The United States has stronger restrictions on State interference in personal speech than any other country, so in that sense the 1st Amendment is doing pretty well; it’s doing a good-but-not-great job preventing press interference and an OK-but-not-good job protecting…
Let’s Be Clear: Both Sides Of The Civil War Were Wrong
Contrary to popular belief, neither side of the U.S. Civil War was really into “freedom”. They were both fighting for the power to control other people. This tends to get skipped over in modern discussions, since the current culture war…
You Should Read This: In Defense Of Free Speech Pedantry
You should read this small diatribe from Ken White (aka PopeHat): In Defense Of Free Speech Pedantry. Yeah, it’s Substack, but the Internet’s in turmoil right now and sometimes even smart people make bad hosting decisions. The important part is…
Free Association: The Freedom To Discriminate
I posted a while ago about non-discrimination laws being incompatible with freedom of conscience. Today let’s look at how they’re incompatible with freedom of association. Though, frankly, this should be obvious. Freedom of association requires that the State not be…
Former: The Most Important Word In Government Titles
The most important thing to keep in mind about having a role in the State is that it ends, and then you go home and you’re just another citizen again. This is really important. My father, with whom I agree…
Abortion: Ignoring The Real Problem
Abortion’s legality is not a problem that should be addressed directly; there is an underlying problem that should to be solved instead. At what point does a new human come into existence? For any of you who aren’t familiar with…
Fix Tha’ Police: 3 Small Tweaks And 2 Big Ones
The core problem with policing in the United States is that the police have developed their own internal culture and a very strong bunker mentality. They really do view the rest of us as an unruly mob that could become…
Hate: Not Good, Not Fun, But Legal
Having Freedom of Conscience means the State cannot outlaw Hate Crimes, because it cannot make law based on motivations. Otherwise, the State gets into the business of determining what motivations are acceptible. And frankly no State can be trusted with…
Sovereign Immunity: Bad Thinking Leads To Bad Law
We’re starting to see a rise in use of the phrase “sovereign immunity” over the past few days, since Attorney General Barr decided to try to use it to make a defamation case against Trump go away. Really; that’s not…
Executive Oversight: Gonna Keep Bangin’ That Drum
I’ve been on about this since one of the first posts on this blog (Failed Constitution Check: Executive Oversight): The United States has no effective oversight of the Executive branch. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Witness the ongoing festival of Hatch…