Viewing profile — jeffdavis

How are mail-in ballots protected from fraud? I keep hearing that fraud is not a problem, but I'm wondering (a) how do we know there is little fraud; and (b) what mechanisms make i…

The revenue of bootleggers is sharply down since the 21st Amendment, because many people still choose to buy legal alcohol rather than moonshine.

Article I, section 3: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof...".

"Democracy" and "the will of the people" are abstractions, and pretty crude ones, at that. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have democracy, but we should acknowledge that it is far…

Think about it this way: collecting taxes from states was a two-party relationship. The states were compelled to pay in this transaction, but it's still two parties on opposite sid…

I am confused about what you mean. First, the federal government clearly has authority over international commerce. Second, the price of drugs in legal markets would be much lower,…

The biggest flaw when reasoning about government is overestimating how well democracy works as a method of solving problems. If everyone agrees about the major stuff, and you just …

This is why direct taxation (16th Amendment) was a mistake. It allows the federal government to take away the citizens' money first, and then give it back to the states, with condi…

Federal drug laws were upheld on the grounds that they are regulating interstate commerce ("regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the India…

What are the consequences to people in Tulsa who aren't tribe members? Landowners who aren't tribe members? Can the tribe expel them and confiscate the land?

Which justices do you believe follows originalism, which follow textualism, and which follow neither?

It's unlikely that we will effectively review the totality of Gorsuch's opinions in a HN thread. Let's just say he's an interesting justice. Whether justices should be interesting …

Let's start by eliminating federal drug laws, and leave it up to the states whether they want to pass laws against it. Then, have a hard conversation about what freedom means, and …

Good idea. How about: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the peo…

What is the financing and implementation plan? Will it be donor-funded, publicly-funded, or are they looking into some revenue options? If I donate now, what will the money be used…

I've been wondering for a while whether the concept of "open source" and its connection to freedom are becoming meaningless. Source code has been a dynamic thing for a while, and I…

It's weird how modernized things can end up so bad at their original purpose. Like a computer being a bad calculator. The same thing with phones. Smart phones are good at a lot of …

I read about project vesta on HN a while back, and it seemed promising. Why do these approaches not get more attention? Project vesta has the additional benefit that it works direc…

It's completely moving away from the client/server model to something else. Perhaps that's a great thing to do, but it's not something to do quietly.

What is the magnitude of this problem? What are the possible solutions? Can it be addressed with, say, liability insurance premiums (and is it already)? Do we need a stigma associa…

Isn't that what I said: that it's a gas milage problem and not a truck problem? Also, I advocated sharing a truck rather than owning one truck per household. So if we disagree abou…

Having one truck for an extended family to share is really convenient. (EDIT: E.g. one truck per 4-6 households.) And let's face it -- cars in general are completely unused at leas…

I want to apologize for this thread. I can't reply to my own comment or edit it now, so I'm replying to your comment which was a reasonable reply. I realize probably nobody will re…