For my summer time cottage studying, the primary non-fiction e book I’m studying is The Mayor of Castro Avenue by Randy Shilts. It’s about Harvey Milk. (By the way, I noticed Milk converse in a downtown church in San Francisco in Could or June 1978 at an occasion held by BACABI, the Bay Space Coalition Towards the Briggs Initiative.)
Listed below are 4 attention-grabbing highlights from the primary third of the e book.
Harvey Milk’s early political opinions
A staunch conservative, Milk was then wanting ahead to Barry Goldwater’s getting the 1964 Republican presidential nomination. That might get the true conservative message out to the nation, he thought. His fiercest argument with Rodwell was not about homosexual equality, however [about] President Kennedy’s transfer in opposition to the metal firms. The uncooked use of federal energy within the economic system made Harvey’s blood boil.
DRH word: I bear in mind studying within the late Sixties about JFK’s 1962 assault on metal firms for elevating costs. Ayn Rand wrote about it on the time additionally, and Wabash Faculty economics professor Ben Rogge talked about it in a chat in early 1969 on the College of Winnipeg that my Libertarian membership sponsored. It was an enormous deal to us.
Destruction of a Very important A part of San Francisco
The Latino Mission district’s companies had by no means recovered from the digging up of the central purchasing strip for the Bay Space Fast Transit.
DRH word: After I graduated from the College of Winnipeg in Could 1970, I set out in June to hitchhike from Winnipeg to Vancouver and from Vancouver to Los Angeles, stopping at varied locations on the best way. I stayed at an inexpensive, divy resort in San Francisco (I believe it was about $5 an evening) and explored San Francisco. I bear in mind the chaos created by the constructing of the BART on the time. I needed to stroll over boards in varied components of town and it was troublesome for folks to get to sure companies as a result of the streets have been so ripped up. Later I discovered in George Hilton’s transportation economics class at UCLA simply how badly BART failed a value/profit evaluation take a look at even judged by the optimistic estimates of its proponents.
The Leftist Assault on Milk’s Enterprise
Some [left-wing gays] took to scolding Scott Smith [Milk’s business partner at Castro Camera], saying if Castro Digital camera actually cared about folks, the would give away free movie and supply growing providers free of charge.
DRH word: No remark needed.
John Barbagelata’s Confusion in regards to the Economics of Discrimination
[Barbagelata, who was running for mayor of San Francisco against George Moscone] would proceed to oppose the regulation banning anti-gay bias amongst metropolis contractors as a result of town is likely to be compelled to simply accept larger bids from nondiscriminating firms over the low bids of biased employers.
DRH word: On the time, employers have been discriminating in opposition to homosexual staff even in San Francisco. This presumably made homosexual staff a cut price for employers prepared to not discriminate. So Barbagelata had it precisely backwards. He didn’t perceive his Gary Becker. For the concise model of the economics of discrimination, see Linda Gorman, “Discrimination” in David R. Henderson, ed., The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
