Author: Eric Scheie

Just before the election, Reason’s senior analyst Shikha Dalmia pointed out some very unpleasant facts: …instead of pulling Democrats in the direction of reform, the Tea Party candidates themselves are moving in the direction of the status quo. This wouldn’t happen if these candidates could count on a strong and large constituency for reform within…

When I saw Glenn Reynolds’ link to what he called “a guide to cancer etiquette,” I had no idea I would encounter such tidbits of wisdom as this: there’s a growing need for ground rules that prevent us from inflicting ourselves upon one another While he was talking about the difference between those who are…

No matter where I look, it seems there’s no getting away from people who seek to impose their morality on others. Take today’s headline. “Climate scientists plan campaign against global warming skeptics” John Abraham of St. Thomas University in Minnesota, who last May wrote a widely disseminated response to climate change skeptics, is also pulling…

Both M. Simon and I have written previously about Dr. Stephen Schneider, who was vigorously prosecuted for and convicted of prescribing narcotic drugs to addicts. If he in fact did that, I have no philosophical problem with it — any more than I have a problem with a liquor store selling booze to an alcohol-addicted…

I don’t like to gloat. But if I did, I’d be pretty happy about what happened here in Michigan on Tuesday. It’s the first Saturday night after the election, and I hope it’s OK to celebrate for a moment now. (I should point out that I was pretty busy that day watching the polls from…

I just can’t get over this idea that if someone imposes on me and I refuse to go along with it, that I am then imposing on him. While the discussion revolved around imposing morality, and it began as a discussion of social conservatism, the mechanics of imposition is the same, and I just can’t…

The earlier post about “legs” has generated a lot of comments, as well as several related posts. One commenter took issue with the questions I raised about the nature of the social conservative, traditional values “leg.” Here’s what I said: Yet still, I want to know more about the leg I don’t like. What are…

Speaking of bad analogies, the latest meme — which comes from scientific “research” — is that global warming is like slavery! No seriously. According to Professor of Sustainable Enterprise Andy Hoffman, we must “change the way we structure our organizations and the way we think as individuals” so that what is a “scientific fact” becomes…

Back in February I took a test (the so-called “Moral Foundations Questionnaire”) which was widely circulating, and had been touted as sort of diagnostic tool because it was said to correlate liberalism with one group of moral indicators, and conservatism with another. My results did not match the stereotypes (my disgust scores were lower than…

Painting a rather dark picture of what changes might occur after yesterday’s election, Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie give “3 Reasons This Election Didn’t Change a Thing!” Here’s Reason Number 3: The only people worse than liberals on social issues are conservatives. President Obama and the Democrats spent more time hectoring Americans to eat our…

As I’ve said before, if conservatism is a “three-legged stool” (as Robert Knight claimed not long ago), then I don’t have a reliable conservative stool to sit on, because I don’t like the traditional values “leg.” But what I’m trying to figure out is where it says I have to have this alleged stool. Assume…

I’m going to be doing election-related work all day today, starting in the wee hours of the morning until after the polls close. So there won’t be any posting, unless I am still alive and feel like writing tomorrow night. If I don’t make it through the election, I hope someone will please report my…

In politics, it seems that since time immemorial, candidates have been kvetching and bitching about big money, high powered lobbyists, and giant “special interests” attempting to buy candidates and win elections. President Obama won in large part because he was able to frame himself as being “against” lobbying groups and “special interests.” Just yesterday Frank…

Check out the first paragraph of this AP “news report“: President John F. Kennedy’s aide and speechwriter, Theodore C. Sorensen, a symbol of hope and liberal governance, died at a time of contempt for Washington and political leaders. Sorenson had been sick for years, (“a stroke in 2001 left him with such poor eyesight that…

According to my annual tradition, I finished carving my jack-o-lantern just in time, which is just before sunset. It’s a deadline I dare not miss, lest I be turned into one myself. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Frank Rich has never been a fan of the Tea Party movement. In fact, it’s quite clear from his columns that he sees them as evil. But that doesn’t stop him from pausing to briefly switch stereotype channels and portray them as victims: …whatever Tuesday’s results, this much is certain: The Tea Party’s hopes for…

Contending that negative political ads have “taken dirty to a whole new level,” CNN’s Anderson Cooper is reaching for his smelling salts. But as Reason documents, political attack ads even dirtier than the ones which horrify Cooper are “as American as apple pie.” (That reminds me of a post in which I pointed out an…

With front page headlines like this talking about a GOP sweep, I’m tempted to disagree. Not so much out of kneejerk skepticism, but also for reasons of political pragmatism. I cannot agree more with the warning “Don’t get cocky,” and I don’t think it is possible to stress the importance of that wisdom enough. A…

We pay taxes, and politicians are elected to figure out how to manage the tax money, and the country is just about bankrupt. But over and over, we are told that that the real issue is sex. In terms of politics, this generally takes the form of the culture war. One party says sex is…

Most of us would agree that crime sucks. But when we talk about crime, what do we mean by the term? All crime? Or crimes that we fear, because they are of the sort that would personally threaten us? Glenn Reynolds recently linked a Reason piece by Radley Balko titled “More Democracy, More Incarceration,” which…