McArdle defends our bankruptcy system
Richard Florida on mega-regions and high-speed rail
Richard Posner on conservatism (wow)
Patrick Ruffini dissects the implications of Obama's popularity
Joshua Wolf Shenk's essay on George Vaillant
Two excellent Hitchens columns, one on Edward Upward and the other on Marx
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8 years ago
I wrote my college thesis on Richard Posner, actually, and found him less conservative than proudly independent. Hailing from the Chicago school of economics, I know he likes to apply microeconomics to things it has no business analyzing because of what behavioral economics teaches us about rational choice theory and complete unfalsifiability, if I may use such a word.
ReplyDeleteBut nonetheless I think he's right about the conservative movement, especially in lowering the personal income tax below it's former lowest point, which was ridiculous. Uninformed Americans usually take their knowledge about taxes from traditional history learned in grade school, such as that we rebelled from England because of taxes. We're also taught that the American revolution was less bloody because it was "top-down" as opposed to the "bottom-up" of the French Revolution. What that says about American willingness to protest things that should really be protested I won't get into here.
The only thing I disagree with Posner on is his qualification of Obama's spending as "excessive." I think his knowledge of economics compared to the real ones doing doctoral research at MIT is limited at best, and that he can stand aside for better fiscal critique.
I agree that conservatism has been derailed by some who use tactics that increasingly isolate those that it desperately seeks/needs to attract. There are many many intellectuals still hanging around though, the movement isnt entirely lost. It's clear that conservative politics in America needs to sort itself out, but that is happening in large measure.
ReplyDeleteWhile some of Obama's spending has been "necessary", many learned folks have questioned the audacity of Obama's budget which includes a truly staggering deficit. I think the notion that Posner has no place in a fiscal critique of an administration is flimsy at best.
I wonder if you would differentiate between judicial conservatism and political conservatism. I think Posner would certainly qualify as politically conservative (Reagan appointee etc); his legal pragmatism makes judicial conservatism a bit of a further reach. Your thoughts?