Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Hayek on gay marriage

Virginia Postrel in the Boston Globe -- Hayek on gay marriage
The real Hayekian question is not "WWFD?" (What Would Friedrich Do?) but when and how social institutions should change, and when and how the law should reflect that evolution. In a 1996 article in Reason (I was editor of the magazine at the time), Gillespie pointed to employers' recognition of domestic partnership benefits as an example of Hayekian evolution. State and local policies, as well as competing religious standards, offer similar models of decentralized experimentation and discovery.

I didn't realize that "State and local [government] policies" were an aspect of libertarian decentralized experimentation and discovery. I thought that voluntary interactions alone constituted libertarian decentralized experimentation and discovery.

State seizure of the law of domestic relations from the church was part of the unfortunate power grabs by that institution during the 18th and 19th centuries. The law of domestic relations should be under private control -- since it covers the most private (intimate) aspects of human existence.

Cubicle Culture Not Created Equal

I gather that those of you who are less than about 1.9 m tall have a different experience working in the cubicle farms of the Modern World. You can't see over the walls and thus avoid the claustrophobia involved, can you? I wonder how you stand it.

I've always found it very difficult to understand the world view of those who are shorter than I am.