The Tale of Two Revolutions and Two Constitutions
The closing of the XXX Olympic Games, in both French and English, reminds me of Charles Dickens who in the nineteenth century wrote famously about the Tale of Two Cities—Paris and London–separated by a...
View ArticleEquality of Opportunity: The Perpetual Alibi of Bureaucracy
We live in an irreligious age but that does not mean that we hold nothing sacred. We have many sacred cows, whole herds of them in fact; and one of them is equality of opportunity. To question the...
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Silent Cal’s 6 Simple Rules for a Confused President Obama
President Coolidge’s Inaugural Address, March 4, 1925 In his new book, Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Underrated President, Charles C. Johnson claims that ‘Silent Cal’...
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Oxfam’s Flimflam
Goat Gifts: Oxfam’s Unwrapped Campaign A report of the British charity Oxfam recently drew attention to the fact that Britain’s five richest families had more assets than the lowest 20 per cent of the...
View ArticleWhy Clinton’s Redistribution was Worse than Obama’s
Redistribution that is not actually felt by the losers at the time of its enactment is one of the most insidious features of the political order. Such legislation gives the illusion of a free lunch and...
View ArticleFederalism, Yet Again: Views From the Citadel
Last Fall, the excellent Jim Fleming (Boston University Law School) organized a fun conference on “America’s Political Dysfunction: Constitutional Connections, Causes, and Cures.” Part of the...
View ArticleThe Special-Interest State: Onward and Upward
My buddy Steve Teles—in my estimation, one of the country’s most creative thinkers—just sent me his latest on “The Scourge of Upward Redistribution.” Here’s the lead paragraph: America today faces two...
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Risk, Not Redistribution, Motivates America’s New Socialists
A recent survey reports 37 percent of Americans over the age of 18 “prefer socialism to capitalism.” After Bernie Sanders near-run candidacy last year, that cannot be much of a surprise. Still, the...
View ArticleThe Redistributions and Distortions of the Health Care Market
A while back I talked about the health care and health insurance market and how it is the result of tremendous government regulation. There are portions that involve competition, but they are limited...
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Let Them Spend Cash?
Don’t look now, but the libertarians may be winning the welfare debate Over the past few weeks, the right engaged in a bracing debate over child allowance payments for American families. Big issues...
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