Friday morning I argued that Democrats should stop trying to save Republicans from themselves. Biden will address nation and change his approach I was unaware that on Thursday afternoon Biden had given a statement to the press urging people to get vaccinated. Apparently he will also give a national address Tuesday. According to the New […]
A few weeks ago I argued the Democrats should declare victory over Covid-19 and begin managing it as an endemic disease. I want to flesh out my reasoning and discuss how the emergence of Omicron changes the calculus. I believe that Biden should make an address to the nation about Covid-19, with three basic points. […]
As we have discussed before, words matter. Matt Yglesias: As a person with a platform, the best thing I can say is that you should get vaccinated and boosted, you should get your kids vaccinated, and you should encourage others in your lives to do the same. Kevin Drum: If Donald Trump and the rest […]
Donald Boudreaux says this [quote begins here]: Fauci – further revealing his inhumanity – actually said this: [L]et’s take the holiday setting. You’re with your family. You have grandparents and parents and children. When you get vaccinated and you have a vaccinated group and you are in an indoor setting, you can enjoy, as we […]
On November 10, 2021 (I think), the Brownstone Institute posted an article entitled “20 Essential Studies that Raise Grave Doubts about COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates” by Paul Elias Alexander. Alexander’s essay featured selective quotations, misleading spin, and (arguably) fabrication. I wrote up a lengthy response to Alexander’s article, but never finalized my take. Then today I […]
If you want to understand libertarian politics and messaging, the starting point is to recognize that libertarian ideology is very unpopular. They want to end child poverty – but only through deregulation. They support good education – but only through vouchers or privatization. They want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Well, o.k., not really. They […]
Classical liberalism has an uneasy relationship with democracy. Friedrich Hayek, for example, argued in The Constitution of Liberty and in Law, Legislation, and Liberty that democracy might need to be suspended to preserve liberal economic institutions. And he meant it, as his support for Pinochet in Chile made clear. Democracy in America is now under […]
We are almost two years into this pandemic, and a K-8 school in Boston is being forced to close for 10 days due to lack of testing capacity. First, capacity was inadequate to quell an outbreak: Curley’s school testing program became overwhelmed when more than 500 students a day needed testing. That meant some infected […]
Dan Little has a post up at Understanding Society on what authoritarianism might look like in the United States. The whole thing is well worth reading, but here is one part: This seems about right, though of course speculative, but I have doubts about the big business piece. Yes, some business interests will be close […]
There were two pieces of good news yesterday: the big job gains in October, perhaps due to the waning of the delta-fueled covid-spike, and the new Pfizer covid pill, which is reported to be 89% effective at preventing severe illness and death. Coming after the demoralizing mid-term election, this is indeed very welcome. But welcome […]