What Is The Most Important Character Trait?

Self-Discipline.
Without it, one cannot do the right thing.
It does little good to know what is right if one does not choose the right.

What do you think?

The Path from Liberty to Social Justice

When our country was founded, the primary emphasis was on the establishment of liberty--freedom from oppression by government. Thus, our constitution is one of limited powers; all powers not conferred on government in the constitution are reserved to the people.


Our national experiment in establishing liberty has been successful. Freedom has been passed down from generation to generation, for more than 225 years. This is a miracle.

We now take freedom somewhat for granted. The national government of limited powers has been instrumental in protecting our freedom from threats, foreign and domestic, to the point where government is now viewed as a source of freedom, not a source of tyranny.

Two points follow.

• First, with our basic freedoms secured, most Americans now want the next logical step: social justice. With liberty as our birthright, people are now able to focus achieving the happiness which we are free to pursue. Equality of opportunity is fine as far as it goes; equality of outcome is even better.
  
• Second, the government is widely perceived as a common resource to help us achieve this goal. We have forgotten that government was a source of tyranny; we now invoke its assistance in achieving social justice.

We see this trend unleashed in the political will that elected the current administration.
The best path to social justice should be the subject of a vigorous debate.

Economics and Freedom

Here's an interesting website devoted to economics and freedom. The Mises Institute says:

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

"It is the mission of the Mises Institute to restore a high place for theory in economics and the social sciences, encourage a revival of critical historical research, and draw attention to neglected traditions in Western philosophy. In this cause, the Mises Institute works to advance the Austrian School of economics and the Misesian tradition, and, in application, defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive."

The Statue of Responsibility

Victor Frankl makes an interesting suggestion in his classic book Man's Search for Meaning. As a counterbalance to the Statute of Liberty on the East Coast, we should have a "Statue of Responsibility" on the West Coast.
Every right is balanced by a duty, and every liberty balanced by a responsibility. If every citizen took this seriously, think how much better our society would be.
And its not an idle dream. After I started this blog entry I discovered that there is an entire website devoted to this idea. Maybe it will happen--but only if we take responsibility for it.

Who Benefits From The Stimulus Package?

A thoughtful reader asked this question.

The Stimulus package is supposed to create jobs. As enacted, it seems more likely to stimulate government. Growing government is like putting on weight: its easy to gain weight and hard to take it off. All the diets in the world don't work very well. And that will likely be the legacy of the stimulus: a drag on the economy just when natural market forces would otherwise rebound.

Stimulus vs. Bloatulus

The proposed Stimulus Package is more of a Bloatulus package. Many commentators point out that it sets up long-term government spending on entitlements without short-term impetus to the economy.

We don't need more debt--we need less.

Why is it so important to pass a huge spending bill now, when much of the spending doesn't occur until later years?

As they said in 7th Grade Shop Class--"HASTE MAKES WASTE."

Wanted: Heroes not Neros

Legend is that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

In this Opinion Piece by Mickey Edwards, former Reagan Administration official, former Republican Congressman, and co-cofounder of Heritage Foundation, Mickey Edwards argues that Conservative Reaganism stands for effective limited government, not merely a "small government" that relies on the private sector for everything. Thanks to reader Sasquatch for bringing this to piece to our attention.

Edwards argues that conservatives "also have an obligation to propose alternative solutions. It is government's job -- Reagan again -- to provide opportunity and foster productivity. With the nation in financial collapse, nothing is more imprudent -- more antithetical to true conservatism -- than to do nothing."

• The knock on the Republican Hoover administration is that it didn't do enough to respond to the Great Depression.
• The knock on the Democratic Roosevelt administration is that its tax and spend policies lengthened and deepened the great depression.

If you're in a burning economic crises, you don't want to see your emperor fiddling on the violin while nature takes its course.

On the other hand, you don't want to see your emperor hiring legions of workers to build new palaces, just to keep people busy and money flowing.

We need an economic policy that satisfies political demand and makes economic sense.