Andrew Carico in the American Mind charts the rise of labels “leader” and “leadership,” terms embraced by the likes of Mussolini and Hitler. Today, leadership positions are often handed out based on minority status, creating a contemporary “artificial aristocracy.” Carico suggests this dangerous path can be sidestepped through two – admittedly difficult – initial steps.
At Least He Paid his Losing Bet
Paul Ehrlich, author of the spectacularly incorrect 1968 best-seller The Population Bomb, recently died at 93. Despite his longevity, Ronald Bailey points out in Reason, Ehrlich did not live to see even one of his numerous apocalyptic predictions come true. The world’s population certainly grew, but not merely larger, richer and fatter too. Most famously, Ehrlich once bet economist Julian Simon that the world was approaching economic collapse – but in 1990 had to mail Simon a cheque.
