Interesting read at Reason mag on Guiliani and "liberalism"

Tim Cavanaugh at Reason magazine has a great food-for-thought article about a new book about Guiliani. Cavanaugh rightly notes that one can greatly overstate Guiliani's success in reducing crime--I did not know, for example, that crime rates had gone down in three of the last four years of predecessor Mayor Dinkins' reign. He also backs into admitting that maybe the old "root cause" liberalism of the New Deal--give people jobs and crime goes down--may not be so discredited anymore.

A final thought: I got a kick out of Cavanaugh's phrase "mugged by reality liberals." I wonder if he and his friends have a mugged by reality conservativism or libertarianism. The basis of it is the joke from the late 60s: "What is a conservative? A liberal who's been mugged the night before."

The "conservative" version is: "What's a civil libertarian? A conservative who's just been indicted." This version first began around the time so many Reagan administration members were the subject of criminal investigations.

I suppose the "libertarian" version is: "What's a left-winger? A libertarian who just lost his health insurance."

Despite the above, Reason magazine remains a valuable resource--even if I don't agree with significiant portions of its contents from week to week. In my continuing quest for balance, though, I am adding it to the link list.