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THE LIGHTHOUSE: State of Freedom: 2006 | Duke Scandal | U.S.-China
Summit | Bolivian Wage Hike (4/24/06)
THE LIGHTHOUSE
"Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..."
Vol. 8, Issue 17; April 24, 2006
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IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
1. The State of Freedom: 2006 -- Vargas Llosa's Fisher Award Address 2. Duke
Rape Arrests: Justice or Politics? 3. U.S.-China Summit Avoids Major Issues 4.
Bolivian Leader Contemplates Massive Wage Hike
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THE STATE OF FREEDOM: 2006 -- Vargas Llosa's Fisher Award Address
The Independent Institute is pleased to announce that it won a Sir Antony Fisher
International Memorial Award for its sponsorship of Alvaro Vargas Llosa's
path-breaking book, LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of
State Oppression.
In his eloquent and moving speech at the awards ceremony, Vargas Llosa examined
how far the world has moved in recent years toward economic and civil liberties
-- and how much further it must move.
"The battle of ideas, as you well know, is never won," said Vargas Llosa, who
directs the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity. "There have
been periods in history when it looked as if freedom was irreversible. We talk
of globalization today as if we had invented a new creature, but for millions of
people globalization was already the assumed environment in the 19th century.
And then the 20th century saw the emergence of collectivism in its atrocious and
genocidal form. So we cannot guarantee that the trend toward individual liberty
and the free flow of ideas, goods, services, and perhaps, one day, even people,
will not be reversed. And that only means there is a lot of work ahead."
Vargas Llosa also noted five challenges facing classical liberals in the next
few years, including raising the less developed world out of poverty, educating
people on the hazards of the drug war, fighting terrorism, protecting private
property against the assault of environmental fundamentalism, and exposing the
true nature of so-called "market socialism."
Regarding the first challenge, Vargas Llosa explained how the lessons of Latin
America can be applied to Africa and elsewhere around the world.
See "The State of Freedom: 2006," by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (4/21/06) http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=1709
2006 Fisher Awards http://www.atlasusa.org/programs/fisheraward_2006.php?refer=programs
Center on Global Prosperity (Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director) http://www.independent.org/research/cogp/
LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five-Hundred Years of State Oppression,
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=55
THE CHE GUEVARA MYTH AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERTY, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=61
Spanish-language Blog:
El Independent: El Blog del Centro Para la Prosperidad Global de The Independent
Institute http://independent.typepad.com
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DUKE RAPE ARRESTS: Justice or Politics?
Did justice or politics drive the arrests in the Duke University rape case?
When Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong began making extrajudicial comments
about the case, stating, for example, that he "believed the victim," he violated
Rule 3.8 (f) of the American Bar Association Rules of Conduct. Perhaps Nifong's
professional breach can be explained by his quest for re-election and his
endorsement from the influential Durham People's Alliance, which supports the
accuser.
"The arrests [of the two Duke lacrosse team members accused of rape] go a long
way toward ensuring his re-election," writes Independent Institute Research
Fellow Wendy McElroy, in her latest op-ed.
After much criticism, including remarks leveled by his opponents in the upcoming
DA election, Nifong "now wishes to work outside the public eye." About Nifong's
motivations, the jury is out.
"There are three parties whom the wider public should scrutinize and exonerate
if appropriate: the arrested men, their accuser, and District Attorney Nifong,"
McElroy concludes.
See "Did Justice or Politics Drive Arrests in Duke Lacrosse Case?" by Wendy
McElroy (4/18/06) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1708
LIBERTY FOR WOMEN, Wendy McElroy, ed.
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=43
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U.S.-CHINA SUMMIT AVOIDS MAJOR ISSUES
Last week's visit by Hu Jintao, president of the People's Republic of China, to
Washington, D.C., was marred by White House blunders of etiquette. The
U.S.-China summit's great problem, however, wasn't that the White House
improperly scheduled a working lunch with Hu instead of a full state dinner,
that a translator mistakenly called the PRC by Taiwan's official name, or that a
Falon Gong reporter heckled Hu at a press conference.
Rather, the main problem, according to Ivan Eland (director of the Independent
Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty), was that President Bush, in word and
deed, failed to acknowledge the reality of China's ascendance as an important
power and improperly advised China to take actions that would cut inexpensive
exports to the United States.
"The biggest problem with U.S.-Chinese relations, the U.S. informal containment
policy against China, was not even discussed at the summit," Eland writes in his
latest op-ed. "The United States has strengthened Cold War-era formal and
informal alliances [against China], augmented the already far-forward U.S.
military posture in the Western Pacific, East Asia, and Central Asia, and
cultivated better relations with China's rivals (India and Russia)."
Unless the U.S. government retracts its security perimeter and allows China
greater influence in Asia, it risks putting U.S.-China relations on a collision
course, Eland argues. "Above all, the U.S. government should not put the lives
of its 300 million citizens at risk from a Chinese nuclear attack merely to
guarantee the security of the non-strategic and wealthy island of Taiwan," he
concludes.
See "U.S.-Chinese Summit Leaves Strategic Relationship Unexamined," by Ivan
Eland (4/24/06) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1710
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"La cumbre EE.UU.-China deja a la relación estratégica sin ser examinada"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1710
THE WAY OUT OF IRAQ: Decentralizing the Iraqi Government, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/policy_reports/detail.asp?id=16
THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=54
Center on Peace & Liberty (Ivan Eland, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/copal/
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BOLIVIAN LEADER CONTEMPLATES WAGE HIKE
Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that his government will raise the
minimum wage by at least 50 percent and that the feasibility of a doubling of
the minimum wage is under study. Bolivian labor leader James Solares, however,
insists that Morales must honor his campaign promise to increase wages up to 241
percent.
Did either of these gentlemen take Econ 101?
As Independent Institute Adjunct Fellow Carlos Sabino notes, "a compulsory and
indiscriminate raise in salaries can only produce two social consequences:
either a reduction in total employment because the less productive enterprises
will be unable to continue to hire the same number of employees they now have
and will have to lay off some workers (or, in the worst cases, to shut down
operations), or a broadening of the so-called informal sector, that is, of the
labor pool composed of those who cannot comply with the existing labor and tax
laws and are forced to work outside the area regulated by law."
Concludes Sabino: "A leader, like Evo Morales, who falls into the populist
temptation to hike wages is merely incubating greater economic difficulties for
all and, in effect, worse poverty for the working masses."
"The Temptations of Evo," by Carlos Sabino (4/18/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1706
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"Las Tentaciones de Evo"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1706
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THE LIGHTHOUSE, edited by Carl P. Close, is made possible by the generous
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
ISSN 1526-173X
Copyright © 2006 The Independent Institute
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