Ben Jonson - Common Sense with Paul Jacob

Ben Jonson

Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a flatterer.

Ben Jonson, Sejanus (1603), Act 1.

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Term Limits (refresh for more)

Conflicts Perplexing Prominent Politicians
When does the same old song-and-dance, performed by yet another …
The Untold Story of the Oklahoma Three
Receiving an award is a lot nicer than ten years in prison. …
Term Limits for Thee
Last Sunday, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, now …
Trump’s Trump
President-Elect Donald J. Trump wasn’t my choice. Yet, as with …
A Bloombergian, Buzzing Confusion
A politician has changed his mind about term limits. Over the …

Thought of the Day

I wish for my own part there were no such thing as Political-Economy. I mean not now the mere name of the study: but I wish there had never been any necessity for directing our attention to the study itself. If men had always been secured in person and property, and left at full liberty to employ both as they saw fit; and had merely been precluded from unjust interference with each other — had the most perfect freedom of intercourse between all mankind been always allowed — had there never been any wars — nor (which in that case would have easily been avoided) any taxation — then, though every exchange that took place would have been one of the phenomena of which Political-Economy takes cognizance, all would have proceeded so smoothly, that probably no attention would ever have been called to the subject. The transactions of society would have been like the play of the lungs, the contractions of the muscles, and the circulation of the blood, in a healthy person; who scarcely knows that these functions exist. But as soon as they are impeded and disordered, our attention is immediately called to them.
Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832), Lecture III.

— Richard Whately

Memes (refresh for more)

“Regulation” should not be confused with “rule of law”
A “rule of law” is based on general principles, and …
Net Neutrality Lunacy
“The very same government that couldn’t even build a functional website …
Robert A. Heinlein on Political Labels
“Political tags such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, …
Why government is (almost) never the solution…
When you systematically reward failure, incompetence and irresponsibility…what results should …
The Uncommon Author of Common Sense
Last week we noted the 243rd anniversary of the publication …

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