A few of his pithier quotations:
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.”
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”
“Term limits aren’t enough. We need jail.”
Comments Off on Happy 60th Birthday, P.J. O’Rourke!
Posted in Elections, General Foolishness, Health Care, Pith, Political Animals, Public Choice
Editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
I read with astonishment your February 12 article “Doyle Wants Tax on Oil Companies: They’d be Pressed to Absorb Cost.” By thinking he can simply pass a law and forbid oil companies from incorporating their costs into the prices they charge, our governor apparently has the power to repeal certain laws of economics. I was not aware of Governor Doyle’s miraculous abilities before reading your article.
If our state’s government is truly this powerful, I propose that Governor Doyle and the state legislature take Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto’s advice and pass a law “mandating that auto makers manufacture perpetual-motion machines.”
Ryan Young
Comments Off on Superpowers
Posted in Correspondence, Economics, Political Animals
My letter ran today. You can read it here.
Thanks to Don Boudreaux, who also posted it at one of my favorite blogs, Cafe Hayek.
Comments Off on WaPo Letter
Posted in Correspondence, Economics, Immigration, International, Nanny State, Political Animals, Public Choice
You’ve probably heard about the recent bomb scare in Boston.
In a guerilla marketing scheme gone awry, some crudely made lightboards featuring poorly drawn cartoon characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force were mistaken for bombs. The media coverage of the scare has been wall-to-wall. Predictably, most media outlets have missed the most important part of the story – the Boston government’s epic overreaction. We’re talking gross incompetence here.
CNN dutifully notes the following facts:
-The Boston city government shut down a major bridge and a section of the Charles River.
-The light boards were not bombs. They were, in fact, light boards. One witness described them as “Lite-Brites,” which are toys for children – not bombs.
-The Lite-Brites were also put up in nine other cities. None of them thought they were under terrorist attack.
-Boston’s police commissioner called the incident “unconscionable.” If he had been talking about the city’s overreaction, he would have been absolutely correct. Sadly, he was instead being absolutely stupid.
-Most humorously, the mayor of Boston – without a trace of irony – blamed the incident on “corporate greed.” Huh?
If anything, the “perpetrators” should be suing the governments of Boston and Massachusetts for gross incompetence. After all, if this is the state of homeland security in Boston, nobody is safe. Today we have witnessed absolute failure in what is perhaps government’s most important responsibility.
As a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I am pleased that this unexpected attention will boost the show’s popularity. Even so, stories like this tend to diminish my faith in the goodness and rationality of my fellow man.
Comments Off on Holy Overreaction, Batman!
Posted in General Foolishness, Political Animals, regulation, Security Theater
As it has done with presidents of both parties, the Cato Institute has just released a study critical of the president’s consitutional record – Power Surge: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush (23pp plus footnotes).
Now, as a libertarian who frequents Capitol Hill, a lot of republicans I talk to are skeptical of me because they think I’m liberal, and a lot of liberals won’t talk to me at all because they think I’m conservative. When a libertarian organization publishes something that breaks those conceptions, it’s pretty fun to watch, as Radley Balko points out. Since this new study is critical of a Republican administration, our progressive friends who think libertarians are Republicans are confused, even though they understand and largely agree with the study.
The Daily Kos, probably the biggest and best of the so-called “Angry Left” blogs, posted an excellent summary of the study. The comments are the fun part for me, though. It’s interesting to watch readers’ minds explore the idea that there are political persuasions besides hard left and hard right. A few astute commenters noted that it is possible to hold liberal positions on some issues (anti-war, pro-gay marriage, pro-immigration), conservative opinions on others (lower spending and lower taxes), and be philosophically consistent. In other words, what I call classical liberalism, and what most people call libertarianism.
Hat tip to Radley Balko for bringing the thread to my attention.
Comments Off on More than Left and Right
Posted in Executive Power, Philosophy, Political Animals, The Partisan Mind
Rep. Moran’s office sent a form letter response to my Nov. 4 letter regarding eminent domain. Looks like the congressman and I will have to agree to disagree on this one:
November 21, 2005
Dear Mr. Young,
I thank you for contacting me regarding the Property Rights Protection Act (H.R. 4128).
As you know, H.R. 4128 was crafted in response to the Supreme Court’s Kelo v. New London decision. That ruling, in deference to state government, affirmed Connecticut law that authorized local governments to offer due compensation to private landowners and transfer taken land to private enterprise to promote carefully considered private redevelopment plans that serve an inherent “public purpose.”
H.R. 4128 is the hurried reaction by some in Congress that was rushed to the floor of the House of Representatives without the benefit of thorough legislative hearings. As proposed, the bill would withhold federal economic development funding from any state or locality that takes private property for the purpose of private economic development While I understand the legitimate concerns this legislation seeks to address, the legislative remedy was so broadit would have undermined state and local authority to undertake legitimate eminent domain activities such as road and transit improvements, affordable housing developments, and server line upgrades. In all 3 instances, localities would not be able to join in public-private partnerships to offer these public goods.
I offered a compromise amendment that would clarify that eminent domain that would be outlawed only in instances where private economic gain was the primary objective. unfortunately, this amendment was rejected and the was passed the these wide sweeping provisions.
The United States is unmatched in its value and protection of private property rights, and I intend to uphold that tradition. I could not support legislation, however, that will eliminate local flexibility. As the former mayor of Alexandria, I understand that local governments need tools to develop regions where the free market has failed. If the citizenry objects to these local decisions, it is up to them to hold their elected officials accountable.
Thank you again for contacting me on this important matter.
Yours truly,
Jim Moran
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Posted in Correspondence, Political Animals
Yesterday the House passed a bill curbing the use of eminent domain in federally funded projects (H.R. 4128). Better still, it passed by a whopping 376-38. The Senate will take it up early next year. Surprisingly, the bill actually follows federalist principles and lets state and local governments make their own rules where they have jurisdiction. Good news all around.
Unfortunately, my Congressman, Rep. Jim Moran (VA-8), voted the wrong way. In fact, he also put forth an unsuccessful amendment to gut the bill and made quite the impassioned speech on the floor.
I wrote Rep. Moran’s office a short note. I encourage you to do the same if your representative also voted the wrong way.
Representative Moran,
I was disappointed by your vote on yesterday’s eminent domain bill (H.R. 4128). I appreciate your federalism concerns, and I am glad the bill does not touch projects that do not receive federal funding. Such projects are properly state and local issues. But for projects that do involve the federal government, you passed on a golden opportunity to affirm your commitment to property rights.
This issue is not about tax revenues or urban development. It is about a basic principle of civilized conduct: it’s wrong to take other peoples’ stuff. Whether the thief is an individual or a government is irrelevant; stealing is still wrong. Exceptions can be made for public goods such as highways or schools, and courts have long recognized that. But the Kelo v. New London decision went further and essentially legalized theft from one private party to another. H.R. 4128 is an attempt to right that wrong, and I am sorry you decided not to play a part in it.
Thanks for your time,Ryan Young
As a disclaimer, I do not believe roads and schools to be true public goods. The private sector is perfectly capable of providing both, and where allowed, has a better record than the government.
A list of the 38 who voted “nay” is here.
Posted in Correspondence, Political Animals
The budget for the federal government is currently over $2.5 trillion. Just think about that for a second.
Now it gets worse.
Not too long ago, I attended a meeting on the Hill with several Republicans. They were very proud that they had proposed over $40 billion in budget cuts for FY 2006.
Then someone else at the meeting reminded them of two things. First, increases elsewhere more than negated their proposed cuts. Government was still going to grow. Second, $40 billion isn’t even a rounding error when you’re talking $2.5 trillion.
The Republicans were very offended when this was pointed out.
Then within two weeks, almost all of the proposed spending cuts were eliminated.
Now with the current round of hurricane relief spending, history is repeating itself almost exactly with the RSC’s “Operation Offset.”
So it goes.
Posted in Economics, Political Animals
Tagged 2006, beltway, capitil hill, dark humor, gop, government, republicans, the hill, trillions
Inertia Wins! 