United Liberty

The fine folks from Reason TV just released a new documentary series, “Reason Saves Cleveland,” which traces the rise and fall of the once great Midwestern city, and how a few reforms can get “the mistake on the lake” back on track.

Here’s their description: “Sixty years ago, Cleveland was a booming city full of promise, opportunity, and people. Today, the city’s population is less half of what it was in its prime and it ranks as one of the poorest big cities in the United States. Hometown hero Drew Carey reflects on how the city became “the mistake on the lake” and wonders about the city’s future. Is a Cleveland renaissance possible or is the city doomed to long, slow death?”

I’ll be posting new episodes all week. Enjoy.

…just call the folks down the street who happen to have a monopoloy on lethal force. Yep, that oughta do it.

That’s exactly what some local restaurant owners in Los Angeles do when mobile food trucks (Taco stands, snack carts etc…) open up shop along the curb outside their business. The food carts offer cheap and quick bites, which are posing stiff competition to established eateries around town.

Instead of coming up with innovative ideas to compete with the new kids on the block, some restauranteers have called local law enforcement in to make it more difficult for the fresh competition to conduct business.

The fine folks at ReasonTV tell the full story:

As a critique, it would have been helpful to see an interview with one of the restaurant owners.

Here is a look, thanks to Matt Welch over at Reason, at government spending over the long-term. The standard of government spending, until the last couple years, has been 20% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Thanks to booming entitlement spending, specifically in Medicare and Medicaid, the future does not look bright for taxpayers.

Reason TV recently talked to Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA and blogger at the Volokh Conspiracy, about free speech, the Second Amendment and nanny-statism.

Gary Johnson, Honorary Chairman of the Our America Initiative and former Governor of New Mexico, is getting some press. ABC News notes that he is taking on the status-quo in his own party:

“All the other candidates— all the other suspects …  if you put a piece of cardboard over their caricature and did some voiceover on what it is they were saying, they would all sound alike,” said Johnson.

So how does Johnson, who was recently in New Hampshire and is headed back soon, differ from the mainline Republican candidates who are weighing a presidential run?

He wants all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. He thinks the U.S. should never have gone into Iraq. And he thinks it’s time for the U.S. to begin treating marijuana the same way it does tobacco and alcohol.
[…]
One area where Johnson could find common cause with conservatives is on the issue of spending: during his eight years as governor from 1994-2002, Johnson held down spending by vetoing 750 bills — more than all the vetoes of the other 49 governors combined. Conservatives might also like his stance on taxes: similar to Steve Forbes, the Republican he backed for president in 2000, Johnson would like the U.S. to adopt a flat tax.

Citing a Monday story in USA Today which reported that a rash of retirements in 2009 is pushing Social Security to the brink, Johnson, a 57-year old marathon runner who has scaled Mt. Everest, said the retirement age needs to be raised perhaps to 70 or 72.

“This is the reality, we’re broke,” said Johnson.  “We’re broke.”