On #TeacherAppreciationDay, Are Teacher Uprisings Justified?
Here’s a quick Cato Daily Podcast chat with Neal McCluskey about the recent teacher uprisings in Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Kentucky, and West Virginia. How justified are they?
Category: conversation
See Tim Kane Run
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I had no idea Tim Kane was running for Congress in Ohio. Here’s my 2014 interview with him on immigration.
Here’s the New York Times writeup of his campaign.
Robert Mueller’s Evidence and the ‘Fruit of the Poisonous Tree’
We don’t know what evidence Robert Mueller has or how much of it was gathered, but critics of his investigation say much of it is already tainted. David G. Post says that argument is very likely exactly wrong.
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Immigration Week at the Cato Daily Podcast
Starting today and throughout this week, the Cato Daily Podcast (Subscribe!) will drill down into issues related to immigration. First up, Alex Nowrasteh and I discuss the persistent myths surrounding immigrants and crime. Put simply, if you’re going to worry about crime rates among groups, worry relatively more about your fellow Americans and relatively less about immigrants, both legal and illegal.
Kinsley on Citizens United
This is a well-considered analogy from Michael Kinsley, one I wish more people would consider when they cry foul when (some) corporations decide to spend money advancing their preferred ideas or candidates:
The analogy I like (as did the Supreme Court in its ruling) is to a newspaper. Suppose Citizens United were reversed and President Trump decided one day that he was sick of The New York Times. So he proposes a law setting a ceiling on the amount any individual or organization can spend putting out a newspaper. Constitutional? I hope not. But it’s hard to see the difference in principle between this and a law limiting the amount a corporation or union may spend promoting a political candidate.
I recently chatted with Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth about his proposal to remove First Amendment protections for many public discussions of federal candidates. He wasn’t particularly convincing in presenting an argument on behalf of an amendment that would strip away the constitutional protections for media outlets to discuss candidates openly while simultaneously asking that I trust Congress to delicately reanimate the corpse of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules prohibiting corporations (but not Trusted Media Outlets) from having their say. I have a hard time thinking that Congress, given the opportunity, would craft a proper balance between the interests of Democratic Government and the rights of individuals to band together and say whatever they think needs to be heard.
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Charles Murray’s Dangerous Idea
I chatted with Charles Murray about his recent book, By the People. In it, he describes what he sees as a way to effectively shut down enforcement of vast chunks of destructive federal regulation. All that’s needed is some generous benefactors and some civil disobedience.
Net Neutrality Rhetoric, Reality
First, I love The Oatmeal. Matt Inman’s comic regularly speaks my mind on all manner of life’s little complaints (and solutions). Sadly, when he tried to explain net neutrality, I think he missed the mark. By a lot.
Then the President decided he’d offer some free advice to the FCC on how that agency should proceed with regulating the internet. Same problem.
So I sat down with Berin Szoka of Techfreedom to try to separate the aspirations of activists from the realities of how markets and the internet actually function and what kind of regulatory regime will serve consumers best.
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
It was great to sit down with Russ Roberts, Econtalk host and former professor of mine, to discuss his great new book, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness. Russ is, in class, one of the most concise communicators of economic ideas I’ve ever seen. He’s also able to abandon much of the jargon that makes economic ideas so often uninteresting to the average person.
Remembering Leonard Liggio
Leonard Liggio, who died this week, was an important pillar in the modern libertarian movement and someone who connected modern libertarian ideas with their historical antecedents. I chatted briefly with Tom G. Palmer about Liggio’s impact on ideas and libertarianism.
Lukianoff on ‘Freedom from Speech’
“Disinvitation season” for commencement speakers has become something of a hallmark of the college experience in recent years. Greg Lukianoff of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education explains in his new essay, “Freedom from Speech.”