Category: Politics

Dr. Helen mentions a book that looks like it’s worth a read. Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children.

In so many ways, the state has become the babysitter and infantilizer of all of us, even adults and the most depressing part to me is that we are allowing it, bit by bit, every time we give the state more and more authority in the form of petty laws that control the lives of countless citizens in ways that take away personal autonomy while at the same time, doing little to prevent or severely punish those who are truly violent.

I’ve often wondered why we tolerate so much intrusion into the country’s daily life from the political class.   I’m not a “golden age” libertarian, that is one who believes we’re fallen from some imagined time when government stayed out of people’s lives, and we had more freedom, but I do think there are two main factors at work today that contribute the country having such distasteful political leadership.

1. The elevation of democracy above liberty as an ideal of government.
2. Less involvement in political parties by people with healthy motivations.

It’s been said that Democracy is three wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch.  Somewhere along the line we’ve gone from believing that the purpose of government is to protect liberty, to the purpose of government is to do the will of the people.  In the past, this type of government wasn’t possible, because it was hard to gauge public opinion.  Now with polls, and various other mechanisms, politicians see “Most people favor bans on smoking in restaurants.” and exploit that for political gain.  I don’t think people have ever been particularly committed to liberty, but polling lets the politicians know exactly what they can get away with.

The second factor is obvious any time you step into the voting booth on a general election day.  Since I first voted for George H.W. Bush over Bill Clinton in the 1992 election (my first election where I was over 18), I have never once pulled the lever for someone I really felt I was excited about and that I felt represented me.  Why?  I think because most people who want smaller government and more autonomy don’t really have the time to participate in politics on the party level, or vote in primaries.  A very small percentage of people are deciding who we get to vote for.  There’s no doubt many of them are activists who want to get something out of government.   Interest group politics are as old as the Republic, but I wonder today who the are the constituency that stands for liberty?   Sure, there are groups, think tanks, and what have you, but that doesn’t seem to be translating into leadership that can carry that banner.

My traffic has been pretty decent this week, but posting about Global Warming always seems to get a bit of a storm going on SayUncle, so I thought I’d give it a try. The EU is getting pissed at Bush over global warming. Although this is about as newsworthy as John Edwards in a hair salon, I was taken aback by this:

But the plans are starkly different from the proposal tabled by Germany for next week’s G8 summit, which would require leaders to agree to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius and require stringent emissions cuts.

It seems to be this is something out of la la land. Even if we are almost certain global warming is happening, and even if we’re pretty sure that man is making a contribution to it. Do we know how much carbon we have to cut over what period of time to prevent a two degree temperature rise? Do we have that kind of fine control over global climate? Maybe in Star Trek, but not in real life.

I also kind of agree with bringing in China and India. No solution that doesn’t involve them is going to matter, as China is set to exceed the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and they run one of the most energy inefficient economies in the world.

The Europeans may want the symbolism of pushing for drastic emissions cuts, but that’s not possible, and probably is a cure worse than the disease. Personally, I’d like to start out by building more nuclear power plants, and encouraging people to make their homes more energy efficient. We had a drop in emissions this year because of milder weather. What could we accomplish if everyone pitched in to conserve? Here’s a modest proposal. Anyone who can cut their home energy usage by more than 10% can apply for a 5% reduction in their income tax rate?

Sure, that would mean the government has to scrimp too, from the lost revenue, but why shouldn’t the politicians have to sacrifice too?