Quotes of the day

My own experiences lead me to believe that if two kids have identical test scores, high school grades, etc., then the less privileged of the two has accomplished more and has greater long-term potential. Class-based affirmative action helps create equality of opportunity, in my opinion, and I think that is a goal worth pursuing.--Steven Levitt

Rightly or wrongly, many American voters will view Palin's stint as mayor of small town, her background in sports, her role in a beauty contest (yes), her trials raising teenage children, and her decision to stick with her priinciples and have a Downs Syndrome baby as all very valuable and relevant forms of experience. The more the word "experience" is repeated, no matter what the context, the more it will hurt Obama.--Tyler Cowen

... without families like [Sarah Palin's] our nation would have no chance of affording the social welfare programs proposed by the Democratic Party.--Tyler Cowen

During the eight years of FDR's first two terms as president, there were only two years in which unemployment was lower than it had been under Herbert Hoover-- and not by much. World War II has been credited by some with getting the United States out of the Great Depression. What the war did was put an end to the New Deal, as national survival became the top priority and replaced FDR's anti-business and class warfare rhetoric--Thomas Sowell

The moralist and political scientist naturally cultivate fluency because their contact with the public is mainly through spoken words. The historian cultivates elegance and can hardly get started before the third volume, and the sociologist is quite as bad a model because he starts with Adam and seldom gets past Moses.--Simon Patten