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Liberty and Power

  • Jan 26, 2010

    Roll Over Orson Welles

    by Liberty and Power

    A civilization is often judged by the works of art that it leaves behind; so Lord knows what to make of this. The BBC did give us Fawlty Towers and Monty Python, so maybe history will take that into consideration when handing out a grade to Western Civilization.
  • Jan 24, 2010

    My Question for the Doomsters: Then What?

    by Liberty and Power

    Although I am reputed to be a cynic, a pessimist, and a bah-humbugger, I am not given to doomsaying in the same way that a growing number of others are. Although I tend to expect, as Thomas Jefferson did, that the natural progress of things will be for liberty to yield and government to gain ground, and for me this will be an unwelcome course of events, I am not much inclined to predict that, especially in the near term, the economy, society, or government will suddenly “break down,” “collapse,”
  • Jan 23, 2010

    The Coming Grab at Your Wealth and Retirement

    by Liberty and Power

    If you cannot or will not physically leave the United States, then -- for the safety and welfare of your family -- please consider moving to the few states that are fiscally prudent...at least, comparatively speaking. Compared to what? Consider New York and Florida as just two examples.

    From the New York Daily News: Sucking on ciga

  • Jan 21, 2010

    Bi-Partisan Cover Up

    by Liberty and Power

    The answer to the question would the Obama Administration continue a cover-up of the murder of innocents at Guantanamo begun under Bush is yes they would.
  • Jan 20, 2010

    Habits of Empire

    by Liberty and Power

    Our territorial expansion “instilled in the American people the habit of empire-building. . . . All along, the United States was also a republic. ‘Republic’ and ‘empire’ have not always fit well together. Today there is a good chance that ‘empire’ might eclipse ‘republic.’ Old habits can become unthinking practices. . . . Thus we have always been an imperial nation, and remain so, but the shape of the American empire has shifted over time. Its present form is different from either our own pa
  • Jan 20, 2010

    Howard Fineman's Advice to Obama "Play a Little More Basketball."

    by Liberty and Power

    Fineman unwittingly confesses the absurdity not only of the American political process but also of media elites, like Fineman, who devote their careers to legitimizing that process:

    Don’t try to drive a pickup truck. Leave that for the Scott Browns of the world. But you might want to play a little more basketball in, say, Indiana. That’s the “real America,” too, especially during March Madness. There is a
  • Jan 18, 2010

    Haiti's Earthquake as France's Problem

    by Liberty and Power

    Tunku Varadarajan has written an article for the Daily Beast that is well worth reading. Libertarians will disagree with the author's policy prescription, not holding today's French taxpayers responsible for misdeeds of the French government done in the past. Nonetheless, his historical perspective deserves more attention.

    Hat Tip: Bill Evers
  • Jan 17, 2010

    Four Years Ago...

    by Liberty and Power

    The symptoms of disease can escape the victim for a long time, but the infestation of American life with politics is beginning to be more noticeable of late. A fish rots from the head and the gathering of power by our politicians, coupled with all the abuse and petty tyrannies that are inseparable from any man’s addiction to rule, is filtering down into the commoners in a twisted version of the trickle down theory.

    Our manner of speaking to one another is altering to reflect how t
  • Jan 15, 2010

    Any good American history text books out there?

    by Liberty and Power

    What are the good American history textbooks out there? The one we use by George Tindall and David Shi declines in quality (but not quantity!) with every new edition. Here’s a telling example. The text, America: A Narrative History (brief 7th ed.), gives the impression that Maryland was somehow a semi-tolerant Catholic colony. This is demonstrably untrue after 1689. Beginning with the so-called “Coup of 1689” and the full repeal of the Toleration Act of 1649, Maryland instituted the stronge