Tweet [1]
George Will eloquently makes the case against the death penalty [2]. Here’s his conclusion:
Capital punishment is ending because of a wholesome squeamishness that reflects (in Chief Justice Earl Warren’s words [3]) society’s “evolving standards of decency.” And because attempts to make it neither cruel nor unusual have made its implementation increasingly capricious, and hence morally absurd.
While it may sound old-fashioned, I don’t believe that it’s the role of the government to tell fully consenting adults what they can and cannot do with their own bodies, even if their choice is something that most people disapprove of. And if you tell me that socialized medicine should give Uncle Sam the right to boss us around, I’ll tell you that two wrongs don’t make a right.
Eric Boehm reports on Joe Biden’s rampaging statism [6]. Also here [7].
George Leef reports on higher-education’s rampaging inefficiencies [8]. A slice:
Quite a lot of administrative cost is related to the penchant that many college leaders have for political activism. Among them are the costs incurred in promoting diversity and inclusion policies, sustainability initiatives, and legal expenses entailed by their zealous suppression of free speech and their various forms of virtue signaling. [Neetu] Arnold mentions the disastrous decision by Oberlin College officials to side with “woke” students in their determination to smear a local bakery as racist and there are many more instances where college officials have decided to spend money on lawyers just to pose as ideological white knights.
And writing about making housing more affordable is Ilya Somin [11].
Ben Zycher comments on the “National Climate Bank. [12]”
Arnold Kling is correct [13]:
Without the norm of a balanced budget, the political cost of government spending drops to zero. So we get more and more of it. That is why tax cuts do not lead to less government spending. In the absence of a balanced-budget norm, lower taxes make more spending seem all the better.