On October 14, 1644, Willliam Penn was born. An English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (the English North American colony and future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), he was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians.
Are we being misinformed about the war now being waged against ISIS in Iraq and Syria?
Or should I call it a “counter-terrorism operation”?
Oh, I know there is an election in a few weeks, so we don’t want to bother the pretty little heads of our national representatives in Congress. They’re far too busy running for re-election.
And, though the president isn’t on the ballot, as he points out, his unpopular policies certainly are. Mr. Obama’s concern for his own political legacy must of course come before the ordinary lives of our sons and daughters that he has placed in harm’s way.
Get realpolitik.
Don’t expect a congressional debate over the U.S. commitment now. And give the Prez a break; he’s ordering enough airstrikes to supposedly keep a lid on things until after the election.
Chill out. Our commander-in-chief has repeatedly assured us there are no boots on the ground. Certainly, the city-within-a-city U.S. Embassy in Baghdad isn’t going to be overrun or anything like that.
Except, well, we do have boots on the ground. Or just above it, flying attack helicopters on combat missions . . . because ISIS soldiers have gotten within 15 miles of the Baghdad airport.
“The tool that was immediately available was the Apache,” explains Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “You’re not going to wait until they’re climbing over the wall. Had [ISIS forces] overrun the Iraqi unit, it was a straight shot to the Baghdad airport.”
Boots guard that airport. But who’s guarding truth, justice and the American way?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Last February, between Bath and Bristol, the A431 suffered from a “landslip.” (I assume that’s Brit-speak for “landslide.”) With the road closed, folks on either side of the slide had to drive around “the long way.”
The government body responsible for the road said the repair wouldn’t be finished till the end of the year.
So one commuter, businessman Mike Watts, took matters into his own hands. Contracting with the farmer who owned the adjacent fields, he built a road parallel to the old one. And, with the apparent blessings of the road authority, set up his 400-yard toll road to make up the difference. A private, pay-for-use “traffic revision.”
He charges £2 per trip for a car, and just celebrated his hundred thousandth car. He’s well on his way to recovering his costs.
Unfortunately, those costs have included some payola demands (er, fees) from the government.
On mises.org Matt McCaffrey lauds the success of this private road venture, making the point that, yes, private enterprise can build roads.
But we all knew that. Private roads, turnpikes, toll roads — they were once quite common, and could become common again. This is the first in a century in Britain, though.
What this story demonstrates? Let another enterprising Brit, 19th century sociologist Herbert Spencer, explain it: “Unlike private enterprise which quickly modifies its actions to meet emergencies . . . the law-made instrumentality lumbers on under all varieties of circumstances at its habitual rate.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On October 13, 1870, American social critic and education theorist Albert Jay Nock was born. Nock was the author of a number of books, including “Jefferson, the Man” and “Our Enemy, The State,” but was probably most famous for his intellectual autobiography, “Memoirs of a Superfluous Man,” which was widely read and admired amongst conservatives in the 1950s and 1960s.
Money does not pay for anything, never has, never will. It is an economic axiom as old as the hills that goods and services can be paid for only with goods and services.
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, thinking he had reached India.
Exactly two hundred years later, a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips ended the Salem Witch Trials.
On October 12, 1823, Charles Macintosh of Scotland sold his first raincoat.
This weekend on Townhall.com? The Common Sense of a broken stalemate in Virginia. Click on over. Then come back here, for more information.
A video about three legislature-referred ballot measures in Arkansas, one of which, Issue 3, is NOT like the others. Video courtesy of Paul Jacob.
On October 11, 1811, the Juliana began its maiden voyage on its regular route, between New York City, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey. It was the world’s first steam-powered ferry, invented by John Stevens (pictured). His earlier steam-powered boat, the Phoenix, marked the pages of history as the first steam-powered boat to navigate the open ocean, two years earlier.
October 11, 1890 marks the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
On the same date in 1976, President Gerald R. Ford approved a congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 to appoint, posthumously, George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States, as part of the bicentennial celebrations. John J. Pershing is the only other American to attain this high title, and the only one to achieve it while alive.
On October 10, 1714, the French economist Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert (pictured) died. On the same date in 1973, Austrian-born American economist, Ludwig von Mises died. Both economists were known for their defenses of freer markets: le Pesant for pioneering the critique of mercantilism; Mises for systematizing economic theory and advancing the critique of both socialism and latter-day mercantalism (what he called “interventionism”).