“War is organized, violent conflict between nation-state regimes. To be anti-war is to oppose such conflict, period, end of story. One might be anti-war on pacifist, non-interventionist, or isolationist grounds, or for other reasons, but it’s a specific orientation. If you oppose war as such, whatever your reasons, you’re anti-war. If you support any war, for any reason or based on any justification, you’re not anti-war. Because words mean things. I’m anti-war. I’m neither a pacifist nor an isolationist. I’m non-interventionist, but non-interventionism is corollary to, not the basis for, my position. And my anti-war position is, in turn, a product of my position on nation-state regimes as such. In my view, they are simply violent criminal organizations. Their disputes are of a piece with turf wars between mafia ‘families’ or brawls between street gangs — the difference is one of degree, not kind.” (02/07/23)
“If protection against imports from country C (say, China) by the state of country A (say, the United States) is good, then an embargo by the government of C on exports to A must be good too. Anybody in A, or at least its government, should cheer. Something similar may happen regarding Chinese exports of some equipment used to manufacture solar panel components. The Wall Street Journal reports … ‘China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology are considering adding advanced technology used in the production of ingots and wafers, some of the building blocks of solar panels, to a list of technologies that are subject to export controls.’ Such a ban would cause an increase in the world prices of these high-tech machines and of solar panels. No surprise that American producers of solar panels, who can’t compete with Chinese producers at current prices, are thrilled …” (02/07/23)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“[Florida Governor Ron DeSantis] is asking the Florida legislature to give him another $12 million to ‘relocate’ undocumented immigrants, which will enable him to do more of what he did to those Venezuelan immigrants to new groups of undocumented immigrants. … the scheme was to induce the immigrants to sign consent forms and then transport them to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and then just dump them there. The goal of the scheme was to embarrass the residents of Martha’s Vineyard, who have expressed sympathy for the plight of immigrants in general. DeSantis was convinced that once he dumped the immigrants into Martha’s Vineyard, the residents there would treat them in the same way that DeSantis was treating them — like garbage. In that way, he would expose the hypocrisy of people ‘on the left.’ Actually, however, the scheme blew up in DeSantis’s face, in several respects.” (02/07/23)
“The American presidency has grown more ritualistic over the years in ways great and small. In his role as commander in chief (the title is imperator in Latin, producing emperor in English) the president has taken on more martial splendor, giving military salutes as though he were a uniformed officer, in contradiction of traditional etiquette, and increasingly accompanied by military displays of one kind or another. … Washington has gone title-crazy, with people referring in the most ridiculous way to ‘Leader McConnell’ and ‘Leader Jeffries,’ while men and women decades out of office continue to insist on being referred to as ‘Governor X’ or ‘Ambassador X’ or ‘Mr. Speaker,’ or ‘Secretary X’ as though these were lifelong titles of nobility rather than temporary job titles held by certain public servants. … We have built a sad little ersatz nobility without the, you know, nobility.” (02/07/23)
“African-American slavery was a profound injustice, and we should not downplay that abhorrent part of our nation’s past. But the 1619 Project is riddled with errors that have been debunked across the ideological spectrum by economic historian Phil Magness (who has done the best debunking), Professor Gordon Wood, the World Socialist Web Site, and many other respectable critics. The 1619 Project’s most harebrained idea is that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery. This notion is impossible to reconcile with the fact that the conflict erupted in northern colonies with few slaves. The 1619 storyline could not have passed the laugh test unless many Americans were clueless on the British brutality that sparked the war.” (02/07/23)
“Chaos in Washington, madness at the airport, holiday hangovers: The first month of 2023 was familiar enough. What might seem less familiar to Americans, however, are the cracks appearing in our walls. Sure, Americans have long felt a decline — maybe a few shifts in the foundations; the yearly polls on trust in major institutions reflect that well enough. You might hear an uncle who says, ‘Wall Street’s a bunch of crooks!’ or a neighbor who notices, ‘Washington politicians are only in it for themselves,’ or even an old classmate who thinks, ‘Colleges are just a bunch of crazy activists these days,’ but the complaints largely ended with the complaints themselves. Everything still worked well enough. And then it didn’t.” (02/07/23)
“With the exception of the Second World War, every military conflict in which the United States has taken part has generated an anti-war movement. During the American Revolution, numerous Loyalists preferred British rule to a war for independence. New Englanders opposed the War of 1812; most Whigs denounced the Mexican-American War launched by the Democratic president James K. Polk; and both the Union and the Confederacy were internally divided during the Civil War. More recently, the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan split the country. At the same time, wars often create an atmosphere of hyper-patriotism, leading to the equation of dissent with treason and to the severe treatment of critics. … by far the most extreme wartime violations of civil liberties (with the major exception of Japanese American internment during the Second World War) took place during World War I.” (02/07/23)
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Donald J Boudreaux
“A few years ago, I was scolded by an email correspondent for my alleged indifference to the fact that first responders and teachers are paid far less than are Hollywood stars and professional athletes. My correspondent insisted that ‘[r]eal people know it’s wrong and dangerous that men playing games get paid so much more than men and women who save lives and educate our children.’ The danger that my correspondent perceived in this situation is that, in her words, ‘This low pay will one day leave us with not enough teachers and paramedics.’ … This sentiment doesn’t reflect people’s correct understanding of a defective economy, but their incorrect understanding of a successful economy. It also reflects a failure of economists to better teach basic economics to the general public.” (02/07/23)
“Last week, Iran’s ruling clerics began a 10-day anniversary celebration of the 1979 revolution that created the Islamic Republic. Yet nearly five months into mass protests against the regime, public enthusiasm for the commemoration is, to say the least, quite low. In fact, the mass abstention is an example of what has marked the protests: the use of nonviolent resistance. The protests, which erupted in September after police killed a woman for the way she wore a head covering, have been largely peaceful. They are also largely led by women, many of whom defy a mandatory hijab law. This has raised the moral legitimacy of the protesters’ cause while delegitimizing the regime – especially its horrific use of violence to suppress the protests. In December, the government executed the first protester (on a charge of ‘corruption on earth’).” (02/07/23)
“A group of House Republicans is supporting legislation that would replace federal income, payroll, estate, and gift taxes with a 30 percent national sales tax. The bill also eliminates the Internal Revenue Service, giving states the responsibility to collect the sales tax and send the revenue to DC. This deputizing of states to act as federal tax collectors violates the principles of federalism, especially since the plan forces states that have chosen not to make their residents pay sales taxes create a mechanism for collecting sales tax. A 30 percent sales tax on all goods with no exceptions and no deductions will increase taxes imposed on millions of Americans.” (02/07/23)
