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links

Townhall: Targeting Self-Defense

The foundation of a free society? The rights of the people in that society. Chiefest of these? The right to self-defense.

And that’s under attack these days. For the latest example, check out the column this weekend at Townhall. And then come back here, for more reading.

The third citation, above, briefly and concisely states the classical republican argument about self-defense as the basis of government.

Categories
video

Video: Is Britain Cowardly Caving in to Radical Muslim Bullying?

Pat Condell is a well-known YouTube ranter. He does this very well. One doesn’t have to agree with everything he says to admire his method, and to heed his more persuasive points. In this video he very forthrightly charges his nation with caving in to bullying by the violent amongst the Muslim population in Britain.

It is not quite so bad in America as it appears to be in Britain, but we catch whiffs of it here. Even now, liberals scornfully laugh at conservatives who worry about the establishment in America of Sharia law. But it is simply the case that, in Europe and elsewhere, the Muslims who easily take offense and threaten violence are successfully bullying others into silence and worse. It is something to worry about, and consider:

There are points in the above rant where Mr. Condell lashes out at Islam in general. He talks about “secular Muslims” (whatever they may be) so he is obviously not trying to imply that all Muslims are violent. But that is perhaps too easily inferred by some of his rants. I know that not to be true.

And I find it offensive.

Indeed, caving in to the violent threats and trumped-up umbrage of some Muslims does harm to the vast majority of Muslims who are peaceful. That, alas, is not Condell’s message. But the one he delivers is, still, worth thinking about.

We must not be cowards about our freedoms. And one of the most important is: civilized people have free speech, not ears and eyes protected from any perceived slight by state or private terror. Taking offense is not an excuse to undermine freedom. It is “Harm to others” that gives us standing to consider a lawful process to abridge a person’s freedom; not “offense to others.”

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Today

Ides of March

According to the Roman calendar, today is the Ides of March. Toga parties on this date? Not advised.

On March 15, 1820, Maine became the 23rd U.S. state.

In 1990 on this date, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first President of the Soviet Union, a position he did not long hold — the government was pulled out from under him in late 1991.

Categories
Thought

Antonin Scalia

By the time of the founding, the right to have arms had become fundamental for English subjects.

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Today

March 14, Gold Standard

On March 14, 1900, the Gold Standard Act was ratified, placing United States currency on a gold standard. Thus ended the country’s weird experiments in bimetallism, established in 1792 when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to fix the ratio of gold and silver at 15:1.

The gold standard itself ended on April 25, 1933, and its last vestiges were scrapped when President Richard Nixon closed the foreign gold exchange window in 1971, thereby ending the Bretton-Woods international monetary system.

Categories
free trade & free markets

Perfect Vision

One prerequisite of solving problems is having problems to solve. That is, first you must realize that there is a problem — an inconvenience or difficulty that you no longer accept as inevitable. Then you can ask questions and try to find answers.

Suppose the problem is that (a) you have imperfect eyesight, and (b) you’re lazy, busy, a shut-in, a cheapskate, or all four. You want to update your prescription without spending the time and money to visit an optometrist. Questions: Any way you can just do this at home for, say, $35? How about over the Internet?

If we ask Mr. Google about “online eye exams,” we find several sites offering tests that aim only to tell you whether it’s time for a visit to the eye doctor. Not good enough! But we also learn from TechCrunch.com about Opternative, a company co-founded by optometrist Steven Lee. Opternative plans to offer professional-grade online eye exams.

“Doing eye testing day in and day out, I thought ‘there has to be a better way to do this,’” Lee says.

Lee still faces regulatory and other hurdles. But I appreciate the ambition — also that we still have enough capitalism in our quasi-capitalist system to make a venture like this potentially profitable. And if Opternative succeeds, we’ll be able to take its prescription to another website and order an inexpensive pair of glasses or contact lenses over the Internet.

I like that vision.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
government transparency meme porkbarrel politics too much government

Don’t think legislators deserve a 150% pay raise?

The Arkansas legislature is on track to receive a massive pay hike. You can stop it.

Call (501) 682-1866

Learn more here.

 

Categories
Thought

Antonin Scalia

The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election-time speech.…

Categories
Thought

Antonin Scalia

Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution’s focus upon the individual.

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall too much government

Their Power

Boo hoo.

Thirty-three hifalutin members of Colorado’s political elite — state legislators, former legislators, board of education officials, city and county politicians, and assorted insiders — are whining as plaintiffs in what’s called a federal case.

Why? They lost an election … in 1992! Now, as the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals put it, “Plaintiffs claim that they have been deprived of their power over taxation and revenue.”

Over 22 years ago, Coloradans petitioned the Taxpayer Bill of Rights onto the ballot and voters passed it. Known as TABOR, the constitutional amendment limits the growth of government spending, unless voters approve higher spending levels. It also requires voter approval for tax increases, except in an emergency. The politicians objected at the time, but have since lacked both the courage and the democratic sensibility to take the issue back to the people.

Instead, they’re suing to overturn the result.

The legal theory behind the lawsuit? That TABOR limits the legislature’s ability to unilaterally raise taxes or spend money as it pleases, thus denying the state a “fully effective legislature” — thus TABOR violates the federal constitution’s guarantee that each state have a republican form of government.

Last week, the 10th Circuit ruled the state legislators have standing to sue the people of Colorado over the legislators’ right to tax and spend without a bunch of pesky voters getting in the way.

Those who founded our republican form of government would be absolutely astounded … if they could only be stopped, first, from spinning at such high rates of speed.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.