 A Corrupt Profession
by Tibor R. Machan
There are those who believe that business is inherently corrupt--communists would be among those, and socialists. The very idea of striving to make a profit is treated by these people as morally objectionable. Of course, some even think medicine fits the bill, or military service. And there are animal rights advocates who believe the entire meat industry is morally base. (Read more...)
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Soros' Follies Again
by Tibor R. Machan
In the late 60s I was invited to listen to a fellow Hungarian refugee in Los Angeles discuss communism. I nearly walked out when he began with the refrain about how communism is such a wonderful ideal but, sadly, unattainable in practice. What wonderful ideal? The prospect of a worldwide intelligent ant colony, bound together completely with no individual initiative in play anywhere, all automatically serving humanity--is that some wonderful ideal? It is hell, so (Read more...)
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Should We Elect a Problem Solver?
by Tibor R. Machan
In his long interview with Chris Wallace on Fox TV on Sunday April 27, Senator Obama asserted that "The American people, what they are looking for is somebody who can solve their problems." (Read more...)
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Randula, the Altruist Slayer
by Dennis C. Hardin
George H. Smith taunts Objectivists for seeing altruistic ‘Reds’ under every ideological bed (Read more...)
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Wandering About the East Village
by Tibor R. Machan
It was a very mild, pleasant Sunday afternoon and my older daughter and I were spending a couple of hours walking about in her New York City East Village neighborhood. After a bite of lunch we took in some of the shops, not so much to spend the required $20 I heard everyone is likely to part with once leaving home in this part of the world but to do what I like to call museum cruising. Yes, even when I have no interest in shopping, I do enjoy checking out all the goodies offered for sale in the hundreds of places that feature thousands of items that come from the commercial motives of people. Not just commercial motives, of course. A goodly portion of what's for sale is probably born out of a sense of creativity, with the idea of selling following as more of an afterthought. Like all those paintings and sculptures in Soho. Or the jewelry on display in the umpteen boutiques. (Read more...)
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What Are Taxes?
by Tibor R. Machan
In the April 15th edition of The New York Times Richard Conniff suggests that what the government collects from us each year on or about this date be called "dues" instead of "taxes" ("Abolish All 'Taxes'"). As he puts it, "we need language to remind us that this is our government, and that we thrive because of the schools and transit systems and 10,000 other services that exist only because we have joined together."
(Read more...)
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Welfare Corrupts
by Tibor R. Machan
Before anything else it needs to be noted that most of the welfare recipients are not unwed mothers but people doing business as major corporations. They receive subsidies, bailouts, protection from competition and so forth, all undeserved, all unjust, all lacking any legitimacy in a genuine free country. American firms, as thousands of others around the globe, have managed to persuade politicians to provide them with benefits at the expense of people who haven’t consented to any of the takings that provide the funds that make all this possible. (Read more...)
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Intellectual Products and the Right to Private Property
by Tibor R. Machan
... (Read more...)
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The Audacity of Profit
by Merlin Jetton
I recently read an article from the American Medical Association, which is here. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/368/compstudy_52006.pdf. It is an assessment of competition in health insurance. Pages 1 and 2 are a relentless finger-pointing at large market shares and mergers and acquisitions in health insur... (Read more...)
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Taxation Again
by Tibor R. Machan
Instead of all the mud slinging between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama, wouldn’t it be refreshing to have them engage in some serious political discussion? Since April 15 is nearly upon us, many American citizens might appreciate some in-depth exploration of the nature of taxation. The federal income tax, in particular, would deserve thoughtful examination. Senator John McCain could also enter the fray, me thinks. (Read more...)
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Too Much Love for Royalty
by Tibor R. Machan
Every time I encounter admiring references to royalty in America I cringe. (Read more...)
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Religious Faith Fails Its Followers
by Roger Smith
Each of the three Abrahamic God-based religious faiths -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- at the most basic level acts as a rallying point, a power grouping. Historically, it was all about rallying tribes and whole regions of the Middle East around a book and having them declare faith in the teachings found therein; strength from unity. A whole population being all of one mind, united, results in a powerful force -- and those who direct and control this power benefit by becoming powerful, too. (Read more...)
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Why don’t they get it?
by Tibor R. Machan
No matter how many politicians proceed to act self-destructively, engage in corruption, violate elementary principles of civilized conduct as New York governor Eliot Spitzer had done, the idea that they can be elected to office to take care of us, to handle the bulk of our problems, may be trusted with our income to spend it wisely and virtuously remains nearly immune to criticism. They keep promising to handle everything we find troubling in our lives and the majority of Americans--not to mention others around the globe--continue with their governmental habit, as if they still lived in an absolute monarchy where the king or queen are taken to be God’s agents and are expected to be "keepers of the realm." That famous legal doctrine of the police power is still part of our system, according to which government may impose its will on us for our own good, just as if the myth of its benevolence had not be disproved a thousand times over and over again. (Read more...)
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Prudence: The Stolen Virtue
by Paul Hibbert
Due to the proliferation of laws and regulations designed to protect people from themselves it is becoming almost impossible to be truly prudent — because to be prudent one must choose one's actions. (Read more...)
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Time to Get Real About Elections
by Walter Donway
Observing our selection of Presidential candidates this year, it becomes evident that ANYONE can run for President of the United States. Soon, this will be recognized by Americans at large, and shortly after, by politicians. The result, I predict, will be a radical reform of the election process. Because we don't bothe... (Read more...)
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Bill Buckley, RIP
by Tibor R. Machan
William F. Buckley, Jr., has died, at age 82. I want to reflect a bit on him because he was the persons whose writing awoke in me my political passions. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 27, 2008 |
Unabashed Prejudice at The Times
by Tibor R. Machan
These matters tend to show up without much fanfare but that’s exactly what makes them interesting and significant. When Eleanor Randolph of The New York Times wrote these lines [Sunday, 2/24/08], I am sure she was being quite unselfconscious. It was simple common sense to her to say, as she wrote about the program "Law & Order"--which she and I both seem to have watched from its inception--that these shows "elevate Sam Waterston to his ethical pedestal, even though he appears elsewhere pitching investments." (Read more...)
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Thursday
February 21, 2008 |
Employment Blues Revisited
by Tibor R. Machan
Even though making lots of money is often derided by politicians, they do routinely champion employment security. Exactly why it is fine to want the latter but not the former is quite unclear to me. There are some theories about this, though. (Read more...)
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Freud and the "Social Utility" of Objectivism
by Dennis C. Hardin
Freud’s views on the social role of religion may offer some insights on how to spread Objectivism (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 13, 2008 |
It Isn’t Throwing it Away
by Tibor R. Machan
Over the years, since when I voted for Barry Goldwater back in 1964, I have supported libertarian candidates and ballot measures, few of whom or which had any chance of winning. Often my more pragmatic, realistic friends tell me that I am throwing away my vote and I should stop this if I want to be serious about giving concrete support to my political convictions. They sometimes even suggest that it is irresponsible to keep up this practice of voting for hopeless candidates and measures. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 6, 2008 |
Americans Don’t Much Care About Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
Ever since I have been an American citizen--starting 1961--I have noticed that after elections losers often blame winners for distortions, misrepresentations, and so forth. Few of the losers say, "Well, I lost because the voters didn’t agree with me." This become most evident for me during the elections when one ballot measure aiming to sock it to oil companies in California lost. Supporters of the measure, led, I think, by a very busy and prominent leftist political activist, Bill Press, insisted that their measure lost because the voters were deceived, lied to, and so forth, not because voters didn’t buy their pitch. (Read more...)
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Clinton-Obama Debate and Health Care Costs
by Merlin Jetton
Will health care costs keep on rising? You can bet on it. Are the campaign promises about lowering health care costs flimflam? Of course. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 30, 2008 |
Revolutionaries and Reality
by Tibor R. Machan
Those who are loyal to the political values of the American Founders are revolutionaries, far more so than any other type (like the Marxists or radical Muslims). This is because the American Founders identified something brand new and radical when they declared that individuals have unalienable rights to their lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
(Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2008 |
Economic ups and downs
by Tibor R. Machan
Those who study a country’s economic conditions, mostly macro-economists, track general trends--is inflation or unemployment, how about productivity, comparative strength of the currency, etc., and so forth. But the basics of all these are mostly local matters, all about what happens to you, me, our neighbors, all about what we decide to do with our income and other liquid assets. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 16, 2008 |
Another Distortion at the Movies, etc.
by Tibor R. Machan
American Rhapsody is a movie about a family that gets smuggled out of Hungary in the early 1960s and all the various complications this gives rise to. Since I went through this ordeal myself when I was 14, not with my family but several perfect strangers and a paid guide, I thought I’d check out the movie. (Read more...)
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