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Richard Edmund Hawkins

dochawk@dochawk.org

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Recent columns

  • What is a Classic Liberal? Part 1 Read
  • The FairTax plan would destroy the social contract of Social Security, replacing it with a welfare payment Read
  • The difference between positive and normative economics—and why it matters Read
  • The "FairTax Plan" would block critical Social Security reform Read
  • Some thoughts as my cheese is pressed Read

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Have a question about issues like these? Wondering how the economy works? Use the box below, and I'll automatically be notified. Obviously, not all questions can be answered. Also, I'm highly unlikely to bother with questions that start with political conclusions, such as, "Will we survive the Democrats' attempts to destroy American industry," or "Have Bush's lies ended all hope at peace."

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Recent questions;

What is a classic liberal?

From: Kirk Strauser

date: 2005-03-03 22:59:09

In your early column, "Why I've started dochawk.org", you refer to yourself as one of a dying breed, the classic liberal. What exactly do you mean by that? Compare/contrast with the presumed opposite: modern liberal? Could that position be defined on the two-axis graph at http://politicalcompass.org?

I'm glad you asked. That's a very good question. In fact, it's so good, that I was already writing my next columnt about it :)

The concept on that website is similar, but seems to be a bit skewed to their take on issues, rather than the take of people holding the positions. They call me Economic 2.75, Social -1.08

My explanation is closer to the axes used by the Libertarian Party with political and economic freedom.

I won't answer in as much depth as I usually would, as I have a full column coming, but in short, classic liberals believe in small government, and that the purpose of government is to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the citizens. "Liberal" in this sense comes from the same roots as "Liberty," and we are the source of the notion "That government governs best which governs least."

dochawk

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Question: textarea name='question' rows=5 cols=60>Dear Dochawk,

Dr. Hawkins is a statistician, antitrust attorney, and Assistant Professor of Economics at the Pennsylvania State University.

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