science will always give the answer that government wants and the answer that government wants always leads to more power for government. This principle is clearly demonstrated in the way a federally sponsored researcher has handled questions about the drug Ecstasy up until now. However, Dr. George A. Ricaurte retracted his 2002 article, which supplied the crucial support for the drug’s prohibition. I
  • Feb 24, 2004

    Is You Is or Is You Ain't a Constitutional Republic?

    by Liberty and Power

    Just to follow up on Chris's spot-on observations, I find it amusing that conservatives, who are supposedly the defenders of a constitutional republic, now are the biggest supporters of direct democracy. Here they are complaining that the Constitution puts limits on what "the people" can do at the ballot box. Voters decide that marriage means