Reactions to story from The Art of the Possible

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  Jacob Levy’s “Liberalism’s Divide”

  http://entitledtoanopinion.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/jacob-le...
  124 days ago in Entitled to an Opinion · Authority: 28

  The original copy I found seems to have disappeared, along with his page at the University of Chicago. So I’m going to host it here. liberalismsdivide I just finished reading Democracy in America (and started the Nurture Assumption), and for much of it I had been disappointed that de Tocqueville wasn’t living up to his Levy’s portrayal. He seemed too favorable toward centralism and too much of an evangelist of the effects of equality and democracy (compare Bertrand de Jouvenel). He redeems himself in Volume 2 part IV. He even imagines something that he cannot give a name to but we might refer to as a “nanny-state”. I’m not going to use the term “pink police state” because James Poulos has yet to give a clear definition of what that is. Much of Levy’s paper is focused on the French ancien regime, so perhaps I should have read Tocqueville’s other work on that subject. I find it odd that Levy includes Kant in his pantheon to represent the rationalist side of liberalism, and then scarcely refers to him afterward. Benjamin Constant, who isn’t included on either side (but seems to have been more of a pluralist) gets more space devoted to him. As a partisan of the pluralist position, I would say it is because he is less integral to liberalism and the pluralist side is bound to have better representation. He does refer to Nozick as a Kantian, but his “utopia” is more like Chandran Kukatha’s Federation than Union of Liberty. In the section on James Scott’s Seeing Like a State he discusses how markets may also be creatures of centralizing rationalism. Kevin Carson, with his discussion of the enclosure movement, also makes that argument. Although the topic is not part of his focus, Jeff Hummel’s talk on the gold standard mentioned in the previous post also points out how taxes in gold (or gold-backed currency) were used by imperialists to force natives to switch from their traditional lifestyle to plantation work. I’m a fan of markets and the basic idea behind Mencius Moldbug’s formalism (ambiguity in property is undesirable), but do I want to push traditionalist communitarians into a market order? I come down on the nay side. I don’t think that means I’m not a market liberal. I think markets will naturally emerge because they produce results people desire. I want freedom for Israelis to form kibbutzim, but I also expect them to die out in favor of more market-like arrangements. That seems a more healthy process than ones like the privatization Russia went through that Kevin Carson argues drives people toward anti-market populism. One thing that struck as odd was that Levy refers to children, the insane and the brainwashed as obviously not having autonomy. There are no references to the Szaszian position on mental illness or the Popperian Taking Children Seriously movement. The latter in particular would seem to be boosted by Judith Harris’ work on child development. As for brainwashing, I think it’s only relevant in movies. I argued with Will Wilkinson about false consciousness with the point that if you rule out any decisions people make there will be nothing to make any decisions “authentic”. On a final note, I actually started Burke’s “Reflections” before de Tocqueville, but got distracted. After I finish that though, who do you readers think deserves priority among Montesquieue, Paine and Mill?
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  Pig Morals: A Public Debate

  http://bdr.typepad.com/blckdgrd/2008/07/080731.html
  126 days ago in BLCKDGRD · Authority: 30

  Was offered tickets and made my first trip here two days ago: Meh, I'll spare me the recital of issues why I transformed from a guy who spent 30 days a year in the upper right-field deck of Memorial Stadium in the 80s to a guy who now finds baseball utterly unwatchable, so I'll just say the new stadium is nice enough (though not nearly as nice as Camden Yards) and Metro sucks and leave that there. (Both Earthgirl and Planet turned to me in the second and third innings respectively and said, Boy, are United games so much better. Yes, yes they are.) But, on the way home, waiting for a train with Earthgirl and Planet at Gallery Place, we were entertained by three Young Republicans, McCain-button emblazoned, loudly debating what constitutes cheating on girlfriends. After three minutes of arguing whether blowjobs from hookers is cheating (they couldn't reach agreement, two insisting it wasn't as long as the hooker didn't swallow), a limit was clearly defined by the most loutish of the three, who declared, so that everyone in Gallery Place could hear, if you put peanut butter on your balls and let your dog lick it off, that isn't cheating. Thankfully the train came just as they began debating whether letting a male dog lick the peanut butter off your balls makes you gay. *Spite works. Pigs, lesser-evil, yadda. Ignatius spurts his McCain circle jerk. Photoshop of the day. Or is it this one? The minute I start thinking kind thoughts about Hillary Clinton, Lanny Davis up and dashes them. On fucktardness. On meaningless polling. Long bedtime story. An argument against Kaine. Pig, lesser-evil, yadda. Framing and memetic warfare. Box turtles are narcs. Pigs, lesser-evil, yadda. Acid reflections. Tuesday morning, White Flint Mall. UPDATES Is it Obammukah yet? Chirp, or: Frag Dana Milbank. Billmon? Billmon! The McCain campaign knows it sucks. Another voice against Kaine. Elric 7 in Vladivostok. * Broderignatiancohen ballad to McCainlove!
• 

  Pig Morals: A Public Debate

  http://bdr.typepad.com/blckdgrd/2008/07/080731.html
  126 days ago in BLCKDGRD · Authority: 25

  Was offered tickets and made my first trip here two days ago: Meh, I'll spare me the recital of issues why I transformed from a guy who spent 30 days a year in the upper right-field deck of Memorial Stadium in the 80s to a guy who now finds baseball utterly unwatchable, so I'll just say the new stadium is nice enough (though not nearly as nice as Camden Yards) and Metro sucks and leave that there. (Both Earthgirl and Planet turned to me in the second and third innings respectively and said, Boy, are United games so much better. Yes, yes they are.) But, on the way home, waiting for a train with Earthgirl and Planet at Gallery Place, we were entertained by three Young Republicans, McCain-button emblazoned, loudly debating what constitutes cheating on girlfriends. After three minutes of arguing whether blowjobs from hookers is cheating (they couldn't reach agreement, two insisting it wasn't as long as the hooker didn't swallow), a limit was clearly defined by the most loutish of the three, who declared, so that everyone in Gallery Place could hear, if you put peanut butter on your balls and let your dog lick it off, that isn't cheating. Thankfully the train came just as they began debating whether letting a male dog lick the peanut butter off your balls makes you gay. *Spite works. Pigs, lesser-evil, yadda. Ignatius spurts his McCain circle jerk. Photoshop of the day. Or is it this one? The minute I start thinking kind thoughts about Hillary Clinton, Lanny Davis up and dashes them. On fucktardness. On meaningless polling. Long bedtime story. An argument against Kaine. Pig, lesser-evil, yadda. Framing and memetic warfare. Box turtles are narcs. Pigs, lesser-evil, yadda. Acid reflections. Tuesday morning, White Flint Mall. UPDATES Is it Obammukah yet? Chirp, or: Frag Dana Milbank. Billmon? Billmon! The McCain campaign knows it sucks. Another voice against Kaine. Elric 7 in Vladivostok. * Broderignatiancohen ballad to McCainlove!

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