Neoliberalism? No, Thanks.

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I’m not sure if Philip Bobbitt is malicious, mentally deranged, or merely foolish. To wit, this review of his latest book:

“What’s needed is a constitutional order that takes its structural cues from multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations, relying ‘less on law and regulation and more on market incentives’ to expand people’s options. Such a market state keeps its finger on the pulse of consumer demand, advocates trade liberalization, is prone to the privatization of public works and ‘will outsource many functions.’ In the seminar rooms of political science departments this change is referred to as ‘neoliberalism (on the streets, it is known as ‘globalization’) — and Bobbitt, who is a geopolitical realist, believes we have no choice but to embrace it.”

Riiiiight. Let’s define our rights and responsibilities in terms of consumerist ideals and the flavor of the month. I’m not sure if I should laugh or scream. If this is anarcho-capitalism, this is where libertarianism and I part company. I’m reminded of a line in the film Network.

“There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today!”

God help us all if Arthur Jensen is right.

Tax Day: The Real April Fools’ Day

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This afternoon I participated in a small protest of the income tax. We met at the Hilton downtown and walked to the Federal building. Alone the way we chanted, “Income tax is theft! End the IRS!” I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who took pamphlets from us. I’m sure most ended up in the garbage, but I’m hopeful that some of them were actually read. I’m hoping we changed at least one person’s mind today.

The most fulfilling part of the event was meeting and conversing with more Ron Paul Meetup members. There’s quite a variety of opinions in the group, which makes for lively debates. 🙂 The worst part occurred after we moved from the Federal building to the Omni William Penn hotel, where John McCain was having a fundraiser. Most of us stayed across the street from the hotel, but a few picketed right in front of the entrance. I wasn’t comfortable doing that, but I didn’t have a big problem with others being there. What I did and do object to is picking a fight, which I believe one of the group was trying to do. He was hoping one of the hotel staff would bump into him, and when one did he made a scene. Thankfully, a cooler-headed protester diffused the situation with polite banter.

Pictures can be found here.

“This is for the ones standing up to the system”

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I interpret the “it” in this song as our republic and the “head cornerstone” as the Constitution.

Cornerstone by the Have Nots

This is for the ones standing up to the system
Yeah you know who you are, stay on point with the mission
Look to the left, the right, it all seems the same
Everybody’s pointing fingers in a blame game
And it’s a crying shame theres no change, just strain
It’s like we’re all in such a rush to flush it all down the drain
We gotta take it down brick by brick until we find the head cornerstone
We gotta polish it up ’til it shines like it once shone.

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Boot-Licking Loyalists

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“Ron Paul admirers supporting John McCain”?! WTF?! Non-interventionists for Mr. Bomb-Bomb-Bomb-Bomb-Bomb-Iran? Free speech supporters for Mr. McCain-Feingold? Austrian Economists for Mr. I-Rely-On-My-Keynesian-Advisor? Libertarians for Mr. Neocon?

Good grief. What oxymoronic nonsense will people think of next?!

Evil or Stupid?

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Apparently, Lew Rockwell doesn’t like unions any more than I do. However, Mr. Rockwell’s feelings seem to be much stronger than mine, prompting him to call them evil. IMHO, he would do well to remember Napoleon’s wise maxim, “Never attribute to malice what could be sufficiently explained by ineptitude.” While some unions have certainly arrogated enough power to prove Lord Acton’s maxim regarding absolute power, I think in most situations unions are populated and run by ordinary, fallible people who fail to act in their own best interest or in the best interest of society in general. I don’t think it was malignant intent that priced the steel industry out of Pittsburgh; I think it was short-sighted, foolish selfishness.