I have a liberal friend with whom I have fairly frequent serious discussions. He thinks of himself as a moderate liberal, even a centrist because his owns guns and his guns are dear to him. Yet, he voted for Obama and he can give a spirited defense of every aspect of Obama’s policies and actions. … Continue reading Telling the Truth and Tarentino, Liberals, the Secretary of State, and the President
Note: This is a replay. It’s been an unusually cold and rainy month of May in northern California. Thousands of miles to the east and north, in Paris, France, a May cold record held for sixteen years was beaten recently according to Le Figaro of 5/11/10. I don’t know if any of this means anything … Continue reading The Cold in California, in Europe, and in Liberal Hearts (Updated)
I have spent thirty years in academia as a teacher and as a scholar. If you count the embarrassingly long periods I was a student, it adds up to much more time. After retiring, I am full of thoughts and ideas about academia. I feel almost no remorse at all but there is a lot of … Continue reading Sasquatch and Liberal Academe
Intro Note: Since I posted this short essay, MSNBC and National Public Radio have been atwitter with discussions of Post Combat Stress Disorder because of the new Fort Hood shooting. One commentator on MSBC I took to be some sort of mental health expect declared with a straight face that PCSD is hard to “pin … Continue reading War Exposure and Suicide, a Scientific Study
In the past few months, I have been exposed to more works by African Americans and to more documents about the black condition in America than usual. So far, I haven’t learned anything really new, perhaps because I am a sociologist by trade with an interest in slavery going back fifty years. All the same, … Continue reading Awareness of Racism and Singing to the Choir
American society, American whites, non-black minorities, and even some African Americans, have not fully absorbed the fact that American slavery was a long story of atrocities. It was also an endeavor of mass rape, as the light skin color of many African Americans demonstrates. (It was rape by definition; human “property” does not have the … Continue reading The Great American Racial Awakening (Part Three): “It Wasn’t Me!” and Something to be Done.
At nine, two flows of humanity cross each other in front of Lulu Carpenter’s, the upscale coffee shop at the top of Pacific Avenue. Pacific Avenue is the main walking commercial thoroughfare, surprisingly well re-designed after the destruction 1989 earthquake. It’s nothing like the collection of cheap motels leading to the Boardwalk that greets the … Continue reading The Best Coffee Shop in the People’s Green Socialist Republic of Santa Cruz, California
Mr Trump is practically gone and he is not coming back. (For one thing, he will be too old in 2024. For another thing, see below.) The political conditions that got such an un-preposterous candidate elected in 2016 however, those conditions, don’t look like they are going away. (I hope I am wrong.) A large … Continue reading Post-Mortem
I have to report that I think my advancing age is not preventing me from gathering facts and exercising criticality. (Sorry, Joe; I don’t mean to put you down. – Joe Biden and I are the same age. But, I know what I am talking about.) The year 2020 was rough, of course, not so … Continue reading Next
Are you a racist? Anyone can feel free to answer this question any way it/she/he wishes; they wish. And that’s the problem. In this short essay, I aim first to do a little vocabulary house-keeping. Second, I try to trace three distinct origins of racism. I operate from thin authority. My main sources are sundry … Continue reading Three Roads to Racism
For several weeks, nearly every night, I have a déjà vu experience. First, I watch Fox News where I see crowds of younger people in dark clothing breaking things, setting buildings on fire, and assaulting police. (I infer they are younger people because of the suppleness of their movements.) Then, I switch to French news on … Continue reading The Revolt of the Baristas
by Jacques Delacroix jdelacroixliberty@gmail.com Foreword This is a freewheeling and personal essay on the term “systemic racism.” It’s not an empirical study but it’s mindful of facts. It blends my observations as a rationalist with my frankly conservative leanings. I am a religiously indifferent conservative of the constitutionalist, small government breed. I judge representative government … Continue reading Systemic Racism: a Rationalist Take
There aren’t many signs that the French will soon free themselves from the trap they have sprung on themselves. The Macron administration had been elected to do something precisely about the strangling effect of taxation on French economic life and, on individual freedom. (The latter message may have been garbled during his campaign.) Are there … Continue reading Poverty Under Democratic Socialism — Part II: Escaping the Padded Cage
Jacques Delacroix jdelacroixliberty@gmail.com Part I: the French Case I saw a televised investigation by the pretty good French TV show, “Envoyé spécial” about current French poverty. It brought the viewer into the lives of six people. They included a retired married couple. The four others were of various ages. They lived in different parts of … Continue reading Poverty Under Democratic Socialism
Jacques Delacroix jdelacroixliberty@gmail.com I am grateful to Stephen Cox, Editor of Liberty Unbound for firm editorial suggestions and for civilized contradiction. This an essay about legal immigration. It includes a theoretical framework, essential facts, and subjective opinions. In this old-fashioned piece, there is no pretense of scholarly detachment. It’s a personal endeavor that I hope … Continue reading Legal Immigration Into the United States
Notes On Liberty 