Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau
A student with a very enthusiastic yet serious demeanor, and very responsible habits, recently asked if he could work in my research group.  He has few relevant skills at this point, and my crew is pretty full, but I want to help him, so we’re applying for some programs that support undergrads in research.  [...]

By Thoreau
Recently, The Economist had an interesting special report on the problems in California’s version of democracy.  They largely focus on the problems in the initiative process, and note (correctly) that many other US states and also some other industrialized democratic countries (e.g. Switzerland) use some form of direct democracy without experiencing problems comparable to [...]

By Thoreau
In the past month, two things have put prescription drug policy on my mind:
1)  I have a relative who is in severe and chronic pain due to some injuries and illnesses.  She is also a healthcare professional, so I trust her assessment of the situation when she says that doctors have become increasingly frightened [...]

By Thoreau
Jason Kuznicki does a class analysis of 4 libertarian issues (eminent domain, drugs, war, and intellectual property) and concludes that the common libertarian stances are, at least on these issues, very contrary to our stereotypes as apologists for the elite class.  On the size of the military budget, I think he’s being too harsh [...]