Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart...
William Wordsworth
Guest Blog Excerpt of the Day: Legal Thuggery
David Eckert was pulled over by police in Deming, N.M., for failing to come to a complete halt at a stop sign in the Walmart parking lot...Officers decided that they didn’t like the tight clench of his buttocks... So they arrested him, and took him to Gila Regional Medical Center in neighboring Hidalgo County, where Mr. Eckert was forced to undergo two abdominal X-rays, two rectal probes, three enemas, and defecate thrice in front of medical staff and representatives of two law-enforcement agencies, before being sedated and subjected to a colonoscopy — all procedures performed against his will and without a valid warrant. Alas, Mr. Eckert’s body proved to be a drug-free zone, and so, after twelve hours of detention, he was released. If you’re wondering where his lawyer was during all this, no attorney was present...Getting into the spirit of things, Gila Regional Medical Center subsequently sent Mr. Eckert a bill for $6,000.
Meanwhile, an unarmed woman was gunned down on the streets of Washington for no apparent crime other than driving too near Barackingham Palace and thereby posing a threat to national security. As disturbing as Miriam Carey’s bullet-riddled body and vehicle were, the public indifference to it is even worse. Ms. Carey does not appear to be guilty of any act other than a panic attack when the heavy-handed and heavier-armed palace guard began yelling at her. Much of what was reported in the hours after her death seems dubious: We are told Ms. Carey was “mentally ill”...Under D.C. police rules, cops are not permitted to fire on a moving vehicle, because of the risk to pedestrians and other drivers. But the Secret Service and the Capitol Police enjoy no such restraints...Did I mention she was African American? When a black teen dies in a late-night one-on-one encounter with a fellow citizen on the streets of Sanford, Fla., it’s the biggest thing since Selma. But when a defenseless black woman is gunned down by a posse of robocops...the United States Congress expressed their “gratitude” to the officers who killed her and gave them a standing ovation...But there is a despotic trend in American government. Too many of our rulers and their enforcers reflexively see the citizenry primarily as a threat. - Mark SteynThese acts were unconstitutional, a violation of public trust, and criminal violations of fundamental rights. That members of Congress applauded the murder of a young mother, whose baby daughter was in the car before the killing, is morally reprehensible.
Matthew Continetti, "Labor Republicanism": Thumbs DOWN!
I'm not exactly sure how I got an unsolicited issue of The Weekly Standard. Neo-con editor William Kristol and I don't exactly share the same views on foreign policy. While scanning through this issue, I ran across Continetti's essay. To historians, the title is somewhat misleading, not to be confused with the labor movement in the nineteenth century (little-r vs. big-R GOP).
Continetti sees in Sen. Lee's (R-UT) family-oriented policies (on taxes, comp time, and alternative college accreditation) a rebooted version of a new GOP middle class strategy. He also lists other GOP politicians (like Jindal and Santorium) as part of this emerging trend. I have been impressed with Lee as part of the small Tea Party contingent in the Senate, to the point I subscribe to his Facebook feed. I did read a recent comment he made on the comp time proposal which I included in a recent Facebook Corner segment. I remember being baffled as to why he was proposing federal policy in this area rather than letting the free market deal with the issue; for example, an employer could market their family-friendly policies--rather than respond to federal edicts on the matter. Or at least defer to state employment regulations on the matter; why centralize policy? So I have a problem with these policies, and I'm not sure how he squares this with his small government approach.
There was one sentence in particular that struck me the wrong way: ”A labor Republican opposes the Senate immigration bill not only because it’s a bureaucratic monstrosity, but also because an influx of cheap labor would decrease low-skilled wages." As a strong advocate of liberalized immigration, which I see as a win-win prescription for economic growth, this sort of zero-sum view is counterproductive; even low-skilled labor immigration contributes to growth, and the research I've seen shows any dampening of local wages from an implied glut of workers tends to be transitory. I do agree that there are problems with the Senate immigration bill, which is too restrictive and unduly limits temporary worker quotas, primarily dictated by protectionist unionists. Labor protectionism is not a winning, distinguishing policy for the GOP.
I do agree with Continetti that the GOP cannot expect to win running the same old same old Reagan-style campaign. And Continetti seems to anticipate objections from people like me: "Not every piece of legislation will satisfy small-government conservatives and fervent libertarians, who more often want to discuss cutting government than making it work for the people." What I would like to hear the GOP preach is that the hope of renewed prosperity depends on a liberalized economy, not weighed down by excess government costs and regulations. The free market can provide quicker, better, cheaper, more innovative products and services relieved of invasive government regulation. What the GOP does not need is a repackaged government-is-the-answer as usual; it must argue that the sustainability of government requires recognizing its limitations and choosing its battles wisely.
Free Banking: End the Fed
Facebook Corner
(LFC) So I have a question, How do we defend free market capitalism when it comes to industries who's toxic waste can easily make its way into the soil and water supply? If indeed there was no regulation.
Pollution impacts the property rights and/or health of others; as such, there would be some arbiter of competing rights. Relevant companies are socializing their costs. Costly Statist regulation typically does a poor job of assessing the cost/benefit trade-off in excess regulation. The private sector would generally develop more feasible alternatives to address compliance concerns.
(LFC) . This jerk wants door to door searches and an end to privacy rights. "Selectman Barry Greenfield introduced an enforcement discussion Wednesday that he hopes will lead to the safeguarding of guns in town...The problem, he said, is that police do not have the authority, granted by a local ordinance, to enforce the law and inspect the safeguarding of guns at the homes of the 600 registered gun owners in town." (Teal)
Pushing-on-a-string Statism as usual
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| Via Jeffrey Tucker and Bastiat Institute |
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| Via LFC: "No such thing as a free phone" |
Tom Woods is dedicating an episode to the deflation bugaboo. I decided to respond to a thread which was somewhat critical of Woods' perspective.
The law of supply and demand works--of course in computing and other electronics, we've seen quality improve as well. As for healthcare, we've seen all sorts of issues from tax-favored status, including ordinary health expenses confounding the concept of insurance, to occupational licensing restrictions, immigration caps, etc. The studies I've seen show health care expenditures were relatively stable, even deflationary, before federal health programs, with economically illiterate price-fixing. But getting back to Tom's point, during the Gilded Age, we had mild deflation with one of the highest sustained growth rates in American history. Holding income/savings steady, lower prices gives you more discretionary resources to buy other goods and services.
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| Via LFC |
(Libertarian Republic). Name one freedom we've lost in your lifetime.
Various aspects of economic freedom. Every new regulation adds costs to and/or limits choices of the consumer which lowers his wealth. Under ObamaCare, we have lost control over determining our healthcare options. We have seen governments trying to impose capital controls (e.g., FATCA), invasive body searches at airports, control of our property against corrupt eminent domain, etc.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Nate Beeler and Townhall |
Jewel, "Intuition". I loved the song with the infectious arrangement before I ever saw the tongue-in-cheek video--one of the first singles I licensed to download. The idea of the cherub-faced country girl next door uncharacteristically vamping it up a bit did more to shake the stereotype than the best efforts of Karen Carpenter and Olivia Newton John.
