Participatory democracy as defined by extreme groups has been put into action in the U.S. before. The leftist upheaval in the streets of Seattle against the World Trade Organization ministerial conference in 1999 is one memorable example. It is no coincidence that elements of Mr. Trump’s base oppose free trade and globalization.
J.D. Tuccille wisely warns of the dangers of anti-sedition legislation.
[Dartmouth economist Bruce} Sacerdote also refers back to the findings of an OECD study in 2019, which argued that “middle class” is associated in people’s minds with certain kinds of consumption: in particular, it’s associated with a certain level of housing, with relatively easy access to health insurance and health care, and with access to higher education. In the US and around the world, prices for housing, health care, and higher education have risen faster than average incomes. As he points out, one can “ask whether homeownership or college attendance for children in the family has risen or fallen for people in the middle quintiles of the income distribution. I find that since the 1980s, homeownership, square footage of housing consumed, number of automobiles owned, and college attendance have all been rising. The one exception is the modest dip in homeownership that occurred immediately after the financial crisis of 2008.”
Pierre Lemieux is correct: there is no “will of ‘The People'” – the reason being that ‘The People’ is not a sentient creature. (‘The People’ is a term used to describe a collection of sentient individuals, each of whom has a will but the collection of which simply does not.)
Juliette Sellgren talks with Trevor Burrus about guns.
Mark Perry reports on where we Americans are moving to and where we are moving from.
It is a conservative’s nature to believe that society has gone off the rails. I believe that we have gone off the rails by having lost sight of the importance of children and grandchildren. I predict that many people today between the ages of 25 and 40 will find themselves becoming lonely and depressed by age 60 as they see the past as having little meaning and the future as having little purpose.
Note that being an aunt or an uncle can have some of the same satisfaction as being a grandparent. But with fewer siblings these days, becoming an aunt or uncle will be rare.
I believe that grandparents are the happiest people. This is based on introspection and observation. Show me a grandparent who does not love their grandchild.
Joakim Book reviews my GMU Econ colleague Garett Jones’s book 10% Less Democracy.
