Are you liberals happy?

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Filed under: The Homeland

Protestants ♥ freedom and shit…or at least capitalism, which is facilitated by freedom and shit.

I was reading this post over at Tech Liberation Front, which quotes a passage from a 1975 book about telephony that mentions the relationship between the Calvinist work ethic and entrepreneurship, which was particularly pronounced in 19th century America:

[T]he economic rewards of invention under the U.S. patent system were great and well advertised; Bell and others like him knew well enough that the inventor and original backer of the telegraph had become millionaires, and his passion for secrecy about his experiments, along wit his early and intimate association with the Patent Office through Hubbard, suggest how well he realized he might be onto something commercially big. And he was urged on by both his philosophical background and the current social climate in America. The Scottish Calvinism of the nineteenth century made a primary virtue of material success achieved through hard work, and as an example Bell had his countryman Andrew Carnegie, twelve years his senior, who had come to the United States from Scotland in 1848 and by 1875 was already a millionaire in the process of consolidating the largest steel company in the world. As to the social climate, 1875 was the heyday in America of laissez-faire venture capitalism, when men had a kind of savage fury for fame and fortune that the more jaded twentieth century can scarcely conceive of.

Tim Lee, the post’s author, finds the last sentence of that passage out of step with today’s reality, but I disagree. The spirit of innovation and invention that swept America in the 19th century far surpasses the isolated pockets of innovation that exist in today’s America, and I think there are two reasons.

First is that innovation today is somewhat more difficult to detect: packing more information on a microchip or creating a cell phone that can take pictures is hardly an improvement in quality of life on par with the improvements afforded by electricity, light bulbs, telephones, elevators, steam engines, and yes, the dishwasher, which was invented by an Illinois socialite. Change is less dramatic today, and thus, there’s less opportunity for fame and fortune of the kind that 19th century inventors enjoyed. Who knows the name of the dude who invented the cell phone camera or the halogen light bulb? No one. But we all know Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Of course there are occasional exceptions and notable inventors and innovators–like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, the Google dudes, etc.–but mostly people tend to think of them as the figureheads of multinational corporations, not rugged individualist inventors in the mold of their predecessors.

Second gets more at the mention of Calvinism in the passage. In addition to there being less of a sense of urgency about the physical need to invent things to make life better, the decline in religiosity is likely a significant contributor to the decline in the spirit of invention. I, for one, would work far harder in my secular vocation if a.) I believed in god and b.) I believed that god would prefer it if I worked harder. That’s sort of why I dig Calvinism, except for the whole austerity thing. No matter what you do in life, God has already chosen the elect, those who will be saved and get to chill in heaven. But to be a good Calvinist, you have to put a lot of zeal into proving to others that you’re part of the elect, by working as hard as you can in the name of God in this life. Now as a non-believer, keeping up appearances for the sake of others and showing that I’m part of the modern-day elect (read: the cool kids) is most of why I do the basic minimum to hold down a job. But hells yeah, if I thought god cared and wanted me to do better (and more importantly, if I thought I’d go to hell if I didn’t do better), maybe I’d put some effort into it.

Anyway, the relationship between protestantism and the roots of modern capitalism is pretty interesting: you should work hard, but not live lavishly–so what to do with your hard-earned pennies? Invest them in the means of more production! Jebus lubs investment in productive capital. If you’re interested and haven’t read it, Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a pretty quick read, and it’s available for free online. Ironically. Religiosity declines and all of a sudden books are free! World gone mad.

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Filed under: The Dismal Science, Consumerism Rulez, Jesus is Magic, Pop! Goes the Culture

In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down — a momentous change that brought joy and hope to millions under the oppressive (yet lessening) yoke of communism.

Early today, masked gunmen in Gaza blew up a wall (shouldn’t they be bombmen?) letting thousands into that freest of free lands — Egypt:

Thousands of Gazans began crossing into Egypt and returning with milk, cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.

HAMAS destroys more walls before noon than the IRA does all day:

Two-thirds of the Rafah wall had been demolished by 10 a.m. and the crowd of Palestinians crossing into Egypt swelled into the tens of thousands.

The destruction continued as Palestinians used a bulldozer to tear down a section of low concrete wall topped with barbed wire to allow easier access for cars.

Islamic fundamentalists take note– Behold the Power of Capitalism:

Mohammed Abu Ghazel, 29, said he had crossed the border three times. He bought cigarettes worth $53 in Egypt and sold them for five times that in Gaza, he said.

People will not stand to be kept behind walls. Whether the obstacle is the Great Wall of China or the Tin Wall of Mexico — people will find a way to freedom. (And they’ll have an armload of Lucky’s to boot!)

Via Matt Welch

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Filed under: Consumerism Rulez, Freedom Meets Darwin

It seems, our Commander in Chief got in on the action too (See Simon’s Post below):

With similar effect, might I add.

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Filed under: Profiles in Governance

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Filed under: Mock the Vote

Since a certain someone has been slacking for over a month, I’ve decided to take over the Afternoon Dance Party — at least for today.

I’m an old skool kinda guy, so here let me present to you one of the greatest dance songs of the 80s, by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock:

“If you don’t like it/So what?/I don’t care.”

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Filed under: Afternoon Dance Party

I’m all for Free Speech and don’t think the people who organized this — or those who sign it — should be put on a terrorism watch list, but let’s be real now:

To: All those currently exercising positions of responsibility in the Government of the United States of America, whether elected or appointed, and whether at the federal, state, or local level

Whereas the United States Government’s claim to legitimacy is purportedly based on such principles as the consent of the governed, human equality, and the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and

Whereas few if any of those over whom you claim authority have ever consented to such governance; and

Whereas governments, as claimants to such authority over others, are by their nature inconsistent with human equality; and

Whereas your laws, ordinances, decrees, and policies generally stand in violation, directly or indirectly, of the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;

We, the undersigned, hereby demand:

That you cease to claim to be acting in our name or as our agents; and

That you cease all attempts to exercise authority over your fellow human beings, on this continent or elsewhere; and

That you work to dismantle the institution or set of institutions known as the Government of the United States of America, in every branch and at every level, as speedily as possible; and

That you make no attempt to interfere with its replacement by voluntary associations of free and equal individuals.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Although, it does beg the question why anarchists would even bother to petition an entity they don’t think is legitimate. Such an action is akin to Iran sending Israel a cease and desist order of existence.

No word yet from the Government on whether it has decided to disestablish itself.

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Filed under: Politics is Personal, Freedom Meets Darwin, Profiles in Governance, The Homeland

In honor of America’s assertion that all things Civil Rights began, thrived, and ended with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (and given that I won’t be blogging Monday), I thought this would be an appropriate time to spread the holiday cheer:

And a special message to our friends in Alabama at the organization-that-shall-not-be-mentioned:

More MLK day cards at someecards.com here.

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Filed under: Politics is Personal

Maybe if I eat more donuts, I too can retire before I’m 40:

Paul Soto, 40, had requested a larger retirement pension, claiming that a fall at an apartment while on duty injured his knee and prevented him from full performance as a police officer.

The Police Pension Fund medical board rejected the application, and in May 2006 it recommended that he be allowed to retire with an ordinary disability pension, which pays an officer a taxable pension of half his salary. An accidental disability retirement pays a nontaxable pension of three-fourths his salary.

The board said Soto had already been found disabled in August 2004 “because he was morbidly obese and had numerous other ailments which made it impossible for him to be a police officer, including high blood pressure and narcolepsy.” He also had been placed on limited duty.

This fat bastard literally ate his way out of a job and now taxpayers are paying him 1000s of dollars a year and — as apparently is his wont — he craved more.

Somebody, please, put a harpoon in this asshole.

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Filed under: Profiles in Governance

…is the coercive power of the government. From this morning’s Post Express:

Tickets for expired car registrations usually don’t result in jail time. Unless, of course, that thicket is a driver’s 76th. Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, 31, was arrested on Monday during a routine traffic stop in Harlingen, Texas, when officers discovered she had 76 outstanding traffic warrants and nearly $19,000 in unpaid fines and court fees dating back nine years. Sanchez was arrested on charges of having an expired car registration, no insurance and driving with an expired license, police said. She remained in the Harlingen jail Wednesday, and it was unclear whether she had a lawyer.

The Express titled the article “Libertarian Protests Oppressive DMV,” because, well, the people who write headlines over there seem to revel in being too cute by a half.

I won’t argue with the validity of (some of) the laws she broke–requiring a minimum of insurance for drivers makes a lot of sense economically, as there’s unarguably a bit of a knowledge problem when it comes to judging the safety of other drivers on the road. Indeed insurance, rather than a capricious drivers’ licensing regime, makes a lot more sense from a market standpoint: require that everyone be insured, and then let the insurance industry work out who gets to drive and who doesn’t, which cars are safe enough, etc. I, for one, would be much more comfortable knowing that my fellow drivers have insurance than knowing that they had the endurance to stand in line at the DMV for 2 hours. Point is, I’m not arguing over of the laws in question.

But think about it: behind every law, no matter how trivial, is the threat of incarceration, and behind the government’s ability to incarcerate you is a gun. It’s that simple. The laws Ms. Sanchez broke may very well be laws that deserve to be backed up with coercive force–I don’t want to argue these particular laws. But it sure would be nice if lawmakers thought about things in those terms when they passed the laws, if, when deliberating they said, “Is this a law, that if flouted enough, should result in someone going to jail? And if they resist going to jail, is this a law that is worth physical coercion?”

I suspect we’d have a lot fewer laws if elected officials were encouraged to step back and realize that what’s backing up their smoking bans, fishing licensure regimes, and jaywalking penalties is a Man with a gun.

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Filed under: Behind Every Law..., The Dismal Science, Profiles in Governance