On April 6, 1930, Mohandes Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt, declaring, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.” Thus began the Salt Satyagraha.
Categories
Salt Rebels
Categories
Mohandas K. Gandhi
“In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for such democracy that I invite you today.”
Mohandas K. Gandhi, August 8, 1942
Categories
Townhall: Out Like a Lamb?
This weekend at Townhall, I expand my thoughts from Thursday, on the whole Indiana RFRL controversy. Click on over to Townhall. But then back here, for I have by no means written the last word on the subject. Here is a wide variety of opinion:
- LewRockwell.com: “I Don’t Believe in Religious Freedom,” by Rev. Larry Beane
- Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (as originally passed)
- Changes to Indiana’s RFRA
- US News: “Religious freedom laws, now divisive, weren’t used in past to allow anti-gay discrimination”
- FindLaw.com: “Texas restaurant tells gay couple not to come back”
- FindLaw.com explains Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
- USA Today: “Bakery risks large fine for anti-gay discrimination”
- Deseret News: “Religious liberty and gay marriage collide as New Mexico photographer loses case”
- Los Angeles Times: “Florist broke no Washington law”
- Denver NBC 9-News: “Baker refused to write anti-gay words on cake”
Categories
Presidential Veto
On April 5, 1792, U.S. President George Washington exercised his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power was used in the United States.
Categories
Barbara Jordan
“There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.”
Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address
Milking a 1990s comedy for its economic lessons.
Categories
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Like any man, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land“
Martin Luther King, Jr., a day before his assassination, in a speech delivered at Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.
Categories
Died in Office
On April 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and the one with the shortest term served (he died on his 32nd day as president). Renowned Indian killer, a proponent of the expansion of slavery into Northwest Territories, and a Whig, Harrison won the presidency in part by turning the Democrats’ “log cabin and hard cider” aspersions on his character as the basic symbols of the campaign.
Though hardly a “limited government man,” some limited government history buffs proclaim him the Greatest President, on the ostensibly droll and possibly cynical grounds that he spent so little time in office.
On a sadder note, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on this day in 1968.
It turns out the United States is a tax haven.
Haven? Heavens! I live here. I don’t feel that low-tax feeling when April 15 rolls around.
But the Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell, an expert on all things tax-policy — a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it — says “The U.S. Is a Tax Haven . . . and That’s a Very Good Thing.”
He is a huge fan of international tax competition. He likes it when governments at least marginally decrease the tax burden on prospective producers and investors, so as to lure production and investment from other tax jurisdictions. In his opinion, “we need some way to restrain the greed of the political class.”
Fans of big government disagree. Tax competition hinders their master plans to control and plunder the rest of us.
Mitchell knows that we mere U.S. citizens tend to lug a big tax load. But the United States is in fact “a tax haven. Not for Americans, of course, but . . . we have some good rules for foreigners.” In addition to their ability to exploit the especially robust corporate privacy rules of a state like Delaware, foreign investors can avoid taxes on interest and capital gains on their stateside investments.
Now, Mitchell says, let’s apply those “same good policies to Americans.”
Hear hear! Havens I can access are even more appealing than those I can’t.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Categories
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“…only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.
“Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.‘“
Martin Luther King, Jr., a day before his assassination, in a speech delivered at Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.