It is easier to exclude harmful passions
than to rule them,
and to deny them admittance
than to control them
after they have been admitted.
Seneca
Sowell on Obamanomics
A little outdated piece apparently before the tragedy of ObamaCare passage, one point I wanted to underscore is an exchange whether Obama is a socialist (I don't think Sowell is addressing the government, at least at the time, owning chunks of the auto industry, AIG, and the GSE's). Sowell correctly references the distinction of economic fascism. Familiar readers know one of my favorite essays on the subject is from DiLorenzo on the Lew Rockwell website; statists don't need to necessarily own or manage a company if they effectively control it through policy or directives.
Don't Open Pandora's Box, Obama! 'No' to Attack on Syria
Obama infamously painted himself into a corner with a line over any alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. The same Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader once claimed vs. his competitors for the Dem Presidential nomination that he had the defining distinction of speaking out against an ill-conceived Iraq intervention. Now that even Britain has abandoned him, Obama is starting to look like go-it-alone cowboy Bush on a determined quixotic mission. But when you read this typically squishy Obama quote, it's very clear he's decided to take action, but arguing it's not like Iraq, already trying out his new rationalized excuses:
In no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign, but we are looking at the possibility of a limited narrow act that would help make sure that not only Syria but others around the world understand that the international community cares about maintaining this chemical weapons ban and norm.In the meanwhile, I've read a number of stories of our so-called allies. In one story from a few weeks back, there was a Syria rebel whom cut out a dead Syrian soldier's heart and started eating it. There's another story I saw on the Libertarian Republic blog about Syrian Muslim extremists beheading a Christian bishop. Finally, war makes for strange bedfellows. If Al Qaeda affiliates were in almost any other countries, Obama would be drone-bombing them; I even saw one source claim that the USAF is "Al Qaeda's air force".
On the Baggage That Came Along With the MLK Speech
Catholic libertarians, like Tom Woods and myself, often have to deal with delusional "progressive" Catholics whom conflate a failed economic perspective with Catholic dogma. Christ was not a political activist or socialist; He did not belong to a carpenter union. I don't think Woods made this point in the video below but there's the famous contention between science and dogma; if and when dogma makes a claim that reflects a scientific hypothesis (say, astronomy or the physical age of the earth), those hypotheses must be put to the test with empirical evidence. The wise prelate knows to stick with his distinctive competencies of faith and morals and not make naive claims in science or economics that may reflect on his credibility in those original competencies. Surely, for instance, raising wages without corresponding increases in productivity will result in fewer jobs. A fewer number of jobs resulting from higher minimum wages can mean unemployed people will be unable to find work or that first job experience. Also, I would argue that a free market works to supply us with a wide variety and large amounts of goods and services, and labor and other regulations or taxes can actually impede economic development.
Unfortunately, MLK's profound insights on the inconsistent application of liberty in public policy did not extend to failed left-wing economic policies with unintended consequences. Jonah Goldberg, in another brilliant post, does a good job emphasizing and summarizing concepts I've discussed in prior posts:
In the American context, these are universal appeals. King pleaded for the fulfillment of America’s classically liberal revolution. At the core of that revolution was the concept of negative liberty — being free from government-imposed oppression. That is why the Bill of Rights is framed in the negative or designed to restrict the power of government. “The Congress shall make no law” that abridges freedom of speech, assembly, etc.
This arrangement has never fully satisfied the Left. The founding philosopher of American progressivism, John Dewey, argued for positive rights: We have the right to material things — homes, jobs, education, health care, etc. Herbert Croly, the author of the progressive bible The Promise of American Life, argued that the Founding was unfinished and that only by turning America into a European-style cradle-to-grave social democracy could our “promise” be fulfilled. Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to in effect replace the Bill of Rights with a new “economic bill of rights” along these lines. That was the intellectual tradition of Randolph and, to a significant degree, Barack Obama.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Lisa Benson and Townhall |
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, " You're All I Need To Get By"
