Thursday 23 April 2009

Libertarianism in a nutshell - Karen SELICK

Karen Selick, National Post
Tuesday, April 07, 2009


Perhaps the best way to explain libertarianism is to show you the graph developed in 1969 by an American named David Nolan. Nolan observed that the traditional political spectrum of "left versus right" is spectacularly unilluminating. There are simply too many nuances in political ideology to map the differences on a single dimension.

So Nolan said, "Let's add a second dimension -- a vertical axis perpendicular to the traditional left-right spectrum." His political map looked like an L-shaped graph.
On the horizontal axis, we plot economic freedom. The more economic liberty you support, the further along this axis you are. If you believe in capitalism (minimal taxes and unregulated markets), you are out at the right. The more government control you support, the closer to the origin you are. So if you believe in socialism (high taxes, the welfare state and extensive regulation of the marketplace), you are all the way to the left.

On the vertical axis, we plot "social" freedoms. The more social liberty you support, the further up you are. So if you believe (for instance) that we should legalize gun ownership, marijuana ownership, raw milk, surrogate pregnancy, prostitution, pornography, gambling, polygamy and so on, you are up at the top. The more government control you support, the further down you are. If you believe that the government should criminalize all those things, you are down at the bottom.

Libertarianism is the political philosophy occupying the top right-hand corner of the graph. We believe in maximizing individual freedom in both the economic and the social spheres. We believe in minimizing state interference in both spheres.

Down at the origin is totalitarianism or "statism" -- the belief that the state should control virtually everything. Conservatives tend to cluster in the lower right-hand quadrant, although there are so many variants of conservatism that you can't really generalize.

Now, I want to stress that libertarianism is strictly a political philosophy. Philosophy has five main branches: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics and politics. Politics is the branch that deals with the relationship between the individual and the state. Libertarianism is a political philosophy only. It's not a package deal. It says nothing whatsoever about any of the other branches of philosophy. So, for instance, there are some libertarians who are atheists, and others who are religious. The two groups have radically different views on metaphysics and epistemology, but they agree on politics. They agree on what the state should or shouldn't do to its citizens and for its citizens.

I feel compelled to address the erroneous notion that conservatives often have that libertarians are also libertines. A moment ago, I said that as a libertarian, I would legalize drugs, prostitution and so on. But in my own personal life, I neither engage in nor advocate that others engage in such activities. In fact, I personally behave pretty much like a social conservative. But I don't do it because that's what the state decrees. I do it because of the branch of philosophy called ethics. According to my ethics, self-destructive activities are evil, and people shouldn't engage in them. But that's entirely different from saying, "The state should outlaw them."

The libertarian view is that the state exists to protect individuals from harm inflicted on them by others, but not from harm that they inflict upon themselves. The sole justification for the state is to prevent the use of physical force or fraud by one person or group against another. It does not exist to protect people from their own self-inflicted, voluntarily chosen idiocy.

In fact, I would argue that when the state assumes the role of moral guardian over the social sphere, we get the same unintended consequences as when the state intervenes in the economy. In an economic welfare state, people become lazy and incapable of providing for themselves financially. In a "moral welfare state," they become morally lazy and incapable of determining for themselves what actions are virtuous, or even why they should behave virtuously in the first place.

That's libertarianism in a nutshell.

kas@karenselick.com

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Soccer tidbits

Some newsbits of interest now that our outdoor season is about to start.

A short appearance draws large praise for Canadian footballer
by Jim Bray National Post - April 22, 2009

Professional sports can often be about big guys, bruising plays and towering vital statistics, but the smaller players can still shine the brightest. Case in point: Canadian footballer Jaime Peters, a midfielder with only a modicum of height currently plying his trade with Ipswich Town in the English Championship league.

Ipswich beat its derby rivals Norwich City — the garishly attired Canaries — by a score of 3-2 last weekend and Peters, a Pickering, Ont., native who entered the game just a few minutes before the break to replace the injured Ben Thatcher in the unusual role of left-back, earned high praise from then team manager Jim Magilton.

“There was a rumble of laughter when we threw Jaime Peters on against the 6-foot, 3-inch Dave Mooney,” said Magilton, who was let go this week. “Jaime is just 5-feet, 2-inches, but he has come from nowhere to produce a performance like that at left-back.” Magilton was a little off on Peters’ height — the 21-year-old is actually 5-foot-7 — although the numbers did seem to concern him. “Jaime has no fear,” Magilton told BBC Radio, “and I think that is his greatest attribute."


Inter Milan coach Mourinho not so fond of Italian soccer
by Noah Love, National Post - April 22, 2009

Jose Mourinho hit out at Italian soccer once again on Wednesday, insisting that the English league is a paradise for coaches in comparison. The Inter Milan boss has often incurred the wrath of the Italian media this season after making a series of unflattering comparisons with English football, covering everything from refereeing, fans, the soccer itself and honesty. As well as describing English football as a paradise, Mourinho said in Italy everyone is obsessive and that more coaches go grey in Italy than in England. The former Chelsea boss began by commenting on the 4-4 draw between Liverpool and Arsenal on Tuesday night before attacking Italian soccer.

In Italy, there is an obsession about points and the result. “The one who plays to win the scudetto should win it, those who play for European qualification should get that, those who play to stay up should manage that.“ And yet already 10 coaches out of 20 have been fired. [Editor: 50% - this sounds worse that the self-destructive tendencies of the NFL and NHL!]

“Life isn’t easy. A coach is obliged to focus on a personal and immediate project, he can’t look to the future of the club.” Mourinho also weighed into the racism row engulfing Italian soccer after his black player Mario Balotelli was racially abused during the 1-1 draw at Juventus last Saturday.

“It’s not racism. It’s just an ignorant way to vent their anger against an unpleasant opponent because he scored a goal,” said Mourinho. “If I can speak up for Juve, what happened on Saturday wasn’t the first time. It’s happened in many stadiums and also in our own.”

Mourinho said he was against the sanction dealt to Juve who will have to play a match behind closed doors. He also insisted that Italy is not a racist country. “No, it’s not, nor is Italian football. Something has to be done but I certainly don’t like the idea of playing a match behind closed doors because half the reason to play will stay outside with the fans.”

This is a coach I respect. Given the ethical lapses that have befallen the Italian League over past few years (and their last disappointing World Cup) perhaps they should listen.

Monday 20 April 2009

Stock Market takes a break - new dynamics emerge

Two announcement broke the boredom of the markets pull-back this morning. (The pullback is itself a reaction to the "irrational exuberance" in financial stocks of the past 5 weeks since low reached on March 9. The investment banks earnings results are showing "Profits" - but are just excluding the mark-to-mark "reality" of loan losses since those rules were relaxed in Q1.)

1) Alberta Investment Management (aka AIMCO) - recently independent of the provincial government treasury on Jan 1/2008 - announced it has made a 10% equity investment in Precision Drilling Income Trust (PD.UN C$4.50) as well as C$100 million debt purchase. The denial quoted just serves to reinforce the obvious - there is now a new strategic player in western Oil & Gas stocks. The recent merger between SU & PCA was likely another product of this new alignment of the sun and stars.

It takes me back to the good ole' days of Socred prairie populism when we had Vencap and BRIC. Who knows where this can lead. Favoured son, SCL.B Shaw acquiring T when it gets into trouble when it can't manage the exit from POTS business? Epcor+Enmax? Strategic investment by CCO in TA and CU to build power plants and grid to supply Washington state? The possibilities are endless.

2) ORCL is acquiring IBM-spurned SUNM at US$9.50, only 10c above the rejected price. A tech blog I read (Dane GARDNER) can't be more effusive about the strategic consequences of the purchase. I agree, it was more or less inevitable after IBM walked. I also think that GARDNER's suggestion of HP picking up the hardware side of SUNW is a "done deal" once the smoke clears.

As this deal is as good as done, it is much more interesting to speculate about what this does to remaining competitive landscape within IT. MSFT's Balmer's feigned surprise is probably concealed frustration as his life just got tougher having missed the SUNW boat. I believe the most likely major target for IBM will now be SAP, especially as the European slowdown I plays out.

Amid other speculation, this newsbyte last week that MOT will be building a set-top TV box for Google Android (GoogleTV to be created by Motorola) suggests a strategic alliance made in engineer heaven. These two bloodlines are made for each other, the R&D can stay with GOOG and manufacturing can be sold off to NOK or Samsung/LG. As Nortel is bankrupt, it's remains can be acquired by CSCO or Alcatel/Lucent can pick up the remaining pieces. That spells the end of the Telecom Equipment era.

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Charges laid against brother of Jordan Manners

An interesting development. This article reveals that Kalvin Small, the 28yr-old brother of gunned-down Jordan MANNERS who was a Grade 9 student at C. W. Jefferies High School in Toronto and was only 15-yrs old when murdered in May 2007 - was arrested and charged following a shooting Sunday night in the Jane-Finch district in the city's north end.

This was the case that sparked a desperate soul-searching report on Racial Discrimination in Toronto Schools by the McGinty Government last year. I was less than impressed by the coverage and conclusions as it provides little of substance and followed a threadbare "Poverty" is the crime script.

However, as far as I know (and appropriately) no mention of Jordan MANNERS was ever made in that report yet this news item raises some interesting questions about 1) the family situation that he was in - i.e multiple marital partnerships of his mother and perhaps an "absent father" or father figure. We know that such circumstances pre-dispose children to poor outcomes across a wide spectrum of social disorders; 2) Older brother perhaps involved in crime, may have connections to Jordan's eventual demise. Was he mistaken for his brother? Was he involved in drug crime in some minor way? 3) His mother, cousin and sister were also parties to some violent incidents themselves - which may be pure coincidence - or may provide a more sinister motive to this families dysfunctions.

These were not issues explored in the McGinty report - maybe they should have been.

Monday 6 April 2009

The "New" Anti-Semitism

"The new anti-semitism" is the name given to the more pathological forms of anti-Zionism often found in the Middle East, in Europe and alas on North American university campuses. Obsessive hatred of Israel serves the same purpose as the more explicit hatred of Jews that went out of style with the end of World War II.

Sad, but true.

Bear Trap Rally snaps shut?

Collapse of the SUN/IBM deal negotiations also contributed to the market softening.

The markets fizzled today, soon after George SOROS was quoted as saying "U.S. banks 'basically insolvent': Soros" It looks like he is recommending shorting the US$.

This was further underlined by results of "stress-test" by Office of Currency Comptroller that showed ALL major US Money Center banks are underwater.

Saturday 4 April 2009

Sending SMS via email?

At some point in the past I used this service to send SMS messages (to someone's mobile phone) from the web. But the free service www.TeleFlip.com has gone bust.

This site has a pretty comprehensive list of North American and other International mobile operators email/sms gateway addresses.

However I am still looking for one to Telstra.com.au mobile users (Telstra is the dominant wireline/mobile service provider in Oz).

Let me know your suggestions (apart from the obvious one above that doesn't work).

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