Tagged: libertarian

Populism In Microcosm

The U.S. Libertarian convention has chosen its presidential nominee, i.e., has chosen the man who will be the flagbearer for freedom defined as the liberty to get stoned or marry your dog — if that is your “rational preference.” There was one moment in Chase Oliver’s acceptance speech — captured and disseminated by Al Jazeera, for obvious reasons — when the new figurehead...

Rand Paul’s Reality

Sincerity — if you can fake that, you’ve got it made. Rand Paul gave the world a master class in the practical application of George Burns’ famous joke about the entertainment industry. A consummate libertarian of the performer class, Paul spoke in the U.S. Senate last week about his unwillingness to support any more military aid to Ukraine. His speech was passionate but...

Libertarianism vs. Classical Liberalism for Beginners

A women’s basketball player, Brittney Griner, is convicted of a drug crime in Russia, and handed nearly the maximum sentence under Russian law. The U.S. federal government, at every level, expresses outrage and anger over the apparent political motives behind the trial and sentencing. Whatever the merits of that accusation, and whatever level of illegitimacy one may find in either the Russian regime...

P. J. O’Rourke, RIP

I do not have much to say about the news that P. J. O’Rourke has died. All I know about him is that he was a libertarian of sorts, and that he was a very funny writer, and on occasion — the phrase “on occasion” in this context being not a belittlement but a high compliment — an insightfully funny one. For a...

One Difference Between Experts and Me

During this brief hiatus in my continuing Limbo series, “The Rule of the Experts” (read Part One and Part Two), I cannot resist an opportunity to highlight one of my central conclusions about the kind of people modern society refers to as experts, by way of this simple point of contrast with myself: I am occasionally proven right. Case in point: Back on...

Fearless Prediction for 2020

The best thing about fearless predictions is that even a coward can make them. After all, no one will remember what you predicted anyway, or would care even if they did remember, so the “fearless” part of a fearless prediction is purely a vanity claim.  With that as a preface and qualification, I will now venture to make a FEARLESS PREDICTION for the...