Wednesday
December 29, 2004 |
 Machan's Musings - Taking Stock of America
by Tibor R. Machan
[Editor's note - at the risk of sounding like a cracked record, but just so there's no possibility of a misunderstanding here: my posting this article does not mean I agree with Prof. Machan that the liberation of Iraq is "futile." I couldn't DISagree with him more about that, though naturally I agree with the thrust of the rest of the article. - Linz]
Perhaps with a few more thousand outspoken citizens making it abundantly clear that it is indeed American individualism that requires vigilant defense, the revolutionary vision of the American founders could be rekindled. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
December 22, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - Mythmaking about the FDA
by Tibor R. Machan
Merrill Goozner is the director of the Integrity in Science project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Ralph Nader-inspired organization guided by, among others, the legendary Michael Jacobson who has been the driving force of this group from its inception. Along with other organizations, such as t... (Read more...)
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Saturday
December 18, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - Social Security: Abolition vs. Gradualism
by Tibor R. Machan
Those who love liberty may just have to put up with the gradual, imperfect approach of semi-privatization ... (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - David Brudnoy, RIP
by Tibor R. Machan
As a gay man, libertarian, and highly cultured individual he was also a cosmopolitan, and someone who believed that individual liberty is for everyone, including for homophobes who would not extend the same civilized attitude toward him. (Read more...)
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Saturday
December 11, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - The Coming Assault On Food Firms!
by Tibor R. Machan
One public policy disaster begets another and another—but governments never go out of business because of their mismanagement and the malpractice of their administrators. Instead, they dump the results of these on us all, even if we had nothing to do with the matter. My obesity ought to be my problem, not that of my neighbors. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
December 8, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - Materialism Through Equivocation
by Tibor R. Machan
Some justification exists for how Secular Humanists are treated by these critics. Quite a few secular thinkers do embrace the materialist alternative. Their false choice is that between materialism and spiritualism, where the former amounts to affirming only nature-as-pure matter as real, the latter embracing something spooky and ineffable ... namely, the ghostly supernatural. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Journalists And Confidentiality
by Tibor R. Machan
Usually if you aid and abet a criminal, either before or after the fact, you yourself become complicit in the crime. That would apply to you and me—should, say, my best friend tell me he’s robbed a bank and I refused to testify to knowing this, I could be prosecuted. Not so with journalists, at least not in many cases. (Read more...)
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 Machan's Musings - The Corruption of 'Law and Order'
by Tibor R. Machan
When the show began there was a healthy idealism about it. The initial story lines stressed principles not only of law but of justice. Michael Moriarity’s Assistant DA was motivated from conviction and the ideas and ideals that guided him were mostly truly valuable. ... Much of the show now is tortuously PC. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Marijuana Use: Medical vs. Non-Medical
by Tibor R. Machan
While the United States of America was parading itself as the leader of the free world during that Cold War era, it was mostly the champions of patriotism and loyalty to the flag who insisted on making pot consumption a crime. Their persistence led to the abomination we know as "the war on drugs." (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Why Bad Isn't The Same As Evil
by Tibor R. Machan
The determinists think there can only be one kind of cause, namely, the sort we witness in mechanics—say on the pool table when one ball causes another to move. But there could well be other types of causes—for instance, when Mozart creates music or Rembrandt paints or indeed a philosopher produces a defense of determinism. (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 27, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - How To Ruin Thanksgiving
by Tibor R. Machan
What is most silly ... is to go around during Thanksgiving Week fretting about weight gain just about the time when you’re about to sit down and gorge yourself on the most delicious food someone near and dear to you has cooked up with loving care. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Libertarians Are Friendly To Communities
by Tibor R. Machan
There’s no compassion where there is coercion. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Selective Support for Choice
by Tibor R. Machan
If more people got on the same page about the issue of our individual human rights, rights that are unalienable—meaning none can lose them until his or her demise—then perhaps a coherent and united voice against state intervention could be raised and some progress could be made in the direction of rolling back government power. (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 13, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - The Bad Habit of Statism
by Tibor R. Machan
Americans live with some pretty unusual ideas and policies and even take these for granted, actually. Consider the notion of freedom of speech or of religious worship. These are unique parts of the American political and legal tradition. Even in America some people find it odd and promote, instead, some kind of theo... (Read more...)
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Thursday
November 11, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - Barbaric Insurgents
by Tibor R. Machan
Even in the process of retaliation that's prima facie warranted one must not abandon the principle of individual rights. Until this point sinks in with the parties involved, none of the outcries in behalf of the terrorists and those whom they wish to serve in some capacity can have any credibility. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 10, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - For the Liberals, No One's Evil
by Tibor R. Machan
When in the recent elections Senator John Kerry tried to sound a bit like he did believe there were evil folks out there who needed to be stopped somehow, I bet the bulk of Americans didn't believe he meant it because they are so used to liberals whitewashing all those doing bad things as merely sick. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - American Rights vs European Privileges
by Tibor R. Machan
If we allow academicians like Professor Sunstein to take us back to the age of monarchy, where we were granted rights by government, including rights to the labors and resources of other people, we will have abandoned the American Revolution completely. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Misplaced Enthusiasm or Whistling in the Dark?
by Tibor R. Machan
I just couldn’t believe it when these ordinarily sane people got on the bandwagon of one of the candidates as if he were the most enthusiastic and effective champion of the principles of the free society. Go figure. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Disgusted With Democracy
by Tibor R. Machan
It makes nearly no difference whether they are Democrats, Republicans or whatever—the mainstream political parties have become organized criminal gangs that collect taxes from powerless and even powerful victims and spend the money almost any way they want to. It is disgusting, really, an abomination in a so-called free society. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
October 27, 2004 |
Machan's Musings - Michael Moore vs. Government
by Tibor R. Machan
As long as government meddles in the affairs of society, be these economic, religious, athletic, educational, artistic, scientific or what not, government is going to be appealed to for its special sort of support, namely, selective coercion. And those with the greatest clout will prevail. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - One Of My Pet Peeves
by Tibor R. Machan
Maybe I am naïve ... for holding that when promises are made, they ought to be kept. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings: Freedom of Speech - But Not In My Place
by Tibor R. Machan
Needless to stress, if you were to visit my home and got up to make a speech to seriously denounce me, I would, unless in my most masochistic frame of mind, throw you out. Especially at my birthday bash. (Read more...)
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 Machan's Musings - Human Initiative & the Blues
by Tibor R. Machan
While our species may well have come about through the natural processes of evolution, when this process got to us, it came up with a pretty amazing, extraordinary—free—being. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Free Speech Unsafe with both Left and Right
by Tibor R. Machan
Neither Left nor Right can be counted on for a principled defense of individual liberty, anywhere, anytime. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Relativism Revisited
by Tibor R. Machan
An acquaintance of mine related an exchange he had with someone from Europe who faulted President Bush for thinking there are good and bad people. This naturalized American citizen thought George W. Bush was wrong to be such an absolutist—things aren’t so simple, was the complaint. (Read more...)
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