*Voters as Mad Scientists*, by Bryan Caplan

This new collection has some of Bryan’s best material, and perhaps also his best single piece of writing ever.  Here is an excerpt from “My Simplistic Theory of Left and Right“:

This:

1. Leftists are anti-market.  On an emotional level, they’re critical of market outcomes.  No matter how good market outcomes are, they can’t bear to say, “Markets have done a great job, who could ask for more?”

2. Rightists are anti-leftist.  On an emotional level, they’re critical of leftists.  No matter how much they agree with leftists on an issue, they can’t bear to say, “The left is totally right, it would be churlish to criticize them.”

Yes, this story is uncharitable and simplistic.  But clarifying.  Communists and moderate Democrats are vastly different, but they have something in common: Free markets get on their nerves.  Nazis and moderate Republicans are vastly different, but they too have something in common: Leftists get on their nerves.  Within each side, the difference between moderates and extremists is the intensity of their antipathy, not the object of their antipathy.

The subtitle of the work is Essays in Political Irrationality.  Definitely recommended, buy it here.  Fittingly, the dedication of the book is “To Alex Tabarrok, a captain of reason in a sea of political irrationality.”