What happens to education when it is politicized? Now that we have a new administration, led by Donald Trump, and a new secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, here is an updating of a Public Choice analysis of our mixed government-private education system came to be. The following is based in part by E. G. West’s […]
Public Choice and our semi-functional education system Read More »
When women got the vote fully at the national level: 1893 New Zealand 1902 Australia 1906 Finland 1913 Norway 1915 Denmark 1917 Canada 1918 Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia 1919 Netherlands 1920 United States 1921 Sweden 1928 Britain, Ireland All other countries: Granted later or not yet granted. Note: Six of the fifteen are British or former British colonies; the other nine are northern European. (Also worth
Where women first got the vote and when Read More »
Yet another reason to despise the Russian experiment in socialism. After the communist revolution, the great composer Sergei Rachmaninoff went into exile, losing his home and other property to the Soviets — along with his publisher and his status in Russia as leading musician of his generation. Starting over in the West was a challenge,
How Rachmaninoff’s composing was hurt by the Soviet Union Read More »
Defeating an enemy such as politicized Islam is a multi-front battle—police, military, diplomatic, cultural, and philosophical. Any fight is triggered by short-term, local disagreements. But long-term, generalized conflicts are always about abstract principles in collision. As with neo-Nazis, Communist revolutionaries, violent environmentalists, bomb-the-government anarchists, and others—our conflicts with them are intellectual in origin. Terrorism is
How to Tame Religious Terrorists [Good Life series] Read More »
Here is a list of the 30 most polluted cities on Earth. Per country, here’s where those cities are located: India: 14 China: 6 Saudi Arabia: 3 Pakistan: 2 Iran: 2 Bangladesh: 1 Cameroon: 1 Uganda: 1 All of them are clustered in the bottom half of rankings for economic freedom. Which reminds me of
Free markets versus pollution? Read More »
A warlord king went off with his men to attack a neighboring kingdom. While he was away his city was vulnerable — and another warlord saw his chance. When the unprotected city’s inhabitants saw the approaching army, they made hasty defenses, fought vigorously, and were able successfully to beat off the attackers. When their king
Punished for teaching one’s kids Read More »
At TRI, my commentary on the University of Washington shooting, Milo Yiannopoulos, postmodernism, and the alt right begins this way: “A protester was shot at the University of Washington during a clash between rival factions — one faction physically blocking an audience from hearing a speech, the other faction seeking to hear a rabble-rousing orator.
Political protest in a “post-fact era” [Commentary at TRI] Read More »
[When a nation’s debt becomes unmanageable, what is the responsible next step?] The Greek mess is complicated, but in sorting through complex messes it’s useful to start with simpler cases and build up. All sides in the discussion are appealing to moral considerations about responsibility, fairness, and prudence. Part of the debate is over what
On Greek Debts and the Moral Thing to Do [Good Life series] Read More »