Nathan Goodman
Economist who studies institutions, political economy, polycentricity, defense & peace economics, and border militarization.
gunsguardsandgovernance.substack.com
scholar.google.com/citations?user=1Ue5…
- This piece by @mutual-a.bsky.social at @c4ssdotorg.bsky.social, along with @margaret.bsky.social's analysis of community defense in Minneapolis, together illustrate the incredible power of grassroots, polycentric movements. margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/our-neighb...
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View full threadMigrant justice movement have long shown the power of polycentricity. As Karla Segovia, Molly Rovinski & I show in a recent article, the Sanctuary Movement was able to mobilize 70,000 people to protect migrants because it was polycentric! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
- Centralized, militarized, top-down power doesn't keep us safe. We keep us safe. That reality is something you learn when you study defense with an anarchist squint. youtu.be/NuCSR8wrIwk?...
- Too often, my fellow economists assume that defense can only come from a top-down, centralized hierarchy. But what if a top-down, centralized hierarchy that claims to protect you is actually threatening your community? In Minnesota, they're facing exactly that threat.
- And they're responding from the bottom-up. They're proving that polycentric order, voluntary association, and direct action can provide protection.
- "The specific structure of closed encrypted group chats means the resistance is more resilient. Hack right-wing “journalists” like Cam Higby can infiltrate individual chats, but they only reveal a small part of the broader network." - @mutual-a.bsky.social
- As my colleague Chris Coyne & I emphasize, "polycentric defense enhances the robustness of the overall system because there is no single point of failure." www.independent.org/wp-content/u...
- "The networks that are looking out for them are far and away the largest, most organized, and most successful networks like these I’ve ever seen, and they’re entirely decentralized. There is no central group or organization that is making this happen. It’s just people." - @margaret.bsky.social
- ICE, CBP, and Border Patrol are a threat to the rule of law. I discussed this with @jacobtlevy.bsky.social on the Hayek Program Podcast this past summer. Sadly, our conversation remains relevant. www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram...
- As Don Lavoie said, "our task now...is to complete the American revolution." The principles the founders articulated were never applied consistently. Applying them consistently "is a workable ideal...that...is far more compatible with the humanitarian and internationalistic values of the left."
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- I certainly think that would be an improvement!
- My Substack just hit 100 subscribers! Check it out if you're interested in understanding border militarization and the threat it poses to freedom. Gunsguardsandgovernance.substack.com
- Agents of the state are killing people in broad daylight. Rather than adopting even the pretense of taking time to investigate, administration officials rush to defame the dead. Before the body is cold, they call the victim a "domestic terrorist" or "assassin." Craven behavior.
- The academic literature on "Governing Knowledge Commons" offers some useful tools for analyzing epistemic ecosystems. @erwindekker.bsky.social, @pavelkuchar.bsky.social, @ottolehto.bsky.social, and various other friends of mine have contributed to this. I hope people outside academia leverage this
- Chris Coyne and I have a chapter on the military-industrial complex in this volume. You can read an earlier draft in working paper form at @ssrn.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
- 🚨 Out Now: Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice, edited by Richard Jong-A-Pin & Christian Bjørnskov Learn more: www.e-elgar.com/shop/isbn/97... Free chapter: doi.org/10.4337/9781...
- DHS wants to make biometrics submissions mandatory for everyone involved in a USCIS benefit requests. That's a bad idea. gunsguardsandgovernance.substack.com/p/mandatory-...
- Tomorrow morning at "Guns, Guards, and Governance" I'll publish a post elaborating on this public interest comment. Subscribe if you want that in your inbox: gunsguardsandgovernance.substack.com
- DHS wants to make biometric data collection mandatory for everyone associated with any immigration benefits request. This includes US citizens involved in the application. I just submitted a Public Interest Comment criticizing this proposal. www.mercatus.org/research/pub...
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- Excellent point!
- An underrated cost of immigration restrictions is they prevent people from leaving abusers. If your abuser is the only potential source for a legal right to stay in the country, that puts you in an awful position. VAWA & T visas help a bit, but barriers can still keep people with abusers.
- DHS wants to make biometric data collection mandatory for everyone associated with any immigration benefits request. This includes US citizens involved in the application. I just submitted a Public Interest Comment criticizing this proposal. www.mercatus.org/research/pub...
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View full threadTo avoid this, DHS should: 1) Allow more flexibility in biometrics appointments and interviews so that self-petitioners can reschedule when necessary. 2) Allow the use of biometric data as an option for demonstrating good moral character, rather than making it mandatory for all self-petitioners.
- You can submit public interest comments on the proposal until January 2nd: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
- I just launched my Substack. It's called "Guns, Guards, and Governance." In my first post, I discuss the core theme I hope to cover: Border militarization undermines self-governance & threatens liberty for all, including citizens. open.substack.com/pub/gunsguar...
- This is especially concerning in a time when applicants & petitioners may be fearful about attending USCIS appointments, given ICE detaining people at their appointments. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
- Moreover, consider the rigid requirements around biometrics appointments again. What if a survivor misses an appointment & is denied her self-petitioning option as a result? What if she stays with her abuser as a result, and suffers further abuse?
- Another concerning feature of the proposal is its effect on VAWA & T nonimmigrant visa self-petitioners. These visa categories enable victims of abuse & trafficking to leave their abusers by self-petitioning. Currently, these applicants are required to demonstrate "good moral character."
- DHS highlights that submitting biometrics may be an easier way to demonstrate good moral character than current options. That's good! But for some self-petitioners, biometrics may be more invasive than alternative means. They may be deterred from self-petitioning, and stay with an abuser as a result
- The proposed rule has other perverse consequences. The rule says that missing a biometrics appointment will lead to denied claims, and you can't reschedule except in "extraordinary circumstances." This threatens to close off legal immigration pathways, simply for a missed appointment.
- As @mclem.org has documented in research for @piie.com, legal immigration pathways and illegal pathways are substitutes. www.piie.com/publications... When legal immigration pathways are closed off, we will likely see more illegal immigration.
- As @kristenrosec.bsky.social explains, “degrading experiences of surveillance discourage individuals from numerous forms of political participation because it communicates to them that they are members of a class of citizens that the government is likely to ignore, rendering participation futile.”
- This tendency to discourage participation relates closely to the chilling effect that this surveillance can have on speech. @eff.org discussed this well in a public comment on a previous expansion of DHS biometrics collection. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
- This proposal expands the scope of a type of surveillance that many find especially invasive, akin to giving up a piece of yourself. As my colleague @kristenrosec.bsky.social argues, surveillance can be an affront to dignity. www.kristenrcollins.com/uploads/1/1/...
- At risk of being uncharitable, I sometimes wonder if this divide might occasionally result from a difference in underlying goals. If your goal is mainly to have a scene or subculture, enforcing the norms of that subculture is more useful than assessing efficacy at achieving stated ends.
- Having well-enforced group norms is useful for internal group cohesion, cooperation, & maintaining personal social standing. Whereas thinking strategically about compatibility of means with stated ends is only useful if you value the stated ends & think you can impact the chance of winning them.
- The type of discretionary power that CBP agents have been given creates opportunities for this type of despicable abuse, and it attracts people who want to abuse people. State violence & sexual violence are intertwined, mutually reinforcing forms of unjust domination.
- This aversion to thinking about tradeoffs is a big part of why people reject or ignore insights from economics. Unlike Will, I'm not a consequentialist. But they're absolutely right that it's vitally important to consider tradeoffs, strategic concerns, and the compatibility of chosen means & ends.
- "Meanwhile, solidarity with migrants is being increasingly criminalized. ... Border Patrol has increasingly been raiding a first aid camp set up by volunteer group No More Deaths." - @petergelderloos.bsky.social, "The Solutions are Already Here" pg. 79 Recently, these raids escalated.
- "The jury box may be humble, but it stands taller than any minister, for it carries the weight of a thousand years. And if the government wishes to preserve not merely order but liberty, it must leave that box, and the people within it untouched." www.theunseenandtheunsaid.com/p/abolishing...
- Trial by jury is a vital safeguard of liberty. To learn more about these crucial issues, consider following @fijanational.bsky.social & @defendourjuries.bsky.social
- How can ordinary people come together to protect immigrants from unjust deportation? Throughout the 1980s & early 90s, the Sanctuary Movement illustrated one way to do this. In a newly published paper, Karla Segovia, Molly Rovinski & I analyze this movement. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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- Thank you!
- Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
- A concerning proposal to expand biometric data collection. www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/dh...
- I look forward to being part of the immigrant rights panel at @equalfreedom.bsky.social's "Freedom in Motion" event this Wednesday. If you're in New Orleans this Wednesday, please join us!
- In his book "Nobody is Protected," @reecejones.bsky.social documents how the Border Patrol became a dangerous national police force. His findings are more relevant now than ever.
- Border Patrol agents tear gassed a children's Halloween parade and broke a 67 year old man's ribs. This type of brutality is horrendous.
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- Thanks!
- My colleague Mikayla Novak has a new edited volume out called "Liberal Emancipation." She has brought together a great group of scholars, including @erwindekker.bsky.social, @ottolehto.bsky.social, and even me, to analyze the emancipatory aspects of liberalism! Read on to learn what I argue... 🧵
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View full threadPossibly of interest to @aaronrosspowell.com, one of the few open standard bearers of radical liberal ideas.
- You can also find an earlier draft of my chapter in this SSRN preprint: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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- Read my chapter here: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
