Wednesday Links: The Filibuster, the Real Climate Change Agenda, and Google Buzz
Jonah Goldberg points out the obvious flaw in the left’s critique of the filibuster: “Of course the filibuster is undemocratic. This is not some bombshell revelation. And yet in indictment after indictment of the filibuster — and the Senate generally — you hear people level the ‘undemocratic’ charge as if it should be dispositive. The Senate was never intended to be all that democratic.” Besides, the left’s attack on the filibuster is opportunistic and politically-motivated, just like the GOP’s similar argument in the 2005 debate over judicial nominees. The filibuster may thwart the “will of the people” at times, but the Founders were right to understand that this isn’t always a bad thing.
In an astounding letter in the Financial Times, Manfred Körner argues that green policies aren’t really about climate change at all but rather about achieving the left’s economic agenda. “Leaving the scientific issue aside,” he writes, “climate change advocates have built the necessary broad emotional and moral thrust behind the issue to make economic change acceptable and awaken a sense of urgency.” Still more astoundingly, he audaciously cites Joseph Schumpeter to make the case for such economic policies — never mind that Schumpeter’s concept of “creative destruction” is premised on individuals freely choosing their own paths, not command-and-control bureaucracies.
And last but not least, Google has unleashed Google Buzz, a social media aggregator that plugs into GMail. David All points me to Robert Scoble’s pessimistic take on the new product. I’m less sure it’s doomed to mediocrity. For one thing, it’s built right into Google’s widely-used e-mail program, which is widely and frequently used.