Category: Social and Political Philosophy
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Nick Gillespie on Why Youth Favor Obama and Conservatism’s Contradictions
Support for Obama among 18-29 year olds exceeds that of any other age cohort. Reason Magazine's Nick Gillespie argues that Obama is in the process of "screwing them big time." Gillespie is right. What caught my eye, however, was Gillespie's explanation of why conservatives fail to get the youth vote: I'd argue that what makes "the conservative message" resonate less…
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Why Not Gun Control for the Government?
Liberals have been calling for a 'conversation' about gun control. The call is both silly and disingenuous. Silly, because it is not as if we haven't been talking about this for decades. So suddenly we need to have a 'conversation'? Disingenuous, because what liberals mean by a conversation is more like: you shut up and listen…
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Against Swedenization
An important article by William Voegli. Excerpt: The case against Swedenization, then, is that it threatens a soft and insidious despotism. Unlike the totalitarianism of the USSR, where the evil flowed from the top down, engulfing every aspect of society, the danger posed by social democracy is of social, political, and economic debilitations’ compounding one…
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Of Six-Toed Cats and Federalism
Jonah Goldberg: "One of my New Year’s resolutions is to work harder to persuade ideological friends and foes alike that the way to reduce partisanship and maximize happiness in America is to embrace federalism — the view that we should push as many decisions as possible to the lowest local level feasible." Me too: Can…
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A Case for Voluntary Segregation
This old entry, from about a year and half ago, has gained in relevance after Obama's reelection. Here it is again re-titled and revised. ……………………… Another fit topic of rumination on this Independence Day 2011 is the question of voluntary segregation or balkanization. Herewith, a few very preliminary remarks. I have been inclining toward the…
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Not Secession, Federalism
Glenn Reynolds talks sense. My rather more academically worded federalism post. And here is a short federalism post of mine with a link to a post by Jonah Goldberg.
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The ‘Bread’ in ‘Bread and Circuses’
According to this article, if every Food Stamp recipient voted for Obama, it would account for 75% of his total. As you know, it is not called Food Stamps anymore. It has been given the snappy new label, at once both a euphemism and an acronym, SNAP: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. And it is actively…
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Subsidiarity and the Left’s Assault on Civil Society
You say you're Catholic and you are going to vote for Obama? Are you stupid? Apart from the fact that the Dems are the abortion party, the Obama administration's attack on civil society is at odds with Catholic social teaching which rests on the principle of subsidiarity. David A. Bosnich, The Principle of Subsidiarity: One of…
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Dems: “Government is the Only Thing We All Belong To”
Some say that there is no real difference between the two major parties in the USA, the Republicans and the Democrats. The claim is breathtakingly false for so many reasons. The latest example of difference is provided by this DNC video. John Hayward's response is spot on: Even this benign-sounding apologia for “government is…
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Academic Philosophy (with an addendum on Human Corruption)
Academic philosophy too often degenerates into a sterile intellectual game whose sole function is to inflate and deflate the egos of the participants. But this is no surprise: everything human is either degenerate or will become degenerate. …………………….. Addendum: 2:45 PM Long-time blogger-buddy and supplier of high-quality links and comments, Bill Keezer, comments: Academic anything…
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Obama’s Assault on the Institutions of Civil Society
Obama showed his true colors quite unmistakably in his 'You didn't build that" speech. Yuval Steinitz has his number: The president simply equates doing things together with doing things through government. He sees the citizen and the state, and nothing in between — and thus sees every political question as a choice between radical individualism…
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Did the State Make You Great?
Krauthammer 'nails it' brilliantly (emphasis added): To say that all individuals are embedded in and the product of society is banal. Obama rises above banality by means of fallacy: equating society with government, the collectivity with the state. Of course we are shaped by our milieu. But the most formative, most important influence on the…
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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. …
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Equality of Opportunity Thin and Thick
Will Knowland writes: Browsing your Money Matters section, I noticed this: Equality of outcome or result is not to be confused with equality of opportunity or formal equality in general, including equality under the law. It is an egregious fallacy of liberals and leftists to infer a denial of equality of opportunity — via 'racism'…
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Is Political Science Science?
The answer depends on what counts as science. The so-called 'hard' sciences set the standard. This useful article lists the following five characteristics of science in the strict and eminent sense: 1. Clearly defined terminology.2. Quantifiability.3. Highly controlled conditions. "A scientifically rigorous study maintains direct control over as many of the factors that influence the…