History and Eternity

“What shall pass from history into eternity? The human person with all its relations, such as friendship and love.”

-George Florovsky

Net Neutrality

Was talking with my cousin about this the other day.  I understand the threat posed by giant corporations, but agree with the FCC Chairman that “The entire predicate of government regulation should be that there is, or is highly likely to be, a fundamental market failure that warrants pre-emptive regulation...But there was no evidence of that in 2015. The hypothetical harms that were discussed were exactly that: hypothetical.”  And as the video notes, which set of giant corporations do you side with?  The ones for or against net neutrality?

Scare tactics intended to prompt us into supporting a larger government don't go with representative democracy.  If abuses happen (open to hearing of any that actually occurred prior to 27 months ago), we have the recourse of engaging the problem via the courts and our legislatures (i.e. the folks we vote in to pass laws, not the unelected administrators of the FCC). And the executive branch retains its ability to step in the event of sudden, acute abuses of the environment of 1993-2015.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154722841689117&id=17548474116

Human Capital

I don't buy all of the author's thesis, but this is an interesting and thought-provoking read nonetheless...

https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-cold-war-led-the-cia-to-promote-human-capital-theory

Slow Withdrawal

This article makes an important point about the dangers of attempting to slash Federal spending rather than slowly reversing it with an eye towards rebuilding the local associations that have been withered by the encroaching state. Namely, cutting too quickly will create political backlash that results in further expansion of the government to "remedy" the impact of the hasty slashing​.  Some withdrawals cannot be done cold turkey...

To those who would say we can't afford to wait and that slashing is better than nothing,  I say: I may not have a better idea immediately at hand, but that doesn't make the anvil strapped to your back a good parachute.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-danger-with-trumps-budget/