Mr. Epstein cites with evident distaste a recent New York Times op-ed by K-Sue Park, a fellow in critical race studies at the UCLA School of Law. Ms. Park lamented that the American Civil Liberties Union had defended the right of the white-supremacy group behind the Charlottesville protest to organize its march. The ACLU, Ms. Park argued, needs to “rethink free speech” and stop standing up for people with offensive views.
Perhaps you see the problems here. “There are certain harms that are nonactionable,” Mr. Epstein says, “and offense is one of them. If I say something that you find duly offensive, you may protest, you may speak—but what you may not do is to sue me in order to silence me, or to get compensation from me.” Counterspeech is “the appropriate ‘remedy’ under these circumstances; suppressing speech is not.”
Mr. Epstein imagines a society in which “offensive” speech is curbed: “Everybody offends everybody a large fraction of the time. So, if I am insulting to you because you’re a progressive and you’re insulting to me because I’m a conservative, and if we allow both people to sue, then neither can talk.” Those who advocate controlling speech, he says, tend to want only their sense of what’s offensive to count, and nobody else’s. Yet the “fundamental tenet of classical free-speech law is that the rules ought to be ‘viewpoint neutral.’ Nobody can use force against anybody, regardless of his viewpoint; but anybody can express his opinion, irrespective of how offensive everybody else will want to regard it.”
Scott Lincicome documents the long history of failure of American protectionism.
From back in February: Sarah Skwire sings the praises of free trade. Here’s her opening:
Free trade doesn’t just make us better off.
It makes us better people.
Donald Trump claims that raising barriers to trade is one of the things it will take to “Make America Great Again,” but he is wrong. Greatness—both of wealth and of moral character—comes from trade. And we have known this for a very long time.
Here’s the opening to Steve Chapman’s latest:
Donald Trump has served one-seventh of his constitutionally allotted term of office, and given his talent for self-destruction, there is no guarantee he will get to serve the remaining six-sevenths. But whether he does or not, one thing is a safe bet: When he leaves the White House, there will not be a wall running the length of our southern border.
And here’s the title of Sheldon Richman’s latest: “Trump Sticks to Status Quo With Idiotic Afghanistan Plans”. On this topic, see also this video from John Stossel.
Jeff Jacoby exposes Trump’s ignorance about Amazon.
The Economist reports on some interesting research by GMU Econ Chairman Dan Houser.
Katherine Mangu-Ward offers sound advice about what not to do in the aftermath of natural disasters.
