Account information for this Lucianne member

For all of my adult life, I have believed that free markets incentivize innovation, generate lower costs, and improve services. Indeed, confidence in the value of free markets is one of the foundations of conservatism, and why I align with the Republican Party. I have also always felt that conservatives need to be on the lookout for industries that try to co-opt the free market movement, to take advantage of their customers, and do so under the guise of competition. Giving customers options is a good thing, but only if they actually deliver innovations, better services, and lower prices.

There is a certain seductive logic to watching your rival gain advantage through state support and concluding that you should respond in kind. Across the American political spectrum, from think tanks like the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation to conservatives who once treated “picking winners” as a term of derision, industrial policy has staged a remarkable comeback. The pitch is straightforward enough: if Beijing is subsidizing its way to dominance in semiconductors, electric vehicles, and advanced manufacturing, surely Washington cannot afford to stand on free-market principles while the factories disappear. It is a compelling story, and it is also, on closer inspection, largely a myth.

The US Virgin Islands is one of the most anti-gun territories in the United States. They seem to have no respect for gun rights, with might not be relevant if they weren't a US territory and thus subject to the Constitution. I'm not sure the lawmakers there really seem to understand that, though, with their history of gun-grabbing, but it doesn't make it any less true. And they're at it again, this time with a bill containing numerous provisions, including a "vampire rule." That's led the Second Amendment Foundation to tell them they really should back off on that. Via a press release: