Freespace

Millard Sheets and the art of banking

In this week's Objective Standard column, I talk about Millard Sheets--an artist whose name you may not know, but whose work you've almost certainly seen. Excerpt:

...he was startled when Ahmanson gave him carte blanche for the Wilshire Boulevard building. He wasn’t an architect, he protested. Nevertheless, replied Ahamson, “don’t let [anyone else] tell you how to design this building. I want it done the way you would do it if you were doing it for yourself.” So Sheets planned the building as well as the decorations.

The result was a triumph, particularly the mosaics—which seemed to combine the futuristic, streamlined qualities of art deco with the simple candor of Mexican folk art—and the stained glass windows, which celebrated the history of banking. The overall concept was optimistic and dignified; a contemporary bourgeois art appropriate for a lender proud of its part in transforming the Southern California desert into a land of innovation and plenty. Customers loved it, and even wrote Ahmanson thank you letters. “Whether I chose your establishment . . . for the very soul-lifting wall mural is an enigma even to myself,” one enthused. Another thanked him for having “given Los Angeles beauty and strength where unfortunately, others have contributed oblong boxes.” When the bank sent a questionnaire to customers asking why they chose the Wilshire Boulevard branch, the most common answer was “We like to be associated with something beautiful.”

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Celebrating slack-key and the sweetness of life

In the latest of my Objective Standard contributions, I take a look at Hawaiian slack-key guitar music. Excerpt:

What’s special about slack key is its unabashed positivity. Without being cloying or clichéd, the music manages to span the emotional range from carefree to profound while consistently expressing a sense of life at once generous and appreciative. Whereas many musical forms—whether in lyrics or tune—emphasize angst, aggression, anger, and addiction, ki ho‘alu songs almost always celebrate beautiful places, romantic love, or delicious food—all delivered with a sensitive touch and an ear for the sweetness of life, a quality musicians call nahenahe, which is essential to the slack key tradition.

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The Arizona Supreme Court should change this rule, which unfairly penalizes taxpayers who lose public interest lawsuits

At the Arizona Capitol Times, I argue that the Arizona Supreme Court should amend Rule 68's "sanctions" requirement to better protect the rights of taxpayers who go to court to vindicate their rights. Excerpt:

Such severe sanctions are likely to frighten taxpayers away from challenging possibly illegal government activity, and that’s bad for Arizona in the long run. Courts should encourage private disputes to settle out of court, but public-interest cases challenging government actions benefit everyone by resolving important legal controversies. And settling such cases is often counter-productive, since it leaves those questions unanswered and might encourage government to act illegally in the future.

That’s why federal courts use a different rule. They don’t impose costly attorney fee awards on civil rights plaintiffs who lose their cases, unless the lawsuit was “frivolous.” As the Supreme Court said in 1978, “assessing attorney’s fees against plaintiffs simply because they do not finally prevail would substantially add to the risks inhering in most litigation,” which would “undercut the efforts of Congress to promote the vigorous enforcement” of the law.

The court noted that when the government violates the law, it should be punished — but when citizens sue and lose, they’ve done nothing wrong and don’t deserve punishment except in frivolous cases.

No other state inflicts the kind of severe sanctions imposed by Rule 68. Most follow the federal model, and Michigan specifically allows judges “in the interest of justice, [to] refuse” to impose such penalties, meaning judges can decide in each case whether the lawsuit was so baseless that the plaintiff should be penalized — or whether the plaintiff, though wrong on the law, still made legitimate legal arguments.

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A new window on Scriabin

At The Objective Standard, I discuss Alexander Scriabin, who composed my very favorite piece of music.

John Singer Sargent: the master of elevated grace

At The Objective Standard, I take a look at my favorite painter, John Singer Sargent.

Tucker Carlson thinks the problem with America is capitalism

At Reason, I have some comments on Tucker Carlson's recent defense of national socialism. Excerpt:

To Carlson, economic freedom is disposable—"a tool…created by human beings" "like a staple gun or a toaster," which politicians can eliminate if they decide it's "weaken[ing]…families." Since "the goal for America is…happiness"—which includes things like "dignity, purpose, self-control, independence, above all, deep relationships with other people"—the failure of international bankers to make people happy and give them rewarding family lives is grounds for bureaucratic control. Although pitched as anti-government populism, Carlson's prescription is clear: government management of the economy in order to force citizens into what politicians consider "happiness."

But America's "goal" isn't "happiness"—it's freedom to pursue happiness. That phrase was written by people who rejected the idea that government gives us liberty to serve collective ends. 

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Mass-producing wholesome joy

My latest Objective Standard article takes a look at the Rose Parade, and those who sneer at it. Excerpt:

It’s revealing that sourpuss attitudes are so often found alongside the “commercialism” slur. They’re both expressions of contempt toward worldly prosperity and uncomplicated happiness. To anyone accustomed to regard such things as trivial—or to recognize profundity only in gloom—things such as the Rose Parade naturally appear as frivolous. But a little historical perspective makes clear why they aren’t.

Just a century ago, the nation’s per capita GDP was one-sixteenth what it is today. A tenth of American babies died before turning one. Today, only six in every thousand face that fate. Thirty-two million Americans worked on farms, ten times today’s number, and produced a fraction of what today’s farms do. A dozen eggs cost the equivalent of eighty minutes of labor; today, it’s less than five. Electricity was scarce and expensive. Cities stank of horses and soot. Entertainment was a rare privilege and, when available, usually bad. And still conditions were far better in America than in most countries.

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