Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

To Be or Not To Be European

by AW

In his new article on American exceptionalism, Charles Murray asks the question: Do we want the United States to be like Europe?

I argue for the answer “no,” but not for economic reasons. The European model has indeed created sclerotic economies and it would be a bad idea to imitate them. But I want to focus on another problem.

My argument is drawn from Federalist Paper No. 62, probably written by James Madison: “A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained.” Note the word: happiness. Not prosperity. Not security. Not equality. Happiness, which the Founders used in its Aristotelian sense of lasting and justified satisfaction with life as a whole.

I have two points to make. First, I will argue that the European model is fundamentally flawed because, despite its material successes, it is not suited to the way that human beings flourish—it does not conduce to Aristotelian happiness. Second, I will argue that 21st-century science will prove me right.

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?

As bad as it gets

by Reena Kapoor

Everytime I hear American politicians drone on about the poor in America I start to wonder about how poor the poor in America really are. Perhaps this uncharitable train of thought is due to the fact I was raised in India where poverty - the real kind where you wonder where your next meal is coming from - abounds and that I was not raised with a lot of religious guilt (all of which I am tremendously thankful for). In any case, I did a little searching and found this gem from The Heritage Foundation: How Poor are America's Poor by Robert Rector.  Here are a few stats that stunned even my suspicious mind:

Unchecked left-wing ascendancy

by Rakinder Grover

Amidst all the buzz sourrouding the Presidential election there seems to be an important development that could have a profoundly negative impact on this country - that of the Left dominating the government like it has not done in a long time and the possibility of it being able to charge ahead with an activist, spending-spree agenda, unchecked!  An opinion in yesterday's WSJ, highlights this and makes me fear for a future that may be all too real!!

'Tis Religion...

by Reena Kapoor

According to this article Kids Your time is Up, Australian Broadcasting company is promoting a Global Warming Game which allows kids to calculate by what age they should be dead in order to avoid leaving a carbon footprint.  Here is what the article says...

Watch out, Australians. According to the state-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), most of you have overstayed your welcome on this good earth.

The colorful flash site, called Planet Slayer starts with a cartoon called the "Adventures of Greena" and ends by suggesting to vulnerable children that they are pigs whose very existence has a horrible impact on the global environment.

Upward economic mobility is a reality

by Rakinder Grover

An article in today's WSJ by Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore refutes the often used claim by the proponents of "social justice" programs that people at the bottom of the economic spectrum are not benefiting from economic progress. The data shows that "...households in the lowest income quintile saw a roughly 25% increase in their living standards from 1983 to 2005".  The data is clear  - the poor are *not* getting poorer.  There have also been great strides in income growth amongst females and black males. 

Income redistribution using various methods as proposed by Obama is both intellectually and morally wrong.  Allowing people to use their talents and to work hard to grow their income and the economy is both the intellectual and moral way to go.  The numbers clearly show it.

Implants vs. Ideology

by Reena Kapoor

In this excellent article Second Thoughts on Breasts that I came upon in The American, Amity Shlaes talked about how the FDA reveresed the 14-year ban on silicone implants in 2006 after finding them both "safe and effective".  The media of course downplayed this news but, worse, the assumption was that nothing was lost so no need to look back on what happened. 

There was no apology for the ban which was based on fear mongering (fully supported by the FDA) and big company bashing - anything but science.  But the losses were real. And not just to women many of who were breast cancer survivors and could not avail of this technology, but there was also no compensation to shareholders for the lost equity and billions paid out in law suits and to the thousands of workers who had to be laid off work by Dow as a result of this. Why?

Interestingly, even scientists failed to look at the facts and let misplaced ideology color their viewpoint.  The executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine Marcia Angell was a key player in giving credence to David Kessler, commissioner of the FDA by publishing his article that laid out the case for the ban. When data began to emerge about the safety of the implants here is what she had to say in her astonishing 1996 manifesto Science on Trial:

Statistics and Evolutionary Psychology: Just So Stories

by Anurag Wadehra

In a recent post, I mentioned how gross statistical correlation can be fodder for all sorts of vacuous, partisan claims. In fact, even many respectable areas of science are not immune from similar abuses. 

For instance, evolutionary psychology seems to be a science ideally suited for prime time news. Since it attempts to discern evolutionary adaptations behind common social and psychological phenomena, ev-psych is fraught with peril. Many explanations for modern human behavior get sugar coated in evolutionary terminology and can come across as "just so stories" which are hard to verify in absence of historical data or deeper causal mechanisms. Combine its speculative nature with the media's appetite for juicy human stories, and we have a parade of scientific surveys that assert:

Bad guys really do get the most girls [New Scientist Magazine]

Keeping the Web free from the FCC

by Rakinder Grover

L. Gordon Crovitz's editorial in the WSJ last week warns of the law of unintended consequences potentially playing out in the current attempts by Internet activists to keep the Web free. The FCC ruled against Comcast a few days ago and is now regulating how the company manages traffic on its network. Crovitz gives the example of regulation of the railway industry in the late 19th century and says that the recent ruling suggests that the FCC sees the Web as a "common carrier", a phrase used to justify government regulation of industries. 

With regulation comes micromanagement, higher prices and the stifling of creativity and innovation.  When applied to the Internet it could also mean limiting "speech" and the flow of ideas.  Proponents of "net neutrality" and free access to the Web should think about how that sounds.

Excerpts from the editorial:

...the Web needs more investment to keep capacity growing faster than Web developers find ways to use it. This is harder as large-bandwidth movies and music migrate online. It will be harder still if potential investors conclude that pricing and network management will be regulated by anything other than supply and demand.

Government's role on the Web is to ensure more competition and more consumer choice, not less competition and diminished consumer choice by turning the Web into a regulated industry. The Internet has become one of the most powerful innovations of our time, in part because it hasn't been burdened by government intervention. Those of us who want to keep the Web free should remember that the best way to keep an industry free is simply to keep it free.

Multiculturalism's Real Victims

by Reena Kapoor 

A shocking story in the New York Post last week by John P. Avlon about an "honor killing" in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia where a Pakistani named Chaudhry Rashid strangled his 25-year-old daughter Sandeela Kanwal with a Bungee cord in her bedroom because she wanted to end her arranged marriage. The incident is shocking but what's really unconscionable is the lack of outrage and minimal coverage it is receiving. The American left's inane commitment to multiculturalism and its concomitant moral relativism has predictably resulted in a outrageous reluctance to pass judgment on another culture.  As Avlon correctly points out: