Archives: July 2024

Excerpts from Reason's vault

5 years ago
July 2019

"Calling someone a cop invokes the worst sorts of police overreach, a legalistic authoritarianism that exists for its own sake. During her 28-year tenure as a county prosecutor, district attorney (D.A.), and state attorney general (A.G.), [Kamala] Harris proved quite willing to live up to the epithet. In the public eye, she spoke of racial justice and liberal values, bolstering her cred as one of the Democratic Party's rising stars. But behind closed doors, she repeatedly fought for more aggressive prosecution not just of violent criminals but of people who committed misdemeanors and 'quality of life' crimes."
Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Kamala Harris Is a Cop Who Wants To Be President"

10 years ago
July 2014

"We all give up gigabytes of personal information to Facebook, Foursquare, Google, AT&T—and that's just the voluntary stuff. In the past year, former government contractor Edward Snowden has revealed that our own government has been engaging in pervasive domestic spying, keeping track of everyone we've called, for how long we spoke, and from where. Privacy looks increasingly like a quaint mid-20th century relic."
Ronald Bailey
"Welcome to the Naked Future"

30 years ago
July 1994

"The notion still reigns in some Democratic circles that there's nothing like inflation to put people back to work. [President Bill] Clinton, for his part, makes a fetish of keeping interest rates low—an unrealistic goal when expanding economies in Asia, Latin America, and parts of the old Eastern bloc will drive up the demand for credit and thus the price of money. Meanwhile, the budget deficit exerts steady pressure to inflate so the government can pay off creditors in cheaper dollars. The next decade may not look at all like the past one."
Virginia Postrel
"Fed Up"

"Introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the 'assault weapon' ban forbids making or importing ammunition clips holding more than 10 rounds and semiautomatic firearms that accept such clips and have two or more of these features: folding stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, threaded barrel for a flash suppressor, grenade launch mount, barrel shroud. The law bans 19 firearms by name, but it covers a total of 184 current models, as well as any new guns that fit the definition. Notwithstanding the claim by three former presidents that 'this is a matter of vital importance to the public safety,' there is little reason to believe that banning these weapons will have any effect on violent crime. Despite the scary-looking, military-style features, the guns are no more lethal than hundreds of firearms that remain legal."
Jacob Sullum
"Weapon Assault"

45 years ago
July 1979

"It is widely acknowledged that the tremendous decline in the value of the dollar is due to Washington's continued inflationary policies. Since 1975 US inflation rates have consistently exceeded those of Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, whose officials have had the courage to resist political pressures for a perpetual free lunch. US tax policies are among the most anti-investment in the industrial world, leading to appallingly low rates of saving and investment. Thus, the productive capacity of US industry continues to erode, relative to that of other advanced countries."
Robert Poole Jr.
"On the Decline of US Power"

50 years ago
July 1974

"Freedom of speech means nothing if it does not include the right to say things others disagree with. It is especially crucial that the government be prevented from restricting what one may say about the government itself. The advocates of contribution and spending limitations say they will make elections more 'fair,' but no system can be fair if it restricts the ways in which a person can peacefully spend his own money and what he can say about political issues."
Sara Baase
"The Libertarian Case Against 'Public' Financing of Elections"