Consider this tweet: In a truly liberal society, anyone could refuse to engage in private commerce with anyone for any reason http://t.co/UxqCQKYyb4 — JustinGreen4000 (@JGreenDC) March 7, 2014 Now ask yourself this question: can people in the U.S. refuse to engage in private commerce with anyone for any reason? The answer is clearly yes. If… Continue reading What do voluntary mean?
Author: Matt Bruenig
Trigger Warning: Mao’s Cultural Revolution
Jenny Jarvie has a piece in The New Republic about trigger warnings, the phenomenon in which people warn others that the content of some piece might trigger emotional trauma for certain people. The author does not like them, bemoans their spread to college classes, and thinks there is no logical stopping point once you begin… Continue reading Trigger Warning: Mao’s Cultural Revolution
Should the state support anti-gay discrimination?
The debate about the Arizona bill that endorses anti-gay discrimination on religious freedom grounds has been mostly trash so far. Here, I want to raise a few points that I have not seen presented elsewhere. 1. Nobody is forced to do an occupation. Friedersdorf describes a class of people called “Christian Bakers.” The National Review… Continue reading Should the state support anti-gay discrimination?
Screw Up In High School, If You Are Rich
Megan McCardle has been going on about how failure is good of late, owing to having written a book about it. The argument is pretty generic: failures come from risk-taking and deviations from the norm that are necessary for people to come up with new ideas and such. Accordingly, she recommends letting your kids fail,… Continue reading Screw Up In High School, If You Are Rich
B.o.B. and Taylor Swift on the inadequacy of mobility and opportunity
In my prior post, I highlighted a passage from the 19th century British journal The Christian Socialist about the inadequacy of economic mobility and opportunity. Here is the exact same sentiment expressed in the B.o.B. song “Both of Us” featuring Taylor Swift: Cause if life is an up hill battle We all tryna climb with… Continue reading B.o.B. and Taylor Swift on the inadequacy of mobility and opportunity