Category Archives: Libertarian Thought

The Case for Moderation

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Arnold Kling

Stefanie Haeffele-Balch and Virgil Henry Storr write, Moderation does not necessarily mean adopting moderate policy positions. [Adam] Smith is not suggesting we compromise our political views and values. Instead, he is suggesting that we think about how we present these … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 9 Comments

TLP update

Posted on August 5, 2017 by Arnold Kling

1. A talk I gave for Cato on the Three Languages of Politics. Why don’t I modulate more (i.e., vary my tone of voice)? I sound more boring than I am. 2. Ryan Bourne writes, The BBC is another example. … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 19 Comments

Applied TLP

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Arnold Kling

Megan McArdle writes, Trump has coalesced around himself the people who are most interested in order, leaving the people who are focused on freedom and coercion somewhat unmoored. There’s a place for that conservative thought: Crime is the ultimate barbarian … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 41 Comments

The case against charities

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Arnold Kling

A commenter writes, charitable organizations will be [in] competition for donors and offer only care to make donors feel good about themselves. So charities will raise money for extreme cases like the British Charlie Gard and not say reasonable care … Continue reading →

Posted in Libertarian Thought | 14 Comments

Deirdre McCloskey’s manifesto

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Arnold Kling

Pointer from Donald Boudreaux. The first thing in her manifesto that caught my eye was this: As [David] Boaz says at the outset of The Libertarian Mind, “In a sense, there have always been but two political philosophies: liberty and … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 11 Comments

A conservative American President in Poland

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Arnold Kling

President Trump said, Our soldiers still serve together today in Afghanistan and Iraq, combating the enemies of all civilization. …I am here today not just to visit an old ally, but to hold it up as an example for others … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model, Washington Post bias | 26 Comments

Three Axes, individual reasoning, and social justification

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Arnold Kling

A commenter writes, There’s one thing I’m still not clear about from the book. You distinguish talk from thought but … many readers do not make this distinction… Three antagonistic framings of issues that the three tribes use in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 18 Comments

Russ Roberts on The Three Languages of Politics

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Arnold Kling

He sketches the main ideas of the book, and then he uses the three-axes model to discuss the blind spots of each tribe. For example, Liberals first. In their eagerness to empathize with the victim, they can turn the victim … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 32 Comments

The left, the market, and economists

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Arnold Kling

In a recent exchange with Don Boudreaux, Bryan Caplan writes, The heart of the left is being anti-market. From the standpoint of the oppressor-oppressed axis, it may make sense to be anti-market. If you look at market outcomes, you see … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic education and methods, Three-Axes Model | 12 Comments

Facts, Feelings, and Filters

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Arnold Kling

A commenter writes, Arnold’s argument that economics is about using particular frameworks as lenses for interpretation is also quite postmodern. Well, sort of. Consider three statements. a) Amazon announced its intention to purchase Whole Foods. b) Amazon should not be … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic education and methods, Three-Axes Model, Washington Post bias | 15 Comments