Judicial Activism, Marijuana and the Interstate Commerce Clause
The Supreme Court’s recent decision saying that the federal government can prosecute those using marijuana for medical purposes, even when state laws permit such use, has been seen by many as an issue of being for or against marijuana. But the real significance...Unhappy Birthday Hawley-Smoot
Only a few economic historians are likely to notice that June 17th marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Hawley-Smoot tariff bill, and even economic historians are unlikely to be nostalgic about that disastrous legislation. Why not leave the bad news of the...Supreme Court Made The Wrong Decision in the California Medical Marijuana Case
The bad news is that the Supreme Court made the wrong decision on the constitutionality of California’s law allowing people with certain illnesses to use marijuana for medical purposes. By a 6 to 3 vote, the Court declared the California law unconstitutional,...John Stuart Mill Illusion of Calculating “Social Utility”
What John Stuart Mill rejected in attempting to redesign society according to this shaky premise of “social utility” was the older tradition upon which the great achievements of winning liberty was based in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the tradition of “natural rights.”
Liberals and Class, Part 3
Sometimes it seems as if liberals have a genius for producing an unending stream of ideas that are counterproductive for the poor, whom they claim to be helping. Few of these notions are more counterproductive than the idea of “menial work” or...Economic Inequality: Intellectuals Ignorance On Capitalism Masked By Envy
Intellectuals overcome with envy cannot tolerate the thought that in capitalist society other whom they regard as their intellectual and cultural inferiors, mere businessmen and capitalists, earn so much more and live so much better than they do.
