Tag Archives: rights

Never Trump

Why I Will Never Support Trump

This article is late in being written. I first thought about writing something about my opposition to Donald Trump’s candidacy back before the Vermont primary, but somehow I never got around to writing it. Then, as he was battling with Ted Cruz, I thought it would be a good time to write it finally. Again, I never seemed to find the time or energy to write it then either. Now, now that Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican party, I finally do have the energy and time, though read more

Washington DC Children's Hospital

What did Justice Sutherland get wrong about minimum wage?

Justice Sutherland struck down minimum wage law in Adkins v Children's Hosptial

Justice George Sutherland photo from Wikipedia

In the part 1 and part 2 of this series I reviewed how, before the Great Depression and the New Deal, the courts largely still protected the rights of employees and employers to freely contract with regards to wages. The courts agreed that each individual was the best judge of the wages that read more

Minimum Wage – An Historical View, Part 2

New York City 1920sIn part 1 of this series I introduced the Supreme Court decision from the 1923 Adkins v Children’s Hospital to illustrate the opinion of minimum wage laws that was still common prior to the Great Depression. This decision struck down a minimum wage law in the District of Columbia as read more

Baltimore’s Mayor has a Strange View on Rights

At a news conference in the wake of Baltimore’s Freddie Gray-related protests turning destructive Saturday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said that she instructed police to give people who “wished to destroy” space to do so.

Source: Baltimore Mayor: ‘We… Gave Those Who Wished To Destroy Space To Do That’

[Updated 2:02pm, 04/28/15]

If there is one thing that I have learned over the time I have been actually paying attention to and studying politics it is read more

Don’t Feed the Bea…Cronies

bears

On our porch a couple of years ago. We didn’t take our feeders in early either.

One sure sign of spring here in north-eastern Vermont is the frequent reminders from state and local officials to bring in your bird feeders. This is probably a common thing in any northern state at this time of year. The reason is that with the snow melting and temperatures rising, the bears are beginning to stir and will soon be out looking for food after their long winter nap. One of their favorite foods, especially this early when there isn’t a lot to eat, is black oil sunflower seeds, read more

A New Wind in the Kingdom? The Odor is Still Foul

Despite its somewhat woozy wording, what exactly is "social and environmental disruption," it is startling to see any government body, in Vermont of all places, dispute the utopian claims made by green energy advocates and actually looking at the downsides to such systems. […]

Role of Government is to Protect Rights, Not Manage Behavior

role of governmentThe usual suspects, Vermont statists, are at it again. They are seeking to manage the behavior of citizens in a direction that they deem to be “better” and to penalize those who do not fall in line.

This latest assault is the renewal of a proposal to impose a 2 cent per ounce tax on beverages that contain added sugar such as soda and sports drinks. Based on prices at a local minimart, this would result in about a 27% increase in the cost of a bottle of soda. Supporters of the law read more

Income Inequality as Such is not the Problem

income inequalityJim Pagels over at Reason.com has a good article on why Oxfam’s claim that the wealthiest 1% may soon be worth more than all the rest of us is not something to worry about. He correctly points out a number of reasons why this study is extremely flawed. For example, with the methodology the study uses a person I know, a truck driver who has gone through bankruptcy, is wealthier than read more