Voting Is Not Enough

Every four years like clockwork there’s a major campaign designed to guilt people into going out to vote.  And every four years like clockwork we’re presented with a choice between two of the most detested humans on the planet.  In 2020, it’s more of the same.

Even the exceptions (more…)

Tuscon and the First Amendment

It’s been floating around all weekend, and early this evening the Arizona ACLU announced a flyer campaign.  Apparently they’re hoping for protests, if America’s protesters can fit anything else into their busy schedule.  Our money’s on the whole story getting lost in the shuffle; the public has gotten pretty protest-weary — but we’ll see what happens.

On April 21st, during one of a series (more…)

It’s Not The Cops

There’s a slogan:  A.C.A.B., or “All Cops Are Bastards”.  The premise is, if you’re a good person you don’t join the side of the oppressor.  You don’t don jackboots and riot gear.  You don’t swing the club, and you don’t launch tear gas.

It’s a good slogan; effective, it’s viscerally appealing.  It speaks to us where we live.

And yet it’s wrong.  Not completely, as you’ll see, but fundamentally. (more…)

A Glorious Hope

I’ve spoken with an awful lot of angry people this morning.  Most are also terrified.  It’s hard not to be when you wake up and look around, and all you see is ashes.

Take heart, my friends!  Be of good cheer!  For I tell you truly, today is a day of vast possibility, containing with it a hope for a glorious future.

No, I haven’t snapped, and I’m not drunk (more…)

No Lives Matter

Protesters are marching under a banner that reads “Black Lives Matter”.  They do this because it seems pretty evident some folks disagree, judging only based on the number of peaceful arrests for what are usually non-crimes that turn into black people being dead.

It’s a slogan that begs (more…)

Crisis Thinking: On Property

When there’s a crisis, people tend focus on the present situation and ignore the abstract, regardless of the wisdom of doing so.  This is reason enough for us to do the opposite.  And so I pose for consideration the following question:

Of what use are property rights to a man who has no property?

You’re going to hear this asked a lot going forward.  It’s an important question, and one well-deserving of an answer, but posing it directly risks missing the point of what’s been happening in Minnesota and across the country.  Because there are only two reasonable answers immediately apparent, and neither holds up to scrutiny. (more…)