2020/11/03
The American Institute for Economic Research rightly strays across many topics political, because economics cannot be divorced from politics whilst governments the world over insist on trying to micro-manage all aspects of life.
As the presidential election takes its course, the AIER publish two articles of essential reading for all, including us Europeans, for whom the politics of America will influence the direction of political development for much of the "western world" in the 2020s.
We in the UK may not have the same Constitution as the USA, but we do have a number of legal cases challenging the legality of the Covid restrictions currently working their way through the UK courts (see our Legal menu). No doubt many European countries are facing a similar situation, albeit complicated in many cases by membership of the EU. So the article on "constitutional roadkill" is relevant even if some specifics of detail may differ.
Likewise their exposition of Lockdowns as a Political Tragedy of the Commons reflects the fundamental conflict between the ultimate exercise of top-down authority as currently rolling out in the name of "covid suppression", and the "free citizen" approach as implemented (so far) in Sweden (and other states) where the state adopts the role of advisor and supporter but leave its citizens independently to make the best decisions in their own circumstances.
Inexorably these lead to two different ends, either a top-down state where the citizenry look to the government bureaucracy for orders and instructions on every decision (how does this ultimately differ from slavery?), or a bottom up state where the citizenry think for themselves and take responsibility for themselves and for their family members (no need for the bureaucracy).
This is the dichotomy that the western world now faces.
