Author: Laurence M. Vance

“I’m the secretary of defense. We defend the country.” ~ Secretary of Defense James Mattis Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis retired in 2013 after 41 years of military service. The Marine Corps Times called the former general the “most revered Marine in a generation.” He led the 1st Marine Division into Iraq in 2003. Mattis usually tells the truth, even if it reaffirms his “mad dog” moniker: You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. … Continue reading →

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Obviously, the world did not come to an end last month on September 23 as some false prophets predicted. It is not even worth the time to discuss who made the predictions and why they made them. Here are eight other times the world didn’t end when it was supposed to either. But claiming that the sky will fall or the world will come to an end is nothing new. Many people believe that if a certain thing happens then the world will come to an end. They may not say so outright, but judging from their reaction to certain … Continue reading →

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The Republicans have released their latest tax-reform plan. “Unified Framework For Fixing Our Broken Tax Code” is a simple, 9-page document that leaves the reader with many unanswered questions. Back in 2015, I subjected the tax proposals President Obama made in his State of the Union address to a libertarian analysis. Earlier this year, I did the same for President Trump’s tax plan. It is only fitting that I now do the same for the Republicans’ framework. The “unified framework” developed by “the Trump Administration, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Senate Committee on Finance” claims to … Continue reading →

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Review of Nathan W. Schlueter and Nikolai G. Wenzel, Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives? The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate (Stanford Economic and Finance, 2017), xii + 215 pgs., paperback. I remember reading Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative-Libertarian Debate when the “revised and updated” edition, edited and with an introduction by George Carey, was published back in 1998. So did Nathan Schlueter and Nikolai Wenzel, authors of the new book Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives? The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate. The authors acknowledge that Carey’s “superb collection of essays” prompted them to write their “more systematic book” (p. ix). … Continue reading →

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The sixteenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has brought forth the expected conservative “never forget” nonsense in defense of a perpetual war on terror. Typical is Ben Shapiro, editor of The Daily Wire and host of the Ben Shapiro Show. On September 11, he wrote an article, “NEVER FORGET: The 5 Lessons We Should Have Learned From 9/11,” and spoke in a video about the five lessons America should have learned from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He insists that the lessons of 9/11 “have been largely forgotten.” Here are his five “lessons we should have learned,” each with quotes … Continue reading →

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Price-gouging law has reared its ugly head in the wake of the flooding in Texas. This has totally overshadowed the alleged price gouging that occurred during the eclipse. The price of solar eclipse safety glasses was as low in the months before the eclipse, but rose to as much as $150 for the identical product on the day of the eclipse. And it turns out that prices for these glasses were higher along the direct path of the eclipse. Naturally, some eclipse glasses vendors were accused of price gouging because they demanded unreasonably high payments by exploiting unusual market conditions. … Continue reading →

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People sometimes do the right thing, but for the wrong reason—including presidents and politicians. The Obama administration slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Egypt in 2013 after the ouster of Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi. This was a great thing, although Obama did promise future support that will depend on “Egypt’s progress in pursuing a democratic path.” As expected, $575 million in military aid to Egypt that had been frozen since the ousting of Egypt’s president was released in 2014. The Trump administration has now done the same thing. It has “decided to deny Egypt … Continue reading →

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It’s back to school time. Time then to answer an important question. Vouchers, charter schools, education saving accounts, tuition tax deductions, and tuition tax credits: Are any of them libertarian? Vouchers are continually touted by some libertarians as a way for parents to send children to the school of their choice instead of a dangerous and destructive public school. Government at some level provides a voucher worth a certain amount that parents can use to pay all or part of their child’s tuition at a private school. The school would then redeem the voucher for payment from the government that … Continue reading →

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I have said over the years that Republicans in Congress are at their worst when they have control of both Houses of Congress, and especially when they hold the presidency as well. Like now. The last time the Republicans had absolute control of the government was during the presidency of George W. Bush when they had a majority in the House and Senate for over four years. And what did they do when they were in charge? They almost doubled the federal budget and the national debt, created the monstrous Department of Homeland Security, greatly expanded the Department of Education, … Continue reading →

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Now that they have failed to repeal or repeal and replace Obamacare, Republicans are once again turning their attention to tax reform. And so are Democrats. Senate Democrats recently issued a letter to President Trump and Senate Republican leaders outlining “three key principles that we believe are prerequisites to any bipartisan tax reform effort”: First, we believe that tax reform should not increase the tax burden on the middle class. In addition, any tax reform effort should not benefit the wealthiest individuals. Second, we believe it is crucial that tax reform legislation go through regular order and not reconciliation. Using … Continue reading →

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“The number one priority of President Trump is to rebuild our military” ~ Vice President Mike Pence Rush Limbaugh rarely has guests on his radio show, but sometimes makes an exception for Republican politicians. This time it was for Vice President Mike Pence. Limbaugh was asking him about the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R.244) that Congress passed to fund the federal government until the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30, 2017). Pence defended the budget compromise because it increased defense spending. Said Pence: I think this sends a decisive message to the world that under President Trump’s leadership we’re gonna … Continue reading →

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I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes paid—the SALT deduction. I concluded that the SALT deduction was a good thing because it keeps almost $100 billion a year out of the hands of Uncle Sam. Not everyone agreed that this was a good thing. Okay, one guy—a blogger at the True Dollar Journal—did not think that this was a good thing: Residents of states with no income taxes or low marginal rates actually subsidize the residents of the high marginal rate states. According to Vance, “the SALT deduction … Continue reading →

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For the past two weeks, the sign in front of a church near my house has advertised a “patriotic service” for Sunday, July 2. Other churches around town undoubtedly held some kind of patriotic service as well even though it wasn’t advertised. This is because patriotic services are now a nationwide phenomenon. Although they are not limited to any specific denomination, conservative evangelicals are the worst when it comes to these things. There are three times each year when churches are likely to have patriotic services: the Sunday before the national holidays of Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and … Continue reading →

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking the Trump administration to reconsider its support for ending the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes paid—the SALT deduction. Good for them, although they certainly aren’t doing it for the right reason. These lawmakers are concerned because Trump’s tax plan would “eliminate targeted tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers” while protecting just “the home ownership and charitable gift tax deductions.” Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Representative Leonard Lance (R-NJ) signed a bipartisan letter (along with 68 colleagues) to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin protesting the administration’s plan to eliminate the … Continue reading →

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Harvard dropout and Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg recently gave the commencement address at Harvard. In his speech he proposed a “universal basic income to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.” But Zuckerberg is not alone. First it was Milton Friedman, then it was Charles Murray, and then it was Matt Zwolinski. Now it is Michael Tanner and Jesse Walker. Why are some libertarians even talking about a universal basic income or a guaranteed minimum income? Why are some libertarians trying to be efficiency experts for the welfare state? We already have a universal basic income. It … Continue reading →

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