As we have discussed, classical liberals and libertarians have an uneasy relationship with democracy. The reason is obvious – classical liberals support unregulated or lightly regulated capitalism, and this is not a popular position with voters. Of course, it could be that classical liberals support both capitalism and democracy, and reluctantly prioritize their commitment to […]
What does this make you think? Option 1: This is a moral outrage! Option 2: We need to figure out how to win elections! Politics is not a morality play, folks! If you think this is an outrage, spend your time figuring out how to win elections. And winning elections may require messaging that does […]
The Democrats seem to be a bit uncertain about how to respond to the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe. This isn’t surprising. They face enormous pressure from their voters to “do something”, but there is, in fact, little they can do that will materially improve the situation of pregnant women in the short term. Despite the […]
I have a post up at Science-Based Medicine about the pitfalls and dangers of moralistic political thinking. The focus is on COVID, but the lessons are much more broadly relevant. Here’s the lede: The American policy response to COVID left a great deal to be desired. Figuring out what went wrong and how to do […]
Kevin Drum raises the question: In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, some conservatives are talking about passing a national ban on abortion. But I don’t think they can do that. Drum goes on to explain that the federal government is a government of enumerated powers, and that it is not obvious that any of the recognized […]
So suggests Noah Smith: My view is that Putin is banking on congressional Republicans. At this point is seems clear that the Ukrainian army is better than the Russian army (more motivated, better trained and led) and that NATO weapons are better than Russian weapons. If the current coalition in support of Ukraine holds together, […]
It’s hard to focus as I struggle through my second round of Covid, but a few thoughts on Roe. Compromise: Josh Marshall has been advocating loudly for the Democrats to run this year on a pledge to restore Roe. Maybe this is their best strategy. But they should consider a compromise along the lines I […]
Understanding the situation in Ukraine and how it will likely evolve in the future is impossible for me, partly due the inherent complexity and unpredictability of war and international relations, and partly because the main players have such strong incentives to strategically misrepresent their actions and intentions. Are the Ukrainians really getting killed by Russian […]
Pre-COVID, who would have thought that a significant part of the libertarian thought collective would go anti-vax? Not me. But I stand corrected. From a recent blog post at the illustrious Brownstone Institute: The people whose directives you are following talk a lot about “pseudoscience,” always accusing those of us who disagree with their directives […]
A small but influential faction of the Democratic left seems to be committed to the idea that the way out of our political difficulties is to persuade Democratic voters that they should be very angry at Democratic politicians. This is insane on every level. For example, Ben Burgis in Jacobin argues (as far as I […]