Jackie Danicki

Three cheers for Barney Frank

7 Responses to “Three cheers for Barney Frank”

1. udandi, on April 25th, 2007 at 9:33 pm Said:

   off-topic…I’ve been reading your blog for a couple months and then today I saw your recipe in CinWeekly - I’ll have to try it!!

2. Richard Sorge, on April 25th, 2007 at 10:30 pm Said:

   The ban on online gambling is very much akin to the ban on the sale of heroin, crack and other hard drugs. It is a tax on personal freedom that the strong pay to defend the weak against their impulses. Remove the ban, and soon enough you will have many more addicted Americans (whether to gambling or drugs as the case may be).

3. Jackie Danicki, on April 25th, 2007 at 10:33 pm Said:

   That argument only works if one believes that it is the job of government to protect individuals from themselves. I don’t.

4. Richard Sorge, on April 26th, 2007 at 10:58 am Said:

   Then I assume you favor repealing all drug laws, and would let every adult buy whatever sort of drug his heart desires, and in whatever quantity he can afford. Correct?

5. Jackie Danicki, on April 26th, 2007 at 11:05 am Said:

   Absolutely correct. You learn fast, Chaim.

6. Richard Sorge, on April 27th, 2007 at 12:55 am Said:

   Well, “Jackie” (as if!), the problem with such absolutist libertarian positions is that they ignore the externalities that the real world presents. If drugs were legal and widely available, more people would become addicted to them, just as more people abused alcohol when prohibition came to an end in the U.S. This will top out at some saturation point within the vulnerable portion of the population, resulting in more car accidents killing more (often sober) people, more deadly accidents on the job, more women working as prostitutes to support their still expensive habits, more people doing more of the stupid things that they do when high for which the rest of us end up paying one way or another, and just generally more blood on the ground. Similarly, letting every computer become a casino means that more people who might not otherwise have become addicted to gambling will, with the result that more children will be doing without (even if they do end up on the dole) because the state failed to protect their parents from their own weakness.

   I suspect that as you re-enter American society and get to know the people of your new hometown, your views on these matters will change.

7. Jackie Danicki, on April 27th, 2007 at 1:07 am Said:

   What do you think is so different about Cincinnati from the rest of the places I have lived that will cause me to reject my entire worldview? I’m intrigued.

Leave a Reply