Category: Politics

Atlasphere interviewee Stephen Green will be drunk-blogging the Democratic primary candidates’ YouTube debate this evening.
Meantime, he’s got a few questions of his own for the candidates. His question for Obama is as good a place as any to start. But I recommend swallowing your drink before you click that play button. 😉

To combat the left’s gradual encroachment on corporate policies, some free market activists have begun formally offering Wal Mart a new intellectual paradigm — namely, that the company should embrace free markets rather than run from them.
In the Townhall article “Wal-Mart’s Public Policy Dilemma: Turn Right or Left?” Tom Borelli explains the dilemma:

Most concerning is the possibility that Wal-Mart might actively support government funded universal health care as a way to shift its employee health care problem to the U.S. taxpayer and ease one major area of criticism. Turning Wal-Mart into a lobbyist for the Leftâ??s agenda represents a serious risk to the free market and, if successful, expands the role of government in our lives.
However, Wal-Mart can chart a different course. Instead of following the incremental path to socialism, a shareholder proposal (introduced by an organization Iâ??m affiliated with) offered Wal-Mart a free market alternative.
Wal-Mart can silence its critics by using its clout to encourage its suppliers to promote a pro-business atmosphere. For example, Wal-Mart should rally these businesses to promote free-market ideas such a tax cuts, litigation reform and medical savings accounts.
In addition, Wal-Mart should use its marketing muscle to sell Ayn Randâ??s timeless novel Atlas Shrugged into millions of homes. The book provides insight and perspective regarding the nature of Wal-Martâ??s conflict: capitalism vs. socialism; the risk posed by rent seeking corporate executives; and government interference in the free market.

See the full article for more.

Writing for TCS Daily, Brian Doherty offers an insightful analysis of the history of antagonism between libertarians and conservatives in his article “Paul Krugman’s Illuminating Smear: How the Right and Libertarians Diverged.”

From an article in yesterday’s Denver Post:

Aspen mayors, as former office-holders attest, hobnob with world leaders and celebrities. They turn up on CNN and at parties hosted by The Donald as well as tackling pressing problems such as undoing Aspen’s worsening traffic congestion and helping struggling businesses.
“You meet someone, and they are very impressed you are the mayor of Aspen,” said Helen Klanderud, who will be vacating the post after three terms. […]
The cast of candidates willing to jump into this political cauldron includes a bicycle-riding, left-leaning environmentalist attorney who has survived three recall attempts as an outspoken and sometimes abrasive Pitkin County commissioner; a developer who favors sports cars and high-dollar cowboy boots and quotes Ayn Rand; a former tennis pro who goes by one name and is courting the young vote; and a platinum-blond former TV news anchor whose website features sexy portraits and an admission that she may resemble the late Anna Nicole Smith – but only in looks. […]
Developer candidate Tim Semrau, 53, in designer jeans with coiffed hair, set Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” on the table in front of him, along with a sheaf of position papers and cast himself as a developer, yes, but one who has done many affordable-housing projects.

See the full article for more.
Any politician willing to set a copy of Atlas Shrugged on the table deserves a second look.

Atlasphere member Will Wilkinson recently published a new paper for the Cato Institute titled “In Pursuit of Happiness Research: Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?”
From the abstract:

â??Happiness researchâ? studies the correlates of subjective well-being, generally through survey methods. A number of psychologists and social scientists have drawn upon this work recently to argue that the American model of relatively limited government and a dynamic market economy corrodes happiness, whereas Western European and Scandinavian-style social democracies promote it.
This paper argues that happiness research in fact poses no threat to the relatively libertarian ideals embodied in the U.S. socioeconomic system. Happiness research is seriously hampered by confusion and disagreement about the definition of its subject as well as the limitations inherent in current measurement techniques.
In its present state happiness research cannot be relied on as an authoritative source for empirical information about happiness, which, in any case, is not a simple empirical phenomenon but a cultural and historical moving target.
Yet, even if we accept the data of happiness research at face value, few of the alleged redistributive policy implications actually follow from the evidence. The data show that neither higher rates of government redistribution nor lower levels of income inequality make us happier, whereas high levels of economic freedom and high average incomes are among the strongest correlates of subjective well-being.
Even if we table the damning charges of questionable science and bad moral philosophy, the American model still comes off a glowing success in terms of happiness.

As Will writes, “It is not a short paper, nor is it written at a USA Today level of difficulty. So reserve a cool hour for some serious intellectual contemplation. Itâ??s worth it, I hope.”

Writing for TCS Daily, Jerry Bowyer argues convincingly in his article “Ismail Ax: Shooter Was Another ‘Son of Sacrifice’” that Cho Sueng Hui’s slaughter of 32 people at Virginia tech was another instance of Islamic-justified (if not -inspired) terrorism.

First it was Johnny Muhammad, now it was Cho Sueng Hui aka Ismail Ax. Precisely how many mass shooters have to turn out to have adopted Muslim names before we get it?
Keep reading…

Don’t hold your breath to see this in the mainstream media.
H/T: Joe Duarte.