Influences II

With every week that passes, I think of new names to add to my list of influences.  But the thinkers shown in today’s effort are those with the names that I carry around in my head — writing them down as a reminder is not needed.  Today, I will write about Dr. Robert Higgs, Henry Louis Mencken, and Mark Twain, whom I have mentioned, probably, in reverse order of each’s world renown.

Marine Le Pen and the Growing Scourge of Nationalism

While I certainly do not expect to see Marine Le Pen secure a victory in the upcoming French Presidential runoff election, even her ascendency to such a race represents yet another (once) surprising victory for the strain of nationalistic populism which has been sweeping the globe in recent years. From the Philippines to Great Britain to the United States to Turkey to France (and many other similar examples as well), we are witnessing the reversal of a trend at least 70 years in the making.