"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable." -H.L. Mencken 

It is often the case that laws have the exact opposite effect of their intended and stated purpose.  The Disclose Act has the stated goal of strengthening democracy.  One way intends to do this is to ban foreign nationals from contributing to American electoral politics.  However, is democracy strengthened by denying foreign nationals not only a vote but also a voice in affairs that have a major impact on their lives and well being?  

USA Today, on both sides of its editorial page debate, addresses the unequal treatment of interest groups, which is admittedly grotesque, but fails to mention the injustice of this law to the 1st Amendment rights of foreigners on our soil.  Or do foreigners have no rights on our soil?

F.A. Hayek and John Kenneth Galbraith had it out about the merits of advertisements in N. Gregory Mankiw's introductory economics textbook (though maybe not in real life) that Dr. Mankiw reproduces in his blog.  Indeed, I highly recommend reading this particular blog to any reader of Ludwig von Mises.  

The Washington Post came out with an article today reporting on Trey Grayson's claims that Rand Paul's campaign is using "widespread voter intimidation" tactics.  These claims are based on this "election day precinct activities" guide for Rand Paul volunteers.  

What Grayson is claiming is that it is illegal for Rand Paul volunteers to check voting machines to see if they are set at zero.  Grayson claims that Rand Paul gave volunteers illegal instructions.  Here are the instructions Rand Paul's campaign gave:

Attempt to determine that all voting machines are set to zero.  Ask kindly but do NOT argue if they don't allow us.  Immediately call the election hotline to report these incidents.

At the bottom of the instructions there is a stamp that says "Received, May 18 2010, State Board of Elections."  

It gets better.

A sad and unfortunate statistic, as is any statistic that elucidates the toll of empire on human life, is the amount of suicide compared to the amount of combatant death in the military.  Soldiers are killing themselves at a higher rate than they are being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

Not only are soldiers killing themselves at a higher rate than the war is, but their suicide rate has been increasing.  This may be celebrated by Malthusians and Keynesians, but for those of us who understand the division of labor and markets, we understand that the death of an individual is not only devastating to that individuals family, but it causes nothing but destruction.  There is NOTHING good that comes from the death of a soldier.  Bring them home; let them out of their military obligations; let them pursue happiness in peace.  

Most of you are probably too young to remember the stamp act of 1765, but we fought a revolution over it.  Interestingly, Indiana University-Kokomo is restricting political speech by taking down clearly temporary signs that advertised a book club my YAL group hosted a few hours ago (books provided by Students for Liberty).

Our book club was assigned to a room that is far from where students normally tread, so I quickly made up signs with arrows to point the way.  An art teacher was going to attend, but he said he didn't want to have to search the entire campus to find the place.

After finishing the good discussions we had about Mises, we left, taking down signs as we walked.  When I couldn't find any signs I just assumed that a group member had reached them before I could.

Upon arriving home I get this e-mail:

FYI in case you might have missed this when we sent it. I know we sent it over break and sometimes things might get lost of the shuffle. You’ll probably notice that most of your signs have been removed. Anything that’s posted incorrectly and/or not stamped is removed. Thanks.