“This means that fact-checking is the fake solution to the real problem of fake news. It helps debunk the simple hoaxes, but it only adds undeserved gravitas to fake political narratives and metanarratives.”
All the Fake News That’s Fit to Print
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Category: The Right
Do Poverty, Inequality, and Mobility Have a lot in Common? Not Really.
“Despite the stellar success of ordinary people lifting themselves out of poverty through production and access to a stable market, the income inequality narrative has come to dominate our current public policy discourse, especially in the United States.”
Friedman’s Take on Corporate Social Responsibility is Brilliant and Elegant—But Obsolete
Milton Friedman’s argument that corporations refrain from engaging themselves in social and political issues is compelling. But his argument likely doesn’t apply in today’s world, a world where “social consciousness” actually drives business.
The Real Questions You Should Ask Your Economics Professor
“Students are commonly told that Jesus was amenable to socialism because he favored the sharing of wealth. But in fact, he taught personal responsibility, voluntary charity, and doing good from the heart, not from someone else’s wallet.”
Literature Meets Identity Politics: Lionel Shriver vs. Penguin-Random House
“Writers should be judged first by the quality of the content of their prose, not their identity. If we forget this, then the world of literature will be much poorer, and with the loss of this source of consolation, so will we all.”
Licensing: From Barber Shops to Interior Designers, Restricting the Flow of Labor
Thinking about opening a barber shop, what do you do? If your answer was something other than, “Find out how to obtain the state’s permission,” you’re in for a surprise.
FEMA Director during Katrina: How Prepared Are We for Disaster?
“When you think about what we have here—FedEx, UPS, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club—you’ve got all these places that have networks that can be used to do distribution…I truly see the private sector as part of the first responder network.”
Does Loneliness Give Rise to Totalitarianism?
“What prepares men for totalitarian domination…is the fact that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience of the ever-growing masses of our century.”
The Victim Culture Produces No Winners: Heather Mac Donald’s Take
“But instead, universities have been captured by a destructive ideology of victimhood that insists that to be a female or a minority on an American college campus is to be the target of endless, nonstop oppression.”
Free Speech on Campus (and Elsewhere): An Interview with Eugene Volokh
“Let’s say somebody is solidly in favor of abortion rights. She feels very strongly. Okay? But how can she learn to persuade anyone on the issue if she never even hears the other side of the argument?”
Misunderstanding Terrorism in Europe
Everywhere is becoming like Israel in the need to take security measures that encroach further and further into daily life. One would not be surprised if Israelis did not feel a sense of schadenfreude; after all, those who criticized Israel as a police state now indulge in the same practices.
Interview with Bush Sr. Speechwriter: From Barbara Bush to the Tea Party
“The Bush period and the approaches we took then, in many respects, are directly related to an era of American politics that came and went.”
An Interview with David Shafer: His Vision for Georgia
“People behave themselves for one of two reasons: love of God, or fear of punishment. There’s not much that politicians can do about the former, but the latter is in our wheelhouse.”
Interview with Yaron Brook: Why Ayn Rand Still Matters
“I really don’t see the Republican Party standing for a real free market or getting the government out of our lives on the domestic front. I don’t see them…proposing winding down the welfare state.”
Mark Harris Just Won the Primary. Here’s his Jan. Interview with Merion West
“An activist court is what is creating the chaos we now have. Today, we have judges who have put them themselves in the place of a king, and they are trying to rule as kings.”