Utopia, you are standing in it!

On page xxxii of Democracy in Chains, Nancy MacLean writes the following.

Actually, what I find the most telling about this statement is that James Buchanan did not say this, or at least not in the article MacLean cites as the source. Endote 36 cites Buchanan’s essay “Saving the Soul of Classical Liberalism” as the source, but these phrases do not appear.  (The endnote also cites a book by Matt Kibbie, Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff, so I checked it.  The quote does not appear in this book either.)

The closest related idea to the “quoted” statement is:

A motivating element in the liberal philosophy is, of course, the individual’s desire for liberty from the coercive power of others. But a second element in the liberal soul and spirit is critically important. It is the absence of desire to exert power over others.

I’m…

On 7 June 2019, the High Court brought to a halt the attempted private prosecution of Boris Johnson for misconduct in public office. Today, the full judgment has been published. There has been a lot of commentary surrounding this case, not all of it based on a firm (or even rudimentary) grasp of the facts. So breaking it down, what exactly has gone on here? Eight (likely-to-be) FAQs spring to mind.

1. What the dickens is going on, legally speaking?

 On 29 May 2019, District Judge Coleman sitting at Westminster Magistrates’ Court granted an application by Marcus Ball and Brexit Justice Limited for a summons against Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the proposed defendant, in respect of a contemplated private prosecution seeking to charge the aforementioned Mr Johnson with three counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to common law. On 7 June 2019, the Administrative Division of the…

James Taylor, senior fellow for environment and energy policy at The Heartland Institute, explains why we are not in the midst of a climate crisis during Heartland’s breakout session at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (aka CPAC).

Celebrity rugby player Israel Folau is in a complicated legal position. He shared a “meme” on social media site Instagram recently, the text of which was: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You- Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” To this he added his own personal comment: “Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.” (The comment was similar to many other pictures shared on his account, many of which are Bible verses or exhortations to nominal Christians to follow Jesus Christ in deed as well as word.)

An important decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal, The Queen (on the application of Ngole) -v- The University of Sheffield[2019] EWCA Civ 1127 (3 July 2019)has ruled that a social work student, Felix Ngole, should not have been dismissed from his course on the basis of comments he made on social media sharing the Bible’s view on homosexuality. The court says in its summary at para [5], point (10):

The mere expression of views on theological grounds
(e.g. that ‘homosexuality is a sin’) does not necessarily connote that the person expressing such views will discriminate on such grounds.

The decision is a welcome one, which will hopefully provide guidance in similar situations.

Focus Groupee

The second episode^[1] is all about what it means to be a Minister and how making policy and delivering speeches are far from the only thing a politician should do. They also need to manage their time, know about The Bill^[2] and take focus groups seriously.

Hugh arrives at the Ministry. “You’re late and you look like shit,” points out Glenn. The late nights of having to clean up various messes (see last episode) are taking their toll on the Minister, not helped by a long commute. We discover that Hugh has a wife called Kate and children, none of whom live anywhere near Westminster.

Semi-comatose, Hugh bemoans his life. “I work, I eat, I shower. That’s it. Occasionally I take a dump. As a sort of treat.” To ensure this moment of peace is attained, Hugh doesn’t even read New Statesman^[3] whilst doing the…

A few years back, Mary Kissel who was at the Wall Street Journal at the time, remarked that Elizabeth Warren had only “a child-like understanding of economics”. That stuck with me because it was so accurate. Black unemployment is the lowest it has ever been. The economy is doing great. Food Stamp use is way down. New filings for unemployment benefits are at an all time low.

Democrats believe, as a matter of faith, that Republican tax cuts go only to the rich and to corporate chieftains. Democrats have no understanding of proportionality whatsoever. Since the rich pay way more in taxes, the same percentage of a tax cut will mean more money for somebody who makes far more. Worked for Ronald too, if you remember

That’s why tax cuts for business owners mean they have more leeway to invest, build, hire, grow their businesses and they do so. Ordinary…

Somerecentposts by Rauparaha at The Visible Hand in Economics have got me thinking about the problems of subjectivism and value pluralism in welfare economics. Rauparaha is using widely-accepted methodology and taking the conventional view on this, so my criticisms are not directed at him particularly, but at the general approach taken by most welfare economists.  He says, for example:

It’s great to see the government taking economic incentives seriously. Their latest initiative considers imposing a 5c/bag tariff on plastic bags in supermarkets. The idea is that the market price for the bags doesn’t take into account the full environmental cost of non-biodegradable bags. By taxing the bags the government can adjust the market price of the bags to match their social cost.

It seems to me that the idea that government can use Pigouvian taxes and subsidies to internalise externalities stems from a combination of technocratic…

I’ve rewritten Tuesday’s post on the death of First Nations child Makayla Sault. a martyr to her parents’ faith and the political correctness of the Canadian government (as well as the cowardice of some Canadian doctors); and it’s been published by The New Republic.

The rewritten piece is called “A little girl died because Canada chose cultural sensitivity over Western medicine,” and you might have a look to see what’s up there (according to Stephen Fry’s Dictum, I don’t read the comments).

But looking at it to make sure that my essay came out okay, I did see the first comment: kudos to Alex Musso for posting this familiar graphic:

Oh, and the editor at TNR found a heartbreaking picture of Makayla to head the piece. What an adorable child! She’s dead now, and didn’t have to be.

A reader sent me a link to an article from The Australian which, sadly, is behind a paywall (click on screenshot to see). It is the very height of shameless pandering to ethnic groups who accept false stories about their history, and it’s also the nadir of academic truth. (If you want a transcript of the entire piece, judicious inquiry will yield one.)

For you, dear readers, I’ll transcribe the relevant parts:

University science lecturers have been warned off making the familiar statement in class that “Aboriginal people have been in Australia for 40,000 years.”

It puts a limit on the occupation of Australia and many indigenous peoples see this as “inappropriate,” according to the University of NSW language advice for staff.

The document suggests that it is “more appropriate” to say that Aborigines have been here since the beginning of the “Dreaming/s” because this “reflects the beliefs of many…

The brilliant Dr.Thomas Sowell explains about the origins of discrimination and clarifies the problems and the solutions. He is not only always quotable, but his insights are always valuable.