Following the interaction that culminated in my doing a small survey of wonkblog posts to see how they use the word “redistribution,” there has been more discussing going on. Mike Konczal has this post about redistribution, which builds on a sports metaphor I first saw him unveil on twitter a short while ago. I don’t… Continue reading One last note on “redistribution”
Category: Philosophy
Horizontal Equity and Pay It Forward
Horizontal equity is the idea that people with the same incomes should pay the same taxes. I’ve made some remarks here and there about horizontal equity when trying to explain my view on Pay It Forward. Pay It Forward is a way of funding free higher education by imposing a flat tax on college graduates.… Continue reading Horizontal Equity and Pay It Forward
No seriously, there is no non-political definition of “theft”
The correct view on the naturalness of distribution is that it isn’t natural. Who gets what is all made up and we can make it up how we want. That’s not to say it’s all arbitrary and all ways of doing it are equal. It is to say that you have to come up with… Continue reading No seriously, there is no non-political definition of “theft”
How not to argue about human rights
Amanda Marcotte had a really strange piece today in Alternet, which was cross-posted at Salon. She is apparently trying to respond to conservative efforts to demand liberals articulate where human rights come from. The conservatives Marcotte focuses on claim they come from God, while Marcotte explains that they come from, well, um…don’t worry about it.… Continue reading How not to argue about human rights
Non-aggression never does any argumentative work at any time
Some libertarians (usually the dimmer internet ones) actually think that the non-aggression principle does argumentative work in favor of a libertarian theory. But it clearly doesn’t. Watch. Suppose I come on to some piece of ground that you call your land. Suppose I don’t believe people can own land since nobody makes land. So obviously… Continue reading Non-aggression never does any argumentative work at any time