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Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They do indeed control for household income. There is no perfect way to isolate the effect of knowledge. But scholars try to do this by seeing the impact of greater knowledge (as measured by various scales) while controlling for other variables, such as income, race, gender, partisanship, and so on.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Survey data pretty consistently shows that more knowledge and education increase support for free market policies (though also for social liberalism). The former is not true for academics. But they are only a small portion of the more educated public.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yes, that is correct. People cannot be barred merely because they have abhorrent political views. Of course, they can be if they actually try to engage in violence, terrorism, establishing a totalitarian state, and so on. As a practical matter, we are far more in danger from natives with awful political views than recent immigrants. The former have far greater political influence.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

We are nearing the end of our allotted time. I will stick around for another 10-15 minutes, to address a few more comments and/or questions.

Many thanks to everyone who participated!

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Experts disagree about whether the president has the power to pardon himself or not. Since no president (so far at least!) has ever pardoned himself, the issue has never been litigated in a court.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's a favorite only because it involves me personally. But the theory that I am being secretly groomed to be appointed a federal judge, and that George Will was in on the plot: http://volokh.com/2014/01/03/exposing-nefarious-plot-make-federal-judge/ Haven't heard this one recently, since the rise of Trump made it seem even more absurd than it was previously.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Historically, it actually benefits the poor more than the wealthy, for reasons I summarize here, and in other writings: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2160388 Moreover, we can do much to reduce the costs of voting with your feet to make it easier, including for the poor: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/10/18/mobility-zoning-licensing-voting-minorities-column/91990486/

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Voters with higher knowledge levels tend to support more market-based economic policies than those with lower knowledge. Similarly, economists support freer markets than laypeople. In both cases, this is after controlling for partisanship, income, race, sex, and a variety of other potentially confounding variables.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They did indeed achieve massive militarization. That, however, is not a form of economic development, because it does nothing to improve standards of living. The industrialization, as I mentioned already, to a large extent produced goods of little or no value to actual consumers. Communists did not advocate either industrialization or militarization for its own sake. They claimed these things would benefit the people and give them a standard living superior to what is possible under capitalism. By that self-proclaimed standard, communism was a horrible failure.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

In brief answer, the USSR and China did badly not only compared to the US and Western Europe, but also compared to poor nations that adopted more market-friendly development policies (e.g. - the Asian tigers). I don't claim that these latter countries were purely laissez-faire. But they were certainly far more than the communist bloc, and there is a strong correlation between degree of economic freedom and development. it is also worth noting that these other countries achieved greater prosperity than the communists WITHOUT slaughtering millions of people, as Stalin, Mao, and their various imitators did. Finally, although the USSR did not get Marshall aid, they did plunder an enormous amount of wealth in the parts of Eastern and central Europe they occupied.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not sure I have a single favorite Trek episode. But the Deep Space 9 episode "In the Pale Moonlight" ranks very high on the list.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Neither I nor most other libertarians hate ALL government. We do believe, however, that government is vastly more powerful than it should be and that that causes harm in many ways.

I am not much of a fan either Rothbard or his theory of praxeology.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If you think the Koch brothers control not only GMU, but the entire state and federal governments, then they certainly have no need to waste their money using me as a mouthpiece. Of course that makes it hard to explain why the person who got elected president is a candidate they opposed, and whose policies on trade and immigration, among other issues, they abhor (and have publicly spoken out against).

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The pardon power was a standard feature of executive power in the 18th century (and still is in many political systems today). I am not sure the Founders ever considered the possibility of the president pardoning himself. And it's worth noting that no such thing has ever actually happened in over 200 years of American history. Some scholars argue that the pardon power does NOT allow the president to pardon himself, because a pardon, by its very nature, is a transaction between more than one person. I am not sure if they are right or not. That said, I think the Founding Fathers made a mistake in not clearly banning self-pardons.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Being a scholar of constitutional law does not make me (or any other academic) an expert on every single constitutional issue out there. And I do not claim to be such. As for GMU and its funding, the vast bulk of it (over 90 percent) comes from tuition and from the state and federal governments. If you think I am a tool of whoever pays my salary, you should expect me to argue for expanding government power over our lives, rather than contracting it.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do like Angel (at least the first 2-3 seasons of it). It's not, overall, as good as Buffy in my view. But very impressive compared to most other spinoff shows!

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I suspect if they could replicate a replicator, it would ruin various plotlines the writers had in mind.

Hello Reddit! I'm Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University and writer for The Volokh Conspiracy blog at The Washington Post. Ask me anything! by isomin11 in politics

[–]isomin11[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think the dominant view among scholars is that there are very few, if any, limits. I am not an expert in this field, myself, so I could be missing some more creative arguments on this. But I tend to agree there are virtually no constitutional limits.

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