Ideas Matter

Bill Maher and Poor Mississippi Rednecks

So Bill Maher sends Alexandra Pelosi down to the poorest state in the union to interview poor people. We watch the video. What do we get in the panel commentary? Very little of substance. The once self-described "libertarian' Bill Maher would do well to invite more libertarians onto his show. Break the bubble a little. Here's what he might have gotten out of a decent panelist:

Now You Know Why it's Milton Friedman's Century

I once heard Sec. George Shultz say "people liked to argue with Milton Friedman when he's not around." In this video you can see why. Unfortunately, you have a guy who wants to ask a "three-part" question. Fortunately, you have a man who can answer each part -- masterfully. Allow me to riff on a couple of Friedman's points that are particularly brilliant.

Deadly Technology and the Role of Government

All it takes is one mad (evil or crazy) scientist to destroy the human race, according to Michio Kaku. So does government have a role in ensuring these technologies are not used for nefarious -- even catastrophic ends?

The Economic Way of Thinking and Politics Without Romance

Okay, now that you've watched this video, ask yourself: what if you apply the economic way of thinking to political action? In other words, even though we don't need politicians to get the "good orders" we see around us, we nevertheless have to live with these characters. So what do actions, interactions and consequences have to do with the results we see in the public sphere (that we're so often troubled by)?

Think Tanks, Video and Experimentation

State Policy Network has just come out with their second in a video series on the Constitution and its erosion. The production values in this piece are pretty darn good. Indeed, this piece is much better than most of what think tanks turn out. If I had any critique, it would be that the talking heads disrupt the flow of a pretty good narrative. In any case, the view count of this piece suggests it's not getting the eyeballs it deserves. 

Hypocrites and Half-Wits - Pen or Sword?

Free to Choose Press is proud to present: Hypocrites and Half-Wits: A Dose of Sanity from Cafe Hayek 

You want to work your ultra-liberal friends into a tizzy? What about your stoggy protectionist buddies? Nowhere will you find reasoned economic, and dare-I-say ethical, thinking carried out with such confidence and concision.

Equality of Outcome or Opportunity?

The starting line/finish line metaphor is not perfect, but no metaphor is. It does show Friedman's gift for synthesizing big concepts. Precious few people in the liberty movement know how to use the kinds of crystallizing metaphors Milton Friedman did. So the next time you hear someone talk about income inequality, remember the finish line analogy. It helps us unpack the idea that, instead of fretting about who has what, we can ask ourselves how we can better help any given person find the opportunity to be upwardly mobile and to find happiness.

But is it "equality of opportunity" what we're looking for (if we're not looking for equality of outcome)?

Why Some People are Libertarians

This is refreshing. When someone off camera asks John Tomasi why he's a libertarian, he says: "I value those bourgeois American virtues." Most political philosophers would say something about reason demanding it. One ought to be libertarian because the political form embodies some sort of objective truth about human nature and the good -- right? Not exactly.

Vaclav Klaus: Threat of Environmentalism (Plus Conference on Climate Change)

Vaclav Klaus -- the great Czech president and free-market reformer -- will keynote at the 2012 Heartland Climate Change Conference in Chicago. If you share Klaus's views about the threat of environmentalism as a veiled form of central planning, you should attend this conference. It's a fascinating event with great speakers and lots of food for thought. The Heartland conference is also the culmination of powerful scholarship and a decade's worth of sane thinking that has served to counter a conserted power grab by the radical environmental left.

Interestingly, the conference takes place just after one of the world's leading climate alarmists, James Lovelock, admits to being an "alarmist"...

A Crony's Tax Code

If you think we could soon have a flat tax, you're kidding yourself. Do you know how many parasites are nestled in the byzantine recesses of the U.S. tax code? Enough to make an army. That army would swarm out of the woodwork if we ever had a serious conversation about simplifying the internal revenue code. And guess who would be leading the charge: the IRS bureaucrat-H&R Block-tax lawyer complex. Don't believe me? Witness the parasites...