“In Part 1, I wrote about Don Lavoie’s argument that robust liberalism requires open (democratic) politics that can make useful the tacit, dispersed knowledge of voters’ ‘interests, concerns, and demands to provide governance structures that people will use to resolve political disagreements peacefully.’ Liberalism requires open democracy just as it requires open markets, for many of the same reasons.” (01/07/25)
“A recent op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called for substantially increasing the power of urban planners in St. Louis and other Missouri cities. Considering the state of government in the City of St. Louis right now, I did a double take to see if it was a joke. It wasn’t. Somebody is actually calling for increasing the role of local government in managing every aspect of our lives. I think that is terrifying, and I am not exaggerating when I say ‘every aspect.'” (01/07/25)
“January 20 will see the conclusion of the most extraordinary episode in the history of the American presidency. For the last four years, the supposed president, Joe Biden, has been the man who wasn’t there. Millions of non-Americans of every description, including terrorists, criminals, and members of the Cuban Communist Party, have swarmed over the Mexican border and flooded into our urban centers, costing billions of taxpayer dollars to support — and still Biden wasn’t there. And speaking of money: Trillions were spent by a ramshackle administration that built nothing and achieved nothing, but did manage to trigger an inflationary spike, making food, cars and housing less affordable to ordinary Americans — though Biden wasn’t there for this, either.” (01/06/25)
“As holiday treats give way to New Year’s resolutions, the names of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy will be on millions of lips this January — in addition to any leftover fruitcake, eggnog, cookies, and latkes. But the benefits of these drugs aren’t limited to what they can do for an individual’s health. Recent analysis of GLP-1 weight-loss therapies by Citi and Goldman Sachs uncovered an interesting and underdiscussed benefit: increased worker productivity. Widely deployed, these drugs could raise labor productivity by up to 0.5 percent. That number may not sound like much, but such an acceleration would be a dramatic boost to the economy of the United States and the health of its citizens.” (01/07/25)
“On multiple occasions, Donald Trump has expressed support for term limits on members of Congress. Will it happen this time around? After all, it is the one thing that many on the left and the right could come together and agree on — the trouble is, will members of Congress acquiesce? Not likely, but we can be hopeful. … Since Congress will not do it themselves, we would need a constitutional amendment for term limits to ensure that politicians serve the nation’s interests rather than their own.” [editor’s note: Any constitutional amendment would have to make it past super-majorities of pols who, being pols, don’t want to be term-limited (especially above and beyond the current term limit mechanism, known as “election” – TLK] (01/07/25)
“Trump sounded different from post-Cold War presidents, but his sentiments echoed Richard Nixon, who also liked to get mad in both meanings of the word. Indeed, according to his staffer H.R. Haldeman, Nixon coined the term ‘madman theory,’ explaining that he wanted the North Vietnamese to believe he was capable of doing anything to bring the Vietnam War to an end — up to and including the use of nuclear weapons. The madman theory posits that a leader who behaves as if he could do just about anything has a better chance of persuading other global actors to make concessions they otherwise would not make. … Could Trump’s madman theory be so crazy that it just might work?” (01/07/25)
“When Katharine Tito approached the vintage typewriter at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, skepticism was written across her face. Though she’d spotted typewriters in thrift stores, she’d never actually used one. As a graphic design student immersed in digital tools, the mechanical contraption before her seemed like a relic. But as she began typing people’s messages to the President of the United States for my ‘I Wish to Say’ project, something shifted. Her fingers found their rhythm on the keys, and her expression transformed. ‘It’s different from anything I’ve experienced,’ she told me. ‘Each keystroke feels weighty, permanent. You can’t just delete and start over. You have to think about every word. Sometimes people would talk too fast, and I’d have to tell them, ‘You’ve got to slow down because I can only go so quickly.”” (01/07/25)
“Last month, a mega-monstrous ‘continuing resolution’ (CR) — allowing federal deficit spending over the set debt limit — was killed by public outcry, helped along by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and others with megaphones or MAGAphones. This CR was chucked to the great annoyance of champions of runaway spending and runaway violations of individual rights. They babbled about the autocratic interference of one ‘President Musk.’ As if his complaints alone would have sufficed to kill it had nobody else in America cared. The mega-monstrous CR was replaced by a mini-monstrous CR. The replacement sported many fewer pages, things like a pay raise for congressmen having been left out. Also deleted? A part of the State Department devoted to censoring Americans.” (01/07/25)
“The upcoming House of Representatives Rules Committee Package is sure to include a section requiring the consideration of a bill that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC), therefore shielding [sic] Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu from arrest. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, as well as former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri in November 2024 for their actions in Gaza, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. … A House Resolution introduced by over a dozen House Republicans, titled the ‘Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act’ is meant ‘to impose sanctions with respect to the International Criminal Court engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.'” (01/06/25)
“I was watching MSNBC the other day – I know, but it is fun to look into a parallel universe where progressive ideals appeal to the vast majority of Americans, it makes me appreciate reality all the more – and I had to check my phone to make sure I had the right year. You wouldn’t know it was 2024 if you’d just gone by the rhetoric belching its way over the airwaves. Donald Trump is a Russian stooge (a tool of Putin) who is only interested in … well, you know the rest of that song. In fact, you know the rest of all the songs, as the political left has morphed into a cover band playing all their hits that were never really hits in the first place. They learned nothing from the election.” (01/07/25)
