Read of the Day

My apologies for the lack of original content at DuelingBarstools over the last couple of weeks. I am studying for the California bar exam, a difficult and arguably unnecessary examination that has tremendous bearing on my future prospects. I regret that I likely will not be posting much besides weekly cab roundups and links to fascinating articles (see below). I reserve the right, however, to return from Stout mildly inebriated and wound up about something socio-political / economic, and pen a rant of some sort. In that event, I’ll probably be expressing my angst as to the criminally low level of national discourse surrounding immigration reform. A prelude: In my view, proper immigration reform requires fundamental changes to our tax code, social-welfare policies, and minimum wage; tearing down the regulatory barriers restricting free enterprise; ending the war on drugs; streamlining the process to obtain legal residence in America; and revisiting some of America’s 19th century federal land policies that provided real opportunities for citizens and immigrants alike to create wealth and engage in free enterprise. By contrast, the immigration “debate” – and I am loathe to use that word – seems to revolve around two equally stupid, shortsighted measures: (a) send hardworking, illegal immigrants home (and don’t let them come back) or (b) add 12 million plus plus new legal immigrants overnight without revising state and federal labor / employment policies, social-welfare, taxation, and business policies. In time I intend to discuss in detail what I consider to be a comprehensive immigration “reform,” and look forward to your comments, suggestions, and criticisms in the comments. Until then, I will be engrossed by mountains of Barbri study materials, and attempt to relearn three years of law school in the next two months. In the meantime, enjoy this read (courtesy of Pila), which reminded me, among other things, that the US of A is a long, long way from a free market system, and in the macro sense may never have truly had one. On a different note, I found this piece on neanderthals interesting too, and particularly enjoyed this piece on domestic militia paranoia reminding us that “[w]e can reenact the Brown and Red Scares of the past, or we can pull back from a mentality that has never been good for either liberty or security; we can plunge further into madness like the Oklahoma bill, or we can adopt the measured skepticism displayed this week by Judge Roberts.”

Socio-Political