Wednesday
November 19, 2003 |
 The New Con
by Marcus Bachler
I have always assumed that Conservative parties were more the friends of individual liberty, at least in their rhetoric if not in content, than their left-wing counterparts. At least they have always claimed to want to encourage free markets and profits in business, reduce government spending and lower taxes -– and to some extent they still do. Yet lately there has been a shift in this old style rhetoric from Conservative parties in opposition. And I believe that this change has been the result of a shift in strategy of modern day left-wing politics. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (8 messages)
Altruism and Integrity
by Joseph Rowlands
Some people dismiss the Objectivist critique of altruism by proclaiming that altruism doesn't really require self-sacrifice. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (16 messages)
Thursday
November 13, 2003 |
Thoughts on Religious Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan
Over the years the idea of state sanctioned religious expression has been challenged all over America. Many have also found that challenge quite objectionable. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (2 messages)
Floating Abstraction Day
by Joseph Rowlands
There's a television cartoon called Futurama that I want to talk about. At times it's hilarious, and the half hour shows are packed pretty tight. The story hinges on a guy named Fry who gets stuck in cryogenic freeze for 1000 years, waking in a world of robots, aliens, and space ships. The potential topics for the show are wide-reaching, and they occasionally hit on a very interesting theme. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (3 messages)
CEO Pay -- Normal or Unfair?
by Tibor R. Machan
In my many years of trying to understand the free market economy I have been hampered by the simple fact that no such thing exists. Like ideal marriages, genuine free markets are mostly something we can conceive of and understand in theory but rarely encounter in the actual world. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
"If you don't like it, Leave!"
by Tibor R. Machan
This is an exclamation I've heard on innumerable occasions when I have debated the merits of a fully free society. "So, you consider taxation a form of confiscation, even extortion? You think regulations are petty tyrannies? Well, you can go live somewhere else. You can't really complain, then. We have decided to collect taxes and that's the end of the story, or to impose zoning laws or affirmative action or bans on smoking or drug abuse. So, love it or leave it." (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (5 messages)
Wednesday
October 29, 2003 |
You Might be a Fascist
by Russell Madden
Many of the beliefs common to citizens today are actually examples of a fascist politico-economic system. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (28 messages)
Revisiting the Loss of Jobs
by Tibor R. Machan
Recently I argued that it is customers who cause the loss of jobs; companies merely deliver the message to employees and investors that customers have decided to go elsewhere to buy goods and services. In a more than less free market that is exactly how things would go. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (8 messages)
Wednesday
October 22, 2003 |
A Judgment to Rush
by Russell Madden
Rush Limbaugh's self-admitted problem with painkillers, the nature of (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (2 messages)
The Ishmael Paradigm
by G. Stolyarov II
A review and refutation of a novel that has become a sacred cow of the left: Ishmael exhibits precisely that tribalist-collectivist mindset which both Ayn Rand and George Orwell had warned the world about. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (4 messages)
Wednesday
October 15, 2003 |
Perfect Security
by Russell Madden
Never let it be claimed that the French are laggards . . . at least in some areas of life. Even though their economy creaks along under a socialistic burden even greater than our own, they are Jean-ny-on-the-spot when it comes to advancing the interests of the State. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (1 message)
Addiction and Free Will
by Joseph Rowlands
Not too long ago, I watched a John Stossel special Help Me, I Can't Help Myself, on the nature of addiction. The show centered around the philosophical argument of Free Will vs. Determinism. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (77 messages)
America Vs. Europe
by Kyrel Zantonavitch
The split in the Western Alliance in the past year or so over how to respond to 9/11 is interesting in any number of ways. Although there still seems to be a great commonality of liberal-type values between the two respective parties, the recent opposition appears to be both dramatic and profound. And a large part of the fate of the world seems to hang in the balance. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (10 messages)
Problems with Egalitarianism
by Tibor R. Machan
A reason some opponents of liberty give for their position is that there isn't supposed to be any significant difference between any of us, so those who do well and those who do worse both really just deserve the same. Indeed, desert is not even in the picture for these folks because everything just happens to us, we do not do anything well or badly, better or worse than anyone else. It is just que sera, sera. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
 Ushering in Civilization's Destroyers
by Logan Feys
How Altruism is Aiding Militant Islam's March toward Global Domination (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
George Orwell: The Fight Against Totalitarianism
by Marcus Bachler
This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Orwell. Therefore it seems an apt time to review the life and ideas of the author whom I considered from the age of 16 onwards to be my favourite author of all time, and this just based upon the reading of his two most famous works. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
Privacy and Civilization
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy."
- Ayn Rand Lindsay Perigo (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
Microsoft's Overreach?
by Joe Trusnik
According to Yahoo News, seven computer security experts have decided that Microsoft must be taken down for the good of United States security. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (14 messages)
A bit of good news on 60 Minutes
by Tibor R. Machan
Often I am told that my observations are negative, and that's true. I protest the loss of liberty. But behind that lies my most positive idea, namely, that free men and women are better at solving problems than those in chains - even in chains that are quite long. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (0 messages)
Tuesday
September 30, 2003 |
Moral War on Religious Dogma Needed
by Jack Gardner
From historic Islamic militarism, to Christian crusades, to Protestant-Catholic clashes, to Jewish-Moslem wars, organized religious establishments and dogmas have generated collectivist hatreds and conflicts. From Ireland, to the Balkans, to the Middle East, to southern Asia, today's religions are in violent conflict and spawning world wide terrorist organizations. It is time to denounce anti-freedom dogmas as immoral. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (50 messages)
Patent Suicide
by Joseph Rowlands
There's been a lot of talk about passing Medicare prescription drug benefits. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (2 messages)
Thursday
September 25, 2003 |
Politeness and Objective Ethics
by G. Stolyarov II
An essay deriving key components of propriety, politeness, and manners from Objective Etiquette. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (9 messages)
Tuesday
September 23, 2003 |
For the Little Guy
by Russell Madden
As someone who has fought for years in my own small ways for freedom, I have been accused of many negative things. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (1 message)
Missing Ingredient for Iraq
by Jack Gardner
As the United States tries to create a democratic, freedom respecting, economically self-sustaining, militarily protected, peaceful Iraq, one ingredient essential for all of this is never considered: free market policies. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (5 messages)
Iraq: Could-Have-Been
by Adam Reed
I recently returned from a trip to Poland, where one of my friends was involved in the subsequently aborted plan for Poland to manage the reconstruction of Iraq. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (21 messages)
|
