Category Archives: Open Thread

Monday Open Thread: Best & Worst States

Federalism, Open Thread

As someone who recently moved cross-country, I know that there are definite advantages and disadvantages to living in certain places. Government regulation in a state rarely defines life in that state, but can definitely impact quite a lot of aspects. Now that I live in California, I know that the advantages of perfect weather and proximity to the beach are offset by a few things: high gas prices, high taxes, and poor government (i.e. bad public schools, etc). That doesn’t even include things such as the regulatory state increasing the cost of every other product.

For the open thread, perhaps tell us a little about where you live, and why it’s a good or bad state… I’d particularly love to hear about some of the folks up in the Free State; once I can get my wife to stop voting Democrat, I might try to convince her to move cross-country to the bitter cold of freedom :-)

Brad Warbiany
http://thelibertypapers.org/

Monday Open Thread: Reading List Edition

Open Thread

Alright folks, I’ve got about a billion things going on, so my reading list hasn’t moved much in the last month… But I’ve got a couple things on tap to read, once I get a chance:

Long Way Round – McGregor/Boorman
1776 – McCulloch
Anarchy, State, and Utopia – Nozick
A Leap In The Dark – Ferling
Free To Choose – Friedman

What have you guys read lately, and what do you have on deck?

Brad Warbiany
http://thelibertypapers.org/

Monday Open Thread: Stupid Law Edition

Open Thread

As always, with an open thread, any topic is open… But I’ll start it off with a theme:

One subject that is near and dear to my heart is beer. I brew it, I drink it, I hang out on the beeradvocate.com forums to discuss it. Since Prohibition, few other topics have generated as many stupid laws as alcohol.

Two stupid laws in general:

1) States that don’t allow Sunday sales of alcohol. I’ve lived in Illinois, California, Indiana, and Georgia, two of which don’t allow Sunday sales. It’s nothing more than pandering to the religious right, as Georgia’s recent attempts to overturn the ban have shown.

2) Up until 1978, homebrewing beer was illegal. The one good thing Jimmy Carter ever did was legalize homebrewing. Now, it’s legal to brew up to 200 gallons a year (50 in Georgia, a law I broke last year). But really, why set a limit? If you’re going to regulate commercial enterprises, that’s one thing… But what if I’m not selling it? But what if I want to brew and drink 300 gallons amongst myself, my family, and friends. Is there any point to having a limit at all?

What are your favorite pet peeve laws or other governmental stupidity?

Brad Warbiany
http://thelibertypapers.org/

Monday Open Thread: Scary Phrases In Politics

Open Thread, Politics

I’ve noticed that typically Monday mornings tend to be pretty slow around here. Which isn’t surprising, as none of us are quite able to make a career out of blogging (yet), and need to go to our real jobs. So here’s the first of (hopefully) many Monday Open Threads…

I’ll give you the first theme. Words that raise the red flags in your mind when you hear politicians use them. My first comes from this post:

Unfair Competition

If you hear those two words come out of a politician’s mouth, you know that he’s not trying to create fair competition, he’s trying to put a stop to competition with regulation. They don’t want free competition, they want “managed” competition. I.e. no competition at all…

So what are yours? What phrases, when you hear a politician say them, make the hairs on the back of your neck rise up, as you know whatever follows them is bound to be very bad?

Brad Warbiany
http://thelibertypapers.org/
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