Christmas Eve

This holiday, my dad and I tried to write about the commonalities among decent people. December 25 has long been the holiday to celebrate new life. Yet we also wanted to acknowledge that some bad people choose death. Prior to this year's celebration, one murderer targeted Christians specifically. We wanted to discuss the significance of this crime in light of the time when Christians and others celebrate the birth of life. Here are a couple of quotes:

Christmas Eve offers a celebration of life

... Christmas Eve is the night of anticipation. It is the night when children sleep anxiously, awaiting the wonders of the new day. It celebrates the night when Joseph sat with Mary in a dirty barn in a strange city, in anguish that this was the best he could offer his young wife as she suffered labor pains with the hopes and the worries that comfort and plague every new mother. It is the night when the wise travel from afar to worship new life, when the very skies seem to sparkle in wonderment at the first breath a baby draws into his lungs. ...

The murderer targeted Christians; he wrote that some Christians "are to blame for most of the problems in the world." This prompted one Christian to reply that "the living God and his followers offend the world, the flesh, and the devil merely by reflecting light in the darkness."

But whatever the problems of Christianity (real or imagined), whatever offense others may find in it, such things are irrelevant to the heinous crime. In a civilized world, people work out their disagreements through rational debate in the public square. In a civilized world, Christians, atheists, Muslims, and others live side by side as neighbors under a political system that protects each individual's rights. ...

Bill of Rights Day

From the Colorado Freedom Report (originally published by Grand Junction Free Press:)

Amend your schedule to celebrate Bill of Rights Day

... Not everyone enjoys legal protections of their fundamental rights. Take, for instance, the story of Gillian Gibbons, a teacher from England who was working in Sudan. As The New York Times reported, Gibbons "was found guilty... of insulting Islam and sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation. Under Sudanese law... Gibbons could have spent six months in jail and been lashed 40 times." ...

Unfortunately, our rights of free speech are eroding even here in the United States. The left, which often pretends to champion free speech and occasionally even does so, increasingly calls for censorship when it comes to radio broadcasts and political campaigns. Incredibly, the left calls its censorship "the Fairness Doctrine." By "fairness," the left means that government bureaucrats will force owners of radio stations to offer "equal time" to the left -- as defined by those bureaucrats -- or else. With the help of President Bush, the left has also censored select political speech prior to elections.

But the right wing is no better and very often worse. Some on the right wish to censor what it deems to be obscene or pornographic. (We're not talking about cases involving the abuse of children, which are not instances of free speech and which should be criminally prosecuted.) The problem is that when government bureaucrats and/or judges get to decide which naked pictures constitute art and which pornography, they cannot possibly issue objective rulings. Moreover, any censorship undermines the principle of free speech. If politicians and their bureaucratic thugs can forcibly stop you from looking at dirty pictures, why should they not also stop you from looking at dirty text? ...

(Read the entire article.)

Term Limits Debated

From The Colorado Freedom Report; originally from Grand Junction Free Press:

The debate over term limits continues

by Linn and Ari Armstrong

With the recent election, Mesa County will continue to term limit its sheriff. But should term limits for sheriffs be removed in the future? Should term limits for state legislature be repealed, or term limits for Congress be instituted?

Your authors usually agree on political principles, but the matter of term limits pertains more to optional political organization and strategy. We don't dispute the wisdom of George Washington's self-imposed limit, nor of term limits for president. We want to risk neither monarchy nor dictatorship. Yet for lower offices, the rationale for term limits is less obvious. Linn will present his case for term limits, while Ari will offer some notes of skepticism. ...

Linn: When "politician" becomes a professional class, politicians start to see themselves -- and the public tends to see them -- as elites. This is an affront to republicanism. When career politicians run things, voters tend to relinquish more power to the politicians and think of government as something by and for the politicians. Moreover, the longer politicians stay in office, the more they are tempted by power, prestige, and special-interest pandering.

Ari: I take seriously the argument about corruptibility. However, there's nothing inevitable about corruption. It's possible for a long-time politician to keep his or her moral bearings, as it is possible for a new politician to immediately sell out to special interests and abuse the power of the office. One problem with term limits is that they can serve to replace the first sort of politician with the second. ...

Read the rest!

Cofree Update: Ingraham, Corporate Welfare

New from the Colorado Freedom Report:

Laura Ingraham Supports Iraq War, Religious Values

... After urging Republicans to offer a populist message to appeal to "the little person," Ingraham promoted religious values. She worried that people are "numb and dumb to the pornification of our culture." She said that, without virtue, "you can kiss the free market goodbye." Unfortunately, the "free love generation" continues to influence the culture, she said.

Ingraham suggested that Republicans can win in 2008 with five issues: restraining taxes, fighting terrorism, promoting ethics, fighting illegal immigration, and promoting "life," by which she meant opposing abortion.

Ingraham said that religious practice is paramount. She quoted George Washington to the effect that religion is necessary to the nation's morality. ...


New administration promotes same old corporate welfare

... To fund corporate welfare, politicians and the bureaucrats they empower take money by force from some people in order to give the money to others who have not earned it. The practice is immoral because people have the right to decide how to spend their own resources. You have the right to spend your income with the business of your choice, rather than the business that politicians force you to subsidize. Each taxpayer is made a bit worse off so that the favored few can collect the extorted wealth. ...

FreeColorado.com -- Gov. Ritter's "Climate Action"

From The Colorado Freedom Report:

Doubts About Ritter's "Climate Action"

"Yesterday Governor Bill Ritter released a press release titled, "Gov. Ritter Releases Climate Action Plan." But I wonder whether Ritter's "ambitious call to action" will accomplish much, other than to force Coloradans to spend more money for cars and electric bills. ...

"[T]he only way that we could reduce our emissions by '80% by 2050,' assuming that we are not prepared to descend into mass poverty, is to take advantage of yet-to-be-invented technology and/or nuclear power that is able to mass produce cleaner energy that is less expensive than the energy we now use. ...

"If there is no technological revolution in energy, then how does Ritter know that the best response is to reduce greenhouse emissions, rather than simply adjust to the slightly warmer temperatures? ...

"Ritter's plan will have essentially no impact on global warming, yet it could prove deeply destructive to the state's economy. Realistically, the only way that global emissions of greenhouse gases will be dramatically reduced is if productive advances allow the mass production of cleaner, cheaper energy. To facilitate that goal, the best thing that Ritter and all politicians can do is stay out of the way and stop interfering with the economy."

The World Series and Scalpers

A few days ago I discussed ticket scalping. Today Grand Junction Free Press published an article by my dad and me that looks at the economics of scalping: "World Series ticket meltdown a boon for scalpers."

"... What would happen if, absent any other change, every grocer suddenly cut the price of oranges in half? Or what if everybody suddenly fell in love with oranges, but grocers barely raised prices? More people would buy oranges, until the oranges ran out. Maybe some of those lucky enough to buy oranges early in the day would 'scalp' their oranges for more than 'face value.' Or maybe grocers would institute a lottery system, so that shoppers could have a fair shot at buying cheap oranges.

"But why don't the grocers simply raise the price of oranges until shoppers choose to limit their purchases to existing supplies? ..."

7News Features Food-Stamp Debate

FreeColorado.com Update -- I just posted a new article, "7News Features Food-Stamp Debate, at FreeColorado.com. Here are some quotes:

"Denver's 7News featured a substantive if brief debate over food stamps in a story that aired October 14. My wife and I took the position that food-stamp subsidies should not be increased and that voluntary charity is a better alternative to food stamps. The station also interviewed a woman who takes food stamps and who argues that the payments are not enough. ...

"The main reason that my wife and I have put off consideration of children (and denied my mother the possibility of additional grandchildren) is that we cannot afford them. And the main reason that we cannot afford them is that we are forced to pay considerably over $10,000 per year in federal taxes, most of which goes to subsidize other people. So, while we're sitting with a negative net worth, slowly and painfully paying our way out of debt, pinching pennies for our own food budget, we are forced to pay for other people's children, while we are prevented from responsibly having children of our own."

FreeColorado.com Update -- Health Policy

Here's the latest from the Colorado Freedom Report:

Insurance mandates threaten your health
"Insurance mandates are morally wrong because they violate the rights of individuals to control their own lives and resources. The government has no more right to force us to buy health insurance than it does to force us to buy shoes, houses, hamburgers, or Bibles. ... Instead of trying to force people to buy health insurance, why doesn't Dr. Pramenko take a look at why health insurance is too expensive for some people to afford?" (by Linn and Ari Armstrong)

Restore Liberty in Health Care in Colorado
"The role of government in regard to health care should be to cease and desist. The proper role of government is not to force anyone to do anything. Government's proper role is to protect every person's right to liberty. But subsidies, tax distortions, insurance mandates, employer mandates and individual mandates violate this right and wreck the market." (by Richard Watts)

FreeColorado.com Update

I've just updated the Colorado Freedom Report with three new links:

People can pick a mover without city force
Mayor Jim Doody wants to bring Robert Redford's "people-mover" to Grand Junction. But Henry Rustler Rhone built a toll road without city force.

$2.57 a day buys food, perspective
My wife and I spent the month of August eating for $159.04, or $2.57 per person per day. Welfare -- the forcible transfer of wealth -- should be phased out and replaced with voluntary charity.

To help the poor, preserve capitalism

I hope you enjoy the complete articles.