Should you support policies that go against your personal preferences? For example, if you happen to like opera or classical music, would it be wrong to oppose government funding of the arts? I happen to be just the sort of opera lover who doesn’t like that his favorite art form suckles heavily at the government teat. …
Matthew Yglesias uses an unlicensed barber—himself—and seems to manage just fine without it. I did the same thing for roughly two years, and lived to tell the tale. But should Yglesias or I try to sell our services to other people, he or I would run straight into the D.C. Barber and Cosmetology Board, which requires 1,500 hours …
California’s Proposition 8 would write the traditional definition of marriage into the state’s constitution. The outcome on November 4 will be sad, regardless of who wins. — The marriage that Americans have known for most of their lives—with its expectations, rights, and responsibilities—is a recent innovation historically speaking. The received wisdom about marriage has changed a lot. Polygamy and exclusivity …