Reason assistant editor Christian Britschgi has posted an excellent piece critiquing another piece in the New York Times by writer Steven Hill.

This year at SIC 2018, Niall Ferguson gave us some insights into the economy from his latest book, The Square and the Tower. Niall’s book is about hierarchy and networks. Squares are where people meet and mingle. They are the source of creativity, invention, and innovation. Towers, on the other hand, are where power resides—“hierarchical structured power,” as Niall calls it.

You can measure any two things. In all probability, they will be different. If you have an agenda, you can call that difference a “disparity” or a “gap.” Thus, the difference between average white incomes and average black incomes is a “disparity,” but the difference between white incomes and Asian-American incomes, which on average are considerably higher, is not a “gap” that calls out for a remedy.

Fifty years ago, protests and violence in opposition to the Vietnam War and the draft roiled college campuses. The War appeared hopelessly deadlocked after the Tet Offensive. Protestors burned draft cards, ransacked draft offices, and fled for Canada.