George Monbiot had an article in the Guardian on Monday about bastardised libertarianism and its inability to understand the real freedoms being fought for by environmentalists and social justice advocates. However, Monbiot’s treatment of environmentalism’s threat to libertarianism was a bit sloppy. He got sucked into the negative freedom and positive freedom debate, and although… Continue reading Environmentalism poses a problem for libertarian ideology
The three big conservative philosophical frameworks
Conservatives are pretty shifty in arguments. One moment they appear to be concerned about the poor and how taxes will ultimately hurt them and kill their jobs. The other moment they seem to think the poor don’t deserve anything anyways. Most folks — no matter their political leanings — do not consciously think about the… Continue reading The three big conservative philosophical frameworks
The tactics of Keystone XL protestors
I generally agree with the argument laid down by Matthew Yglesias today about the Keystone XL project. On its face, picking one particular carbon energy project and trying to prevent it from being completed does not make a great deal of sense. Doing so does not actually reduce total carbon emissions, at least not in… Continue reading The tactics of Keystone XL protestors
One more swipe at flat tax advocates
Yesterday’s post about the strangeness of the flat tax position sparked a lot of conversation. I noticed some confusion here and there on what I was saying, so I thought a brief restatement might be helpful. The flat tax advocate usually talks about not wanting to make rich people pay more, or punish them for… Continue reading One more swipe at flat tax advocates
The totally baffling idea of a flat tax
Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain have all put out a flat tax plan of one sort or another. If you want to see what this will mean for you, here are the savings you can expect organized by economic quintile: As you can see, if you are not rich, don’t expect much. But… Continue reading The totally baffling idea of a flat tax