Conservatives talk a good game about personal responsibility and accepting the consequences of one’s actions, until … Newt Gingrich is a rising candidate in the Republican presidential sweepstakes. It’s primarily for his record as a conservative leader, though I do give him credit for leading the Republicans out of 40 years in the congressional wilderness as a neutered minority party. It’s also not for his […]
John LaPlante
About John LaPlante
Posts by John LaPlante:
What Gov. Snyder should learn from a long-dead Dutch politician
I’ve always been a bit leery of the idea that what government needs is a successful business executive. Henry Payne’s recent column comparing Gov. Snyder and Gov. Daniels prompted me to wonder why. I came up with a few more ideas. He wrote, “Contrary to popular wisdom, the Daniels role model — followed to a ‘T’ by Snyder — is not conservativism; it is creating a successful […]
The pro-global warming caucus
Like Dan Calabrese, I’ve taken my bike out of the garage several times this warm winter. Since the first snowfall, I’ve been my skis once, my snowboard twice, and my bike six times. While I find the brown landscape depressing, I’m probably in the minority. After all, the warmer weather means no “winter driving,” no shoveling, no ice dams, and being able to wear shirts and […]
One-sided Economics Afflicts Politics
The warm winter, virtually without snow, provides a lesson in incomplete thinking about economics. The Star Tribune recently published a story about the economic impact of the season: “Minnesota businesses are seeing red ink in brown winter.” It then quotes, as evidence, people with businesses that clear driveways of snow, remove ice dams from buildings, and sell cross-country ski equipment. As someone who enjoys the […]
When Government Expands, Volunteerism Shrinks
Three European scholars have confirmed the obvious: Government social programs crowd out private ones. Franz Hackl, Martin Halla, and Gerald J. Pruckner, all of Austria’s University of Linz, have this to say: * “An increase of in public social expenditure by 1 percentage point of GDP decreases the individual’s probability of volunteering by 1.7 up to 2.9 percentage points.” Total volunteering declines by 5.1 to 8.7 […]
Will fires finish Finnish Fisker?
The electric car market is expanding and diversifying. It’s not just the Chevy Volt that is catching fire these days. A model produced by a company in Finland – with U.S. “stimulus” dollars – is being recalled because of a fire hazard. OK, I shouldn’t be too hard on the luxury car. Trusty old gas-powered cars can catch on fire too, and new products are prone […]
NFL Should Buy Vikings a Stadium
With $9.3 billion in annual revenue, the NFL could afford to buy the Minnesota Vikings a stadium. When Sports Illustrated crunched the numbers in March 2011, it estimated that the NFL is a $9.3 billion-a-year enterprise. That’s almost as much money as flows to Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL combined. About half of the NFL’s money comes from media rights (broadcast, cable, etc.). One […]
Expanding Gambling for the Wrong Reason
Gambling has been a political “hot potato” in Minnesota. What’s the right path forward? Should gambling be legal, given the costs it incurs? Humans have gambled for thousands of years, so it’s in our social if not actual DNA. Like many activities, gambling can be an enjoyable diversion. Go to the casino with a limit that’s reasonable for your financial situation and stick with it. […]
Did Jesus really say: “Go ye and support the American welfare state and ye shall be saved?”
Most of the political left in this country is secularist, and sometimes militantly so. But there is a remnant of religious lefties, and a Detroit News reader who goes by the pseudonym “RepubTeach” has been preaching the Social Gospel of late. Recently I mentioned a Democratic Party politician who decried entitlement reform as “un-Christian.” I then repeated the comments of a reader on another site: “I’m […]
The curse of the food police
I am writing this while my child runs around inside a McDonalds Playplace. I opted to not get fries with my cheeseburger, thinking I would eat a portion of the fries that came with the kiddo’s Happy Meal. Win-win, I thought. We both get enough fries to be satisfied, but we don’t overload on the deep-fried goodness. Silly me, to make my own decisions. I […]