On War and Declarations of War
The power to declare war was not given to Congress by accident. Nor is it some arcane ritual of a bygone era.
Author: Jason Kuznicki
The Parade of Horribles
I thought I should note how I predicted this story three days before it broke. “Parade of horribles,” indeed.
The End of Benign Ignorance
For many years, our government’s benign ignorance was a limiting factor in the growth of the carceral state. That may be ending. When it does, our law enforcement will look very different.
The Border Fence: A Big-Government Program Conservatives Happen to Love
The strange popularity of the border fence.
Rand Paul, the Confederacy, and Liberty
Here’s a thing I didn’t know until this morning: A close aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) who co-wrote the senator’s 2011 book spent years working as a pro-secessionist radio pundit and neo-Confederate...
No, Justice Kennedy Didn’t Just Call a Bunch of People Bigots
Or: “Everyone’s a Little Irrational Sometimes.” Chief Justice Roberts’ dissent is in some ways the most interesting of the opinions in U.S. v Windsor. He didn’t believe the court had jurisdiction — a complicated...
Why State Surveillance Is Worse
“The NSA isn’t doing anything that Google doesn’t already do,” runs the newly struck establishment line. “So you have nothing to worry about now that you didn’t already have.” As often happens, Richard Cohen...
Things to Hide
I have things to hide. No, I won’t tell you about them. I’m hiding them. Don’t worry. I’m not hurting. I don’t need professional help. It’s just some things about me are (1) unlikely...
Graffito Scratched on a Men’s Room Wall in the Library of Congress.
You got me. Sometimes I read the graffiti. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this one:
The IRS Scandal and How to Fix It. Forever.
The right says: “This is terrible, someone should pay!” The left says: “This is not really a scandal at all. It’s business as usual. All we really need is to put the right people...
Popular and Wrong
Bryan Caplan writes: Consider a world where 80% of people are Conformists, 10% of people are Righteous, and 10% are Reprobates. The Conformists are epistemically and morally neutral, so they believe and support whatever...
Just Not The Heritage Foundation’s Month.
When the Boy Scouts wanted to stand firm and keep out the gays, Heritage insisted it was a private matter, one about the freedom to associate as one sees fit. They should have the...
At My Real Job
Libertarianism.org has picked up the second installment of my series on the socialist calculation debate. And this month’s Cato Unbound is on libertarian-conservative fusionism — in essence, the idea that libertarians fit most naturally...
This Is Why We Don’t Argue Tu Quoque
I’ve tried to explain what’s wrong with tu quoque in comments here and here. Sam quoted me in his recent post on tu quoque, but he didn’t quote what I think is the most...
The Socialist Calculation Debate, with Prolegomena to Any Future Metamarkets. Part I: Really Hard Math.
The first in a series on socialist calculation, the work done by the price system, and some things we can already know about any future resource allocation strategies that might supplant the strategy of...
What’s What.
An explanation that few will agree with, fewer will like, and fewer still will advocate.[1] First, naturalistic evolution is true. I’m sorry if that disturbs you, but I don’t even consider it controversial. No...
