Reasonable Nuts: ideas

Sometimes nuts. Always reasonable. We are REASONABLE NUTS.

The Reasonable Nuts are a small band of conservative and libertarian thinkers who have come together to exposit, expound, and (sometimes) explode on topics of public discourse (or those we think should be in public discourse). "Yeah, like the 'net needs another right-wing blog!", you're thinking. We hear ya. Our primary purposes here are twofold: 1, to post our notions and interpretations of current and recent events, bouncing them off one another - and you - and 2, to add a unique content to the 'net - not readily found elsewhere.
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Contributors

queen_spoo

CS

daniel

Protagonist

Spoomonger

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Reasonable Nuts of Yore:
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in the people's minds." -- Samuel Adams, one of the original Reasonable Nuts
"I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson, quite Reasonable at times, always a Nut.
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials."
"To disarm the people (is) the best and most effectual way to enslave them..." -- George Mason, unalienable rights nut
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Reasonable Nuts of Today:
"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics." -- Thomas Sowell
"Most people who read 'The Communist Manifesto' probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of 'the workers'." -- Thomas Sowell
"The purpose of an open mind is to close it, on particular subjects. If you never do â you've simply abdicated the responsibility to think" -- William F. Buckley, Jr.
"I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University". -- William F. Buckley, Jr.
"We might think of dollars as being 'certificates of performance.' The better I serve my fellow man, and the higher the value he places on that service, the more certificates of performance he gives me. The more certificates I earn, the greater my claim on the goods my fellow man produces. That's the morality of the market. In order for one to have a claim on what his fellow man produces, he must first serve him. Contrast that moral standard to Congress' standing offer, 'Vote for me and I'll take what your fellow man produces and give it to you.'" -- Walter E. Williams
"Creating false distinctions between human rights and property rights plays into the hands of Democrat and Republican Party socialists who seek to control our lives. If we buy into the notion that somehow property rights are less important, or are in conflict with, human or civil rights, we give the socialists a freer hand to attack our property." -- Walter E. Williams

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Thursday, September 29, 2005

ideas

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."

i've seen the above quote attributed to both Albert Einstein and Admiral Hyman Rickover. anyone got a clue which is is (if either)?

Matt Towery has a good idea and it's all about that word: idea.

Ideas are the power of any political party. In 1980, Ronald Reagan took advantage of the public's general frustration, and the high economic "misery index," to usher in bold new ideas about the economy and to rebuild the national defense.

Newt Gingrich's "Class of 1994" didn't win Congress based on Gingrich's charm -- or, back then, the lack thereof. He did it with his Contract with America, a fresh and fleshed-out policy agenda.

So now we must ponder whether the GOP's battered leadership will embrace bold and inventive new ideas, or simply tread water.

in my opinion, the leadership of the house and senate must go, for they have a serious credibility problem given their personal issues, spendthrift ways, and as Towery aptly puts, their lack of ideas. so with whom to replace the ousted leaders? it's not a whom, but a what - a series of whats - which Towery suggests... ideas. here's one he suggests, with which i concur (having written about at TIFI):

Readers of this column know that I have been following the unique and exciting proposal in Congress known as "The Fair Tax." Another long explanation of the proposal is not needed. Let me simply note that a well-conceived consumption tax could end the income tax as we know it.

I find it interesting that while a book about the tax has soared to the top of the New York Times best seller list, the proposed tax seems to be generating little excitement in Washington.

Interesting, yes. Surprising, no. Congress and Washington aren't places to embrace new and needed ideas. And it's no secret that the very existence of many Washington trade associations and governmental affairs firms hinges on their ability to win tax breaks for their clients. If there's suddenly no convoluted tax code, there are also no big fees for them.

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