Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Tweet of the Day
@amouretguerre Just remember: the left-fascist oxymoron ACA is an unsustainable State failure. People who will kill an innocent child cry crocodile tears— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
I used to work for the VA. #WorstThingToHearFromYourDr— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
You may not be able to control circumstances, but you can control the way you respond to them. #BestAdviceIveEverHeard— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
@vivosmortuus Yup. Are you economically illiterate enough to profit a person who doesn't want to do business with you? You leftists are so illogical.— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
All economic transactions should be VOLUNTARY in nature. You do not have any right to mandate what I do. #LicenseToDiscriminate— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
Kudos to the House, which voted to empower employers in scheduling workers. Govt doesn't "give" workers a raise; its rules can lose jobs.— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
The Johnson Amendment is an unconstitutional restriction on First Amendment rights of voluntary associations like church "Johnson Amendment"— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 3, 2017
The reason this anti-BNB ad woman feels like an outsider in the DC neighborhood is because she's a NY actress. https://t.co/uMZufPCjDi— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 4, 2017
I think I figured out why Trump is talking so much about Andrew Jackson. He was going through his wallet one day and found pictures of him.— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 4, 2017
The ACA was failed legislation from the get-go and is unsustainable; The only real solution is to liberate healthcare. VOTE YES. #VoteNo— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) May 4, 2017
Economists Look At Safe Spaces
DEAD WRONG: Government Needs To Step Up and Set Industrial Policy
Choose Life: Cool Technology
Facebook Corner
A response to a post on Catholic Libertarians on FB which was critical of Pope Francis' attack on libertarians. One commentator took issue with my comparison of Francis' "scholarship" vs. Benedict's academic rigor; he basically argued that Francis and Benedict shared a similar perspective. My response:
Benedict is not a Peronist. It is true that Benedict was critical of the free market, but he was also consistent with the Church's rejection of socialism:
"On the other hand, there are the liberation theologians and "social-democrat" Catholics who ignore Benedict's critique of the centralised bureaucratic state and yearn for statist solutions to get us out of the recession.
"In contrast with both these factions, the pope seeks to chart a Catholic "third way" that combines strict limits on state and market with a civil economy centred on mutualist businesses, cooperatives, credit unions and other alternative models. By calling for an economic system re-embedded in civil society, Benedict advocates a political economy that transcends the old secular dichotomies of state vs market and left vs right."
“Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones,” Benedict said.
“But it is man's darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.”
Now I am also critical of Benedict's view of the free market; I think he bought into the lie that the 2007 recession was a market failure vs. the logical consequences of incompetent government policy. But I would argue that many of the voluntary associations he advocates are entirely consistent with free market principles. And he totally ignores the fact that open markets have brought global poverty to the lowest percentage in human history.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Robert Ariail via Townhall |
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Heartbeat
Amy Grant, "Every Heartbeat". Just barely missed hitting #1.
