I’ve been remiss for awhile now, burying links to my friends and acquaintances down below an ever-growing pile of movies and music that no one cares about. So I’ve moved them to the top of the column and added a list of some of my other favorite sites and people. It’s not at all an exhaustive list, but these are the links that immediately came to mind, so you at least know a little about my immediate interests and priorites
Here’s a shout out to Justin for giving props to term limits yesterday. Although I should point out that the 22nd Amendment wasn’t passed until after FDR had been elected to his fourth term, died, and his replacement, Truman, had been elected to a second term. As power-mad as FDR was, it wasn’t yet unconstitutional to be president for more than two terms (although he was the first executive officer brazen enough to do it). See the U.S. Term Limits 22nd Amendment page for more details.
Term limits is definitely one of the most important political reforms there is, and I’ve dedicated the past four-plus years of my professional life to advancing term limits at all levels of government. Some of the best analysis of the importance and benefits of term limits has been done by Cato Institute staff, from the classic policy analysis by John Fund to an early, influential briefing paper by Stephen Moore and Aaron Steelman, to Doug Bandow’s policy analysis urging the then-fledging Republican Congress to follow through with their term limits promises now that they had achieved power, to Patrick Basham’s assessment of the effect of term limits laws that have been passed so far. You should also check out Eric O’Keefe’s groundbreaking book on term limits, Who Rules America: The People Vs. the Political Class. And South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s firsthand account of the benefits of term limits on his own congressional tenure.
A lot of stuff, eh? But that’s not all. You should really subscribe to Paul Jacob’s Common Sense email list, to stay abreast of the latest info about term limits and other government reforms. Since I’m the guy who actually sends out the Common Sense emails (and posts them to the web, and records the audio for radio play), I’m clearly biased here. But so what? Sign up and I’ll start sending you some great email.
Here’s another shout out, this time to Rational Review, which is featuring our blog in its “Hot Site” spot. The fine folks over at Rational Review are former staff members of Free-Market.net, who were left stranded without jobs (and owed lots of back pay) after FMN’s board of directors decided to pull the plug several months ago. Soon afterward, Rational Review started sending out a daily news digest to fill the void left by the one FMN was no longer doing. Rational Review has been sending out their digest without fail or pause ever since, and doing an excellent job. You should really subscribe to this, too, and tell all your friends. And send them money — they depend on donations to stay alive. If everyone just kicked in a little for the “free” services they use and value, everything would be so much easier
Another shout out, to my pal David Blade. He’s actually quoting me on the web site for his novel, The Case of the Cockamamie Killer, right alongside the esteemed Hoover scholar Tibor Machan. I’m not sure that my name confers the cachet necessary to sell books, but I wasn’t joking — his book really is “a helluva ride,” and you would be well-served to jump on the roller coaster and see for yourself. Unless you’re one of my non-R-rated-movie-watching-type friends, of course
My last shout out of the day goes to the California Guitar Trio. One of these three guitarists, Paul Richards, is on my list of “People I Know” over to the right, although I don’t really know him very well. We’ve had multiple conversations over a period of years, and he recognizes me and remembers my name when he sees me, so I figure he’s enough of an acquaintance to include, even though we’ve never actually hung out together
