Wayward Landlubber

There's a joke among economists and Civil Rights activists: Q: What is the difference between libertarians and civil libertarians? A) We're civil. You Leonard, graduated from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. That's a prestigious higher education. Many of us wonder how someone with such distinguished scholarship can speak with such imprecision. Is it because you are a Republican? They seem to have a distance to travel between word usage and word meaning. Do we have evidence to bolster our statement? Yes! You people give us plenty of examples. You even elected an example this year for president, after an undistinguished first term. For someone of your credentials to speak with the level of intolerance that we have come to expect from you people means, either you are speaking down to us, or you do not care to speak with us. On a recent day you were interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition. In that interview you said quite explicitely that you want to "crush libe...

A friend of mine, a retired teacher and swimming coach, asked me what we do now. This query was prompted by the recent presidential election, which in the future may become more like Russia's elections. Or Hungary's. We are now faced with a president who fancies himself a 21st century Hitler. As this letter is written, he is assembling a cabinet that is filled with unqualified people ready to swear fealty to this demigogue-to-be. An attorney General who has been credibly charged with drug abuse and sex-trafficking. A Director of National Intelligence who has not exhibited intelligence, and has been accused of being uncomfortably close to Vladimir Putin. A Director of Homeland Security who shot her puppy because he wouldn't behave. That is only three of close to two-dozen of the least competent people to lead massive public bureaucracies, and growing daily. A paranoid observer might think this is being done by design. As if the objective is to disassemble the administrative ...