In response to my previous post on this topic, a number of you have written in to ask whether I’m not offering a rationalization of what are simply egregious views. I’m not. I would hope that that is clear.
What I’m arguing is something different: It’s very hard to know what’s in people’s hearts, especially if they’re making no clear efforts to make it clear. And in any case it can be a fruitless endeavor in the realm of public debate. It’s also true that there are libertarians who believe in radical limitations on state power for reasons that have nothing to do with any personal animus on race issues, even if those beliefs dictate policies that would be disastrous for civil rights. Read More
A remarkable theft last night from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Five paintings worth half a billion U.S. dollars, including a Picasso and a Matisse (below), were stolen by what security cameras show to be a lone man:
Say what you want about him, fellow libertarians (small-l and capital-L) say his position is in the mainstream of libertarian thought.
They used to say that folks evolved once they got on the Supreme Court. But I’m not sure we’ve ever seen the kind of evolution Rand Paul’s undergone over less than 24 hours.
Let me try to summarize.
1) I don’t support the Civil Rights Act but I personally abhor discrimination.
2) I would not support any effort to repeal the Civil Rights Act.
3) I believe in the Civil Rights Act and the constitutional power to enforce it.
4) If I would have been in the Senate at the time I would have voted for the Civil Rights Act.
Any guesses on number 5?
Word leaked late this afternoon, first reported by ABC, that Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, was being forced out by the White House.
Blair just issued the following statement confirming his resignation: Read More
We’re anticipating a final vote in the Senate on financial reform within the hour. It appears likely to pass on the same 60-40 vote, or close to it, as the procedural vote earlier this afternoon, but there’s no guarantees. Stay tuned …
Late Update (8:30 ET): Voting is underway …
Back when Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R) first got into the chickens and health care barter business, a lot of folks said it wouldn’t damage her politically. I even heard from some people who said the focus on the story itself was a product of elitism and that ordinary people would identify with Lowden (no doubt, the view of people deeply in touch with the lives of middle class and working families who’d mainly prefer to forego health insurance and pay in livestock, which they have in abundance).
But now the verdict is in. And if this is the verdict, Sue Lowden should probably consider an appeal. Read More
By a vote of 59-39, the Senate gave final passage to the financial reform bill this evening. Brian Beutler has the details.
Not voting were Democratic Sens. Robert Byrd and Arlen Specter. Bucking their parties with yes votes were Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Charles Grassley, and Scott Brown; and with no votes were Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell and Russ Feingold.
Historians will probably conclude that the package of reforms was surprisingly modest given the depth and severity of the 2008-09 financial crisis. A harsher historical judgment might find that the political and economic power wielded by the financial industry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was so extensive that it could weather a near total collapse of the system without having to yield its power or privilege.