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Lots of things to pour whisky shots for this week. Before returning to our short course on Leo Strauss’s perspectives on liberal education, “Lucretia” and Steve reflect on Joe Biden’s long career as a chameleon (if you didn’t know better, you’d almost think Biden had read Richard Weaver’s famous Ideas Have Consequences, since he thinks Antifa is an “idea,” and one that certainly has consequences), and why the 25th Amendment, which leftists have been hoping would be applied to Trump ever since January 20, 2017, is more likely to be applied to a President Biden in 2021 (should such a shudder-inducing possibility come to pass). Did you know that Section 4 of the 25th Amendment essentially gives Congress the power to impeach the President without a trial? We break it all down for you.
Having spent a lot of time on this week’s craziness, we only get about halfway through Strauss’s essay “Liberal Education and Responsibility.” We wrestle with the proposition that the idea of education in American democracy is the attempt to create a universal aristocracy, and understanding the distinction between the civic gentleman and the philosopher. We barely got started on this project before we ran out of whisky in our glasses (and also knowing we needed to take mercy on listeners), so. . . to be continued!
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You guys probably hate David stockman, but what he has said about 43’s staff was just brutal. I think that they really did a lot of damage to what Reagan either did or was trying to do. Why in the hell would you get rid of Paul Volker?
I got that from his 90 minute interview on a website called Real Vision. It will cost you a dollar to see it. I would really like to see some intelligent arguments against what Stockman says in that interview. Especially in this era, I think it’s wise to consider what he said about that time. The GOP never was what so many idealistic people have in their heads now
If you actually go to the trouble of watching that video, ping me and I will recommend some other videos you can see while you are in the free trial time. They are going to pitch you to sign up, but they are good people so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Education absolutely should be about creating good citizens. Now it’s about cranking out socialists and charging too much for it. The other thing is, so many parents and students don’t care about this. They go to college for one thing: make more money. When I was in college I could not believe the number of really smart people that were really bitter about having to spend time and money on anything but that. They made it clear that you were stupid to think otherwise, too. The whole thing needs to be broken up and sold ala carte.
They have no idea how forcing people to wear masks changes the R0. Zero. None. They are forcing us to wear these things without legislation. They can put on a dog and pony show why they work. There are people in the media that are absolutely loaded for bear to attack these guys once they do it. The major ones are Dan Proft and Alex Bernson, there are plenty of others. It’s just as likely that it makes it worse.
This is my summary of what is wrong with this country. Non-public goods add zero value. They literally retard dispersed prosperity. The regulation of the financial system is all wrong. There is nothing good about only having five banks in this country. Then throw in everything else they do wrong. The Federal Reserve should not push the economy around. They are just a bunch of GOSPLAN guessers. Every single government actuarial system is a disaster. The Federal Reserve is going to “pay” for all of it. Having politicians ***guess*** at tax brackets and deductions and shoving them down our throats adds zero value.
Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™
Rod Dreher has a good column about this Jacobin magazine and the editor. A real Commie without having any real idea about how communism works except I’m sure he thinks he will be a leader.
If you fish around in the Tom Woods Show podcast, they have some wild stuff about his reason magazine debate with @GeneSohoForum. It’s worth digging up.
Re the country song that mentioned PBR, probably this one:
“Not a worry in the world, a PBR on the way.”
Something that’s really good about @GeneSohoForum is that he explains libertarianism always within the context of the Fed. I can’t remember if it’s in that debate, but Austrians really have a better explanation of why you should vote for a Republican or a libertarian because they do that. If you don’t have good central bank policy, libertarianism and conservatism really doesn’t stand a chance.
He’s a very serious guy with an economics PhD but he pitched his whole background for the Austrian school.