“Nothing,” economist Milton Friedman once observed, “is so permanent as a temporary government program.” And nothing makes a government’s programs — or, more importantly, changes in its core values — more permanent than the loss of collective memory that comes with generational changes. We’re hitting a big one soon. It worries me.
Tag: america
A Proposal: Cut the Court
President Trump should announce that he is holding off on appointing a successor for Kennedy and asking Congress to reduce the size of the Court to seven justices, effective with the NEXT retirement. If Congress complies, that next retirement will likely be Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 85 and holding on for dear life rather than allow her successor to be chosen by a Republican president.
Want to “Steal Back” a Job Now Held by an Immigrant Worker?
Do you hanker for a job putting roofs on houses in the hot summer sun, or cutting up carcasses (and your fingers) in a frigid meat or poultry packing plant, or doing manual labor on construction sites and roads in all kinds of weather… or mowing lawns and trimming foliage for homes and businesses?
Is the US National Debt Finally Coming Home to Roost?
The US government is basically the guy who took out a huge home mortgage, then kept refinancing and borrowing against equity, while trading in his car for a new one (and a larger payment) every two years, and now finds himself visiting car title and payday lenders every week just to keep himself in groceries.
Negative Social Preferencing, ICE Edition
If you work for ICE, you should be denied service at restaurants, denied communion at churches, and have to explain to your kids why they aren’t invited to other kids’ birthday parties or play activities. And thanks to Sam Lavigne, we know who you are.
They Love Their Chains
The great majority of the American people are oppressed and abused by their governments. But if you imagine that some group of revolutionaries undertook to overthrow these governments, it’s perfectly obvious that this same oppressed and abused portion of the people would overwhelmingly support and assist the merciless crushing of the revolt.
Trail of Tears
Andrew Jackson, no doubt, had lots of statist policy justifications for implementing the Trail of Tears and similar enslavements of fellow human beings. He may have even quoted Biblical alibis. Abraham Lincoln may have had lots of bureaucratic babel to spend on excuses for his bringing a country to civil war.
Taxed Enough Already, You Say? Trump Disagrees.
Don’t be fooled. No matter how he gussies them up as correctives for “unfair competition” and “trade imbalances,” tariffs are taxes on American consumers, and that’s all they are. They aren’t paid by Chinese manufacturers. They’re paid by you, at the cash register, in the form of higher prices on the goods you shop for.
Child Abductions: A Conversation It’s Hard to Believe We’re Even Having
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad he said it, as I’m far from sure I could have said it nearly as well. But I’m just completely floored by the idea that, in this day and age, Americans need the Archbishop of New York to remind us of something as obvious as the fact that it’s wrong to abduct children.
North Korea: Pelosi versus Peace
In her official statement on Trump’s Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi makes it clear that a few million incinerated human beings a small price to pay to keep the 68-year-old Korean War going. Maybe not forever, but at least until there’s a Democrat in the White House.