We come into this world crying while all around us are smiling.
May we so live that we go out of this world smiling
while everybody around us is weeping.
Persian proverb
Stossel: Myths, Lies and Complete Stupidity: Su 8PM EST FNC
From Stossel's blog: what myths?
• FOOD... MYTH: Government should help people make healthy choices for themselves. TRUTH: The nanny state reduces your freedom while accomplishing little.
• MAIL... MYTH: The post office should deliver the mail. TRUTH: The private sector does it better.
• FRACKING... MYTH: Fracking is dangerous. TRUTH: Fracking is dangerous but can easily be safely managed, and fracking has done more to help the environment than all the "green" energy sources combined (it replaces dirtier gasoline and coal.)
• LAWSUITS... MYTH: Lawsuits protect consumers. TRUTH: Lawsuits make valuable products cost more.
• HEALTHCARE... MYTH: Obamacare is good for business. TRUTH: Government intervention kills innovation. Kills jobs too.
• INFRASTRUCTURE... MYTH: Government must build infrastructure. TRUTH: Business builds it better.
• IMPERIAL WASHINGTON... MYTH: Washington D.C. is about serving the public. TRUTH: DC is about empire building.
Yes, Virginia (and Every Other State):
There IS a Fourth Amendment
Growing up with 6 younger siblings, including 2 little brothers sharing the same bedroom left me at times craving cave time/alone time. I would sometimes lock my brothers out, which drove them absolutely crazy, obsessing over what I was doing/hiding: the latest pictures from Playboy? (My mom's big issue with that was it leading to unrealistic expectations about the appearance of my future girlfriends or wife.) In reality, what I was doing was far more boring that that: I was usually playing a makeshift game of golf using a tennis ball: it wasn't so much what I was doing, but I got away from the chaos for a few minutes. My brothers would eventually tattle to my mom about my violating a house rule.
I routinely password-protect and/or encrypt a number of things from my email client to tax records. It has nothing to do with trying to hide anything, but it has more to do with being financially prudent, maintaining software license codes safely and maintaining confidentiality with correspondents.
Enter one Howard Cotterman with a laptop reentering the country through Arizona. Cotterman showed up as having a record, including a past charge for child molestation. Apparently nothing unusual was found on a routine check but they noted some files and/or searches were blocked due to password protection. They confiscated the notebook, and computer forensics specialists eventually were able to find volumes of child pornography, including a potentially incriminating one between Cotterman and a minor. (This is a point that many non-libertarians don't get--I've never smoked or used drugs, I loathe the pornography industry, and I have zero tolerance for sexual exploitation of minors. But I'm not willing to throw out the Fourth Amendment with the bath water.)
But the Constitution does not give Leviathan a blank check to do a search. You can't infer simply by the existence of password protection, he was hiding child pornography. There are all sorts of reasons to password-protect files: say, for example, your health records (STD's, etc.), your bank/financial records, risque pictures of your girlfriend or wife, etc. The Ninth Circuit said password protection, in and of itself, does not constitute grounds for a reasonable search. Thumbs UP!
An Interview With a Libertarian Congressman
Congressman Paul may be retired but his legacy lives on through his son Sen. Rand Paul (KY-R) and other legitimate Tea Party Republicans like Justin Amash (MI).
Inequality: A Learn Liberty Debate
In part, this debate is stimulated by a Politics of Envy viral video. There was the Left's contrived Occupy Movement response to the legitimate Tea party grassroots movement [Mark Perry recently did a very good post on this topic here, which embeds an abbreviated version of the debate below. I've discussed some of these points before, e.g., most of these studies aren't longitudinal (household-tracking over time) but are based on summary statistics and drawing invalid inferences; certain ethnic groups, e.g., Asian immigrants, coming from a culture that emphasizes educational success and an entrepreneurial hard work ethic, do well.]
I am clearly sympathetic to the perspective of Steve Horwitz, a libertarian economist I've often cited with regards to free banking (no, not free banking services but banks operating in a free market) and other issues. (The Rawlsian Jeffrey Reiman for the most part simply seems to be dismissive of libertarian concepts as unrealistic and claims that he is not endorsing a Robin Hood type of redistribution system, that he himself doesn't necessarily see government as a panacea but does a poor job of fleshing out a practical alternative.) I think Steve missed a few opportunities. For example, when Reiman keeps raising the point about the rich able to afford better lawyers (the rich can also buy better clothes, cars, houses, get treated by the best doctors, afford to send their kids to better quality private schools, etc.: what's the point? It's part of the incentive to gain wealth), I thought for sure Horwitz would address how counterproductive drug prohibition policies exacerbate problems in inner cities: for example, a felon has a harder time making a fresh start
Horwitz does a great job out of the box: who cares if people, in the process of providing better, cheaper goods and services allowing poorer people as well to stretch their dollars, become unbelievably wealthy? When Reiman weighs in with a trite complaint about the corrupting influence of money in politics (this is a pet peeve: he's really espousing a double standard in political free speech), Steve is spot on: paraphrased, you're treating the symptom instead of the disease. If you streamline taxes and regulations, if you limit the size and scope of government, you design away the perverse incentives for cronyism. Steve is also making another great point: government policies are often morally corrosive. An undue dependence on government programs destroys the incentive to better one's lot in life.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Steve Perry/Journey, "Oh, Sherrie". Steve Perry released a highly successful solo album right in the midst of the group's 1980's success. One of my favorite singles of the 1980's, period: from the instantly recognizable opening notes to Perry's memorable a cappella launch and distinctive, soaring vocals: a great rock song that didn't sound like Journey. This was on heavy rotation on my Sony Walkman as I jogged around campus after a full day of working on my dissertation.
