Watergate: America’s Finest Hour

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Many people think of the 1970s and Watergate as low-water marks in America’s political history, but personally, I think of it as one of our finest hours. For once, the system worked. The president and vice president were forced to resign in disgrace for their crimes. The attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned on principle, … Continued

“Questions Libertarians Can’t Answer”? Let Me Google That For You.

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There’s become something of a cottage industry recently of blogs listing “questions libertarians can’t answer” or “knockdown arguments” against libertarianism (see Salon, The New York Times, Psychology Today, Bloomberg, et al). Having read an impressive fraction of these articles, I’ve concluded that most of their authors do not have a clue what libertarianism actually is. … Continued

Small Government Is Popular–The GOP Isn’t

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Everybody Hates John Boehner The other day, two seemingly contradictory stories appeared in my inbox almost simultaneously. The first was yet another story on how unpopular the Republican Party is right now, thanks to their doomed, incoherent budget strategy: “NBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP.” The short of it is that only 24% of Americans … Continued

5 Questions For a Skeptical Libertarian: Drugs, Climate, and Utopia

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I recently got an email from a student from Norway with five questions about libertarianism that I thought were worth a response. They cover a broad range of subjects, so I’ll try to be brief. My answers are not intended be definitive of “the” libertarian position, but they represent my current thinking on a number … Continued

14 Dos and Don’ts for Communicating Libertarian Ideas

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My friend Libertarian Girl asked me what I thought libertarians should be doing more of when it comes to communicating with the public. This is a quick list of things that I’ve noticed to be either effective or counterproductive. It isn’t exhaustive or perfectly phrased, and shouldn’t be taken to be an indictment of all libertarians–in … Continued

Can Fast Food Jobs Really Be Replaced By Machines?

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You bet: McDonald’s just added 7,000 touch-screen kiosks to handle ordering and cashier duties in its European stores. The move is designed to boost efficiency and make ordering more convenient for customers. In an interview with the Financial Times, McDonald’s Europe President Steve Easterbrook notes that the new system will also open up a goldmine of … Continued

17 Best Teju Cole Tweets From Last Night

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If you don’t follow Teju Cole (@tejucole) on Twitter, you’re regularly missing out on some of the best pithy social commentary on the web. Last night, he tweeted a long series of words and their true (but usually unspoken) interpretations in public discourse. I’ve given it the hashtag #TweetingBetweenTheLines. The result was hilarious and devastatingly … Continued