Remember that immigration reform bill that’s attempting to crawl through the congressional minefield? Back in January, I was critical of the bill, because it seems to presume that reducing immigration numbers is still a desirable goal. I argued that the bill over-emphasized border security at the expense of encouraging immigration, and that increasing immigration was fundamentally advantageous to economic growth, that immigrants contribute more to the economy than they consume in public services. At the time, my view was predominately theoretical. Now, however, we have empirical data. The non-partisan and generally trustworthy Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a report in which it predicts that immigration reform would shrink the deficit by $197 billion.
Author: Benjamin Studebaker
With Apologies to George W. Bush
Guess who’s back, back again? Palin’s back–tell a friend. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s 2008 running mate, has given another speech, this time for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, one of those conservative 501(c)4’s that has so often been in the news lately. What do I find interesting about this Palin speech? The fact that, 5-10 years ago, parts of it could have been made by your average democrat.
Should States Hire Mercenaries?
I was recently asked by a friend for an opinion on the use of private military contractors. After ruminating on the subject off and on for a couple days, I recalled an interesting chain of thoughts I once had on the subject, which I intend to reconstruct today in this piece.
The Irrelevance of Chemical Weapons
Well, it’s been coming for a while now–Barack Obama has decided to arm the Syrian rebels. The justification? The administration believes that somewhere between 100 and 200 people in Syria have been killed with chemical weapons, specifically, nerve agents, even more specifically, sarin. It is too often taken for granted that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government provides a good reason for the United States to intervene in the Syrian conflict on behalf of the rebels. The assumption must be questioned–does the use of chemical weapons make it in the interest of the United States to intervene where before it was not in the US interest to do so?
Don’t Hate the Player; Hate the Game
I’m an NBA fan–I love pro basketball. Like most NBA fans, I have a favorite team, my local Chicago Bulls. And like most talented teams, my favorite team has a nemesis, the Miami Heat. And while my Bulls have been knocked out of the playoffs, said Heat are still playing, and I watch every one of their playoff games so I can cheer for the opposing team. First it was Indiana in the conference finals, now it’s San Antonio in the NBA Finals. None of this sounds especially political, to this point, I expect, but I would like to explore a larger philosophical question stemming from this example–why do I dislike the Miami Heat so much, and is my dislike justifiable?
Benjamin Studebaker 