Leadership instability hasn’t stopped the growth of government this year. The year isn’t finished yet, but the federal government has already passed 1,106 more pages than it did in all 2017:
An important new report from the Institute of Justice in the US found that occupational licencing red tape cost the American economy at least 1.8 million jobs a year and up to $7.1bn in lost output. As Daniel Wild explained in The Case for Abolishing Occupational Licensing published in May, occupational licensing erects barriers to the dignity of work and raises prices for consumers without improving quality or safety.
Crazy overtime arrangements mean 260 firefighters aligned with the United Firefighters Union earn on average $225,000 a year, but management is too scared to do anything about it. Everything Gideon Rozner said in 2016 about the “gravely ill” services under siege from the public sector unions has been vindicated. The IPA defended volunteerism in 2016 after the UFU’s attempted power grab of the Country Fire Association.
But, yeah, at least we don’t have the “problem” of private firefighters. The last thing we would want is wealthy people paying for their own services if they can, like Kanye West and Kim Kardashian did last week. As Reason asked on Friday, would the people outraged at this prefer that public resources shouldn’t focus on those who can’t afford help?
The call from European leaders to establish a Euro-army proves the Brexiteers right that the EU wants to be an empire. Victor Davis Hanson called the idea “as crackpot as it is ungracious” in National Review on Tuesday.
The dud Brexit deal released by Theresa May (which we told you about here) is about as popular as it deserves to be. One poll found only 22% of British voters felt May’s plan was acceptable. On Monday, the great Mark Steyn called May ” insincerely appalling” – compared to the at least “sincerely appalling” Jeremy Corbyn.
The feminist Women’s March movement is disintegrating because the progressive leadership has “allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LGTBQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform” according to one of its founders. They should just read this article from the Heritage Foundation which explains that free market policies are key to empowering women.
We are looking forward to celebrating with IPA members next week at the IPA’s 75th Anniversary Gala Dinner in Melbourne on 29 November, with special guests Andrew Bolt, Janet Albrechtsen, and Brendan O’Neill. Book tickets here.
Featuring Michael Ozias, Lights Camera Liberty, and Daniel Wild, IPA
| “If you’re going to see a movie, and as liberty minded people we like our heroic stories, our William Wallaces and stuff like that, but if you go and see a story about a lone champion against some cause, what is that cause going to be? These days most of the time it’s going to be some evil corporation. Some private sector entity…that has somehow become the dystopian view. In so many decades past the dystopian view was government” – Michael Ozias, Lights Camera Liberty program |
Article of the week:
This 2,800 word essay at Quillette by Uri Harris on Saturday explains how the “social justice” ideology has been institutionalised in the West in a way we haven’t seen before, and how it threatens to replace the modern criminal justice system.
IPA Staff Pick:
Each week an IPA staff member shares what they have enjoyed recently. Today: Daniel Wild
This 50 minute Ben Shapiro interview of Tucker Carlson is a must watch for anyone wanting to understand the split on the right of politics. Carlson forcefully defends a more traditionalist take on the importance of stability, family, and localism, while Shapiro pushes back with a more libertarian, “movement conservative” point of view, underpinned by his Jewish faith.
Here’s what else the IPA said this week:
- John Roskam, The heavy hand of free speech – The Australian Financial Review
- Matthew Lesh, A chance for universities to think again – The Australian
- Scott Hargreaves, Stick your neck out, review of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Skin in the Game – IPA Review
- Gideon Rozner, The state of free speech at universities – Sky News Outsiders
- Daniel Wild, Loans are a wrong and risky way to help small business, Mr Treasurer, The Spectator
- Matthew Lesh, Decision on Belt and Road a “disgrace” – ABC News Weekend Breakfast
- Gideon Rozner, Academics don’t understand Western Civilisation – Sky News Outsiders
