Post 100

This is post number 100 in a blog that began as an outgrowth of some discussions about political issues amongst various friends, a couple of which are always talking about this stuff in a very self-assured way, but whose views are 180 degrees apart. So I decided to focus more on current issues, such as health care and the financial crisis. Now I am moving on. It feels like a relief. I spot all sorts of silly stuff in the news, which I now watch with a more disinterested sense of detachment. The silly stuff Mitch McConnell is saying now makes me think that the banksters will come out ahead. The Dodd bill doesn't go far enough but Mitch doesn't even want to go that far. C'est la vie. Politics is not policy.

Apparently, there has sprung up a debate on the libertarian blogs regarding whether the late 1800's were libertarian paradise. David Boaz of Cato rightly pointed out that 1780 could hardly be since we had institutionalized slavery. Here are a couple posts from Tyler Cowen and Megan McArdle on the debate. This paradise lost stuff is silly, as is Bryan Caplan. I'm sticking with Rawls, no matter what common sense tells Bryan. I am not much a believer in "conventional wisdom" anyway.

I am reading Our First Revolution by Michael Barone, which is about the "Glorious Revolution" in England in 1688-89. One is struck by how extremely polarized discussion was along religious lines. Also, he claims that the first political parties were formed in the mid-1600's there, between Tories and Whigs. I would have been a Whig, I think.

How did we get to the political views each of us has today? My political birth began in the late 1960's. I was very anti-establishment. Later, I read and liked Ayn Rand but also read Marx and lots of other political theorists. Even in the late 1980's I was still an idealist who thought that we could promote social justice via class action lawsuits against the government. However, it gradually dawned on me that these had little effect. So I settled on a career helping disabled people who were fighting the government. I could at least point out specific cases where specific people were helped. After a lot of hard work, it turned out to be a decent career. I feel pretty lucky that I actually found a niche in law that I have enjoyed. Most law jobs strike me as incredibly boring or hideously compromised (sucking up to fat cats).

It is a beautiful day. Life is good. Time to hit some golf balls.