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During the pandemic lockdowns, the range of emergency government powers (regardless of whether one believes them to be justifiable) gave way to a concern that these powers will not be fully abandoned once the crisis fades in the rearview mirror. That is an understandable concern.
Article by Vincent Geloso from AIER.
However, a quick glance in the rear-view mirror actually gives room for great optimism. From the late 19th century to the eve of the pandemic, there were multiple crises that could have permanently eroded economic, political and civil liberties. Yet, on net, these liberties have actually expanded since the 19th century.
At least, that is what one can observe upon consulting a recent article by Leandro Prados de la Escosura in the Economic History Review. Prados de la Escosura starts by taking the frequently used human development index (HDI) – a statistical composition of income, education and health – which is meant to measure the span of choices that are available to individuals. The idea is that a rich, healthy and educated individual has a greater span of possible choices than a poor, sick and illiterate individual. In other words, the HDI is meant to capture the “amount” of agency and volition that people can actually exert.
The problem with the HDI, Prados de la Escosura points out, is not the philosophy it is meant to reflect but rather the way it is being measured. If what we care about is the realm of agency, then the index should be composed of more indicators than income, education and health. It should include civil and political liberties – which is what Prados de la Escosura does for 162 countries from 1870 onwards by creating an augmented measure of the HDI.
The augmented HDI shows considerable improvement from 1870 onwards. While the health component of the index is the main driving force, political and civil liberties contribute a sizable share of the progress in the augmented index.
In fact, after 1970, the progress of political and civil liberties is the main driving force. Such findings fit with other findings regarding the progress of human liberties such as that of upward convergence in terms of certain (not all) components of economic freedom indexes. Prados de la Escosura himself, in earlier work published in the Economic History Review, measuring economic liberty in developed countries since 1850, confirms this. Indeed, he finds that economic liberty has progressed for 22 OECD countries since the late 19th century.
This is a surprising finding. After all, the time span from 1870 is littered with crises that would have permanently eroded human liberty: two world wars, the Cold War, six influenza pandemics, several important recessions. And yet, human liberty has flourished. This is reassuring as it confirms some econometric work suggesting that there is evidence to state that crises do not systematically lead to permanent increases in the size and scope of governments.
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Yet there is reason to emphasize the “systematically” in the previous sentence. There is evidence that certain specific crises led to erosions in different types of liberty. There is also evidence that certain types of economic changes can lead to institutional decay.
Taken together, these pieces of evidence give room for optimism. Indeed, it suggests that it is not a foregone conclusion that a crisis leads to permanent increases in government powers. There are ways that rollbacks can occur. Unfortunately, this has not been an object of discussion of late. In fact, it has been strangely ignored in current debates and discussions. The evidence from Prados de la Escosura’s work should give us the motivation necessary to rectify this oversight.
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We just launched a new GiveSendGo page. We also have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
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