LANCELOT FINN'S HOME PAGE         Liberation Theology for Free-Market Economists
					For open borders, freedom from tyranny, solidarity with the world's less fortunate, and humble but incorruptible devotion to truth.
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	Did Benedict XVI Take a Page Out of MacIntyre's Book?
	Catholic virtue ethicist Alasdair MacIntyre called for a "new St. Benedict" in his book After Virtue. Not a bad idea. (Published in Tech Central Station, April 22, 2005.)
	The Stock Market and Solidarity (March 2005)
	If "Social Security" means that people could keep collecting expensive taxpayer-funded benefits while the rest of the country was plunged into another depression, that's just immoral. With personal accounts, a sinking stock market means retirees would share the sacrifice: we're all in it together. We need Social Security reform for the sake of solidarity.
	Is Redistributionist Social Security Reform Worth It? (March 2005)
	Senator Lindsay Graham wants to raise the cap on payroll taxes while creating private accounts. This redistributionist version of Social Security reform forces conservatives to choose between two of their values. Is redistributionist Social Security reform worth it?
	How Open Borders Can Benefit All Americans (March 2005)
	It is unjust to prevent foreigners, on account of their mere birth, from living and working peacefully in the United States. But to let them in would undermine wages and our way of life. The best answer to this conundrum, is, instead of restricting immigration, tax it. Channel the revenues into private accounts, which will help poorer Americans cope with the changes. It's far from being a perfectly just policy, but it's an improvement for justice and for everyone concerned. (A hasty, hack job, but these are big ideas, and I've got to start somewhere. Work with me.)
	Social Capital vs. Homo Economicus (2003)
	Social capital is a big part of how the poor get by and the rich get ahead. But to understand it better, economists will have to cope with an entity whose existence they are reluctant to acknowledge: morality.
	Social Security - Political Risk = Private Accounts
	Risk, not returns, are the main issue in Social Security reform. Since Congress can take away Social Security benefits at will, beneficiaries are subject to political risk, which citizens know is much larger than politicians admit. Private accounts would substitute political risk with market risk, which is more manageable, and gives people choices.
	About That Trade Deficit
	The United States and the Hard Currency Services Export Industry (December 2004)
	The current-account deficit is a topic which has economists confused, and is the subject of numerous myths. In response to Cafe Hayek's skeptical post on the "blonde current account deficit," and Arnold Kling's admission that economists like him "need to think more" about it, I offer a new paradigm. We run a trade deficit because we are exporting hard currency services to the world.
	Borders: A Manifesto
	Against those strange entities, borders, the chief source of injustice in our world. Unfinished. (Sep. 2003 / Dec. 2004)
	Introduction: Strange Entities
	History: The Changing Meaning of Borders
	Rome, China and the Tenacious Dream of World Empire
	Nation-States and the Globalization of the Westphalian System
	Whither Borders in an Age of Globalization and "Empire?"
	A New Function: Borders as Membranes to Regulate Population Flows
	The Political Economy of Immigration
	Tocqueville's Democratic Wave: How Borders Aborted the Egalitarian Revolution
	Guelfs and Ghibellines
	The papal-imperial conflict between the US and the UN (November 2004)
	Like Dante Alighieri, many of today's top bloggers defy their demographic categories to be Ghibellines, partisans of empire. City-dwellers, accustomed to interdependence and with lives anchored in systems, look to organizations like the UN or the medieval papacy for legitimate rule. The example of the medieval papacy suggests that the UN may prove to have great latent power. Ghibellines beware.
	George W. Bush for President (Halloween 2004)
	My endorsement of George W. Bush for re-election. Bush has been a transformational president. While his transformation of domestic economic policy has produced limited returns so far, his Wilsonian vision for the world was the perfect answer to bin Laden's challenge. Instead of defending the UN ancien regime, Bush unleashed the neocon revolutionaries, and now freedom is on the march. The future lies with the transformational power of liberty; but if Kerry is elected, it may face some very costly setbacks along the way.
	Dilemmas of Imperial Decline (Oct 2003)
	This article has the character of a riddle, so I'll be coy about the topic. It's about, let's say, geopolitics. And Europe, America, history, the future. An extended historical analogy, inspired by Niall Ferguson's Empire.
	Land and Sea: Private Accounts, Social Security and Risk (Oct 2004)
	The land looks stable, the sea fickle, but in geological time it is the land which is always changing, and the sea which is constant. Our Social Security is built on fast-eroding land. It's time to build the ship of reform and float it on the sea-- of ownership in the capitalist economy-- before "social security" (like "welfare" and the "workers' state") becomes a euphemism.
	Bush and Kerry in Robert Kaplan's World (Oct 2004)
	A lengthy reflection on the choice that Bush and Kerry offer us and what it means for makind, framed in terms of the legend of Siddhartha. Part 1 is about the "bifurcated world" described by travel-writer Robert Kaplan; how institutions are the key to economic growth; how the rich world once was, but in the 1990s ceased to be, willing to use military force to spread beneficent institutions. Part 2 tells how John Kerry and Richard Nixon were really on the same side in Vietnam-- both were for withdrawal-- and how they played the role of Caiaphas and Pilate. Like Pilate, Kerry's response to a wrong he dared not make the sacrifice to prevent had two components, moral relativism and abdication of responsibility, and these have defined his political philosophy ever since. Part 3 describes the origins of Bush's quest to spread freedom, and how the war in Iraq brought Americans face to face with human suffering as most of mankind experiences it. Part 4 asks whether we can ever really (as Kerry beckons us) go back.
	Confessions of an Andrew Sullivan Reader (Oct 2004)
	My path to disillusionment with the rock star of the blogosphere.
	Bringing Neoconservatism Home (May 2004)
	Reflections on neoconservatism after Abu Ghraib. Read this one. It's one of those that points towards my total political philosophy, because it links the war in Iraq and immigration restrictions. Why the war in Iraq should inspire a transformation within.
	The War in Iraq
	WMDs Don't Matter, Stupid (Feb 2004)
	A rehash of the case for war, and why the absence of WMDs is trivial to it.
	Robin Hood Imperialism (Oct 2002)
	There is a world constitution of sorts, and what's more, it's a lousy one. War in Iraq is just the kind of shake-up it needs.
	Europe
	Dear Old Europe
	Europe is like a grandmother for Americans-- fun to visit, but too conservative and out of touch. Why Europe's role in world will not be what Eurocrats have in mind. (warning: hideous color scheme not yet corrected)
	Eurocracy is Not the Answer
	The decline and illiberal drift of the EU. (warning: hideous color scheme not yet corrected)
	In Defense of the French
	An effort to bridge the gulf between America and France in the wake of a divisive war. (Sarcastic? Who, me?)
	Allies Worth Keeping
	Why, of the St. Petersburg trio, America should seek to restore good relations with two of its estranged allies, Russia and Germany. But France is not worth it.
	US Politics and Elections
	The American Political Philosophy (Oct 2002)
	The Democrats lost in 2002 because Americans' political philosophy is Republican.
	Is Chomsky's Sophistry Useful? (Oct 2002)
	Fifth-century Athenians had their sophists, we have ours. My review, for The Citizen of a Chomsky speech at the Kennedy School.
	The Democrats Cry Wolf (Jan 2004)
	When Democrats say this is the worst economy since the Great Depression, you have to wonder: Are they that dumb, or that dishonest? And which would be more disturbing?
	The Next Welfare Reform
	A skewering of the Social Security program. Good column, but some of the facts are wrong (and the warning about hideous color schemes applies again...)
	A Strange Endorsement of Edwards (Feb 2002)
	I often claim on my blog that I once backed Edwards, to score nonpartisan points. Here's the proof!
	Vouchers 20 Years On (A Dispatch from a Possible Future)
	To help people understand the subtle concept of vouchers in education, this article envisions what America could be like in 2025 if vouchers are passed. Featuring Jeff Longes, first education billionaire... (warning: hideous color scheme)
	Religion and Theology
	Work, Service and Worship
	Scarcity is a gift from God to wayward man, which binds us together in community to avoid pain, and thus spares us from the total alienation to which we were destined after the fall. A theology of labor, composed in response to John Edwards' address to the DNC.
	Philosophy and Fundamentalism
	A Hari Krishna reminds me of the need to have a tolerant attitude towards claims of revealed truth. After all, the Cartesian project failed, leaving behind, all too often, the vacuum of relativism... This one will you scratching your head.
	Why Religious Neutrality in Education Requires Vouchers
	No curriculum can be neutral, so the only way to make the school system neutral is to let parents and children select the curriculum that suits them best. (warning: hideous color scheme)