Recent Comments
GUEST POST: Is Free Enterprise Evil?
Comment posted by Michael Bauman on Feb 7, 00:30:
For what it's worth, I think George Gilder has answered this question compellingly and resoundingly in his Wealth and Poverty. So also has Michael Novak in The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. ... [More]
GUEST POST: Is Free Enterprise Evil?
Comment posted by Aaron on Feb 6, 23:52:
A program of study of some evil economics theory should not be contrary to a commitment to social justice. Nor should a program concentrating on Nazism, for instance. Historians teach about evil regimes all the time, so why shouldn't economists teach about evil economic theories? There's an obvious difference between teaching and indoctrination, right? The problem seems to be that this program would attract "Austrians," as a program on Nazism might attract Nazis. But there would seem to be a solution to th ... [More]
GUEST POST: Is Free Enterprise Evil?
Comment posted by J. W. on Feb 6, 23:31:
Gian, please support the claim that "Austrian economics [is] based upon explicitly atheist axioms." ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 6, 23:13:
Step2, are you suggesting that it's okay to _arrest_ people for using the word "abomination"? Surely not. And why would a person who actually _does_ believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is real, etc., put in such a distancing qualifier? Surely such a person wouldn't, and shouldn't be required to. ... [More]
GUEST POST: Is Free Enterprise Evil?
Comment posted by Gian on Feb 6, 22:47:
You conflate free enterprise with Austrian economics. The Austrian economics, being based upon explicitly atheist axioms, is incompatible with Catholicism. "t follows that some economic and political theories begin with an evil design. You can easily spot them by the millions of corpses they leave behind." It can be argued that millions of aborted children are consequences of the spread of the ideas of Manchester Individualism (as Chesterton calls it). Now you call it free enterprise. ... [More]
GUEST POST: Is Free Enterprise Evil?
Comment posted by al on Feb 6, 22:27:
"The mistake of many — both conservative and liberal — is their pernicious belief that we can engineer human goodness. We can’t — at least not in the way that they imagine." Which is besides the point. We do know how to deal with inflation, depressions, and rent seeking usurers - all we need is the political will. If we have to wait for enough of this "spiritual capital" in order to prosper, well, I fear the sun will run out first. The whole 99%/1% thing is about plutocracy stomping on free enterprise, ... [More]
I'm a purist, but I'm not an attack dog
Comment posted by Mark on Feb 6, 22:10:
I'd argue that there are certain features of modernity, necessary ones in fact, that deserve condemnation, not just critique. Its Rousseauian anthropology, for instance. True conservatives can make no peace with that element. There's no question that there are certain features of every age that deserve condemnation. I can't imagine anyone would have a problem with that. But you're arguing quite broadly that it can be condemned on the very notion of freedom. You argue expansively, and then say "hey can' ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Step2 on Feb 6, 21:38:
Nobody should be arrested for committing "homophobia." That was kind of what I was getting at, the specifics matter. As far as particular words go, the only one I find problematic is abomination. For one, there were all sorts of things that were classified as abominations, yet few of them are remembered anymore. Second, my preferred frame if using that word would be much more contingent. It would look something like: "If you accept the deity of the ancient Israelites as a true authority for revealing ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 6, 20:44:
Step2 It cannot be otherwise. Pre-Christian paganism was not a rejection of Christ, in fact through paganism the gentile world was providentially prepared for Christ. Neo-paganism is necessarily something else entirely. I don't know what you mean by the "Protocols" remark. The neopagans of the antisemitic racist variety were just the beginning, I'm afraid, and quite tame compared to what's coming, what's already here but we are too close to see in perspective. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 6, 20:15:
Step2, in my opinion the Westboro people ought to be open to suit on tort grounds. I discussed this in a lengthy comment somewhere on here, to a post by Bill Luse, if I recall correctly. And the people bringing the tort suit should be (as, in fact, they were in a case in which, I believe with Alito, the court decided wrongly) the parents of the innocent, normal slain soldiers about whom nasty, false, personal things were said. Not random homosexuals who were offended by Westboro's most famous line. And not ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Chucky Darwin on Feb 6, 19:50:
The outright ban on the most basic tenets of Christianity IS comming---we all see it on the horizon---it's just a matter of how to fight it. Some say "beat them to the punch - get the government on OUR side". Others say "get the government out of all of it". It comes down to two fundamental, incompatible strategies and social conservatives better decide which one to pursue! You all know what I think. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Step2 on Feb 6, 19:48:
Lydia, That's not my idea of a jolly alternative either. Although I'll admit if it happened to the Westboro Church people I wouldn't feel bad about it. They have a hard-to-replicate combination of slander, spite, and incitement that crosses the threshold for me. Steve P., I like how pre-Christian paganism went from being a dark, superstition-ridden, harsh and violent culture to having a few innocent redeeming virtues that liberals will, of course in a bloodthirsty rage, stamp out. You might want to add ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 6, 19:44:
Well, without getting into too much of a debate on it, it's my considered opinion, which I've thought of quite a number of times, that it's a mistake to declare either better than or preferable to the other. Each would be better and worse than the other in different ways. In Pakistan, if you hate your Christian neighbor, you just allege that he has committed blasphemy at Friday evening prayers, and you can easily get together a howling mob to run to his house, drag him forth, and beat him until he is nearly ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 6, 18:31:
...and prayer of course. That has to be behind everything else we do. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 6, 18:27:
Lydia, The gentle conscientious well-meaning leftism that we know can only live in the dying embers of Christendom. If Christian culture dies, leftism will mutate into a dark, superstitious, cruel neopaganism. It's really already here, the reason we don't recognize it immediately is that we are living through the change. If you want to know what the most likely post-Christian alternative to Islam is, think about the howling rage that the Komen Foundation brought upon itself when it wouldn't support P.P. T ... [More]
You must and will fund abortion clinics
Comment posted by Step2 on Feb 6, 17:06:
I'm going to take a different tact from al and say that Lydia's points were valid as far as they went, but that wasn't the explanation Komen first trotted out. They tried to make this about PP being under a congressional investigation which is widely considered a political witch hunt by liberals, and on top of that they implicitly assumed that this investigation will find PP guilty of something, therefore they ended their funding. After the firestorm started, their second explanation came out that Lydia m ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 6, 16:23:
David, I know about the book only what I see on Amazon, but if even Jeff C. says it's flawed, I can't help thinking you, with your clear (and by me, at least, much appreciated) free-market ideas expressed on other threads, are unlikely to agree with it. That, however, is just a guess. I could be completely wrong. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 6, 16:19:
Well, for one thing, Step2, I don't relish the idea of being actually arrested for expressing "homophobic" opinions, as has happened in post-Christian, Euro-socialist England. That's not my idea of a jolly alternative. But don't get me wrong: I don't believe that a Muslim society is preferable either. I've written before on leftism and Islam as incommensurable evils. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Step2 on Feb 6, 15:50:
If our Christian culture is supplanted, the post-Christian culture that replaces will either be a neo-pagan culture as dark, superstition-ridden, harsh and violent as the worst pagan cultures that Christianity replaced; or, preferably, a fundamentalist Moslem culture. Yeah, a fundamentalist Muslim culture is obviously a wise choice. Look how great Pakistan is doing. Since liberals always get accused of being Euro-socialists, I find it odd that you can't seem to imagine any of those non-violent, non-super ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by David Brandt on Feb 6, 15:49:
An ordinary not-too-fancy private jet used for business travel can easily run $15,000 an hour. That includes fuel, crew, actual depreciation and approximated maintenance cost, and some degree of gross profit for the jet-leasing company, but not a big fat obscene profiteering amount of money. I imagine that converting a business-class jet into an airborne ambulance could eat up a lot of the difference between $15k and $28k. Not to defend thirty thousand bucks for an hour-long flight, but to suggest that t ... [More]
You must and will fund abortion clinics
Comment posted by al on Feb 6, 15:26:
"What seems obvious is that the liberals appearing in this thread are willing to say just about anything to avoid addressing the essential point at issue, or to address anything really important that Lydia has said, or to actually defend the hysterical campaign against Komen on its merits." OK Sage. It's becoming clearer that this was nothing but culture war politics in an election year: “Fleischer said Saturday night that he had not been asked but that if he could help, perhaps he would.” Separately, Fl ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Mike T on Feb 6, 14:42:
Alex, This is a good example of how absolutely corrupt many parts of our government are at the state and local level (where much of the reform needs to come from). It's why many of us won't even consider more government involvement. Jeff, Congrats on your son's recovery. ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Mike T on Feb 6, 14:21:
But on the matter of principle, isn't there a better way than simply the choice between a so-called 'free' system like the British NHS - which is routinely abused - and the American nightmare of ruinous doctors' bills? The ruinous bills are caused by a perverse combination of the two. You have a partially funded mandate in EMTALA which requires hospitals that take Medicare or Medicaid funds to cover literally every indigent that comes in their emergency room. And of course, the states and federal governmen ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Jim Curley on Feb 6, 13:13:
Jeff, Would be interested on your take of the Fr. Dubay book. I haven't read it yet, but it has been recommended to me several time. But take your time. Things are busy for you now. I miss having a little one in the house. Jim ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 6, 11:30:
The "tolerance" rhetoric is both absurd and a lie. What the "tolerance" people really demand is not for us to tolerate sodomy but to approve of it. Tolerance is a species of the more general virtue of prudence. It would be even more ridiculously imprudent to be absolutely tolerant of all evils as it would be to be absolutely intolerant of all evils. ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 6, 11:07:
al, Don't you understand that you have a responsibility to your children and grandchildren? Don't you know what kind of world you are proposing to give them? If our Christian culture is supplanted, the post-Christian culture that replaces will either be a neo-pagan culture as dark, superstition-ridden, harsh and violent as the worst pagan cultures that Christianity replaced; or, preferably, a fundamentalist Moslem culture. That the fundamentalist Moslem culture is the preferable outcome if our culture be ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Mike T on Feb 6, 06:53:
Was the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, therefore, a zero sum contest -- in which black people could join white society, only at the cost of making white people unfree? [I mean: there is a trivial sense in which any legal requirement decreases one's freedom. ...but nobody complains that traffic law is somehow tyrannical. So I do not mean to query the trivial sense of the word. Since the answer to my question would then be: yes... but that is no reason to object.] Yes, but it was a zero sum game that is ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Jeff Culbreath on Feb 6, 04:17:
Alex, we do have health insurance, provided through my wife's employer, so our out-of-pocket expenses should be no more than $4,000. (I'm an independent contractor and her employer's insurance is much cheaper than mine would be.) In the U.S. hospitals generally perform whatever service is necessary, regardless of the patient's ability to pay, and worry about the bills later. The uninsured are usually just covered by the hospital for whatever amount they are unable to pay. Nevertheless I do agree with you ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Alex on Feb 6, 03:42:
Jeff: Maybe the excellent medical care available in the US pulled your baby through, and it's great to hear that he's doing well now. As someone who has grown up with a 'free at the point of delivery system' of health care, I'm horrified by the size of the bills that you will have to pay. $125000 seems like a heck of a lot of money - at least to me. Naturally, you'd spend your last penny to save your child's life. But on the matter of principle, isn't there a better way than simply the choice between ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Jeff Culbreath on Feb 6, 02:01:
With respect to health care, the whole experience was one of just being impressed with everything and everybody. But it was a necessarily passive experience without a lot of insight into how the sausage is made. The bills will be revealing. I'm guessing they're going to easily top $125K before it's all said and done. I'm trying to wrap my brain around what this might say about our health care system. Certainly there is still an intense, pull-out-all-the-stops ethic of saving lives - at least with respect to ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Jeff Culbreath on Feb 6, 01:46:
Thank you, Beth! Ted - I thought you would like the name. :-) Lydia - Funny, when I'm in a "what's right with the world" mood I don't much feel like blogging. But that ought not to be. ... [More]
Checking in
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 5, 22:29:
I've been following young Theo's progress at Stony Creek Digest and am so glad that things are still good for him. The word on the groups and people who have helped is also deeply worthwhile. It's good to think about what's right with the world there. Jeff, speaking for myself, I would be interested in blog posts on what you're thinking about just now. They needn't be book reviews at all. :-) ... [More]
You must and will fund abortion clinics
Comment posted by al on Feb 5, 21:21:
NM, I quoted a whole paragraph, one which you instantly recognized. I could have indicated that it was from Lewis and perhaps we would have gotten a different response. Things from wheat to dogs are humans altering and controlling nature. Sage, 1. carried interest 2. the point is bogus but tell us how you know what his corporate rate was - few if any actually pay the 35% and state and local taxes are highly regressive. Komen got sucked into the culture wars, made a bad decision, and got spanked; ... [More]
What will happen with the Obama Catholics?
Comment posted by Gino McCarthy on Feb 5, 20:11:
I'm not worried the least about Dolan or Chaput. What is troubling is the clericalism running rampant here. Let's see some courage from the laity beyond blog posts too. ... [More]
You must and will fund abortion clinics
Comment posted by Steve P. on Feb 5, 20:03:
al, Yes, you surmised that some the leadership of the pro-life movement "has a problem" with contraception BECAUSE you "observe that abortion is something like either 3% or 16% (depending on how one calculates things) of PP's activities" therefore "something else is going on..." I wonder if you surmise that saying brainless things like that will make people laugh at you. "Killing people is only something like 3 to 16% of that serial killers activities, and yet the police are frantic to find and catch him ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Lydia on Feb 5, 19:16:
Alex H., I do definitely think that the non-discrimination laws in the racial area have been a zero-sum game between those who advocate attitudes of racial equality and those who disagree. As witness the fact that racist attitudes and ideas (as well as attitudes and ideas perceived as racist, whether they actually deserve that appellation or not) _are_ largely regarded as beyond the pale, that you can be fired at will for expressing them, and the like. And this was in part the goal of the non-discrimination ... [More]
The zero-sum game and a smoking gun
Comment posted by Chucky Darwin on Feb 5, 16:25:
Good questions Alex! As you said, any law inhibits freedom to some degree (and how many of us obey all traffic laws all the time?) But traffic laws are non-discriminatory - there are not laws that apply only to white cars and their relationship to black cars for example. Traffic law applies equally to everyone. I guess for me the question is whether racial discrimination would have waned anyway - without government intervention? Society was growing more tolerant at the time and racism was beginning to ... [More]
What will happen with the Obama Catholics?
Comment posted by Sage on Feb 5, 15:20:
The USCCB could put a stop to this and get a reversal within 24 hours, if it was willing to pay a real political price for it. I'm frankly convinced they're covering themselves for a future capitulation. Any Catholic who thinks the bishops will stand firm on this issue is simply deluding himself, or rather, permitting himself to be deceived. ... [More]