Blog
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The Framers gave Congress the power to regulate commerce, not to compel it, and for over 200 years both our decisions and Congress’s actions have reflected this understanding. There is no reason to depart from that understanding now.
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I just read an interesting perspective from Zack Beauchamp about the interplay between economic freedom and discrimination. He was responding to this piece by John Tomasi, which in turn is based on a book that Tomasi wrote, so I’m about four degrees removed from the source already, but I wanted to respond specifically to Beauchamp’s…
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The weekend started off with a disappointment. Although my brother and I had made the necessary reservations in advance, the Ukrainian authorities unceremoniously cancelled our planned trip to Chernobyl. The good news is, once we were over this initial letdown, the weekend could only get better. I find that emerging economies are the most interesting…
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I was reading my friend Luca’s blog post today about language and memories of our home stay in HaMakuya, Limpopo way back in 2009. It was an awesome experience, and I have many fond memories of our host family and the various escapades of the children, who shall forever remember me as the white dude…
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One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it’s remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver’s license. – P.J. O’Rourke
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I have been reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and although it is a mediocre work of fiction with limited literary value (sorry fans), it does shift one’s perception of our own time; and, indeed, makes our age seem wholly insignificant. The Galactic Empire of Foundation is a civilization that has existed for 12,000 years and…
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As I was putting the last blog post up, I saw a man approach a girl who was reading by the window and hand her a piece of paper, then leave without saying a word. Later, I struck up a conversation with her and her friend and they asked me to translate his chicken scratch…
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Sunday mornings are silent in Vienna, punctuated only by the dull hum of a tram or the chirping of birds in the hundreds of parks in the city. The wind coming out of the Danube valley rushes down the wide boulevards, amplifying their desolateness. I am in Burgengarten, looking at the backside of the Hofburg…
brian mayer 