Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Education on Aug 30th, 2013
In this month’s letter from Amherst, we get to learn that: (1) Required summer reading is Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change. I am sure the discussions around that book cover all the bases, and even question the premise of the book. Ironically, Amherst prides itself as having an “Open Curriculum.” (2) They […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Economists on Aug 20th, 2013
Thanks again to all of you for reading over the years. While I am not shutting the site down, I do not plan to post much anymore (there will be some from time to time for sure). And it is surely not because there’s not a lot to say. I’ll be writing in other places […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Aug 19th, 2013
There are many of course. But in terms of intellectual pursuits, political pursuits or perhaps in even more parochial applications, you can do worse than the motto of the Royal Society: Nullius in Verba
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Inequality, Uncategorized on Jul 17th, 2013
Don’t try this at home … I’m blogging while driving. I apologize for grammatical and spelling errors. In recent days I’ve run across a lot of sympathetic Scandinavian navel gazing. The gist is that countries like Finland pay higher taxes, have less “freedom” (whatever that means), are better educated, more “secure” and are happier. Let’s […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Jun 20th, 2013
This may in fact be my last post for a while. It ought to be much longer too, but onto bigger and better things these days. A sincere wish I have is for people to have more regular, more open and more honest discussion about how we live together and what our purpose here on […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, If I Really Hated the Poor ... on Jun 10th, 2013
A former student of mine e-mailed me regarding this old post. I wrote it while back at Centre College in Kentucky. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Normally I do not pay much attention to the issue of academic freedom. However, the Curriculum Subcommittee of our College’s Diversity Committee has been charged […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Flotsam and Jetsam on May 12th, 2013
I was in high school when they came around our neighborhood casting for A Bronx Tale. At the time my favorite scene in the movie was this one: I tend to view my students like these characters think about “the great ones.” There are indeed only a few. And precious few they are. We will say […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Methodology, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 16th, 2013
As I grow crankier, I am seeing myself disagreeing more with the thoughtful left. I am somewhat surprised by this as I had always assumed the opposite would happen. For today’s edition let me excerpt from a lefty website that I quite enjoy reading despite its regular ad-hominem bashing and mischaracterization of views different than […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Education on Apr 12th, 2013
Vassar, Bowdoin, Rochester, … There is no difference. The end of liberal education — Part One, the Vassar experience 100 Power Line / by Paul Mirengoff / 8 hours ago (Paul Mirengoff) Have left-liberals killed liberal education? I’ve come to think so, and recent developments at Vassar and Bowdoin help confirm my fear. The indispensable […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Apr 2nd, 2013
I honestly do not believe so. Do I want them to be able to be friends? Of course. The worldview of a modern liberal is predicated on violating private property rights while the worldview of the classical liberal is dedicated to understanding the limits of the private sphere and then respecting what happens to be […]