Video: Fat and Happy For a Reason

From Reason, more insight into the capitalist epiphanies of the Pilgrims. "Fat and happy" happens for a reason:

To Compliment the Thanksgiving Post

Love him, hate him, or whatever, here is Rush Limbaugh retelling the communal history of the Pilgrims. This compliments and illuminates the point of the Thanksgiving post.  Focus on William Bradford's reflections on the experiment on socialism.

Down With Upton

Reform is always a difficult task.  Just getting started is probably one of the more difficult aspects.  Such is the case when you can see old mistakes occurring on the side of the political aisle on which you lean for a chance of reform.

Repeat, chance of reform.  George W. Bush's Republican-dominated government made it abundantly clear we cannot place our hope in the Republican Party to reform itself and Washington; they became part of the profligate problem in need of reform.

The 2010 midterms convey some promise of a beginning of reform, renewal in constitutionally-limited government, and fiscal sanity.  This is a good start to a freer society. This all, of course, is predicated on a constant We Are Now Watching Every Move You Make nagging voter presence in politician's minds.  (The most effective check on their behavior is the fear of losing reelection---So leverage that fear!)

It'll be a short ride if we allow Republicans to begin the new Congress repeating any of their grave mistakes that set the table for the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Case in point: I give you Representative Upton.  He's up for consideration as chairmanship of the House Commerce and Energy committee.  He is simply part of the problem.  Among other statist things, he co-authored the ban of regular light bulbs.  (Thanks Daddy Upton!  How could we individuals have possibly decided that matter as adult consumers?  GE appreciates the legislatively-crafted monopoly, we're sure.)

We know what vision for America and the world the progressive Left holds.  That's obvious enough by now.  Let's start concentrating on the people on the other side of the aisle who repeatedly ask us to rehire them on the basis of limited government, less spending, and cutting back the nanny state.  

Aristotle tells us the beginning is the majority of the whole.  Here's to a good beginning to reform.  Click: Down With Upton

Bill Whittle on Media Bias

Not much is more relevant, or In Real Time, than how the media is doing its job. Here is Bill Whittle on the subject:

Video: "Quantitative Easing Explained"

This says it all, particularly at the 0:25 and 2:09 marks:

To Compliment Mr. Hazlitt...(Video)

"The Most Persistent Economic Fallacy of All Time"

Video: Regulations Harm Those They Are Intended To Help

I saw this Reason video in a post on Hot Air.  In Sowell's Intellectuals and Society, he uses this very topic of payday lending to illustrate a repetitive mistake we make with our laws.

The mistake?  Well-intended laws that begin with broad, categorical judgements by elitist do-gooders and nanny staters (my words, not Sowell's) have very bad effects on the very people the elitists proclaim they are helping.  Reflexive stereotypes and emotionally-charged phrases like "predatory lending" and "exploitative interest rates" set the tone and parameters of regulations, precluding any consideration of basic economic common sense. 

First, the video:


Notice the inability to answer the question of whether or not the poor are better off if they never have the opportunity to get high-interest loans?  As Sowell would say, that question never gets asked in the hysteria that went into making the law, let alone answered.

As Sowell points out, after Oregon made it illegal to charge interest past 36 percent annual, 3/4 of payday loan business shut down.  Why?  36% annual works out to be $1.50 interest on a loan of $100 due in two weeks.  There is no way a business can sustain that rate of return, especially one dealing in high risk loans that many times do not get repaid.  Short term loan interest rates are rated for short periods of time, even days, so when scheduled out to one year they end up with astronomical rates of 800% or higher.  These are the kinds of numbers that get tossed around to whip up furry against businesses set up to actually provide a service for people down-and-out and in need of fast cash.

Poor people in Oregon need now have far fewer places to turn, thanks to the legislation that was intended to help them.

Honoring Veterans And Reflecting on Defense

It is appropriate and very good we set aside one day a year to honor our veterans.  We offer our somber gratitude for the fallen and living alike.  Veterans have every right to our homage and every reason to be proud of their service and sacrifice.  They served in good faith for their country.

Veterans Day also offers us an opportunity to think about the very reasons government sends millions of military personnel around the globe, and to reflect, today, on the appropriateness of what we are doing with tomorrow's veterans.  Veterans honorably serve their country in good faith.  Is the government of this country cautiously honoring that service and faith?

Accordingly, some things to consider:

• Is every employment of every American vital to our national defense? 

• Is every one of the 700+ military bases in 130+ countries around the globe indispensable in keeping us defended?

• Is every taxed and borrowed dollar of the $533 billion defense budget necessary for our defense, and prudently spent thereafter?

• Are our wars unquestionably vital to defending America, or the nebulous notion of "interests"? 

• Is everything we do around the globe in compliance with our constitution?  Does it evoke good will or ill will around the globe?

• Is every American life lost contribute to the actual defense of our lives and liberties?  Is so great a sacrifice, given in good faith to our country, appropriated by our government for anything but our real national defense?

James Madison:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honours, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people."

Video: Racism and Free Society Do Not Mix

I very much appreciate the virtue in keeping an even keel, moderate approach when it comes to spreading the ideas of liberty through persuasion.  I'm going to take a reprieve from that approach for a moment as this topic really lights me up.

Reactionaries love dogma.  Folks like this Wise guy especially love categorical, stereotypical, and incendiary dogma.  What better than conjuring up malevolent racial motives and incentives and impugning millions of politically engaged people when one has to explain the rejection of his own party? I gather from this sage's observations that all those tea baggers are really just upset at the browning of American society; they're all about doing a Clorox job on society, starting with making a whiter looking government.

Note that the highest social good seems to be the embrace of some nebulous percentage of a particular racial make up of society.  Once we socially rearrange the white out of society, or to a lesser degree agreeable to the elites and paternalists, all will be just and well.  In other words, we are supposed to view and treat people not as free and responsible individuals dignified simply by their humanity.  No, no, we are supposed to organize society into one big pure bred dog show, categorizing everyone into groups and assigning them value accordingly by identifying their humanity through the accident of birth, race, and gender.   But that's not racist or bigoted, of course, that's multiculturalism.

Oh.  And who would be the judges in this big dog show?  Elitist white leftists like this clown.  That's the real kicker.  Elitists who take it upon themselves to run society and our lives many times don't stop there; they take it upon themselves to shuffle us around according to the accident of our births and categorize society into racial groups.  But everyone else are the racists.

A free society focuses us on our respective humanity and all the equal rights and freedoms thereunto.  It also takes our focus away from sniveling elitist bigots like this Mr. Wise here. 

Mr. Wise.  What a misdirection that name is.

Rant mode off.

What Now?

"Whoever wants to see the world governed according to his own ideas must strive for dominion over men's minds.  It is impossible, in the long run, to subject men against their will to a regime that they reject."~~~Ludwig von Mises

Okay.  The polls are closed and (most of) the results are in.  For those interested in that whole freedom and Constitution idea, what now?

There are seemingly hundreds of Wednesday morning talking heads and pundits we can turn to for insight.  If we are patient enough to click around various news outlets, we most likely find that, similar to physics, in political punditry for every spin there is an equal and opposite spin.

I don't dare presume to be insightful enough to cut through the haze of our chattering class and get to the heart of matters.  That leaves me with one option: presume to be brazen enough to apply some simple logic, history, and common sense that only intellectuals would resist.  Or misapply.  Or simply be educated enough to not understand.

Here's what we know: 

• Tea Party backed candidates made significant inroads.  This is good.
• It is unreasonable to expect pro-freedom legislation.  That's not going to happen for a while.  This is good, though, because it forces us to continue to focus on the public education required in shifting public opinion.  Influence public opinion and eventually you influence policy.  That's how we got the welfare state; that's how we can revive liberty.
• In his victory speech, one of the most watched candidates, Marco Rubio, stressed his and others' victories were not a validation of the Republican party but a second chance to live up to their core principles.  This is good.
• Now that there are a lot of new politicians in D.C., there is an opportunity to immediately distrust them and make them, and others, fear losing reelection in two years if they become part of the problem.  This is a good opportunity and a vital responsibility. 

Here's what we don't know:

• How much the progressive Left will double down, in legislatures, courts, bureaucracies, and academia.  Recall the election of Scott Brown and how two months later health care was weaseled upon us.  This is bad if we fall back asleep at the wheel.
• How much the Republican establishment will or will not move toward the basic message of limited government, fiscal common sense, and making freedom the default setting.  Recall they have been a huge part of the problem. 

What now?  Now is the beginning.  Time to do a lot of homework and a lot of teaching.

A View From The Moral Highground

Via HotAir, the folks at Reason took to the Rally to Restore Sanity and fielded thoughts and responses from a few participants.

It is always tempting to think everyone else is immoderate and unreasonable, the only centered and reasonable worldview being your own.  All concomitant policies are, by default, the only ones worthy of consideration and those of "the other side" not worthy of consideration, let alone discussion.  This tendency seems to fuel the outlook of the Left.

As Joseph Schumpeter noted about disciples of "the prophet Marx" and their academic and intellectual adherents, dissent from and opposition to unproved socialist dogma is not just an error, it is a sin.  Opposition is not wrong intellectually; it is heresy and morally reprehesible.   (See first footnote in chapter one, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy)

Most telling are the responses between 2:33 and 4:14.