The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a much-needed conversation on the use of emergency powers as they are fraught with power temptations and only suboptimal public benefit. President Biden’s failed vaccine mandate for private businesses and Prime Minister Trudeau’s use of emergency powers against the Canadian truck protest further urgency to this discussion and raise critical questions about what incentives inspired these policies.
Continue reading “Who Is Served by Emergency Powers?”
When I was a kid — and the same with my parents when they were young — you could count on certain fundamentals in politics. The Chamber of Commerce represented business, and business generally favored free enterprise. Not always, but mostly.
Small businesses could become big and big could become small, but they generally opposed socialism, big government, regulation, and high taxes. For this reason, they generally supported the Republican Party.
Continue reading “Patricians vs. Plebeians: The Realignment”