Last week your Common Sense correspondent was in Italy sharing perspectives on a freer future at the 2018 Global Forum on Direct Democracy:
And here he is giving a short talk on the struggles of the citizens of Nashville:
The two videos from the second day of the 2018 Global Forum can be found, in their entirety, here and here.
October 6 is the traditional date commemorating the martyrdom of William Tyndale, in 1536. Tyndale translated the New Testament and much of the Old into the English of his day, and in the process added more new words into the English language than any other single writer, with the possible exception of Shakespeare. He also laid the ground for the later, and more famous, King James (“Authorized”) Edition of the Bible.
Among his memorable coinages and turns of phrase coined as translations from Hebrew and Greek into English include
Among the rights-trampling bureaucracies, many and various, the Transportation Security Administration is far from the most beloved.
Millions of Americans, in the course of trying to catch flights, experience TSA agents up close and personal.
Some of these official gropers are way too “handsy.”
One report comes to our attention from Charlotte Ann Kimbrough, former law enforcement officer.
When she told TSA agents that she had had two metal hip replacements, she expected to be wanded. Instead, “The woman groped my crotch — twice. She went underneath my dress. I knew I had to be calm for the man I was traveling with. . . . But he could see the look on my face. He started yelling. They got the woman who was groping me out of the way and brought in a boss, who tried to stop the situation from escalating. I do have anger at myself, that I let her do it to to me. . . . I keep getting feelings of guilt.”
Some TSA workers may be uncomfortable with what they are “forced” to do to innocents. Others enjoy the power they have to humiliate people. Still others — whistleblowers — do speak out against abuses.
But they face retaliation from higher-ups for doing so. All of these employees are subject to abuse by TSA bosses.
A government report details alleged misconduct that includes sexual harassment, verbal abuse of employees, and obstructing investigations into misconduct.
We should not be surprised. As Reason magazine puts it, “this isn’t an agency with a great track record when it comes to treating people well.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On October 5, 1910, the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown and a republic declared.
It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means. Besides, he who pretends to carry his point by force hath need of many associates; but the man who can persuade knows that he is himself sufficient for the purpose; neither can such a one be supposed forward to shed blood; for, who is there would choose to destroy a fellow citizen rather than make a friend of him by mildness and persuasion?
Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates Bk. 1, ch. 2, as translated by Sarah Fielding in The Whole Works of Xenophon (1840), p. 523.
A marriage made in . . . democracy?
Last Thursday, at the 2018 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, held at the Palazzo Senatorio in Rome, Italy, I talked about term limits. And initiative and referendum rights.
Italy’s populist Five Star Movement, the leading party in the new ruling coalition, supports both expanding direct citizen-initiated democracy and the idea of limiting politicians to no more than two terms in office. So, imagine my enthusiasm on a morning panel of Italian academics, public officials, and practitioners of initiative and referendum.
I urged them to marry the two issues — term limits and direct democracy. Together, they counter-balance the clear conflict of interest elected officials have with doing the will of the people.
“The citizens are ready,” offered Flavia Marzano, Rome’s City Minister for Citizens Participation, referring to direct democracy. “Maybe so far, politicians are not so ready.”
She added, “We should merit the trust of the citizens.”
That afternoon, in keeping with the forum’s focus on cities, I delivered a short note on how after Nashville, Tennessee, voters passed term limits in 1994, the Metro Council has peppered the ballot with re-votes in 1996, 1998, 2002, 2015 and now again this November.
Thankfully, what seems like a novel idea in the political world was just common sense at the Global Forum. Here they recognize that, all over the world, people want to be free from tyranny. And all over the world, voters see term limits as an important way to prevent fiefdoms of incumbency, political stagnation and entrenchment, even dictatorship.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
ὅπου γὰρ ἰσχὺς συζυγοῦσι καὶ δίκη
ποία ξυνωρὶς τῆσδε καρτερωτέρα
For where might and justice are yoke-fellows —
What pair is stronger than this?
On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first private craft to fly into space, thereby winning the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.
For those who hated NAFTA, and have supported Donald Trump in his complaints about “the very bad deal” that the North American Free Trade Agreement [allegedly] has been, I ask: what was bad about NAFTA that isn’t in Donald Trump’s new version, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement?
Actual question. I am not in the least bit interested in gotchas, here. I am willing to celebrate USMCA when (a) I can make sense of it and (b) it proves not just more of the same.
The thing I liked best about NAFTA was that it had “Free Trade” in the title. I like free trade. Trade is good; freedom is good. It is not generally bad to trade with Mexico and Canada — for Mexicans, Canadians, and Americans. I simply have trouble believing that politicians and their aides (along with overly-friendly lobbyists) know better than market competition what the terms of those zillions of deals should be.
But I freely admit, what I didn’t like about NAFTA was that there was more “free trade” in the title than in the agreement itself.
NAFTA was managed trade.
As far as I can make out, so is USMCA.
Oddly, I just heard two of the three Daily Wire guys* praising USMCA for setting quotas on how much of what can be produced where.
Quotas and mandates and the like are not free trade.
“Managed trade” is just another way of saying “protectionism.” Savvy politicians don’t even like calling it “managed trade.” They call it “fair trade.”
Free trade is fair enough. Politicians’ “fair trade” isn’t free enough.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* Andrew Klavan and Michael Knowles, recent podcasts: dailywire.com.
Illustration: Dutch free traders in Harbor Scene by Abraham Storck (1644–1708)
. . . the search for truth strains the patience of most people, who would rather believe the first things that come to hand.
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Paul Woodruff, translator, Book I, 1.21-[3].