Daniel Webster said, “There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” Let me rephrase that: Some leaders mean to be GOOD but more than that, they mean to be FOLLOWED, at all costs. I hope that reaffirms Webster, as well as clarifying and amplifying.
Category: Nobody Asked, But
Voltairine de Cleyre II
I spent the whole week-end being depressed after hearing (at Scribd.com) Voltairine de Cleyre’s essay entitled, Sex Slavery. One might say that VDC views this particular glass as neither half-empty nor half-full. She may have felt that as long as there was one abuse, then that was (and still is) a tragedy. But surely, no empathetic or logical reader doubts that there have been vastly more than one instance.
Watching Sausage Making
Have you looked under the hood of your car. Unless you have a huge collection of information, as well as the gift of tolerance for its complexity, you had better leave that jumble of kludged systems to someone who does. Sovereignty is knowing when the division of labor works. Sovereignty is understanding comparative advantage.
Hoopla is Theft in the Age of Organized Lying
I was piqued by a notice in the email system at work. We were warned that there might be traffic problems on the day that POTUS visited town for a campaign rally. I became curious as to who pays for the costs of these campaign rallies.
Voluntaryist Voices by EVC
Have you noted Voluntaryist Voices by EVC? This is one of my favorite features on EVC.
Voltairine de Cleyre
I have rediscovered Voltairine de Cleyre recently, or maybe I should just say “discovered.” I had previously known her only from quotes and pocket-sized bios. Listening to an audiobook of essays, however, I am learning of the artfulness that keeps her famous more than a century after her death in 1912.
Autumn Leaves
This time of year you have to deal with them, every one, sooner or later. The coloring and the fall of the autumn leaves is a miracle to behold, but the phenomenon presents a few problems as well — TANSTAAFL.
Civil War
The Washington Examiner recently ran a piece headlined “Battleground: 7 in 10 say US ‘on the edge of civil war’.”
Doubly-Damned Lies II
When I shared the previous effort, Doubly-Damned Lies, there were objections … predictably. I was given the example of homelessness in the Bahamas, as the result of the recent hurricane. The claim was implicitly made that statistics would somehow make a factual situation better, that facts organized into appropriate knowledge would indicate a bright line along the path which should be taken. But, is there a statistical, one-size-fits-all? Why not let the facts speak directly to each case at hand?
Doubly-Damned Lies
Edward Tufte, a master statistician, said, “It is straightforward for me to be ethical, responsible, and kind-hearted because I have the resources to support that.” But it takes more, because too often, too many people with resources choose exploitation, irresponsibility, and mean-spiritedness to gain more resources, pointedly those of power.