25 Mar 2010

David R. Henderson vs. David Frum

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I know some of us associated with the Mises Institute like to think we have a monopoly on awesomeness when it comes to principled discussions, but David R. Henderson has been lighting it up over at EconLog. Take a look at this post where he first criticizes David Frum’s “Republicans should have played nice with Obama and worked on the health bill” stance, and then Henderson goes on to say:

Of course, with or without their cooperation on this bill, the Republicans will have trouble, as they have always had, standing for limited government. Think bailouts, torture, nationalizing airport security, surveillance on Americans, supporting two wars of aggression, the USA PATRIOT Act, and the drug war, to name a few. But when I find someone willing to ally on holding back government, I treat him as an ally.

I don’t mean to let you down, kids, but I have to admit that if I had been offered the coveted #3 slot at EconLog (after Bryan Caplan and Andrew Arnold Kling), I don’t think I would have been as saucy as David has been. I probably would have focused on really neutral stuff like capital structure, not wanting to rock the boat.

But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. David has a regular column at AntiWar.com, and he teaches at…the Naval Postgraduate School.

So the moral is, when you are making your generalizations about how the world works and how you need to conduct yourself to get a good job etc., make sure you are aware of the case of David R. Henderson.

(Disclaimer: David very graciously allows me to publish occasional EconLib articles, so it’s in my interest to brownnose him. Weigh the above praise with that in mind.)

6 Responses to “David R. Henderson vs. David Frum”

  1. Contemplationist says:
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    Jeez Bob
    Its ARNOLD Kling and you have referenced him quite a bit since his coming-out with the “Recalculation” theory. From whence came ‘Andrew’? Is that your secret bf? I keed I keed =)

  2. von Pepe says:
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    Capital structure is radical stuff.

  3. David R. Henderson says:
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    Bob,
    Thank you so much. I almost cried when I read this.
    Your friend,
    David
    P.S. I would sometime like to write an article on being a principled radical in a mainstream, somewhat unprincipled world. The problem is that I would give away some of my secrets to those who might use them against my allies or me. None of my secrets, by the way, involve dishonesty. They are mainly about knowing when to bite your tongue, Gandhi on allies, and a few other things.

  4. Silas Barta says:
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    Wow, I wonder how you’d react to knowing where *I* work, compared to what I’ve posted on the several internets!

    I think that makes me extra special, because if my preferred policies were implemented, I’d have to *sigh* take one of the numerous other jobs for people like me.

  6. They Might Be Douchebags says:
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    BTW Bob: fractals are gay; they were gay 20 years ago, in fact.