Government

  • So You Want to Overthrow the State: Ten Questions for Aspiring Revolutionaries

    “A course that asks students to put themselves in the positions of aspiring revolutionaries and to prepare their own revolutionary manifestoes is extremely creative. I think it’s the kind of course from which students can benefit mightily–if, of course, they ask the right questions.” ~ Art Carden

    So You Want to Overthrow the State: Ten Questions for Aspiring Revolutionaries
  • Federal Court Holds “Stay-at-Home” Orders and Mandatory Business Closures Unconstitutional

    “Orders like Judge Stickman’s today remind the American people that they are not, actually, legally governed by fifty individual dictators, each empowered to declare at whim unlimited “emergencies” restricting basic, unalienable rights. No, we are not that.” ~ Stacey Rudin

    Federal Court Holds “Stay-at-Home” Orders and Mandatory Business Closures Unconstitutional
  • Coase and Covid: The Individualized Option

    “The case, in short, for government-orchestrated NPIs is simply invalid. Why was Coase ignored and the individualized option never considered? And why will so many people continue to reject it?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux & Lyle D. Albaugh

    Coase and Covid: The Individualized Option
  • Corona’s Culture of Coercive Compliance

    “We are not to ask certain questions, according to the politicians, the experts, our friends. It’s over when we say it’s over, they say. We must keep each other safe. So cover your nose and mouth. Stand six feet apart. Stay home. Comply.” ~ Jenin Younes

    Corona’s Culture of Coercive Compliance
  • California’s Dreaming

    “AB 2088 could break the back of the Donkey party or unleash another dangerous wave of mostly peaceful protests throughout the land. This time, though, the fatal arrogance comes not from London but Cali you-know-what fornia.” ~ Robert E. Wright

    California’s Dreaming
  • Should K-12 classrooms teach from the 1619 Project?

    “We need not indulge the bombastic posturing of Trump, or unlikely legislative efforts to strip funding from schools, to conclude that the 1619 Project is still ill-suited for K-12 education. That is a judgement we may make on its scholarly shortcomings alone.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

    Should K-12 classrooms teach from the 1619 Project?
  • The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy

    “Business responses to corona have shown us that unused items – from chairs and tables to urinals – still have value; they are still in use, even when nobody seems to be occupying them. Most importantly, government spending has little ability to raise that utilization. For this age-old economic fallacy, free lunches remain elusive.” ~…

    The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy
  • Citibank’s $900 Million Mistake and the Finality of Payments

    “Cases like Citbank’s $900 million mispayment and $846,000 bank drafts stuck in financial limbo make for interesting stories. But keep in mind that the participants in these transactions are the accidental victims of a payments system that provides hard finality. What is unseen is the huge amount of trade that the certainty of hard finality…

    Citibank’s $900 Million Mistake and the Finality of Payments
  • Defund, Defund, Defund

    “It is unclear how many grant competitions remain to be adjudicated at ED and other agencies, or how much money is at stake. But when schools, colleges, corporations, mayors, and governors say that ‘health and safety are our highest priorities,’ we should take them at their word. None of them should make any fuss when…

    Defund, Defund, Defund
  • The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook

    “‘People vote their pocketbooks’ is a misleading and potentially insidious approximation of voter behavior. A better approximation for modern times is ‘People vote for the candidate or party that provides a better story about themselves.’ That can be problematic itself, but when we bring economic performance along for the ride the problems only multiply. Putting…

    The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook
  • The Great LARP

    “Even more distressingly, 2020 is getting even deadlier. Violence, even murder, has increased of late, portending a potential shift from civil war games to actual civil war. And of course our civil liberties and what little fiscal and monetary discipline the federal government had left also died in 2020.” ~ Robert E. Wright

    The Great LARP
  • What Would We Do without Experts?

    “Experts have been responsible for eugenic policies in the past and forced sterilizations in the United States until relatively recently. It is hard to imagine a more intrusive and life-altering event than forced sterilization. All in all, while politicians are the bane of any democracy, there are lots of reasons to think it better to…

    What Would We Do without Experts?