Like a critical, if at times exasperated admirer of the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, I am interested to read books by people who are sharply critical of her work because it is a sign, as far as I can see, that she is starting to attract proper, scholarly attention. That is surely better than blind hatred or for that matter, Randroid hero-worship. Hence I was quite intrigued when I came across the book, entitled…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

In what seems to be a follow-up to yesterday’s kerfuffle about Barack Obama’s comments about the Warren Court and redistribution of wealth, there’s now an audio clip of him from the same radio program discussing what he called a “fundamental flaw” in the Constitution:

I think it’s a remarkable document…
The original Constitution as well as the […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

William Rees-Mogg has a nice, rather wistful account of the days of when bank managers actually knew their clients, knew their economic circumstances and were not in the business of lending money to folk with little or no credit history. Mr Rees-Mogg is a devotee of the gold standard. However, in talking about the changing nature of banks and the quality of their staff, he does not touch on an issue which struck me the…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

It is becoming increasing difficult for me not to concur with Paul Marks's ahead-of-the-curve branding of MARXIST upon the much kissed behind of Barack Obama. At the very least, his political compass swings disturbingly left on economic issues - to a degree I was not aware of. Previously, I could dismiss his "spread the wealth around" comment that arose from the infamous encounter with "Joe the Plumber" as a spot of ill-chosen populist rhetoric in…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I must say I find all this global warming business to be jolly exciting….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

40 years of corruption down the drain. Might as well have joined the f’in Peace Corps:
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that threatened to end the 40-year career of Alaska’s political patriarch in disgrace.
The verdict, coming barely a week before Election Day, increased Stevens’ difficulty in […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

If you think the “bailout from hell” is going to be painful to taxpayers, wait until the bill comes due for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. According to Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, the unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare sits at an incredible $99.2 trillion. This figure does not account for the […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I too was at the LA/LI Conference held at the National Liberal Club over this weekend, which was excellent, as Johnathan has just said. The organisation of this now solidly annual event was indeed the best yet. Not everybody likes the star system, but reality does not care what you think of it. The dumb fact is that certain people, in the libertarian world as in all other human milieus, put bums on seats. Other…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

One of the reasons for slow output on this blog over the weekend was that several of your regular scribes, such as yours truly, Guy Herbert, Brian Micklethwait and Philip Chaston, were at the annual Libertarian Alliance (UK) conference in London. Several of us remarked on how many people turned up for the two days. By my reckoning, we had about 140 folk in total. What was particularly gratifying was the number of younger people…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Found via Michelle Malkin
UPDATE: The campaign retaliates by denying the TV station access for the rest of the campaign.

WFTV-Channel 9’s Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday. A friend says it’s some of the best entertainment he’s seen recently. What do you think?
West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama’s comment, to […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom