Month: March 2006

“In Our Hands”

You can read Charles Murray’s new book, "In Our Hands," in about an hour; you’ll be thinking about it for much longer. Inourhands I’m not an expert in government accounting, so I defer to others in a professional assessment of the data, but, as usual, it’s an elegant and daring argument. The reason is that Charles essentially bifurcates the conservative insight into two arguments. The first is that government’s obligations be as limited as possible. The second is that where government is inescapably embedded in our lives, it place as many decisions and choices in the hands of citizen/consumers as possible – and out of the hands of bureaucrats and planners. Since many conservatives seem to have given up the dream of smaller government, Charles focuses on the second. No tinkering. Just convert all social programs into one lump sum of $10,000 a year, and give each person who needs it the money to spend on services and investments they choose, rather than on those the government chooses for them. (Yes, it’s more complex than that, but this is a blog item, not a review). By locating decision-making at the level closest to those with the most direct knowledge of their own needs, Murray’s proposal suggests we can maintain the investment in a welfare state while avoiding the pitfalls of centralization, planning and paternalism. It’s worth reading merely as a thought experiment. I’ve come reluctantly to believe that we will have a hard time getting to smaller government incrementally. The million small losses need to be counter-balanced by a radical, large, collective gain. Abolishing the bureaucracy of the welfare state would qualify – and appeal.

A Chinese “Fool”

One of the great joys of the Internet is discovering a genuinely fresh voice out there, someone whose presence might never have been known or felt without this new technology. Such is one Hao Wu,Haowuframe a Chinese blogger and film-maker who lived in the US for twelve years, now lives in China, writes elegant English, and has converted to Christianity, while also being gay. His blog is an open window into one courtyard of contemporary Chinese life. His political struggles and attempt to criticize his own government while loving his own country make the contradictions we Westerners labor under seem petty. Check out this account of the immense pain still endured by the Chinese after fifty years of dictatorship or authoritarian rule. Hao Wu was detained by the Chinese authorities last month and charged with no crime. Here’s a website devoted in part to bringing attention to his case. Spread the word.

McCain and Falwell

Too depressing for words. Falwell is rightly a pariah for his outright bigotry on a whole range of issues. John McCain’s embrace of Falwell’s wing of the religious right may be an acknowledgment of political realities in the Christianist party he seeks to lead. But I agree with the man who said:

"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right."

That guy was McCain, six years ago. I guess he’s changed his mind.

Michael Brown on Colbert

Tonight! I should say that I’ve followed the Colbert Report from the very beginning and think it’s only gotten better and better. It helps to have a repulsion-attraction formation to Bill O’Reilly (and boy do I have a problem with watching Bill). But it works even in its own right; and Colbert’s finessing of his own persona keeps improving. Watching him sew up Gary Hart was a real pleasure. Tonight should be beyond parodying.