Decline in Southern Democrats: 1952-1994

(Click to enlarge.)

Here's a graph I just made, that shows the proportion of Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives, and state Governors in the former confederacy states, over time.

The first data point is 1929-30 (prior to F. Roosevelt-to show that the high level of Democrats early on is not a function of the Great Depression), the second is 1953-55, and each successive one is the next session of Congress. Point 4 represents the years immediately following the Brown v. Board of Education decision that invalidated segregation in the South. Point 9 represents the years following the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which was bitterly resented in the South), and the last point represents the 1995-96 Congress, when Republicans took control of the House for the first time in over 40 years, and many Southern Democrats switched to the Republican Party.

Now I just need to figure out how to put the appropriate dates on the X-axis. Excel is a bit of a pain on that kind of thing.

Teacher's Union May Sue Over Vouchers

I found this on Timothy Sandefur's blog. Apparently the Florida Education Association may sue to force the state to shut down it's scholarship tax credit program. The program allows businesses "to donate to non-profit scholarship funds that subsidize tuition for low-indomce kids at private schools of their families' choosing."

And that's why I hate the teachers' unions. They say their main concern is the children, but it could hardly be clearer that they are simply using the power of government to pursue their own self-interest, kids be damned.

And I clearly remember a political science prof telling me that all monopolies were bad, except the government's monopoly on K-12 education. That monopoly was necessary. Why? Because education is "different." How is it different? It "just is."

Censored by Ilana Mercer!

Ilana Mercer, who writes for WorldNetDaily (as if any more need be said, eh?), has censored me!

I criticized her for calling Obama by his middle-name, Hussein, and accused her of fear-mongering. Then I accused the many commentors who agreed with her of being both anti-constitution (they want a religious test for public office, at least implicitly, while the Constitution explicitly states there shall be no religious test (that is, no formal one)), and chickenshits--children who run and hide under the bed when someone yells "Muslim!" My comment was up for less than a day before she took it down. Maybe chickenshit is just too naughty a word.

I posted again (Scroll down to 3.30.08 5:05 p.m). Let's see if she takes it down again.

Hey Ilana! You can say anything you want here! And I won't take it down--because I'm not as much of a chickenshit as you!

Creationists' Museum Tour--More Commentary

Scott has some commentary onthe creationist tour of the Denver Science Museum, and makes some good points about the inability to prevent these kids from questioning what they're told as they get older.

At Last, The New site I've Been Looking For--Foreign Policy Online

I am perpetually pissed off that there's no real news shows on morning TV. While I'm drinking my coffee and wrangling the kids into school-ready mode, CNN, Fox, etc., bombard me with a pittance of real news, and bucketloads of human-interest drivel.

And since I don't have access to a good daily newspaper (all Michigan papers suck, and the WSJ is expensive, and--frankly--too time consuming--I get most of my news online. But even there it's difficult. CNN.com is as crappy as the network, and even BBC.com is hard to navigate and doesn't know how to guide you to good stories.

But now I've found Foreign Policy's website. Foreign Policy is an excellent journal I used to receive, but never had time to read. But their website is fantastic, with real news--by which I mean economics and politics, with no fluff about Britney Spears and her ilk.

For example, where else have you read that rice prices rose 30% to reach an al-time high this week, creating a risk of "social unrest (such a bland phrase for riotin' and lootin') in Asia. And why did it happen? Partly because Egypt imposed a ban on exporting rice. See, economics and politics. OK, FoPo just linked to the Financial Times, but that's the point. They know which stories are important, and link to them, which helps me out because I don't have enough time to search out all the disparate important news myself. The "Morning Briefings" are especially great. Now I can start my day by quickly catching up on what's going on in the world.

Calling Sally Kern and Chuck Norris--Do You Defend Killing Homosexuals?

Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern said "the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation," and "the biggest threat our national has, even more so than terrorism."

B-movie actor Chuck Norris said, "I was appalled when I read the American Family Association report that on Friday, April 25, several thousand schools across the nation will be observing a "Day of Silence," or DOS, which is a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools...I do believe that we should equally and adamantly oppose such aberrant sexual behavior from being condoned or commemorated in our public schools through textbooks or a so-called "Day of Silence."

And this past week in Oxnard, California, 15 year old Lawrence King was shot twice in the head because he was gay.

Sally, Chuck, will you stand up and denounce the murder of this young man? Or are you secretly applauding the killing of a faggot?

Here's a photo of Lawrence King. May God give his parents peace.

Huckabee Defends Obama's Pastor

I've complimented Mike Huckabee on his sense of humor, but I never thought I'd compliment him on his wisdom. Until now. But he recently was on a MSNBC morning show, and said,

And one other thing I think we've got to remember: As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

I don't know if that's the populist side of his conservatism showing through, his religious beliefs, or if he's just fundamentally a decent person. But it's about time conservatives--who supposedly believe in small government and Jeffersonian ideals of individual liberty--start saying these things.

Survey--Day 4: Getting There

Most of my students came in on Saturday to give up a few hours of their time to continue calling people for our survey. We got 57, which isn't our best day, but puts us up to 231 responses, which puts us only 35 short of our minimum of 266. I'd rather get 300, to make up for a couple of respondents who didn't finish the survey, and to make sure we have enough coverage on each question, since "No Response" crops up occasionally on a few questions. So just one more session of calling, or 1 and 1/2 sessions, should get us there. Importantly, we've done well enough that the students are still reasonably enthusiastic.

I also told them if we quit now, we've done all this work for nothing, but if we do just a bit more, we'll have been successful. I felt a bit guilty as I said it, because none of them have taken my political economy class, so none of them knew I was using sunk costs as reason to keep putting in more effort. Maybe next year one of them will take that class and call me on it! But sunk costs arguments seem so irresistible to humans that they're a very useful motivational tool.

Subsidies and Regulation

The hot topic among economists right now (Tyler Cowen, Russ Roberts, Arnold Kling, Megan McArdle) is whether the Bear Stearns bailout was a good idea or not. Some people both believe it was a good idea and that we need more regulation of the financial markets.

Of course if we continue to bail out failing businesses, more regulation is necessary. Tyler Cowen says so, too.

As long as the Fed and Treasury are providing a safety net, insisting on capital requirements is entirely reasonable and it lowers moral hazard. If you're going to bail out your friend in a poker game, you can ask him not to bet too much beyond his chips.

I not only have great respect for Cowen's analytical ability, but it agrees with something I've been saying for years: Any time you want benefits from government, it is justified in regulating your actions, and it will regulate your actions. Or, in short, the more you ask for from government, the more freedom you have to surrender.

Wal-Mart's Got the (Chicago style) Blues

Here's a good Wal-Mart story from the Chicago Tribune. Seems there's already a Wal-Mart in Chicago, and the bastards want to open up another one! As if 1 Wal-Mart per 3 million people isn't enough. Fortunately the city of Chicago isn't having any of it, and is refusing Wal-Mart permits to open up a new store. Because the empty lot filled with trash is better than the millions in sales taxes they would receive, and there's no good reason to give citizens more opportunity for low-cost shopping.

Oops, did I blow my cover with that last sentence? Seems the whole thing is just the Chicago city government kowtowing to the labor unions. You know, the ones who think economic growth comes from paying more for goods and services. Or, to paraphrase Bastiat, the ones who think that if we blindfolded everyone and tied their right arms behind their backs economic growth would skyrocket, because obviously scarcity and costliness are most desirable. Well, they are, if you're the producers--whether of Gucci handbags or of labor. Just not so much if you're the consumers. But who cares about them anyway? Certainly not Chicago.

Several years ago, a late night hailstorm punched a small hole in my skylight. With water pouring into my house, running down the kitchen wall and into the cheap pressboard cabinets, I needed a tarp to cover things up, until I could see where to fix it, ropes to hold down the tarp, and a ladder to get on the damn roof, none of which I had. Now where, in a town of 20,000, do you get that after midnight?

Ideally, no place, I guess, because my only option was Wal-Mart. The bastards.