 Altruism Corrupts Foreign Policy
by Joseph Rowlands
There's plenty of criticism of the US foreign policy. It doesn't seem to have any coherent principles guiding it. We need a foreign policy based on rational principles. One characteristic of a rational foreign policy would be the need to have clear goals and the need to stick with them. The choices would be guided ... (Read more...)
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The Structure of the Universe
by Manfred F. Schieder
Ayn Rand, I, and the Universe, Part 3 (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 26, 2007 |
What Free Country?
by Tibor R. Machan
When I first arrived on these shores, back in 1956, the idea that America is a free country had at least some rhetorical currency, backed by frequent enough association between the country’s founding documents and the desirability and undesirability of various public policies. Just as Abraham Lincoln, so many others who addressed what kind of laws the country ought to have tended still to invoke the authority of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and ideas from the Founders and Framers. (Read more...)
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Shoring Up the Nanny State
by Tibor R. Machan
Given how bad the arguments are for forced wealth redistribution, it is no great surprise that mainstream welfare statists are constantly revamping them. In the August 22, 2007, issue of the International Herald Tribune, the European paper that�s put out together by The New York Times, an editorial makes yet another attempt to help give the nanny state the moral advantage. Let us take a look at how this attempt is made. (Read more...)
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Tuesday
September 11, 2007 |
America and Libertarianism
by Tibor R. Machan
Because America is still widely regarded as a pretty decent country, even while Left, Right and the rest find a lot of fault with it, the question of whether Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives, Populists, or Libertarians are the most faithful to its central ideas and ideals is important to ask and answer. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand, I and The Universe Part 1
by Manfred F. Schieder
Editor's Note: As mentioned previously, we are running Manfred's book as a chapter-a-week serial on RoR. Here is the first installment which includes the introduction, table of contents, and chapter 1. Due to the length of these articles they will be run on each Friday to give reader's ample time before a new article takes the headline space. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand and Rational Egoism: The dynamo of human progress
by Manfred F. Schieder
[Editor's Note: This article forms an introduction of sorts to a book written by Manfred that we will be publishing here in the form of a chapter-a-week serial.]
Excepting the followers of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, those others who seemingly promote the application of Capitalism as the system required to produce general wellbeing, defend it on the wrong basis of religious principles. Capitalism as a social system does not originate on such doctrines but corresponds to a completely new stage of human evolution. (Read more...)
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Ron Paul Isn't Being Censored
by Tibor R. Machan
Some of the folks who are eager supporters of Representative Ron Paul as the Republican presidential nominee are sadly misspeaking themselves these days. On the Free Market News Network web site the question of whether Paul is being censored by mainstream media has been posed, as one of the site's polls, and the overwhelming majority has answered "Yes". But this is very confused. (Read more...)
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Must the Senate Butt In?
by Tibor R. Machan
As I do my frequent working trips around Europe, I often listen to webcasts from various good radio stations. I am especially fond of one that offers all piano jazz, all day round, with just a few ads.
There is a persistent message, though, that the management airs, having to do with a bill in the US Senate that aims to establish what its promoters call Internet Radio Equality. One Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) has introduced one in the House that would reportedly overturn a recent ruling that requires webcasters to pay a flat rate per song streamed, rather than the traditional percentage of their revenue.
The website about this bill reports that something called "the Copyright Royalty Board recently raised rates on Internet webcasters, who will soon face greatly-increased fees for streaming music on their stations." It goes on to state that when this occurred it "affected not just Internet broadcasters but noncommercial groups like NPR, and the broadcasters filed an appeal of the decision earlier this month, but were denied." The management of the piano jazz station to which I listen so loyally urges listeners to call their senators and leave messages urging the passage of the Senate version of Jay Inslee’s bill so they can continue to offer the music they feature without what they fear will be onerous fees. (Read more...)
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Who Needs Philosophy
by Ed Thompson
Below are quote excerpts from Rand's "Philosophy: Who Needs It" (p 4-5), supplemented with Rand-validating quotes (from each philosopher in question) which display the thinking errors of each of these 8 philosophers. Exercise for interested readers: Feel free to attempt to invalidate the supplemented ("validating") quotes; or even to attempt to invalidate Rand, if that is your position! (Read more...)
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A Review of Andrew Bernstein's "The Philosophic and Literary Integration in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged"
by Edward W. Younkins
This is a timely review of Andrew Bernstein’s 1995, 8.5 hours long, 7 tape, audio course, The Philosophic and Literary Integration in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. It is timely because the year 2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Ayn Rand’s masterpiece and many people will be wanting either to revisit Rand’s magnum o... (Read more...)
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The True Meaning of "Civil Rights"
by William Scott Dwyer
The modern version of civil rights is now a fait accompli -- an uncontroversial part of the American culture. Yet the original meaning of "civil rights" as introduced by Thomas Paine has all but been forgotten, if it was ever understood to begin with. In it's original incarnation, "civil rights" meant essentially the same thing as the "unalienable rights" referred to in the Declaration of Independence. Today, however, the term "civil rights" has devolved into the opposite of its original meaning and is now synonymous with ethnic rights, which are the antipode of the individual rights endorsed by Paine and Jefferson. (Read more...)
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Proof of Free Will
by Tibor R. Machan
Some of my readers may be getting tired of and even exasperated with me about my repeated discussions of free will. Part of this is because the topic has been around for ages and some hope for some kind of final resolution. There will never be that! But this doesn’t mean there cannot be a right answer, only not one that will lead to some kind of world wide consensus. Indeed, is there any inquiry that leads to that? (Read more...)
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Politics: the choice that determines humanity's fate
by William D
Politics is the branch of philosophy that explores the interaction between members of society. Society is a group of individuals that choose to trade with each other. Interaction between two (or groups of) individuals can take only two forms. The first is force, the second is choice. (Read more...)
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How Do You Turn a Man Taliban?
by Ted Keer
From Ernst Roehm to John Walker Lindh, the sublimated pervert killer has served as the willing victim/martyr/sacrifice to turn his shame into glory. Are the Doctor Bombers of Britain any different? (Read more...)
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What Do We Celebrate on the Fourth of July?
by Tibor R. Machan
One way to appreciate the meaning of the Fourth of July is to reflect on what nearly every one of the Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls focuses on in his or her interviews and speeches. Apart from Texas Representative Ron Paul, who is openly libertarian while running as a Republican, all the rest are emba... (Read more...)
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Normative versus Positive Statements
by Tibor R. Machan
Professor Walter Williams is a very good economists but not so good at moral philosophy, as is demonstrated by his recent column (titled in my local paper, "Don't Confuse what is with what should be".) In this piece he lays out what can fairly be said is now a widely discredited theory about whether moral judgments, like those in the various sciences, are subject to proof. He states that "Normative, or subjective statements deal with what's good or bad, or what ought to be or should be" and adds, that "there are no facts whatsoever to which we can appeal to settle any disagreement." He goes on: "One person's opinion on [a normative] matter is just as good as another's." (Read more...)
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Capitalism: The Only Moral Social System
by Edward W. Younkins
A social system such as capitalism is a system of relationships and cannot be moral or immoral in the sense that a person can be—only individuals can be moral agents. However, a social system can be moral in its effects if it promotes the possibility and likelihood of moral behavior of mindful human beings who act with... (Read more...)
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Free Trade cannot be Forced
by William D
Guns do not produce value. Guns cannot force people to produce wealth. Unaware of this fact, the government holds the threat of force against the greatest form of human interaction, the corporation. (Read more...)
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Why Not Regulate Religion and Speech?
by Tibor R. Machan
When I was in college ages ago the truth in advertising and lending and such measures were high on the agenda of modern liberals. Oddly, they were the same people, usually, who declared themselves to be loyal champions of free speech, defenders of an absolutist stance on the First Amendment to the US Constitution. But not when it came to commercial speech. You know those people in commerce—all chronic cheats and liars, of course. (The modern liberal’s hatred of commerce trumps their most cherished ideals!) (Read more...)
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Selfishness, Defined
by William D
Egoism is a state of mind where a person values all things in terms of their value to the self. Egoism and selfishness are virtues, in fact the greatest of all virtues, as they enable life. (Read more...)
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Shrugging All the Time
by Alexander Butziger
With the G8 summit upon us, the German government is well prepared, having built dedicated holding facilities for violent anti-globalization activists planning on Seattle redux.
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The Political Norm of Centuries
by William D
There has consistently been a conflict between conservatives and liberals. Between those who want to maintain the status quo and those who want to see change. The connotations of the words conservative and liberal can change over time; here we are interested in their denotation. Is the eternal struggle between conservatives and liberals necessary? (Read more...)
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Fairness Is a Minor Virtue
by Tibor R. Machan
Few ideas serve more wicked purposes as "fairness." In public policy it is probably the most overused justification for increasing the power of some people over others, for meddling in others’ private lives, and for being guiltlessly resentful. (Read more...)
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What Social Responsibility?
by Tibor R. Machan
Over the last several decades the field of business ethics has become very popular in colleges and universities, including business schools around the world. Actually, all professional ethics courses have gained entry into the curriculum—medical, legal, engineering, and the other ethics. (Oddly, though, the ethics of education and scholarship have not joined this trend!) (Read more...)
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