libertarianism
The Libertarian Critique of Trump’s “Schedule F”
As it turns out, you can hate BOTH government regulation and Trump’s assault on the “deep state.”
Installing inexperienced ideologues in the executive branch won’t accomplish anything useful and would only make it harder to implement deregulatory policies. The main effect of Schedule F would be gridlock rather than policy change
CONTINUE READINGThe Epstein Affair
A prominent law prof got COVID-19 numbers disastrously wrong. Then things got worse.
The New Yorker recently published a devastating interview with law professor Richard Epstein. He had attracted their notice by publishing two columns on the Hoover Institution website, the first projecting a total of 500 U.S. deaths from the coronavirus (later raised to 5000), and the second defending his work. I don’t see any need to …
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CONTINUE READINGGary Johnson’s Hasty Retreat
He was for a carbon tax. For a few days. Until he was against it.
I posted a few weeks about Gary Johnson’s embrace of a carbon fee, which seemed like an appealing sign of new ideas. Apparently, however, stale ideas are more politically salable. As it turns out, under pressure from horrified conservatives, Johnson waved the white flag and surrendered only a few days later. Here’s his explanation: “If …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Long, Losing War Against Government Regulation
Since the time the laws were passed, the anti-regulatory movement has fought to roll back the health and safety regulations of the 1970s. The battle has been fierce. As with the trench warfare of World War I, there have been many loud and hard-fought battles, but the outcome has generally been to move the lines …
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CONTINUE READINGSupersized Drinks, Social Welfare, and Liberty
Obesity is an environmental issue because the food system (from farm to table) uses a lot of energy and produces significant water pollution. More food equals a bigger environmental footprint. Sweetened soft drinks are a good example: they use corn sweetener, and corn production has a large footprint because so much fertilizer is required. There …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate “skepticism,” ideology, and sincerity
There’s an interesting discussion about a whole lot of things — for example, the sincerity of climate scientists and think tanks, the behavior of scientists, the relative funding of “skeptics” and climate scientists and others who believe climate change is happening and is caused by human activity — between my colleague Ann Carlson and Professor …
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CONTINUE READINGLibertarians for Environmental Red Tape!
Libertarians have long castigated environmental review statutes, such as NEPA and CEQA, for trampling private property rights, the theory being that they make developing property so difficult and expensive that they are tantamount to disrupting those right. That’s why it was so odd to see the Pacific Legal Foundation advocating for more prolix environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Libertarian Case for Controlling Climate Change
Inaction on climate change is inconsistent with libertarian principles and belief in property rights.
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