Journalist.
During the 1970s, the City University of New York broadcast Day at Night, wherein James Day interviewed various individuals influential in politics or culture. In 1974, he interviewed I.F. Stone and they discussed Stone's views on free speech, journalistic independence, tolerance, his motivations for starting his Weekly Reader, and his beginnings in journalism. Some notable quotations follow the …
Continue reading "I.F. Stone on free speech, independence, and government power"
First, thanks to everyone who wanted me to write something; I wasn't expecting that. As far as analysis, I cannot improve upon Will Wilkinson, Randy Barnett, Johnathan Chait, Greg Sargent, Megan McArdle, Andrew Koppelman, George Will, Michael Cannon, and Peter Suderman. Anyway, three links that I think are important to remember: Obama claimed, and Democrats …
So I did a rolling stop through an intersection I've traversed countless times and the police pulled me over. Fair enough, I'll grant it. Had I thought I endangered anyone else or myself, I'd come to a complete stop, but laws are important for societal cohesion and the rule of law isn't a flippant and …
I wrote the following column for The Post on Friday: Americans consistently and greatly exaggerate the value and benefit of democracy. It must be admitted the worst tendency in democracy is that it destroys the conception of a private realm wherein political and social power cannot intervene without committing a great injustice. The culprit causing such mischief, …
Continue reading "Unrestrained democracy exudes no justice, liberty"
Library of Congress I’m developing this idea, but I wanted to post a rough sketch on here regardless. I think consent as a tool against political institutions could not be more useless or irrelevant. Locke structured his defense of a limited, liberal government on the basis of consent (Sections 87 to 89 prove relevant). Without consent, Locke …
It isn’t the disagreement that I mind with my progressive/liberal/socialist friends. I’m fine with that. What’s offensive is their derogatory and unfair approach when we discuss anything. As much as my leftist friends disparage conservatives for theocracy, they’re the ones primarily slinging sin on individuals who disagree with their worldview. They’ve crafted such a pure, …
Continue reading "Thoughts on political discourse and its coarsening"
New post on the Young Americans for Liberty blog: As sheep led to slaughter, so are we fools who perpetually adhere to fallacious economic dogma. In this instance, our shepherd is Robert Reich, writing in Salon, wherein he offers a supposedly innovative panacea that reveals itself as a static, predictable policy. In other news, Students …
Continue reading "The free market had its chance; time for the government to finally act!"
If you want to despise the Bush administration (and every administration since Johnson) more than you already do, I highly recommend reading Glenn Greenwald's How Would a Patriot Act? Fun fact (and by fun, I mean depressing): since the creation of FISA courts in 1978 through 2001, the courts received 13,102 requests for warrants to …
Continue reading "How would a patriot act? Like an unfettered tyrant, apparently."
Once again, Glenn Greenwald illustrates why he's one of the best political commentators around: What's most striking, and ironic, is that the Norwegian response to the Oslo attack is so glaringly un-American even though its core premise -- a brave refusal to sacrifice liberty and transparency in the name of fear and security -- was …
I have a new post published on Students for Liberty, check it out. This is not to deride idealism as irrelevant and destructive of progress; to the contrary, idealism precipitates activism that alters society and develops a movement. When individuals constantly look toward heaven, to that ideal society, it is an invigoration of sorts which …
Continue reading "In search of a radical libertarian utopia"