More and more things are returning to normal. Some commercial for something a lady is trying on pants and being excited about wearing pants. Recently, I noted coming across a used condom in the parking lot instead of a disintegrated mask, marking that things are returning to normal.
Not everyone seems to be okay with this.
This is my review of Fort Collins Brewery Kettle Soured Dark Cherry Imperial Red Ale:
Which brings me to this piece on how individualism goes against the idea of public health. (TW: The Atlantic)
Framing one’s health as a matter of personal choice “is fundamentally against the very notion of public health,” Aparna Nair, a historian and an anthropologist of public health at the University of Oklahoma, told me. “For that to come from one of the most powerful voices in public health today … I was taken aback.” (The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.) It was especially surprising coming from a new administration. Donald Trump was a manifestation of America’s id—an unempathetic narcissist who talked about dominating the virus through personal strength while leaving states and citizens to fend for themselves. Joe Biden, by contrast, took COVID-19 seriously from the off, committed to ensuring an equitable pandemic response, and promised to invest $7.4 billion in strengthening America’s chronically underfunded public-health workforce. And yet, the same peal of individualism that rang in his predecessor’s words still echoes in his. “The rule is very simple: Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do,” Biden said after the CDC announced its new guidance. “The choice is yours.”
Nowhere in this article does it appear it occurred to the writer that last line is technically blackmail. The writer’s premise should you bother reading, is public health measures would simply work better if people would just follow along and do what they are told. Its easier to do in cultures of high conformity, therefore public health measures should not be presented as a personal choice. The danger of somebody choosing wrong will kill us all.
It was then pointed out to me in conversation this is not an unusual circumstance. The field of public health like any other is subject to forces that drive out heterodox opinions. Take economics for example:
Many factors have contributed, but three especially. First, neoclassical economists have as a group deluded themselves into believing that all you need for an exact science is mathematics, and never mind about whether the symbols used refer quantitatively to the real world. What began as an indulgence became an addiction, leading to a collective fantasy of scientific achievement where in most cases none exists. To preserve their illusions, neoclassical economists have found it increasingly necessary to isolate themselves from non-believers.
Second, as Joseph Stiglitz has observed, economics has suffered a triumph of ideology over science.1 Instead of regarding their theory as a tool in the pursuit of knowledge, neoclassical economists have made it the
required viewpoint from which, at all times and in all places, to look at all economic phenomena. This is the position of neoliberalism.
Those naturally prone to contrarian thinking see this in real time, everyday, for a variety of subjects. People like this are probably dangerous.
The issue the field of public health faces, is heavy reliance on statistical modeling of large populations. When their measures fail they don’t consider the possibility the model relied on faulty assumptions. Its we that are wrong, not the model. This is Hayek’s “Knowledge Problem” in action. Need an example? In spite of the public being well aware smoking can cause cancer for decades, people still buy cigarettes.
Not just another sour cherry ale, this one had cherries soured in a kettle? I did not intentionally make that last sentence sound like the first two lines of a limerick. Unlike the one from last week, it doesn’t drive me to consider listening to quackery. This is more like the one that reminded me of cherries jubilee, except dryer. It pretty good but its a bit pricey. Fort Collins Brewery Kettle Soured Dark Cherry Imperial Red Ale: 4.1/5
Read that article and a few others this week (cached only) while “working” late to make up hours. They may publish McWhorter and a few others, but most of the folks there are insanely unaware (see also the one about The Four Americas).
Second, as Joseph Stiglitz has observed, economics has suffered a triumph of ideology over science.
Joe knows ideology.
Not just another sour cherry ale, this one had cherries soured in a kettle?
Kettle souring is a brewing technique for making a sour ale quickly. The wort is held at 90 to 110 degrees so that the lactobacillus bacteria can quickly convert sugar to lactic acid. Then the beer is brought to a boil to kill the bacteria. Hops may be added at this time.
Cherry would be added after the boil and during fermentation or after fermentation during aging.
The label says fermented on dark cherries and also lists the hops used for the beer.
I really just wanted a classic H&R Limerick thread.
Not just another sour cheery ale,
This one had cherries soured in a kettle,
Dakota died but don’t count that as a fail,
Just
pourrub one out for her and call it a settle.While it wasn’t you, she was a gal many guys did nail.
*golf clap*
Narrator: Joe Biden is also an unempathetic narcissist – the author is just too stupid and biased to see it. And… “America’s id”? GTFOOHWTS.
Yup…
I want to know who is America’s ego.
I think I’m qualified. What does it pay?
Nothing.
Its we that are wrong, not the model.
No kidding. If those models had been wrong by accident they would have been corrected.
The issue the field of public health faces, is heavy reliance on statistical modeling of large populations.
Here I thought the problem was that the field is made up of fascists, authoritarians, and other similar cunts.
The beer looks good.
It certainly enables those cunts.
Apparently some soccer guy died.
Team penalized because he didn’t grab his knee going down.
Twatterers are asking unironically if the guy was vaccinated.
They are magical after all.
He’s just resting
Pining for the fjords?
He seems stable. The players agreed to resume the match soon. And the asshole commentators are bitching that the rest of the world must be put on hold. I just don’t get people these days.
Note to sports talkers: the rest of the world isn’t the wilting emotional flowers that you are. They’re still bitching about it.
I saw the exact same thing happen in 2012 and it wasn’t like this. The game went on and there were no calls to cancel the rest of the world.
How Lukuku will play in a different match because Eriksen was such a close teammate of his in Inter? That was their concern. Seriously. They played in the same club for one season. I remember I was told that my grandpa died 5 minutes before the start of the class I had to teach. I taught the class as intended.
Lukaku can GFH, just in general.
They were still bitching during halftime of the Belgium game. I love Eriksen from his time at Spurs and it was a scary moment… but he’s fine? Be grateful for that and finish the fucking game.
Also, Castagne’s face is the real loser this weekend.
I flipped away. Maybe tomorrow’s matches will be more competitive. This one ain’t.
I didn’t have time to watch the soccer. Had to go out and buy a new kitchen faucet and then watched the tennis on the DVR.
Ima apply the 48 hour rule to that one
Jesus did the 72 Hour Rule.
After (((you))) put the hit on him
Yeah, but the wops did the hit. And clearly fucked it up, dude was walking around three days later. It was only a flesh wound.
Just like a wop to bring a cross to a gunfight
You win, I can’t possibly top that.
I would have gone with “godfight”.
JFC, went shopping at Wegmans today. Easily 70% still masked.
People really like their masks.
I didn’t count how many I saw at the grocery store, but it wasn’t anywhere near that high.
Went to the dentist yesterday morning for the first time in far too long. (I’d had an appointment a year ago April, but that got canceled on me.) Went maskless, as we Buckeyes mostly can now, and the hygienist made me put one on to walk down the hall to the exam room – before she dived into my mouth to clean off a year-and-a-half’s worth of tartar buildup.
*makes note to schedule a cleaning*
Yeah, it has been a while.
I’ve been twice since the shut down. The first time was about a year ago, the first week they reopened. Lucky me to have had that scheduled months in advance. They were super uptight. The next visit 6 months later they were noticeably less uptight. I think I have another routine visit coming up soon.
CDC guidance is that everyone has to wear face diapers in a health care facility.
I have to schedule an eye check-up which I will do after my western road trip. I will switch eye doctors if I need to so that I don’t need to wear a face diaper. Similarly with a dentist appointment later in the summer. I like both places and was willing to tolerate a face diaper back when the government was saying “mask up or else”, but now? Fuck you, I don’t give a shit about the CDC guidance.
I don’t actually mind wearing a mask where sick people gather.
If I see one mask on an outing here it is unusual.
Same here. We went for groceries yesterday and saw precisely one mask, that on an elderly (certainly over 80) lady.
Yes, here too generally. It is the elderly that are wearing them.
Here’s it the elderly and almost everyone under 40 or so.
Here in NJ, the richer the town and fancier the store, the more masks you’ll see. My wife was in Whole Foods the other day and had to ask an employee if masks were required because everyone was wearing them. When he said “no”, she kept shopping without one.
Good times breed weak minds?
Yep.
My wife said about 50/50 in our Whole Paycheck here in town.
I went grocery shopping and most people were masked, so I reveled in my masklessness
Last time I was grocery shopping was the first time there were more people without a mask than with a mask. This is the store I’ve been going to for the last several months because they didn’t care that I shopped without a mask. In fact, I think a few of the staff liked it.
I still occasionally see people walking around outdoors in Nashua and Manchester wearing masks. Ugh.
No kidding. My mother has taken up the torch of all holy mask wearer. Only took her seven or eight months to be such a virtue signaler after I had the Wuh flu last February to become a mask believer. It’s probably a result of me sending her information on how useless all the covid protocols are.
Also she’s got PBS on 24-7 in her kitchen.
Already getting questioned about why I wouldn’t want a Vid Vax, and people are keeping track of what chairs people have sat in.
Thankfully my sunglasses hide the eye rolls from me.
SERENITY NOW!
JFC, Where do you live?
Hint: the city that tried to burn down its river.
Sounds like a whole different breed of critters live there, or maybe I should single here out.
It’s two of the girlfriend’s relatives who are over 60 and mainline CNN 24/7. They are not representative of the rest of the residents of the area. One is over 90 and already has cancer. But the fabric mask will protect her.
Fear makes people do dumb things.
I’m doing my best to be polite and noncommittal. It’s getting harder the longer I’m here.
That is the reason I moved to the middle of nowhere. When they first announced the lockdowns my response was ” Oh dear. Whatever you do, don’t throw me in the briar patch!”
My life has been essentially unchanged but it is rage inducing to watch from afar the tide of stupid that is drowning my country.
Whew. I had to quit with the grass. Too hot and humid. I am having to do it with a push mower because I cant buy a fucking lawn tractor. What I want to do is grab that garden gnome Fauci by one of his giant ears, drag him here and make him cut my grass with scissors. Words cant describe how much I loath that little toad.
Oh… that kind of grass.
Heh. Yeah. I never had any use for the other kind. I think I took one puff around 1980. I found it disgusting.
Doing our little postage stamp with a push mower already has destroyed me for the rest of the day; it’s a touch hot and sunny here. I will have to resort to a large intake of fluids.
A touch?
The trouble here is that the humidity is so high sweat doesnt evaporate so you cant cool off. I occasionally resort to running the water hose over my head. I am already soaked so what the hell?
Where you are the temps are higher but…you know…it’s a dry heat. I remember once driving through Phoenix, rolling car window down and putting my hand out. The rush of air made my hand hotter. It was like holding my hand in front of a heater. I lived in Tucson for a while but for some reason Phoenix is markedly hotter than it’s southern neighbor.
You better watch out working in that heat. It can sneak up on you.
Sunny and 62 here in the Great Land at the moment. They are already talking about unseasonably warm temps early next week though – might hit the upper 70s.
Two big reasons Tucson is cooler. Tucson is around 1000 feet higher (so 5 degrees cooler) than Penix -and- because of long held practices has many less acres of asphalt and concrete around. Phoenix actually sits in a heat bubble and the temps cools off as you leave the urban areas for the surrounding desert.
Generally 112 “Go to the Moon Degrees” is when moving air ceases to cool and just becomes hot air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oEnNXyEPlQ
(Narrator: “Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport was used for the landing footage.)
It may hit 81 here today and the Trade Winds are moving so it is comfortable.
Standard lapse rate is 3.5 degrees F per thousand feet
you need to add more positive feedback
Tucson is generally around 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Where I live is generally a few degrees cooler than the official Tucson temp.
Phoenix actually sits in a heat bubble and the temps cools off as you leave the urban areas for the surrounding desert.
The concrete island effect is real. When I worked downtown the thermometer in my car routinely got to 140 in the middle of summer.
The summer I shaved my head, I was working outdoors and knew I would be all summer. Mind you, my hair is thick, hot, heavy, and it was pretty long at the time. I took a break, put the hose nozzle to my head and the water never touched my scalp.
I said, “Fuck that,” went to Walmart immediately (when they had a salon), and got my head shaved.
Hawt.
And humid.
*fans self*
Not related to anything I was talking with my friend in Japan last night and could not keeping from mixing up the word for taste and foot. あじ and あし. As you can see in hiragana they look almost the same. The pronunciation is close.
Maybe for a rather funny conversation as I was essentially saying things did or didn’t taste like a foot.
“I was essentially saying things did or didn’t taste like a foot.”
Well, it is an accurate statement.
“Is it bigger than a breadbox?”
足は鶏肉みたいな味ですか？
Doesn’t everything?
I reveled in my masklessness
Show off that smile, you exhibitionist.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oa2VcmPci0Y
Demo Ranch lays out all his guns. ?
On the one hand, dude has some cool shit.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t share a range with any of those yahoos.
Aparna Nair, a historian and an anthropologist of public health at the University of Oklahoma
Why should I give half a shit what you have to say?
Um… wut?
Just smile and wave…
It’s not public health, it’s government health.
Bucharest after yesterday’s rain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZFn1jGltw4
https://www.romaniatv.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/inundatii-bucuresti-2.jpeg
Amphicars!
Oh wait, those cars can’t float.
Also the stadium got all wet while Austria was training for the Euro match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2HfHChXqQ
The stadium has a retractable roof but it is a Uefa rule that since not all stadiums have roofs you are not allowed to use the roof before Euro games so the roof was kept retracted despite the rain
For once I agree with UEFA.
That dude on the scooter. LOL
Is that a guy in a lawn chair in the right-hand pic?
I made the mistake of visiting the LGS. They had a CX4, Keltec RDB, and a Shockwave among a bunch of other stuff. Thankfully the shockwave was in 12ga not 20. I did take this home for less than msrp
https://www.beretta.com/en-us/3032-tomcat-fde/
I’d only seen the rerelease in inox so I gave in. Now to find mouse gun pellets.
Adorbs.
I don’t stock .32 acp.
Same here. I have a 32 mag. I only bought it because it was a cant pass up deal. I never had much respect for .32 until I shot that thing. Holy cow. I shot a steel drum from 100 feet or so. I figured it would penetrate the front, dent the back and drop in the drum. Nope. I dont think it even slowed down. Damned thing shoots like a rifle.
My impression of .32’s was based on my great grandfather’s 32-20. At 50 feet you can see the bullet on the way to the target and it will stick in oak wood with 1//4″ of the base sticking out. Not so the 32 Mag.
I dont think I have ever fired a 32 auto.
They also have a Banshee coming Tuesday.
If only the ammo was replenishing as quickly as inventory seems to be.
Speaking of drive-by-wire, Rosenqvist just found out what happens when it fails. The fucking thing went WFO on a downshift at Detroit.
On almost every car recently built, everything that you can do to affect what your car does is run through a computer that interprets your intent. Nothing mechanically connected at all.
This will turn out well in the upcoming singularity / robot apocalypse, where the newly self-aware machines will continue serenely accepting being our slaves, yeah?
Aparna Nair, a historian and an anthropologist of public health at the University of Oklahoma
aka self-promoting fabulist.
Bucharest after yesterday’s rain
Bottle it and sell it to California.
Sadly I can only sell by liter and you people only buy by gallon
Fuck you racist scum ABC commentators. Russians don’t take a knee to celebrate BLM. And these racist assholes brought up racism in Eastern Europe. You’re racist scum — not Russians.
An easy way to dehumanize your opponent is to imagine that everyone sees through the same lens you do but choose to do what you do not choose to do. That also leads to applying your lens and moral standards to other cultures and people from the past.
It is called stupidity.
I thought only the English league was still playing at that theater. Why would they raise the issue now? Did Belgium do it? If so, I hate them even more.
*flips over*
Ugh, Twellman – that twat.
All of them are doing it at the Euro. Unless you’re from a racist backward Eastern European country.
Pathetic. I will be rooting for racist backward Eastern European countries. I’m sick of this shit.
The hilarious side of it is that Scotland will take a knee when they play England at Wembley but will “stand against racism in their home group matches.”
Scotland’s manager wrote:
“It’s not about what we do. It’s not about whether we take a stand against racism or you take the knee against racism. We’re trying to send a message out there to society – we have to do better.
Discrimination in any shape or form is unacceptable. That should be the key message.”
If it doesn’t matter what you do then why do anything? How about just not being a racist – as he almost certainly is not anyway.
“How about just not being a racist – as he almost certainly is not anyway.”
Except against the English. Just that one group.
Oh, and the French, just those two groups.
Then there is the Jews, so just those three groups.
You see where this is going…
The Scots are good at ending the knee for the English.
Fucking dummy IndyCar doctor is all masked up for the interview.
SCIENCE!
“Muhmuhmuh shuh shuh shuh Tucson duhduhduh”
Seriously though, I hope it’s just a segment for the broadcast and not the dreaded kind of doctor announcement
/not currently watching the race
I have tried sour beers. They all tasted terrible. It’s like, “we need to do something different, and making something tasty become sour and nastu is different, so we will do it.”
Sour can be legit, but it falls under the “moderation in all things” rule.
Ya, I like sour as a flavor, but I have yet to have a sour beer I am a fan of. I imagine one might be out there I just haven’t came across it yet.
Sour is a tough one to balance. That’s why most of the really good ones are generally blended from multiple vintages of the same base wort. Well made sours can be exquisite. Poorly made ones… can be as bad as any other poorly made beer.
Seriously though, I hope it’s just a segment for the broadcast and not the dreaded kind of doctor announcement
/not currently watching the race
Detroit. Rosenqvist’s throttle went wide open on a downshift for a corner. Something to do with the paddle shift software, I’d guess.
The doctor was saying he’s not (obviously) seriously hurt. They have been repairing the barrier for an hour or so. I was actually doing something productive (replacing the wheel bearings on my trailer) when I stopped to watch. I figure they’ll shift the broadcast to a channel I don’t get when the race restarts.
Good to hear that he’s alright. I saw some pictures of the crash and it looked violent, to say the least. Detroit isn’t the place to have a stuck throttle. Not much room to avoid going head on into a wall in that situation.
I am bleeding, pissed off, can’t get some road soot off my scared arms, but the new alternator is in the Nissan and now it is time for a few of these and light the grill in a bit. As soon as this POS is running again I am going to trade it in on a better POS.
Yay for the beer, and sympathy for the pain-in-the-butt you’re dealing with.
My husband brought home a few Artifex Kettle Sours. He’s currently conked out on the recliner so I think I’ll help myself to one…
?
Drivers to your cars.
I managed to uninstall the old dishwasher; no drama. It had needed the metal shim because one of its adjustable feet on front was on the kitchen floor tile, and the other was down in the 1/2 inch lower base floor. Who knew?
Anyway, my knees were killing me after I’d undone the hoses and such and wriggled if outta there with the help of a crowbar, a dolly, and finesse.
I took a break and then just got a call from one of the handymen I’d tried to reach earlier. His other job finished early so he can come today! Due any minute.
I’ll let his knees do the rest.
Yay.
Ha! The workmen are here now.
The familiar: 2 workmen in my house speaking a foreign language with each other.
The unfamiliar: the foreign language they’re speaking is Russian, not Spanish.
I’m wearing my orthodox cross; maybe I’ll get a discount.
Good news.
I would trust a Russian any day over…others. My father hired some Mexicans to help him move. Half-way through the move before they would unload his stuff they upped the price.
Yeah, avoiding the unskilled Mexican labor is difficult. The good guys from Central America have to bend over backwards to distinguish themselves from the usual gang of essais from the Home Depot parking lot.
I’ve had it up to here with the “mañana”culture.
I need to learn Spanish. It’s just one of those necessary life skills like driving and swimming.
You can always learn it tomorrow.
I actually took Spanish I and II in college and don’t seem to remember a lick of it.
Blackjack, I see what you did there, essai.
I’ve been thinking about that too.
I used to want to learn ASL but that was before I knew that the deaf community is not particularly fond of hearing people building bridges.
No, from some research I was doing for a deaf character, I decided to stay out of that mud wrestling ring, ‘cuz it is.
Meh, I doubt that had anything to do with them being Mexican and more to do with them being assholes. Assholeiness knows no heritage. I have met assholes from many countries. Even Russia. I have also met great people from many countries including both Mexico and Russia. People are people and some are assholes.
These guys are not assholes. Apparently my dishwasher installation is tricky, and not helped by the fact that the Home Depot essais who delivered the new dishwasher neglected to include the bracket that should have come with it.
But these guys talked and innovated and said “Tell your husband he doesn’t need to call Home Depot. We got this.”
And they just called me over to look at it before completely securing it to make sure I was ok with the cosmetic appearance and quality of connections.
?
These dudes are getting tipped.
And they did indeed notice my orthodox cross and we chatted about that a bit!
Good guys. Going to get online and post a review.
?
?
https://gunmagwarehouse.com/6-for-59-99-shipped-magpul-pmag-gen-m2-moe-magazine-ar-15-223-5-56-30-round.html
Pmags on sale.
Hrm. Now that I’ve moved from Colorado (15-round magazine limit) to a free state, I can buy these, but I already have a basic load for each of our ARs and would rather sink money into stuff I actually like. On the other hand… more mags. What to do, what to do…
https://degette.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/lawmakers-move-to-ban-high-capacity-gun-magazines-nationwide
The front range is a plague upon the nation.
FU Colorado legislature!
There’s a house for sale in our little community. Just sayin’.
Too far north. When I vacate I am heading to lower latitudes. The equator is where it’s at as far as I am concerned.
Well, every cat its own rat, as my Grandpa used to say.
Linky? More interested in a build than house. And Alsaka was less than ideal in their governments response… but keep options open!
Is that all still due to that one jackass in the movie theater in aurora?
That smacks of Waving the Bloody Shirt.
Any legislation that is named after a particular child is a bad idea. Any legislation that is passed on emotions after a single incident is a bad idea.
What good is the bill of rights if states can just ignore it?
What good is the bill of rights if states can just ignore it?
Absolutely no good.
So about the incorporation doctrine…
What good are their crimes contravening the constitution if we can just ignore them?
I like the 180 there.
I have a few but they dont function as well as the 20’s and I only load them with 18. Topping off high cap mags seems to make the first couple of rounds not feed well.
I was lucky enough to acquire a pile of them before the craziness began.
*shrug*
I have no problems with them in gen2 or gen3.
I have both Lancers and Gen 2 PMAGs as a result of Magpul’s “Boulder Airlift” where they prioritized orders for CO residents prior to the ban.
No problems with either but like Suthen, I load 28 if its going to remain loaded until needed.
Ah, well I dont have an AR. I never have been a fan but I imagine by now the design flaws have been ironed out. They are probably just fine now. I may start asking advice soon on the best AR choice. I want one with a piston and no gas on the bolt nonsense.
Good luck. Piston ARs seem to be limited again. No more Sig 516.
There are only a very few good piston ARs, and only a very few good reasons to use one.
If you have an AR that won’t reliably feed 30 rounds from a 30 round magazine, something on it is broken and needs to be fixed.
The whole load-28-in-a-30 thing is for two reasons – one, to make it easier to seat the magazine on a closed bolt, and two, to prevent people (by which I mean infantrymen) from loading 31 rounds in a 30, which can be done if you use muscle, and will fuck things up.
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20210612/281835761644529
So the homos aren’t safe. Also said statute was erected less than 20 years ago and its installation was supported by the same org that now wants to pull it down…
Your mom has been making things erect for over 20 years.
No amount of other intersectionality can overcome the fact that he was a white male.
It’s all groups and pigeonholing into categories that change on a whim.
Heaven forbid we actually start evaluating people on the content of their character or on their works.
That would be, like, acknowledging individual human value or some such icky thing.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34039063/
This is just a bunch of kooky college kids…
College ruins people.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/20/the-invention-of-whiteness-long-history-dangerous-idea
I like how Ulysses S. Grant is shown prominently here as an a example of whiteness. We went mighty quick from demonizing Robert E. Lee and deifying Grant to demonizing Grant again…
Back home long enough to drink some water, change, and then hop on the bike to get a ride in to get dinner. Have fun all.
Aged like fine wine:
https://fee.org/articles/free-trade-and-human-rights-in-china/
A free-market approach to human rights policy does not mean an attitude of indifference toward human rights abuses. Using slave labor or political prisoners and compelling very young children to compete in international markets are wrong.
LOL
The logical alternative is to use the leverage of trade to open authoritarian regimes to market forces and let the rule of law and democratic values evolve spontaneously as they have in Chile, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Uh the leverage used in the countries was that the US supported those regimes in the first place.
The liberalization and decentralization of economic life in China has widened the scope for civil society. Princeton University professor Minxin Pei believes that the gradual development of China’s legal system toward affording greater protection for persons and property, the growing independence and educational levels of members of the National People’s Congress, and the recent experiments with self-government at the grassroots level will help move China toward a more open and democratic society. He points to the upward mobility of ordinary people, occasioned by the deepening of economic reform, and to the positive impact of trade liberalization on political norms. In his view public opinion and knowledge of Western liberal traditions, such as the rule of law, have set implicit limits on the state’s use of power and have promoted the democratization of the legal system. There has been a sharp rise in the number of civil lawsuits against the state, and individuals are winning about one-fifth of their cases, according to Pei
“…use the leverage of trade to open authoritarian regimes to market forces and let the rule of law and democratic values evolve spontaneously ”
We tried that with China already. How’s that working out?
When I say that the “free trade will liberate China” argument is based almost entirely on the experience of Mid-Victorian England I am not kidding. The Cato guy above mentions Chile, South Korea and Taiwan however those authoritarian regimes were supported by the US in the first place which is more important factor. The Dutch Republic? Result of a lengthy rebellion against the Spanish. The US? Republicans were protectionist. Germany? Bismarck was a protectionist. France? Well if anything Napoleon III’s free trade policies strengthened the opposition. Oh and what toppled him was a foreign invasion. And the Third Republic implemented tariffs in the 1890s.
Sorry in the Second Empire Napoleon III’s free trade policies alienated protectionist industries and the opposition was mad that he implemented free trade unilaterally.
Today’s harvest: green beans, peas, romaine, green onions, and a couple carrots. More beets are ready, I’ll be picking more peas, beans, romaine and green onions Monday.