I had my first experience with the Uber ride-sharing concept recently in LA. Within five minutes of typing information into the app, the driver we chose using customer ratings to guide us pulled up in a Mercedes. For under $6, we got a safe, clean, quick ride across town. It was a win for us,..
Read moreConstitution 101: The Second Amendment – Shall Not Infringe
St. George Tucker wrote the first systematic commentary on the U.S. Constitution and stood as one of the preeminent constitutional scholars through the 18th century. Tucker called the right of self-defense the “palladium of liberty.” The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of..
Read moreConservative Foreign Policy Centralizers
This question perplexes me: how is it that in the modern conservative mind, when it comes to domestic and economic policy, government can't do anything right and the people making the decisions are imbeciles, but when it comes to foreign policy, these exact same people suddenly become geniuses? Consider... Conservatives hate the idea of centralized..
Read moreConstitution 101: The Incorporation Doctrine and the Bill of Rights
In my last Constitution 101 post, I established that the Bill of Rights was not originally intended to apply to the states. But lawyers and other supporters of federal courts policing rights at the state and local level will point to the 14th Amendment. They argue that it “incorporates” the Bill of Rights and applies..
Read moreIn 133 Words or Less: Libertarian Centralizers
I run into a lot of people who want to use federal power to impose liberty. I call them libertarian centralizers. They advocate using federal courts and Congressional mandates to force smaller entities such as states, local governments and private businesses to observe libertarian principles, including gun rights, recognizing same-sex marriage and respecting privacy. While..
Read moreIf You Don’t Like It, Don’t Fly!!
Last week I had to fly to New York City for a quick business trip. These days, I try to avoid flying as much as possible, not because I dislike flying, but because I loathe the airport experience. Or more specifically, I loathe the TSA peek and grope. I know in the big scheme of..
Read moreConstitution 101: Was the Bill of Rights Meant to Apply to the States?
Last week we began examining the Bill of Rights. This week we will address a specific question: was the Bill of Rights intended to apply to the state governments? Some people argue that it was. They concoct some interesting arguments based on “rules of construction” or approach it through various philosophies of rights and liberty..
Read moreI Hate Monopolies! Now Give Me A Monopoly!
Americans hate monopolies. Except when they don’t. Consider this Facebook post I ran across taking a free-market advocate to task. Under the system you propose, trillionaires would be created by default. No reasons, crappy or otherwise would be needed. We'd ditch our anti-trust anti-monopoly law because those require a pretty strong central government to investigate..
Read moreConstitution 101: The Bill of Rights
I was originally planning on looking at the Second Amendment this week, but it occurred to me that we should examine the Bill of Rights more generally before digging into specific provisions. Adding a declaration of rights to the Constitution was a condition of ratification for several states, and five state ratification documents included specific..
Read moreStep Off the 3×5 Card of Acceptable Opinion
I've noticed a lot of Americans have a complete inability to consider any idea that falls outside of the 3x5 index card of acceptable opinion. (Thank you Tom Woods for that vivid metaphor!) When confronted with a concept that strays beyond what they consider "mainstream," I find that many people recoil reflexively. I hear things..
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