Five Duke professors signed a declaration prepared by the Cato Institute that ran in Wednesday’s New York Times . Cato is a libertarian-leaning think-tank located in Washington, D.C. A PDF version of the ad can be found here.
The five are:
- John Coleman, professor in the Fuqua School of Business
- Adriano Rampini, professor in the Fuqua School of Business
- Juan Rubio Ramirez, professor in the Department of Economics
- Edward Tower, professor in the Department of Economics
- Michael Munger, professor and chair of Department of Economics. Munger also ran as the Libertarian candidate for NC Governor last November.
The ad opens with a quote by President Barack Obama from earlier this month: “There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy.” To this, the signers replied, “With all due respect Mr.President,that is not true.” The ad goes on to explain why the fiscal stimulus is a bad idea, and why they believe there is not and should not be a consensus on the issue.
Keep your eyes peeled for a story with quotes from the above professors in the print edition of The Chronicle.
Very interesting nota bene over at the Chronicle of Higher Education today. This will be the very first election to usher in a White House where the commander in chief, his VP, and both their spouses have all worked in the higher education field. Obama worked in Chicago Law until 2004, and it seems Biden has been an adjunct professor at a law school for the past 17 years.
But what does this mean for us who are now and will continue to be in the higher education establishment when Obama is inaugarated? The article doesn’t offer too much speculation–mainly because higher education has been such an underplayed issue in this election as a result of the urgencies of the tumultuous financial markets. The Chronicle does believe that research funding to universities will increase, but I suspect that within the first year of a Democrat-controlled Congress and White House, we will see some very important legislation being decided tuition costs, federal aid (e.g., Pell grants), and science funding, especially to stem-cell research (which is a very big issue over at the techie magazine Wired).
The Chronicle of Higher Education also lays out a warning. Woodrow Wilson was also a Professor in Chief, but he served only one term, seeming very distant to the American electorate. While Obama has told a very compelling narrative in this election compared to McCain, a first-term president must not forget to always keep policy discussions relevant to the lives of Americans.
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Bob Barr - Max Masnick/The Chronicle
Or he may as well have. While the Libertarian Presidential Candidate spoke to a crowded room in Social Sciences, there may have been a much larger turnout—possibly filling Page Auditorium—if the event had been more aggressively advertised. Regardless, the press was in abundance, being represented by several television networks and several newspaper reporters and photographers.
After his introduction by Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and Duke professor Mike Munger, Barr explained failures of the two parties in two recent cases: the passage of the FISA amendments and the plethora of bailouts spilling out of Congress these days. In addition to these, Barr argued that neither party had any initiative to set real limits on the executive branch because each knew that it would be controlling the White House sooner or later. When Bush has told this Democratic Congress to do something, Barr said Congress has not only done it, but it has bent over and said: “Thank you, sir, may I have another?”
Overall, Barr was sharp (in both speech and dress) and articulate. His rhetoric was persuasive, in the vein of “a government by the people, for the people, of the people.” His rhetorical figures were also backed up with examples.
Barr made the case that third parties have something to say that is consonant with the experiences of your typical citizen.
As an aside, Bob Barr shook my hand, and it was exhilarating.
Bob Barr - Max Masnick/The Chronicle
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