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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The Next Population Explosion
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Fifty Years After Buckley
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Goofy Wig and All
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Paul Jacob on whether weather modification really is nothing but …Read More »
ICE Melt in Minnesota
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Not This King?
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Paul Jacob on the nature of power . . . …Read More »

Term Limits (refresh for more)

Like Zimbabwe
Richard M. Lindstrom signed a petition, but his signature didn’t count. The …
Legislators Turned Lobbyists Turned Altruists
Legislative bosses, the state’s most powerful special interests and a fake …
Green Politicians and Ham
Dear Reader: This “BEST of Common Sense” comment originally aired …
Carson City Cakewalk?
It’s a heady time in Nevada. Next year’s election will be …
The Bonesaw Massacre
Last week, the Washington Post published journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final …

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)

Don’t think legislators deserve a 150% pay raise?
The Arkansas legislature is on track to receive a massive pay …
On This Day: January 27, End to Military Draft
The day the U.S. military draft ended: To download the full-size …
10 Out of 10
10 out of 10 terrorist Jihadists agree… American gun rights must be restricted! …
Salman Rushdie on Free Speech
“The moment you limit free speech, it’s not free speech.” —Salman …
Everything That Could Be Done
Two hundred forty years ago, the situation was dire. In …

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