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America’s “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy”: Part I
Earlier this year, I asked “Why are there so many bad and corrupt people in government?” and suggested two possible explanations. Shallow, insecure, and power-hungry people are drawn to politics...
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America’s “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy”: Part II
Earlier this month, I reviewed some evidence and analysis about the corruption in Washington. Today, let’s look at some tangible examples of how the political elite routinely exploit their positions to...
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Happy Thanksgiving from America’s Hypocritical Politicians
I’m going to break tradition. Normally, I use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to explain how the Pilgrims almost starved to death because they initially used a socialist system for farming, but then...
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Who Should Pay When Government Fails?
Early last decade, a former Prime Minister of Iceland was brought before a special tribunal to determine whether he was legally responsible for his nation’s 2008 economic downturn. As you might...
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Politician Humor
Last October, I wrote a two-part series about America’s venal political class (see here and here). Today’s collection of political satire makes the same point. We’ll start with some wisdom from Charlie...
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Politician Humor
It’s been since January that I shared some politician humor, so let’s augment our collection. We’ll start with this bit of mockery, which also happens to be a very accurate depiction of how politicians...
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What Happens When Politicians Get too Greedy?
I’ve been asked why I periodically mock politicians. The simple answer is that they often deserve our scorn. It’s not that they’re evil or bad people, but their incentive structure generally leads them...
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Politician Humor
Politicians are not necessarily or automatically evil. Instead, they screw up in large part because of perverse incentives. That being said, they should be mocked rather than admired (with St. Ronald...
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More Politician Humor
I didn’t like many of the things Trump did (his wasteful spending and his protectionist tax increases) and I don’t like many of the things Biden is doing (his pork-filled stimulus and his...
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Hypocritical Politician(s) of the Year
Admirable politicians are extremely uncommon. You’re more likely to spot a leprechaun or see the Loch Ness Monster. In general, the people who want to rule over us are a distasteful mix of narcissism...
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Politician Humor
Last year, we targeted politicians with some much-deserved satire on four occasions (here, here, here, and here). I don’t want to fall behind that pace for 2022, so here’s our first collection for this...
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Politician of the Year
Because of their despicable tendency to buy votes with our money, I view politicians with considerable disdain. But when a politician goes above and beyond the call of duty by doing something laughably...
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Politician Humor
Even though mocking politicians is one of my favorite activities, I just noticed that I’ve only shared one column of anti-politician satire this year. And that’s after sharing four versions (here,...
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More “Politician of the Year” Candidates
When I’m sharing examples of politician humor, I’m indirectly wading into a serious debate. Are bad people naturally drawn to the corruption of politics? Or, do good people get corrupted after getting...
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The Public Choice Challenge
Back in 2016, I shared three videos to explain the theory of “public choice,” which is simply the application of economic principles to understand the self-interested behavior of politicians,...
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Politician Humor
Since I only shared two column of politician humor last year (here and here), I want to get an early start for 2023. Our first example comes from the only good president of my lifetime. For our second...
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America’s “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy”: Part III
In a two-part series back in 2020 (here and here), I analyzed the unseemly behavior of politicians. For Part III of that series, let’s start with my CNBC discussion earlier this week about insider...
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A Strong Candidate for Politician of the Year
My politician-of-the-year candidates for 2022 were George Santos, Pete Buttigieg, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and his Schools Chancellor. All of these government officials displayed remarkable levels of...
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Politician Humor
Inexplicably, I’ve only shared one column this year mocking politicians. So let’s rectify that oversight with five new examples of satire. We’ll start with this cartoon. I think Crazy Bernie is the one...
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The Adverse Economic Consequences of Big-Government Populism
I favor “freedom conservatism” over “national conservatism” because the former is unambiguously based on liberty and the latter veers toward populism. Of course, it’s never easy to define populism. My...
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Politician Humor
After two columns of politician humor in 2023 (here and here) and two more in 2022 (here and here), it’s time for our first collection for 2024. We’ll start with a discussion of fables. Next, we see a...
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The High Cost of Short-Run Political Decision-Making
Why do politicians such as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris show no interest in fixing Social Security and other entitlement programs? The answer is “public choice.” They are focused on maximizing votes...
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The Santa Claus Election
For libertarians, this is a very depressing election (a feeling we tend to have every four years, so a familiar experience). What basically happens is that two politicians try to bribe us with our own...
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America’s “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy”: Part IV
Politicians are not good people. That’s why I have a “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy” series (though I confess they all have the same message). Part I reviewed evidence of misbehavior by elected...
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The Adverse Economic Consequences of Big-Government Populism, Part II
In Part I of this series about six months ago, I wrote that “I favor ‘freedom conservatism‘ over ‘national conservatism‘ because the former is unambiguously based on liberty and the latter veers toward...
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2024 Election Predictions
In 2016, I predicted Trump would lose and he won. In 2020, I predicted he would lose and he lost. Since I’m consistent, I’m going to predict Trump will lose again this year. Here are my state-by-state...
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Politician Humor
With the U.S. election in just a few days, let’s remind ourselves that Washington is “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” But instead of crying about that sad state of affairs, it’s time to enjoy...
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A Last-Minute Contestant for Politician of the Year
I was very confident that Senator Elizabeth Warren was going to be 2024’s Politician of the Year. After all, not only is she a hypocrite on school choice and taxes, she’s also a hypocrite on the...
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Good Riddance, Joe Biden
This is the last full day of Joe Biden’s dismal presidency, so let’s do what we did with Justin Trudeau and reflect on his pathetic legacy. I’ve already provided my own economic assessment of Biden’s...
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Politician of the Year
Washington is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. But other national capitals have the same problem because politicians seems to have similar foibles everywhere in the world. Which is why several...
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