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January 11, 2018|Andrew Cuomo, Blue Social Model, Donald Trump, New Jersey, New York, SALT

Governor Cuomo Gets It, Sort Of. So Does The Donald.

by Michael S. Greve|20 Comments

Blue state leaders and public sector unions stand a lot to lose from SALT, and they know it.

April 12, 2016|American Exceptionalism, California, France, Jerry Brown, Minimum Wage, New York, robots

The Economic Denialism of a $15 Minimum Wage

by John O. McGinnis|7 Comments

Both California and New York have passed minimum wage legislation that will prevent in relatively short order their citizens from working for less than fifteen dollars an hour.  The New York bill will double the minimum wage. The California bill will increase the minimum wage by fifty percent. Even in a political climate growing increasing hostile to liberty such legislation stands out as an egregiously irresponsible and ignorant intrusion on freedom.

We hear a lot about “denialists” when it comes to climate change, but these enactments represent a massive denial about basic truths of economics. When a commodity—in this case labor—becomes substantially more expensive, people will buy less of it. The result of these laws will more unemployment for the least able among us.

Does anyone doubt that if newspapers, including those who editorialize in favor of such increases, were required by the government to double their subscription price that they would sell substantially fewer newspapers? Or if the government decreed that salaries of tenured professors must be go up by half, that colleges would substitute other kinds of instructional tools for tenured professors?

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December 22, 2014|Great Society, Nelson Rockefeller, New York, Rockefeller Republicanism

Nelson Rockefeller: The Ozymandias of New York State

by John O. McGinnis|7 Comments

This is the saddest story of a billionaire ever told. The grandson of the richest man in American history, Nelson Rockefeller spent his life overcompensating for another kind of inheritance—dyslexia. As a result, he became a politician of grandiose ambitions, a bully to his brothers, and a relentless womanizer. Richard Norton Smith tells this tale well in his riveting, if sometimes overstuffed, biography, On His Own Terms.  A great  strength is to show how at the beginning Rockefeller’s hubris seemed well matched to the temper of the times.  For the Democrats, Lyndon Johnson offered a  vision of the great society for…

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Book Reviews

A Compelling and Compassionate Book about Epilepsy

by Theodore Dalrymple

Our knowledge of the human brain is limited, but neuroscientist Suzanne O’Sullivan’s observation of her patients yields astute insights.

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Andrew Roberts Takes the Measure of the “Populist” Aristocrat, Churchill

by Joao Carlos Espada

Yes, there is something new to be learned about Winston Churchill, and it's in the new 1,105-page biography by Andrew Roberts.

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Liberty Classics

Bringing Natural Law to the Nations

by Samuel Gregg

If sovereign states ordered their domestic affairs in accordance with principles of natural law, the international sphere would benefit greatly.

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Belloc’s Humane Defense of Personhood and Property

by James Matthew Wilson

Perhaps the memory of that metaphysical right to property informs our fears, and could lead to a restoration of human flourishing.

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Podcasts

Born-Again Paganism: A Conversation with Steven Smith

A discussion with Steven D. Smith

Steven Smith talks with Richard Reinsch about his provocative thesis that a modern form of paganism is becoming public orthodoxy.

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"Slouching Towards Mar-a-Lago:" A Conversation with Andrew Bacevich

A discussion with Andrew J. Bacevich

Andrew Bacevich discusses his new book Twilight of the American Century

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Bureaucracy, Regulation, and the Unmanly Contempt for the Constitution

A discussion with John Marini

John Marini unmasks the century-long effort to undermine the Constitution's distribution of power.

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Beautiful Losers in American Politics: A Conversation with Nicole Mellow

A discussion with Nicole Mellow

Nicole Mellow on the beautiful losers in American politics who have redefined the country.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

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