Free market capitalism is premised on the idea that open competition between competitors leads to better products and lower prices. Why? Because customers will flock to the cheaper and/or better products at the expense of the more expensive and/or worse products. That leaves the economic loser with two options: improve or go out of business. It’s a system that, when working properly, can drive innovation, lower costs for the customers, and increase profits for the businesses all at the same time.
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Apr 292009
The whole point of democracy is that politicians want to get reelected. A politician who wants to get reelected is a politician who can be controlled by the voters. He is responsive. He cares what his constituents think. He wants to take care of them. On the other hand, a politician who doesn’t care about getting reelected–or is facing a term-limit–cannot be controlled. That politician feels free to exercise his power however he sees fit. That politician doesn’t care if no one likes him–he’s going to do what he darn well pleases. That’s a politician who can do whatever dangerous and harmful thing he wants to and as long as he doesn’t directly violate the law he can get away with it.
So I don’t understand those who have tried to use “this is a purely political calculation” as an insult against Arlen Specter for switching parties. Continue reading »
Apr 282009
Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania, the fifth most senior Republican in the Senate, is now the eight most senior Democrat. This wasn’t done for committee assignment reasons: he was previously the Ranking Republican in the Judiciary Committee, where now he loses to Patrick Leahy, and was previously second on the GOP appropriations seniority list whereas now he moves to fourth for the Democrats. In other words, he loses power by making the transition. Instead, it was purely political; he realized that he was likely to lose the GOP nomination for the Senate to an extremely conservative Republican in 2010, but if he runs as a Democrat he should be able to win the state easily. That’s the “why”. But what does this mean for the GOP?
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I haven’t traveled extensively internationally, so I’m not sure if this problem goes beyond the borders of the United States. But within the United States I can unequivocally state a key fact that makes the lives of millions of Americans needlessly more complicated than it otherwise should be: it is a heck of a lot more difficult to find a restroom than it should be.
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Apr 152009
I haven’t thought through this idea enough to have decided whether its genius, idiocy, or somewhere in between. But the idea of letters of marque to stop piracy… Ron Paul is consistently the most creative politician out there.
His ideas are far from mainstream, no doubt. And some are fiascos in the making. But its nice to have somebody thinking outside the box. Its a breath of fresh air from the normal partisan yammering, and the more ideas there are on the table, the more likely we are to find a solid solution.
Go Ron Paul! (that’s still not an endorsement)
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