Freespace

Harsh truths that'll make you a better person

This is fantastic. Note that it doesn't just hold for people, but also for organizations...especially number 1.

The rancid Lincoln-haters of the right

Glad to see Rich Lowry raising consciousness about the Doughface libertarians. I'm reminded of Harry Jaffa telling me "You know, I'm the only person ever to say a favorable thing about Abraham Lincoln in the pages of National Review." It's good that that's changing.

Tim the Lawyer on A&G this morning

I was on with Armstrong & Getty this morning to talk about the Supreme Court...and then the Court ended up not doing anything interesting. But we got to talking about the NSA, privacy, and such. I'll post the podcast when it becomes available.

The books I recommended were Rights At Risk and The Rights of The People by David K. Shipler. I reviewed them for California Lawyer magazine here and here.

I said that the NSA scandal is probably not quite as bad as people are saying. Here's an article by Roger Pilon and Richard Epstein (two men I deeply respect) arguing that point. But Julian Sanchez has a powerful rejoinder here. I have not examined this story deeply enough to have a settled opinion.

Update: Here's the podcast.

Update 2: Epstein responds to the [email protected] post here.

"Public convenience and necessity" and other conspiracies against trade

Today I signed the agreement to publish my article, "Public Convenience And Necessity" And Other Conspiracies Against Trade: A Case Study from the Missouri Moving Industry, in the George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal.

Happy birthday, Lon Fuller

Saturday would be the 111th birthday of legal philosopher Lon L. Fuller, author most famously of The Morality of Law and "The Case of The Speluncean Explorers." Fuller was one of the greatest defenders of the theory of natural law, and his conflict with the positivist school of H.L.A. Hart and others became a legal legend. The "Hart-Fuller Debate" remains every bit as fascinating as it was a half-century ago.

What is law, exactly? Where does it come from? What does it do? What's the difference between good law, bad law, and no law at all? Fuller didn't pretend to completely answer these questions, but in his elegantly written, and usually very brief works, Fuller saw deeper than many others who've produced thousands of pages more. I'm particularly fond of his lesser-known work, The Law In Quest of Itself.

Those new to Fuller should check out "The Case of The Speluncean Explorers," and "Eight Ways to Fail to Make Law."

(Cross-posted on PLF Liberty Blog)

Here's what I've been up to this week

A relaxing vacation in the Bluegrass State.

Star Trek and Aristotle

Here's a fun blog post about Aristotle and "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It makes an under-appreciated point: Star Trek does reject Spock's apatheia. The point of Spock, insofar as he has a point, is that the rejection of emotion is wrong, at least for us. Spock himself comes to discover this through his death and rebirth. But many fans seem not to notice this.

Spock says that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," but what we learn, and what he learns, is--as Kirk and Amanda say--that "the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many." Thus when Kirk asks him ironically about rescuing Chekov, "Is that the logical thing to do?" Spock answers, "No. But it is the human thing to do." And he later tries to teach his student, Valeris, that "Logic is the beginning of wisdom. Not the end." Yet many Star Trek fans seem to have missed this, and continue to point to Spock's original view as if it were profound wisdom. In reality, Roddenberry's Star Trek was Epicurean, not Stoic.

Update: Okay, maybe that last bit was a little hasty. Epicureans wouldn't explore strange new worlds. But Trek's still more Epicurean than Stoic, and Roddenberry himself was more Epicurean than Aristotelian.

When politics runs medicine...

...only the politically influential will get care.

Fighting the "Platonic Guardians" of medicine

Today, I filed PLF's friend of the court brief in Coons v. Geithner, the Goldwater Institute's challenge to the constitutionality of the "Independent Payment Advisory Board" provision of Obamacare--the part that one writer has aptly described as the "Platonic Guardians" of medicine.

Blacks more likely to be arrested for pot

Nobody is surprised by this, except maybe MacGregor Scott.