The Heritage Insider: Why is Turkey in tumult? good news on life, San Fran wants to squash the sharing economy, how do you talk to someone who disagrees?

July 16, 2016

 

 

Things are dicey in Turkey, after an attempted coup on Friday. The out-of-control behavior of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a major part of the problem. There has been some good news on the life front: abortions are down and pro-life attitude are up. A new San Francisco law will squash the sharing economy—unless Airbnb prevails in court. Is it possible to have a conversation with someone who disagrees passionately with you on an issue? How do you do it? Don’t miss the panel of sharp commentators on Thursday at the Hudson Institute assessing the state of the republic. Plus, over 40 new studies, articles, speeches, videos, and events at The Insider this week. Visit to see what the conservative movement has been thinking, writing, saying, and doing to win battles for liberty.

 

 

 

Who thought there might be a coup in Turkey? Michael Rubin did four months ago, and he explained why in an article for the American Enterprise Institute: “The situation in Turkey is bad and getting worse. It’s not just the deterioration in security amidst a wave of terrorism. Public debt might be stable, but private debt is out-of-control, the tourism sector is in free-fall, and the decline in the currency has impacted every citizen’s buying power. There is a broad sense, election results notwithstanding, that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is out-of-control. He is imprisoning opponents, seizing newspapers left and right, and building palaces at the rate of a mad sultan or aspiring caliph. In recent weeks, he has once again threatened to dissolve the constitutional court. Corruption is rife. His son Bilal reportedly fled Italy on a forged Saudi diplomatic passport as the Italian police closed in on him in an alleged money laundering scandal. His outbursts are raising eyebrows both in Turkey and abroad. Even members of his ruling party whisper about his increasing paranoia which, according to some Turkish officials, has gotten so bad that he seeks to install anti-aircraft missiles at his palace to prevent airborne men-in-black from targeting him in a snatch-and-grab operation.” [American Enterprise Institute]

 

A positive trend for life: “In 1990, there were 1.6 million abortions, but that number fell steadily to 1.1 million in 2011. Likewise, the abortion rate fell from 29 per thousand in 1980 to 17 per thousand in 2011. Abortions dropped another 12 percent since 2010 (based on 2013 and 2014 data, depending on the state), with some of the biggest declines in states with few restrictions like Hawaii, New Mexico, and Nevada.” It appears that changing attitudes account for much of the drop: “In 1991, 36 percent of 18-year-olds to 29-year-olds believed that abortion should be legal in all circumstances. That number dropped to 24 percent by 2009. Likewise, a 2013 survey revealed that 49 percent of Americans believe abortion is morally wrong in contrast to 15 percent who believe it is morally acceptable.” For more data on cultural trends, see The Heritage Foundation’s 2016 Index of Culture and Opportunity. [The Heritage Foundation]

 

Watch this case; it matters for the sharing economy: San Francisco not only wants to regulate short term rentals—on the wrongheaded idea that they contribute to the housing shortage—it also wants to make internet companies like Airbnb responsible for ensuring that those posting rental properties have followed rules on registering with the city. Airbnb has filed a lawsuit, arguing that the city’s new law violates federal law against holding websites responsible for content published by their users. The city claims it’s just regulating business, but as Steven Greenhut points out: “[V]erifying such information, in reality, means being responsible for users’ content. Everyone in the new economy ought to hope Airbnb prevails here.” [Reason Magazine]

 

How do you talk to someone who disagrees passionately with you about an issue? Is it even possible to get them to listen? John Stonestreet writes that the best strategy in those situations is simply to ask the other person questions rather than try to give him your answers—questions like: What do you mean by that? How do you know that’s true? And How did you come to that conclusion? [Colson Center for Christian Worldview]

 

One thing to do: Find out if plutocrats are drowning our republic. That’s what a panel (sponsored by The American Interest) will discuss at the Hudson Institute on July 21. Francis Fukayama, Walter Russell Mead, Tyler Cowen, and others assess the state of the republic from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. [Hudson Institute]

 

 

 

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