Monthly Archive for March, 2010

Liberal vs Conservative in Academia

Written by Atanamis. Published on March 29, 2010 ago in Essays and Politics. 16 Comments

I just read a very interesting article, with a great deal of insight. It attempts to answer the question of why a majority in US academic circles are liberal. In particular, it is interesting to see someone from a liberal perspective acknowledge that liberal vs conservative is often affected by successful vs unsuccessful. He weakens his third point by pointing out that liberal arts professors in Europe who have just as much education in history don’t show the same split as in the US.

When done “right”, liberalism is idealistic, striving to change society for the better. Those best able to see the problems will definitely tend to be those who study history or are downtrodden themselves. It is also true that those who are unsuccessful would often prefer to blame the system rather than change their own behavior. Unfortunately, this causes the idealists to become associated with the freeloaders. The problem is that such idealists are not always realistic about how to implement the changes. People like Marx had valid complaints to make, but his theories have proven impossible to apply in a workable format.

Conservatism done right is based on doing what has been proven to work. This may be part of why business professors and physical scientists lean this direction. They have a proven system that works, and prefer to play with the inputs rather than changing the system. Those who are successful (for any reason) also tend to jump on this bandwagon. Even if the system is fundamentally broken, those who are “winning” are less likely to want to change it. Slavery was a “conservative” lifestyle that made a few people wealthy at the expense of many.

Sometimes the system itself needs to be changed. At those times, you need the liberals to help recognize the problem and conservatives to help make the solution workable. Both approaches are important to the final solution.

Sarah Palin Now Steering the Tea Party In Support McCain

Written by Colin. Published on March 27, 2010 ago in General. 13 Comments

This is another entry in the running catalogue of Sarah Palin’s attempts to use her “credentials” to try and unify the GOP behind status-quo Republicans when it comes to actually voting. She is now campaigning behind McCain and saying things like this:

“I want to clear the air right now,” Palin said. “In respect to the Tea Party movement, a beautiful movement. You know what? Everyone here today supporting John McCain, we are all a part of that Tea Party movement.

Palin is single-handedly attempting to use a little charm and rhetoric to push the movement, which started out as a libertarian/conservative movement opposing bailouts and big-government. Although, how principled it actually is if it is willing to entertain the likes of Sarah Palin is debatable.

California Court Rules in Favor of LAX Regulating Hare Krishna Solicitors

Written by Kenneth Martens. Published on March 26, 2010 ago in Current Events. 2 Comments

California court rules in favor of LAX regulating Hare Krishna solicitors

Ha! I met one of those Hare Krishna solicitors a few years back. The guy was too sneaky for my taste. He saw my university logo on my shirt, so he struck up a conversation about higher education and philosophy. Then he gave me a Hare Krishna book, just before asking me for “a donation from the heart.” I gave him a donation, but it wasn’t really “from the heart.” He had already foisted his book on me, so I felt obligated to give him something.

I read that stupid book. It told me to set up a little shrine with pictures and worship them in my house. That threw me for a loop, because I never expected anyone to seriously tell me to worship little idols that I make myself.

Editors note: (It’ll be interesting to see what kind of comment-bots this generates…)

Links: Mostly Not About Healthcare

Written by Colin. Published on March 26, 2010 ago in Current Events. Closed

Charlie Brooker is a genius

More reasons not to buy a house

Like Rome Before the Fall? Not Yet:

Despite its grave problems, there are some relatively simple steps America could take to recover its position. It could bring its military commitments into line with its resources, rely more on the “soft power” of diplomacy and economic engagement and, as George Washington said, take advantage of its geographically detached situation to “defy material injury from external annoyance.” Such a policy would permit more investment in productive enterprise and pay for butter as well as guns, thus vindicating Joe Biden’s faith in the recuperative capacities of the Great Republic.

With a seven figure salary, two homes, an adoring husband and new baby; Aifric Campbell shares her story of why she choose family over continuing in a successful career

New Charge on Restaurant Bills for Health Care Has Heads Shaking.

Hollywood’s Political Fictions:

Americans believe in evil, but we’re uncomfortable with tragedy. We accept that there are wicked people in the world, with malice in their hearts and a devil whispering in their ears. But the idea that many debacles flow from choices made by decent, well-intentioned human beings is more difficult for us to wrap our minds around.

This is apparent in our politics, where we’re swift to impute the worst of motives to anyone slightly to our left or right. It’s apparent in our popular culture, thick with white hats and black hats, superheroes and supervillains. But it’s most egregious where the two spheres intersect: in our political fictions, which are nearly always Manichaean, simplistic and naïve.

A second opinion on what is wrong with the political system in general:

Beck has made millions spewing such incendiary language, but in the process he is corrupting the very essence of democracy. Our system can only flourish if citizens with varying viewpoints accept the outcome of elections and respect the rule of the majority.

But if you think your rivals are “fascists,” if you consider politics a form of holy war, then you place yourself outside basic American traditions.

…

Actually, Beck is worse than a clown. He’s more like a terrorist who believes he has discovered the One True Faith, and condemns everyone else as a heretic. And that makes him something else as well — a traitor to the American values he professes so loudly to defend.

Don’t Like ObamaCare? Blame the GOP.

Written by Colin. Published on March 23, 2010 ago in General. 2 Comments

Jack Hunter gets it right once again, drawing comparisons between Obamacare and the the 2003 Bush Prescription Drug Plan:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJz_xZZOnE8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

What’s the difference between a Gas Station and a Hospital?

Written by Colin. Published on March 23, 2010 ago in Current Events. 2 Comments

A hat tip to Norman over at LibertarianChristians.com for this gem:

So, what is the difference between gas stations and hospitals?

1. Prices – The most obvious difference is price. Gas Stations have big signs advertising their prices so that you as a consumer can decide how much you are willing to pay without even slowing down along the highway. There are federal regulations that prohibit hospitals from advertising and competing based on prices.

2. Upfront Estimates – When you need a mechanic to replace your head gasket, he will give you an upfront estimate of the price. He will often give you a list of less expensive alternatives if they are available. When you ask a surgeon to replace your heart, there are federal regulations and AMA rules that prevent the distribution of price estimates.

3. Competition – If someone wants to build a Gas Station across the street from a competing Gas Station, its quite alright. If someone wants to build a hospital, they have to prove to the Federal Trade Commission that the hospital won’t lower prices in the community or cause undue competition.

4. Monopoly – In the early 20th century, the federal government broke up a monopoly on oil and gasoline distribution. In the mid-20th century, they created a monopoly on hospitals and doctors because the American Medical Association said there were too many doctors, too much competition, and doctor’s couldn’t earn enough money.

5. Do It Yourself – When you go to the Gas Station, you can pay someone to fix your car and fill up your tank, or you can buy what you need to do it yourself. At a hospital or pharmacy, you can’t make any decisions on what medications you can take, dosage levels, or treatments. You must have the “official” opinion of a state regulated doctor.

6. Choice - When shopping for mechanics, you can decide to hire your handy neighbor, or find someone with all the latest training and certifications. When shopping for doctors, your only choice is regulated by the state.

7. Purchasing Power – When you buy gasoline, you are paying for the gasoline you actually purchase (and a little extra for the small amount of theft). When you buy healthcare, your price includes a large government imposed subsidy for those who can’t afford it, thus making healthcare less affordable to more and more people each year.

While I disagree with so many quick comments I’ve already seen from people claiming this is “the end of freedom as we know it” or “communism” – it definitely is a watershed moment in US Healthcare, as the doors are being closed on what was basically a “socialist-lite” system already.

But this is not going to signal massive lines, rising costs and decrepit conditions right away. Like most subsidised and state-owned enterprises – there will actually be an artificial boom at the start, as resources are re-allocated from more productive and demanded sectors of the economy into healthcare. But this will not last and over five years to a decade, the problems will being to be seen. However, they will have been so distorted and misplaced by this intervention (and others which are sure to come) that most people will see no association.

For Better Or Worse: On Healthcare Reform

Written by Colin. Published on March 22, 2010 ago in Current Events. 40 Comments

Now that it’s a done deal. Let’s look at what ZFT has contributed to the debate on Healthcare Reform:

Health Care Is Already Socialized. The Real Question: Should It Be Expanded?
The argument over the health care reform package being pushed by Democrats has been over whether it would make health care in the US socialized, and whether US government control over health care would reduce costs, increase coverage, and increase quality of care. The most fundamental flaw in the logic is that the government already pays 46% of all health care spending in the United States. The question really doesn’t seem to be whether we should have socialized health care, but if we should expand it.

Republicans and Democrats Both Trying to End Last Vestiges of Health Insurance
One of the major problems with the bill that will end up passing, is that it is a foregone conclusion that it will force insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. If there is one thing that is going to drive up the cost of health insurance it is this. Insurance is a product that covers risk – not things which have already happened. It is a market articulation of the subjunctive – what “might” happen – not what “will” or “has” happened. Forcing insurance to cover conditions which already exist is not insurance – it is welfare.

A Moderate Proposal for Health Care Reform
This article lays out a few broad-based changes which may provide many more people with coverage, with very few fiscal and legal changes.

More Tales From Universal Healthcare: My One Hour Ambulance Wait
After an hour of shivering out in the rain, an ambulance finally arrived. It went first to a pub down the road – one of the people assembled around the man had to run over and grab the paramedics and bring them to the street-corner. Before even looking at the man, the lead paramedic slowly walked towards us and asked “who dialed for the ambulance?” I raised my hand. She then said, “right, I am going to beat you up.”

My Latest Experience with Universal Healthcare
The room I enter is even more disgusting. There is a thick layer of dust and dirt on the floor. The bright green (again 1960’s) chairs are torn. The cieling panels are broken and some have yellow stains on them. There is a broken table across from me with riped and torn magazines on it, and a big piece of chewed gum stuck on the front. The windows are so smeared that it is difficult to see out of them, and many have the insulation torn and hanging down in dried, cracked strips. Ants are crawling on the floor near my feet.

Christian Morality and Universal Heathcare
Christians are to be good Samaritans – if we see someone in desperate need of care, we should be the one stopping. But it would not be Christ-like to see someone in need, and rather than doing something ourselves, pull out a weapon and force someone else to help them. This is essentially what government control or provision of healthcare means in today’s world of scarcity.

Healthy Practices
There are “horror stories” on both sides about waiting times, claim denials, etc. One cannot argue from a few particular cases to a generalization (even if there were a thousand such stories, that makes up less than 1% of the population in either country!). Many people that I’ve conversed with who have experienced both systems will prefer the waiting time to being denied the surgery (which Sicko emphasized as a large negative in the US). Additionally, there are private insurance companies here in the UK which tend to give the benefit of less waiting times as well as covering surgeries not available under the National Health Service

Health for Profit
The nature of every for-profit corporation is to make a profit, typically by spending the least amount of money possible. This means that a for-profit medical company, whether it is a hospital, insurance provider, or medical expert, aims to make money on the majority of its transactions. An unjust strategy would be to deny as many services as possible by any means necessary (i.e. pocket as much money as possible). An idealist strategy would be to approve all services at whatever cost (i.e. run into bankruptcy). When the goal of healthcare is a profit margin, the system moves towards the “unjust strategy” because the primary objective is money instead of healthcare.

How Many Evangelical Christians Have Been Neo-Conned

Written by Colin. Published on March 18, 2010 ago in Essays, Philosophy, Politics, Religion and Theology. 6 Comments

The Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 has now concluded and the paper by Dr Kevin Clauson on “Why Evangelicals Don’t Like Austrian Political Economy—But Should” is essential listening for just about any Christian. Dr Clauson was kind enough to send me along a draft to make writing this article easier. Please feel free to read it (NOTE: THIS IS A DRAFT COPY, posted with permission from the author). Also, listen to the paper (30 mins.).

Clauson has spent time both at Liberty University (22 years, most of them as head of their Government department) and also in the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential campaign – so he knows what he’s talking about.

The framework for the argument is laid out by first establishing key definitions:

An evangelical bases his thinking on scripture first (not tradition, not a pope, not natural law). It is, at minimum, an adherence to innerrancy in scripture, the sinfulness of man, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, the resurrection.

But Clauson goes further to note that several non-theological concepts have been added and adopted almost universally among evangelicals:

A vaguely defined adherence to “political conservatism”
Social issues (immorality of abortion, gay marriage, etc..)
Certain immoral behaviours should be regulated by government (alcohol, drugs, pornography…)
A support for a “free market” (but a lack of knowledge as to exactly what that is, and a lack of concern about monetary policy)
Reverence for the Constitution (again, though a fairly abysmal knowledge of what the Constitution actually says)
A “Strong defence” (which can mean a global military presence, especially in the Middle East)
The US is morally obligated to support Israel

Clauson then makes the statement that builds the crux of his argument: that evangelicals, based on their own theological criteria, should actually find some common ground with Austrianism. If Evangelicals would start from their main, and primary frame of reference: that scripture should be of first importance, then they would actually be more sympathetic. Clauson argues that Evangelicals need to examine their bibles closer.

However, the main reasons why evangelicals have problems with Austrianism (and many libertarian views by extension):

Many Evangelicals confuse “sins” and “crimes” in scripture. A simplistic reading of scripture has lead to many evangelicals applying broad, sweeping conclusions about sins as crimes. The bible calls many things sins, but it does not necessarily call all sins crimes (of course areas such as murder, theft, etc… are clearly defined in scripture as crimes). There is no biblical justification for making those sins which the bible does not also call crime, into state-enforced laws against sin. Again, this is derived solely from scripture and fits within the fundamentals of the evangelical worldview. Clauson:

Substantial freedom may not always be “pretty” (on the societal level—churches and religious organizations would certainly be free to deal with such behaviors, and others, within their own private domains), but it is not necessarily unbiblical, according to the Bible itself, the authoritative guide for Evangelicalism.

Continue reading ‘How Many Evangelical Christians Have Been Neo-Conned’

Yet Another “Shocking” Reason Why Freedom Is the Exception, Not The Rule In Human Society

Written by Colin. Published on March 18, 2010 ago in Current Events, Philosophy and Politics. 1 Comment

A French documentary has re-created the Milgram Experiment.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9AkZWp3mDc[/youtube]

It shows what is going on when military or police are given orders to abuse/torture/kill people. If you think that reasoning with them is going to work when they have guns pointed at you – you are wrong.

The documentary reminds us that many people are authoritarians at heart. They want rigid authority to follow and to boss them around and they fantasise and indulge in power and control over others when given the opportunity.

We should thank God every day if we live in a society of relative freedom. Based on human nature, it is obviously a gracious gift from God.

Establishment Republicans Come Out Swinging Against Rand Paul

Written by Colin. Published on March 18, 2010 ago in Current Events. 1 Comment

This from Politico:

Recognizing the threat, a well-connected former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney convened a conference call last week between Grayson and a group of leading national security conservatives to sound the alarm about Paul.

“On foreign policy, [global war on terror], Gitmo, Afghanistan, Rand Paul is NOT one of us,” Cesar Conda wrote in an e-mail to figures such as Liz Cheney, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Dan Senor and Marc Thiessen.

With an attached memo on Paul’s noninterventionist positions, Conda concluded: “It is our hope that you can help us get the word out about Rand Paul’s troubling and dangerous views on foreign policy.”

Rand Paul has led by double digits for some time now – and he is getting his funds in small donations from many supporters. His opponent is getting his in $500 and $1000 chunks for wealthy, well-connected elites and Washington insiders.

Ironically, Rand Paul isn’t even close to the philosophical libertarian his father Ron Paul is: Rand is much more of a republitarian. But the Neo-Con influence is still incredibly strong in the GOP (more on why this is later today) that anyone who does not support pre-emptive war and a world-policing foreign policy is not welcome.