Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

Global revolt of the masses?

by Rakinder Grover

In today's WSJ, Daniel Henninger writes that electorates around the world are casting no-confidence votes against incumbent politicians and bureaucrats.  While I personally am not ready to call this a sustainable trend, it's something to keep an eye on - "green shoots"?  An excerpt:

Some search for an ideological trend toward the left or right in these votes, but the only evident trend is to strike out at whichever blob is currently in power. Even as Americans turned over their country to liberal Democrats, opinion polls showed that the British people were turning toward the Conservatives for relief from listless Labour.

What accounts for the global electorate's growing disgust with the political overclass? Try this: No matter the ideological cast of these governments, they all hold in common one policy: the inexorable upward march of national indebtedness. It has arrived at the edge of the cliff.

A Lynch Mob! ... and the disengagement of private enterprise

by Rakinder Grover

A good article by David R. Kotok in The Big Picture compares the recent action in the House of Representatives with that of a lynch mob.  Besides the issues of the violation of the rule of law, the abrogation of contracts and property rights, that have been raised by some over the last few days, he also highlights the real and immediate risk of businesses becoming extremely cautious.  Careful, lest their profit seeking activity attract the ire of a populist lynch mob, private enterprise is likely to try and stay as far as it can from government. With the expanding scope of government, that is becoming increasingly harder to do, so the risk translates to a retrenchment of private enterprise unsure of the rules, risks and rewards.  This does not portend well for economic recovery, innovation and freedom in general.

Shadow of doubt, already?

by Reena Kapoor

An excellent opinion piece in the NY Daily News in which the author wonders out aloud what we all have been thinking for a long time: President Obama is good looking, charming and articulate but can he govern? are his policies sound? and is he going to create a mess bigger than we're already in? People are beginning to wonder this too. 

....82% (of Americans are ) telling a Gallup survey they are worried about the deficit and 69% worried about the rapid growth of government under Obama. Most expect their own taxes will go up as a result, despite the President's promises to the contrary

Read this for some good commentary on how the honeymoon is wearing thin. After all how long can the "fluff factor" help him fool all the people? apparently, not all the time!

Institute for Justice rocks - another example...

by Reena Kapoor

Here is another example of how the Institute for Justice (IJ) keeps going and going with their great work! They are one of the most effective, focused and smart libertarian organizations out there.  This example Why won't Boston let Erroll into the City? is also illustrative of the fact that big government IS precisely the problem despite what the great Obama keeps blathering on about, that big government keeps the rich richer (socialism always benefits the entrenched rich much more AND reduces economic mobility by creating monopolies) and is inherently inimical to entepreneurship. Support this cause by sharing and also connecting to this page on Facebook (Let Erroll Drive).

The Power of Parody

by Anurag Wadehra

Stop This Viscious Slaughter is an excellent satire by Martin Lewis on Huffington Post comparing the current Hamas-Israeli conflict to that between England and Germany in the Second World War. Unlike political op-eds where each side lays out its arguments in critical, logical terms, with ad nauseum debates on definitions and premises, the parody relies on the rhetorical power of similarity and association between the two situations.

No more Bush!

by Reena Kapoor

A really good letter (sent by a friend and I am simply pasting in its entirety since it's short) about nonsensical, non-concepts from George Bush that we will, fortunately, soon be freed from .  At least that is something to look forward to once Bush leaves office.  Enjoy!

India & Secularism

by Reena Kapoor

An excellent analysis India's Dangerous Divide by Ramachandra Guha in WSJ today outlining the history and current challenges faced by India as a secular nation espcially vis-a-vis its Muslim minorty; such a minority which is 150 millions strong presents unique challenges (because of the bloody history of partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947 on the sole basis of religion, and the continued exploitation of communal loyalties by India's ugly politicians) and yet is an unprecedented opportunity for India to set an example for the world! Muslim and Hindu populations in India have been manipulated by the two major political parties (known as Congress and BJP) for votes; Congress has largely done this by appeasing the most radical elements among the Muslim minority and the latter by fanning fanatical elements among Hindus.  Both wrong and both bad for India -- and for the cause of peace everywhere. What will India choose?

Smarter than US(A)?

by Reena Kapoor

This link is making the rounds in India where people are being urged to reject bad candidates in the recent polling by voting for nobody (http://www.hotklix.com/?ref=link/166501).  I am told this may be a hoax and I do hope it is not because it presents a very interesting idea i.e., if both candidates who are running for a seat receive fewer than the number of "I vote for Nobody" votes then the election is declared void has to be conducted again; what's more the same candidates cannot run for the post again so the parties have to present better choices!  Now that's an idea - hoax or not - we can learn from. Constitutional amendment, anyone?

Astute Contrarian Thinking by Peter Schiff

by Rakinder Grover

For 2 years, I've been hearing Peter Schiff on TV with his predictions
and he's been laughed at by most people.  Look who's laughing now.

Lesson: the laws of economics always hold - you eventually have to pay
for your reckless behavior. Government intervention in the form of
printing money may seem like it's solving the problem but it's an
illusion for the short term.  It makes the problem much worse when the
bubble eventually (and it always does) bursts.

Here's a good recent interview with Peter Schiff:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP_aJ7LcAAA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coaI3d89kuA

And its' worth watching these videos showing what he's been saying for
years and how he's been laughed/ scoffed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1_Yo2BGdUk

Save Our Souls

by Reena Kapoor

The Republican party is indulging in some much-needed and well-deserved soul searching it seems.  They are looking for ideas to rebuild the party and getting a lot of good feedback, much that I would agree with (not everything).  There is some interesting Libertarian feedback in there that got me interested enough that I did log into the site and voted on many of the issues; perhaps in the vain hope that this party may some day live up to its name and stop trying to infringe upon people's personal and social liberties.