Political Compass

Political Compass is supposed to help you to find your position on the ideological spectrum. The quiz takes the form of a list of statements with which you can agree or disagree. The problem is that many of these statements already acknowledge a left-wing worldview.
For example:
“If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity [...]

For the millionth time, the teaching of economics in universities is not pro-free market.

According to this article (don’t read it, it’s stupid) George Soros has launched “a $50 million effort to purge economics of its free-market zeal.” What free market zeal? I’ve never noticed any free market zeal: most economics taught to undergraduates seems decidedly statist in its leanings, so much so that I suggest to my [...]

Attacking your friends & Hotelling models

I sometimes get the impression that the party has lost all faith in being able to convince any voter of anything
Dizzy takes the view that Cameron can show his might versus his own party (again…. remember his and Osborne’s attacks on libertarians within the party) by supporting all-woman shortlists.
I am not convinced that Cameron shows [...]

Losing the culture war

Dissident Frogman suggests that we, the anti-collectivists, are losing the war for hearts and minds. He gives this example, quoting the IMDB movie page for the ‘Boat that Rocks’ – a movie about a pirate radio station.

And by “all fronts”, I do mean “all fronts”. Example? Example:
Goofs: Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors [...]

Libertine Libertarians

Matthew D’Ancona in the Telegraph:
Brown and Ed Balls cling vigorously to the belief that the 2001 and 2005 elections were won by contrasting Labour “investment” with Tory “cuts”: the reddest of the “dividing lines” beloved by the PM and his acolytes. More to the point, they believe – as an article of faith, of irreducible [...]

David Cameron’s Fixing Broken Politics Speech: accurate, libertarian & rather good

I’ve just read the full text of the speech that David Cameron gave on Tuesday. I like it. It is in fact very good indeed: libertarian and decentralizing in its tone, punchy in its delivery.
But in Britain today a growing culture of rule-following, box-ticking and central prescription robs people of the chance to [...]

“Yes, I am a libertarian.” Sanford tells conservatives not to be afraid of freedom.

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina makes some perfectly obvious points in defence of libertarianism. David Cameron and George Osborne take note.

From Wikipedia:
Sanford has sometimes had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina General Assembly, even though it is controlled by his party. The Republican-led SC House of Representatives overrode 105 of Sanford’s 106 [...]

Hasta la vista de vuestra catastrofe fiscal, Arnold.

I apologise for my Spanish.
From Reason TV:

Obama = Blair (only less talented)

Reason TV smashes Barack Obama over his disgusting hypocrisy in seeking to destroy the Washington DC voucher programme.

Of course this is no surprise to anyone who recognises Obama as a less talented version of Tony Blair. It mirrors almost perfectly Blair’s abolition of the Assisted Places Scheme upon his ascension to power. The [...]

The Conscience of a Propagandist: Paul Krugman jumps the shark

It must be easy being Paul Krugman.  To be paid for rehashing talking points from partisan blogs is a great career.  As long as he keeps remembering to put in the odd paragraph implying that everyone who disagrees with him is not just wrong, but an economic illiterate (even if they happen to be a [...]