I’m about to attempt to violate one of my own rules. The rule is thus: any political work that apes the name of a more famous work is usually pretentious and much less valuable than the original work. So hopefully this post is more worthwhile than The Work of Nations.

Over at Just Well Mixed, Jason argues that evangelical Christians uncomfortably resemble the Islamicists they oppose. He further surmises that there may well be a well of Americans who are ready for a charismatic leader to fall in line behind.

It struck me that his argument was essentially the same warning sounded by a guy he would otherwise not agree with much, Freidrich Hayek. In his The Road to Serfdom (abridged version PDF), he argues:

The author has spent about half his adult life in his native Austria, in close touch with German thought, and the other half in the United States and England. In the latter period he has become increasingly convinced that some of the forces which destroyed freedom in Germany are also at work here.

The very magnitude of the outrages committed by the National Socialists has strengthened the assurance that a totalitarian system cannot happen here. But let us remember that 15 years ago the possibility of such a thing happening in Germany would have appeared just as fantastic not only to nine-tenths of the Germans themselves, but also to the most hostile foreign observer.

This is from the April 1945 condensed version published by Reader’s Digest.

Hayek’s main argument is that enhancing the power of the state at the expense of individual liberty provides the tools that later evildoers appropriate for their own purposes. Absent such tools, they would at best have a limited following. Socialism was Hayek’s primary bugaboo at the time. Has George W. Bush found a new road to serfdom?

Continue reading →

At Cafe Hayek, Russell Roberts explains why cheap Canadian drugs won’t stay cheap or available or both for long. He links to a longer article of his that explains the situation very well.

In short, Canadian drugs are cheaper because price controls keep it down rather than any fundamental fact of Canadian efficiency. I would expect that the supply is smaller than it would be otherwise, as well, but the effect may not be large given Canada’s small share of the North American market.

The implication of that is that drug companies make up the profit difference elsewhere; the obvious location is here in the U.S. So we’re paying higher prices to subsidize the consumption of Canadians.

Re-importation will start to make up for that imbalance, but Canadians won’t see it that way. They’ll see it as an attack on their health care system. After all, we’re not being dupes anymore, so there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth as they rant about the evil Americans screwing up another good thing with capitalist greed.

Roberts gives two possible responses: drug companies will raise prices to Canada whether Canada likes it or not, or Canada will act to criminalize the export of drugs. I suspect that it will actually be the latter, given the likely way the issue will be framed.

But remember, Canada is currently screwing the U.S. They just like it when they pitch rather than catch.

Update: Blue State Digital claims they are not responsible for the e-mail list software (Lyris) being used by Democracy for America. So I’m going to remove my more incendiary comments about them and the links to their site. However, I’ve taken the e-mail measure that Joe Rospars of Blue State Digital suggests, and I’m in no mood to spend money talking to them on the phone. Given the passions spamming arouses, Blue State Digital may wish to rethink the prominent branding on the DFA site that suggests they are indeed responsible for all the tech being used. If I find out that they are indeed responsible for e-mail policies at DFA, I will repost my characterizations of them with some extra helpings of bile.

In the primaries, I was rather public about my support for Howard Dean, to the point that I actually voted in the Democratic primary for him. Somehow (I don’t recall how, actually) I ended up on the mailing list. It was infrequent, so I didn’t freak out.

Of course he lost.

So afterward my e-mail address was kept on to the new organization he created, Democracy For America, to support select Democrats in various races around the country. While I thought Dean was encouraging, I’m still mainly interested in a split, do-nothing government. I haven’t turned into a Democratic activist.

So I decided I really wasn’t interested in giving them any money or reading about it. So I followed the directions and unsubscribed.

As I did for the next e-mail.

And the next.

And the next. This one I sent back with a warning that unsubscription wasn’t working, and my patience was at an end–and to unsubscribe me. The next one I did the same, as well as filling out the form on their Web site.

So the next one got reported to SpamCop, and I sent it back with a nasty note that it and all future ones were not welcome and would be reported as spam.

The next one I just reported to SpamCop.

So this one has pretty much ended any amusement I had left. So I want it known loud and far that Howard Dean’s organization are no-good goddamn dirty spammers.

I haven’t subscribed to try it, but I’m willing to bet Bush 2004 would unsubscribe me if I asked, and asked, and asked. So why the fuck can’t they stop being no good goddamn dirty spammers and turning Howard Dean into some sort of Jerry Fallwell-alike money-grubber who won’t let you go?

And yes, I’m making that comparison because they just went off about Jerry Fallwell in their latest spam, so if they don’t like the comparison–they can take me off their list.

I haven’t yet made it down to the newly-opened National Museum of the American Indian, but Don Bordreaux’s take on the lack of science, particularly anthropology, is not encouraging. This CNN story suggests that history isn’t a big part of it either. So the remaining focus is culture–but culture devoid of historical or pre-historical context. This is really sad, given that it is officially a member of the Smithsonian family of museums. American Indians have a contentious relationship with history, as it has been written by the winners, and anthropology. Sadly, the latter is an almost exact mirror of the evolution battles by fundamentalist Christians (and, increasingly fundamentalist Muslims).

The good news is that the building, which actually fits in on the funky southern side of the Mall with its Hirschorn, Air and Space museum, and Smithsonian castle, is actually quite nice (I’ve been able to see it several times walking around that area). As long as that’s done right, the rest can improve over time.

I read an interesting if suppositionally-based post over at Crooked Timber, but the comments section made much more of an impression. Apparently, the Lefty blogosphere wants an ideologically pure victory free from allies.

As I’ve written before, libertarians used to have a sort of quid pro quo with Republicans and, by extension, conservatives: you agree with us on economics and keep the Bible-thumping to a dull roar, and we’ll hold our nose and support you, as long as it keeps the Commies out. Absent the Commies, well, that Bible-thumping was kinda irritating, but as long as they didn’t get too wacko, well, old habits die hard.

Enter George Bush and the neo-cons. They abandoned economic liberalism for a nativist corporatism (protectionism) mixed with a big-government welfare expansion that, had it come from Clinton, would be triggering calls for an armed insurrection by the right wing. All this while they informally suspend habeus corpus and greatly expand police powers while reducing judicial oversight. Some of that was inevitable after 9/11, but they’ve jumped on it with an enthusiasm not seen since World War II.

So I’d been thinking that there was an historic opportunity for a new quid-pro-quo with the Democrats and, by extension, liberals: you keep on with Clintonomics instead of Chomskyomics, and play up keeping the government out of people’s bedrooms while keeping the nanny-state instinct down to a dull roar, and we’ll support you as long as it keeps out the neo-cons. I thought Dean might do that–he clearly appealed to the base while getting respect out of those not already compulsive Rush Limbaugh listeners.

However, when looking at what I thought was a fairly respectable Left-leaning blog, the comments really took me by surprise. Sure, selection bias, etc., etc., but geez:

The right think they can destroy the system and create the Libertarian Paradise, but I am now hoping to seem them all on a gallows in my lifetime. I have never been so hopeful.

Oh, wait, decency still has a place, as in this rebuke to the above from the blog owner:

I presume and hope for your sake that you’re trying to provoke an outraged reaction here from someone rather than make a serious claim – this is trolling in my book, and not compatible with the kinds of argument that I want to have in my comments section. You’re on your first warning. Feel free to express strong and vigorous opinions about me or whoever else – but saying that you want to string up everyone on the other half of the political spectrum is way beyond the kinds of argument I’m prepared to tolerate.

But wait, this is the “explanation”:

I apologize to Henry for the violent metaphor, which is all it was intended to be.

In my defense I can only say that I take Krugman and Volcker seriously, in that we are likely to have an international monetary collapse, perhaps as soon as five years. That four of the major world leaders (Bush,Blair,Howard,Putin) are polarizing figures desperately trying to deceive their electorates. That solutions to the MiddleEast and Islamism seem absent among the best. That the election of Kerry is irrelevant.

In other words I do sincerely believe we are headed for a catastrophic transitional period. History informs my personal opinion as to how it will resolve itself.

Consider, for a moment, if someone had said “I want to see all blacks strung up” and had been rebuked, but then they came back and said, “Naw, I meant metaphorically, because I think if blacks get the vote they’ll destroy the world and it will provoke just that kind of thing. It was analysis, y’see? Sorry for mah strawng tawk.” What would be the decent reply to that?

According to this blog owner:

Bob – apology and explanation duly accepted.

So: the Left thinks that the Republicans are in any way libertarian, which proves they either don’t know what libertarian is or they don’t actually watch Dan Rather’s non-memo-based news. Oh, and they think libertarians are going to destroy the world and they’ll cackle in delight to see us get murdered in the ensuing chaos.

And that’s OK.

Apart from the similarity of this to the Republicans saying, “Hey, Clinton’s election is a good thing! Now he’ll ruin the economy and we’ll never have to worry about Democrats again ever!” I haven’t felt this much love since the last Osama bin Laden video. At least he’s honest that he’s not metaphorical when he says he wants to see me dead. This is the kind of rhetoric I expect out of the Free Republic on the right and the Democratic Underground on the Left. But Crooked Timber? I’m going to have to look at Little Green Footballs to see if they’re advocating killing libertarians “metaphorically.” I kinda doubt it.

The rest of the posts don’t froth at the mouth to this degree but they basically say “the time for objectivity and fairness is over, it’s our way or the highway.” Even if this didn’t bode ill for me finding any solace whatsoever in a Democratic victory, it makes Four More Years of Bush look increasingly likely. The lesson of Clinton, that there’s a lot of opportunity to be had in grabbing the center, has been utterly lost on the Lefty blogosphere, at least as represented there. Instead they’ve gotten suckered into this game of 50% plus 0.0001% partisan tit-for-tat that Republicans are playing.

That’s a losing strategy in the long run.

Now my only hope is that the offline Left is a bit more sane than the online variety, and that Crooked Timber was having a really bad comments day.

Moralizing twerps come in all shapes, colors, and creeds. The anti-abortion activist shares much in common with the animal rights activist. Jews for Jesus rub some rather uncomfortable elbows with pseudo-environmentalist pseudohippies. I hate moralizing twerps.

One thing that really amuses me is hypocrisy, particularly when it comes from moralizing twerps. When televangelists get caught with the inevitable fraud and hookers, I do the dance of schadenfreude. The cowering faces as they are hauled off to jail or tearful confessions on their very TV empires bring me that special kind of joy.

When I ceased being amused and start being pissed off is when a moralist tells me his hypocrisy is somehow unavoidable, excused, or consistent according to some tortured logic. This happens less with the aforementioned televangelist than with the liberal variety.

The following quotes are made up, but bear the sense of excuses I’ve gotten from the aforementioned activists, followed by a parallel to illustrate the point.

“It’s unavoidable,” says the anti-meat and globalization pseudohippy wearing leather shoes made in a sweatshop in China, “that in our corporatist world, the products they force on the masses like me are the products of their hate machine. So really, it’s not a contradiction. I’m a victim, too.”

“It’s unavoidable,” says the “Save the planet” t-shirt-wearing soccer mom with one child and a Kerry-Edwards sticker on her Chevy Suburban, “that in our corporatist world, the mix of cars forced on us trends toward SUVs. The government should make it harder to buy them. And besides, I need all that room for when I have three people in the car and a soccer ball. You can’t expect me to put that in a sedan! If there were better mass transit, I’d take that–you know, if there weren’t so many poor and minorities on it. I’m a victim, too.”

“It’s unavoidable,” says the mugger standing over the bloodied brow of an elderly woman, “that in our corporatist world, insufficient resources are redistributed to the poor, forcing some of us to take radical direct action to survive. I’m a victim, too.”

Fortunately, I’ve seen some consistent liberals lately. If you’re going to put a Kerry-Edwards sticker on something, putting it on a Prius will win you points from me. I may not agree that legislating the rest of us out of our chosen cars is necessarily the way to go, but at least you’re sticking up for what you believe in, and paying small-SUV prices to do it. Bravo.

I’ve also seen some anti-meat types with no leather in their possession or on their person. Again, you’re at war with basic biology (the large intestine is indeed evolved for meat digestion), but at least you’re consistent.

Note that I have never, ever seen a consistent anti-globalization activist. Almost all have some foreign product on them. Remember, fair trade is still trade.

The quote by Emerson is usually shortened to “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” but the full quote is, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

It is not foolish to ask environmental activists not to drive SUVs or anti-globalization activists to buy only local products or radical vegetarians not to kill any animals ever.

Bravo those that manage that level of consistency. I may not agree, but at least you mean what you say.