The Economist’s Interview with Radley Balko
Today’s edition of The Economist features an interview with Radley Balko, who is a senior editor at Reason Magazine and creator of the libertarian blog The Agitator. In the interview, Balko discusses the current state of our criminal justice system, the growing militarization of law enforcement, civil liberties, and the future of libertarianism.
Balko’s revelations regarding the current state of criminal justice system might come as a shock to those political types who spend countless hours discussing foreign policy and fiscal policy but very little in the way of civil liberties. Even those who consider themselves knowledgeable in the area of Constitutional law and the politics of making political appointments may find themselves shocked to learn about the vast powers that federal and state prosecutors have been granted and the perverse incentives they have been given to put people in prison–even those who may be innocent.
Balko also has some interesting thoughts in regards to how libertarianism plays out in a country dominated by Republicans and Democrats:
In theory, libertarians share about half of our positions with the right, and about half with the left. Broadly speaking, we’re social liberals and fiscal conservatives. The problem is that once in power, neither side pays much heed to the issues they have in common with libertarians, because that would require them to voluntarily put limits on their own power. And politicians don’t generally seek higher office for the purpose of limiting what they can do when they get there. So the libertarian stuff is where they’re most willing to compromise. And it’s what they’re least willing to spend political capital defending.
So we saw George W. Bush hold the line on social issues, but completely sell out on federal spending, regulation, and general growth of government. We’re seeing the same thing with Barack Obama, only in reverse. I put up a blog post at Reason about this a few months ago. Obama’s holding fast to his campaign promises that expand the size, scope, and power of government. The few promises he made that involve limiting government in some way—generally on social and civil liberties issues—are the promises he’s been less interested in keeping. This isn’t really surprising. But it speaks to the difficulty libertarians have in getting their ideas taken seriously. It’s made worse by the fact that libertarians by definition generally aren’t interested in seeking political power. That leaves public office and the reins of power open to those who crave it.
If you found this article interesting, please consider checking out Radley’s blog from time to time. Also be sure to read his great 2007 Reason article, which focused on the skewed priorities of the U.S. Justice Department.
opinions powered by SendLove.to
7 Responses to “The Economist’s Interview with Radley Balko”
This isn't surprising. David B. Kopel wrote many years ago (1990s) about the militarization of police as well as other abuses like civil asset forfeiture (property seizures, reversal of burden of proof of guilt by government to proof of innocence by the suspect — which Gingrich promoted in his cheap book after the 1994 elections, incidentally ["To Renew America"]), and constitutional overreaches by Washington.
Nothing has changed, really, since then.
Maybe it should be noted that Balko is the blogger who publicized the Cory Maye case.
Yeah, one can't give enough credit to Balko for all the work he did on the Cory Maye case. His interview didn't mention Cory Maye, per se, but it did mention Steven Hayne, the Mississippi medical examiner whose flawed forensics the district attorney relied upon in Cory Hayne's case.
Speaking of Cory Maye, I think it's interesting to note that it wasn't liberals or conservatives who stepped forward to bring justice in the Cory Maye. With the exception of the local Democrat public defender who previously defended Cory Maye, it was libertarians like Radley Balko and the libertarian law firm that stepped forward to defend him and brought the issue to a wider audience. I find it sad that so many so-called freedom loving liberals and freedom loving conservatives as well as the mainstream media have almost completly ignored this case.
Excellent interview. I hope Balko is right about this:
Thanks for the excellent post Nick.
As long as prosecutors are known for their conviction rate, instead of their accuracy, we'll probably get even more militaristic police work.
“prosecutors [...] known for their conviction rate”
Especially if it helps them advance politically…
[...] happens right here in your own country!”, but Nick Rivera does have a point – that is, if one is really serious about making a consistent argument about universal human rights, and not just setting up a nationalist [...]