Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Politics

  • Yes, Vote Fraud’s Real

    There is no need to play the 'numbers game.'  The photo ID requirement is a matter of principle.  Anyone with common sense ought to be able to appreciate that voting must be conducted in an orderly manner, a manner to inspire confidence in the citizenry, and that only citizens who have registered to vote and have satisfied…

  • Voter ID Laws are Not Like a Poll Tax

    Here we go again: First, a voter restriction is like a poll tax when its authors use voting  fraud as a pretext for legislation that has little to do with voting fraud. Second, it is like a poll tax when it creates only a small nuisance to some  voters, but for other groups it erects…

  • Invective, Philosophy, and Politics

    A new reader (who may not remain a reader for long) wrote in to say that he enjoyed my philosophical entries but was "saddened" by the invective I employed in one of my political posts. I would say that the use of invective is justifiable in polemical writing.  Of course, it is out of place in…

  • Obama’s False Alternative

    Obama apparently thinks that the only alternative to omni-intrusive, ever-expanding government is some sort of 'rugged individualism' according to which each individual pulls himself up by his own pony-tail in the manner of the celebrated Baron von Muenchhausen.  Bullshit. False alternative.  That he would push this false alternative is a good illustration of Obama's mendacity. …

  • Photo ID: The ‘It Would Disproportionately Affect Hispanic Voters’ Argument

     Here (emphasis added) we find: In March, the Justice Department denied the Lone Star State the necessary clearance for this new law, arguing that it would disproportionately affect Hispanic voters. Texas officials appealed.  To preserve the access of all citizens to the right to vote . . . the District Court should follow the Justice…

  • A Letter to Young Voters

    I would quibble with parts of this piece  by Dennis Prager, but it is worth reading.   Excerpt: Young people believe that when the government gives more money and benefits to more people it helps them. This is naïve. As you get older and wiser you realize that when people are given anything without having to…

  • Government Did Not Build Your Business

    A very good Reason magazine article.  The author, Ronald Bailey, explains a distinction between tangible and intangible wealth.  Human, social, and institutional capital are forms of intangible wealth.  And while you are at Reason.com, read Sheldon Richman's article on the right to self-defense.  It makes a number of obvious points that liberals seem incapable of understanding. …

  • Gun Laws and the Supposed ‘Politicization’ of the Aurora Massacre

    Last year, when Republicans were being accused of 'politicizing' the national debt crisis I made the point that one cannot politicize that which is inherently political: The Republicans were accused of 'politicizing' the debt crisis.  But how can you politicize what is  inherently political?  The debt in question is the debt of the federal government. …

  • Who Built the Internet? Obama’s Straw Man Fallacy

    This just over the transom: With respect to your post about how "you didn't build this blog" — really bad example. You built the blog, but Big Government built the internet that allows you to transmit it it to potentially billions of people. So, it's exactly an illustration of what Obama was talking about —…

  • Barack the Magic Suit: A Political Fairy Tale

    A short video by Andrew Klavan.  Here is an essay by him which ends like this: He has no clue how things actually work. Even if socialism did work, it would be wrong because it would strip people of the fruits of their labor and the property rights on which liberty depends. Thankfully, it doesn’t…

  • I Didn’t Build This Blog

    Big Government did. (Big Government must have a death wish.) For more on this theme, surf on over to http://didntbuildthat.com/.

  • Profiling, Prejudice, and Discrimination

    Everybody profiles.  Liberals are no exception.  Liberals reveal their prejudices by where they live, shop, send their kids to school and with whom they associate.   The word 'prejudice' needs analysis.  It could refer to blind prejudice: unreasoning, reflexive (as opposed to reflective) aversion to what is other just because it is other, or an unreasoning pro-attitude…

  • Photo ID: Voter Suppression or Liberal Projection?

    If it is racist to demand photo ID at polling places, what does that say about how liberals view black people? They must view you black folk as utterly incompetent nonentities incapable of taking part in modern life, as pimps, whores, drug addicts, carjackers, hoodie-wearing thugs, smash & grab artists, troglodytes, total losers  . .…

  • Political Action and the Principle of Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien

    Attributed to Voltaire. "The best is the enemy of the good." Meditation on this truth may help conservatives contain their revulsion at their lousy choices. Obama, who has proven that he is a disaster for the country, got in in part because of conservatives who could not abide McCain.  And he may stay in office…

  • On Calling Obama a Socialist

    It is a tactical mistake for libertarians and conservatives to label Obama a socialist. For what will happen, has happened: liberals will revert to a strict definition and point out that Obama is not a socialist by this strict definition. Robert Heilbroner defines socialism in terms of "a centrally planned economy in which the government…