Political Theory

Jeffrey Friedman introduces a special issue of his journal devoted to F.A. Hayek with a peculiar claim.

As public trust in government has plummeted, and resistance to central rule has grown, officials invent ever-new rationales. Here are just a few of the newest benefits the central state promises us if we relinquish more power to Washington.

John Gray is a hard man to pin down. Just when you think you have understood his position, he declares inadequate what he has advocated only moments before.

Within Marx, Hayek, and Utopia lies a very good book struggling to escape.

At last, the Republican Congress has proposed cutting death taxes. It wants the exemption to be raised from $600,000 to $1 million. Not bad for a start. But if Congress is serious about reducing the tax, the rate should immediately index the exemption to the inflation rate. If the inflation of the last 10 years continues over the next, the $1 million exemption will be worth a third less. Why should the government get rich by mismanaging the monetary system?

In this outstanding book, Jeremy Shearmur approaches the thought of Friedrich Hayek from an original angle. 

Unless you agree with Emerson that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, you will find little in this ill- thought-out book to like.

The most encouraging trend of our time is the widespread loss of faith in government. No longer do people look to the government as the great problem solver, economic planner, social unifier, or cultural czar. The government is more likely to be seen for what it is, a haven for grafters, liars, and would-be tyrants. Americans, like the Russians, no longer believe anything until it is officially denied.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese has had an idea brilliant in its simplicity and common sense. Feminism arouses furious passions, as supporters and opponents incessantly battle one another.

Washington's sudden fixation on campaign finance won't bring about honesty in government, and it won't increase anyone's liberty. But it does give the public a real-world civics lesson. For it shows that government is no neutral arbiter of justice, but a corrupt scheme by which the politically powerful enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.