 Machan's Archives: Ethics and Gouging
by Tibor R. Machan
During most emergencies there are those who could certainly use quite a
bit of help and it is on such occasions that complaints about gouging
surface most vociferously. (Read more...)
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 Prudence versus Greed
by Tibor R. Machan
Most people mean by greed an “excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.” As to prudence, it is the quality of being cautious with regard to practical matters and especially in regard for one's own economic interests, being careful in the management of resources, heeding economy and being frugal. (Read more...)
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Constitutional Anomalies
by Tibor R. Machan
As a lay student of the law, it has always struck me odd that in the U. S. system the First Amendment to the constitution exempts the ministry and journalism from government regulation while it appears to accept the regulation by all levels of government of numerous professions and enterprises. In very general terms, this clearly amounts to a kind of unjust discrimination. (Read more...)
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Obama and Ayn Rand
by Tibor R. Machan
Never mind for now that Obama misrepresents Rand idea of ethical egoism--she never advocated “only thinking about ourselves.” And the pursuit of one’s own happiness does take a prominent position at least among the universal, unalienable rights everyone has. Just how sloppy the thinking is that’s revealed in Mr. Obama’s answer can be appreciated from considering a few facts that Mr. Obama ought to have found out before he gave chose to chime in on Rand. (Read more...)
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 The Bloodless Corpse
by Michael E. Marotta
The medical examiner did not report the wounds – most likely for the same reason I did not mention them in my incident report. The cause of death remained open.
(Read more...)
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American Statism
by Tibor R. Machan
The individualist idea rest on the recognition of the fact that human beings have the capacity to govern themselves, to think for themselves and act from their thinking. Of course, individualism doesn’t contradict the plain fact that we all draw on advice and information we receive from other people, starting with members of our family. But individualist have learned that such learning must itself be initiated by human agents who will draw on it as fuel for their living. Individualism also affirms the capacity we have for free choice. (Read more...)
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The Puppy Parable
by Kyle Jacob Biodrowski
The first streaks of light raced across the early morning sky. The empty streets, however, were still covered in a murky haze.
... (Read more...)
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Society as an Organic Body
by Tibor R. Machan
When you have an organic body you are looking out for, if some part of this body is faltering, another part may need to be called upon or sacrificed so as to help mend it. Just as with human beings, sometime a part of their bodies are utilized to fix another part, so with humanity--or society, if that is all you have available to manipulate. (Read more...)
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How Not to Treat Ideas
by Tibor R. Machan
The philosophical school I consider most sensible sees ideas as the means by which human beings gain understanding of reality. Ideas are what helps us navigate reality so we can live successfully. Which is why so much effort has been spent on developing, criticizing and analyzing ideas throughout human history, especially in the academy, not just in the sciences but in matters of public concern. (Read more...)
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Saturday
September 29, 2012 |
Frankness About Wealth Redistribution
by Tibor R. Machan
Government’s redistribution of the citizens’ wealth is unavoidable unless taxation is abolished. Even the most minimal of taxation brings about such redistribution. (Read more...)
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Thursday
September 20, 2012 |
Elementary Dear Obama
by Tibor R. Machan
Ok, so none of us creates or produces anything ex nihilo. What, if anything, follows from this? Our teeth weren’t made by us, nor our hair or nose or eyes. Yet we often benefit because of these. Our beautiful eyes may impress someone and may even land us a movie contract. We may be very tall and do well at basketball in consequence. A few of us may have talents others would kill for! (Read more...)
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Tuesday
September 11, 2012 |
Dworkin’s Plain Statism
by Tibor R. Machan
As is usually the case, The New York Review of Books gives ample room to some Leftist jurists, like Professors David Cole or Ronald Dworkin, to provide the politically correct commentary on a major ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court. And, so unsurprisingly, Professor Dworkin penned such a piece in the magazine’s August 16, 2012, issue. It is a beauty of statist jurisprudence arguing that all in all the Roberts Court’s recent decision to give President Obama’s signature health care program a pass was a welcome thing from the Left’s perspective. (Others, like Professor Randy Barnett, have made arguments from the libertarian side, holding that the ruling isn't so bad for those who want to advance the cause of human liberty. See the interview with Professor Barnett in Reason, October 2012.) (Read more...)
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 A Proposal to Completely Eliminate Federal Income Tax
by Paul Hibbert
Craig Biddle in his article, How Would Government Be Funded in a Free Society?, in The Objective Standard makes a convincing argument for a means for voluntary funding of legitimate government activities. However, I think that more motivation is required to accomplish this ideal. The article details a means of directing funds according to the political and economic aspirations of the individual donors. (Read more...)
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How Can Obama Not Turn Our Backs on Failing Businesses?
by Tibor R. Machan
Like a monarch, Mr. Obama sees the country’s wealth to be his wealth. He has no respect for private property rights--all property belongs, as argued by his favorite political philosophers Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel (in their book The Myth of Ownership), to the country and is not the property of the citizens of the country! (Read more...)
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Another Attempt to Bluff Us All
by Tibor R. Machan
Those aspiring to manage our lives, to take it over and run it according to their vision, never tire of trying to bluff us into letting down our guards. Now come Robert and Edward Skidelsky, in a book titled How Much is Enough? (Allen Lane, 2012), claiming that there’s just too much capitalism afoot and this must be contained. I assume by them and their pals. They urge us to re-examine economic growth “as an end in itself,” without any connection to “what a good life might look like.” (Read more...)
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When you've lost yourself..
by William Anthony Bardel
The musings of someone who has lost themself and wishes to share the experiece with others of like minds. The lack of desire is a disease that corrupts the soul and is, in my opinion, death among the living. A living zombie tries to philosophize his way out of stasis, and jolt self-motivation through the fundamentals of Ayn Rand's way of thinking. In this way he searches for purpose and fulfiulliment. Other writings follow, hoping to utlilize what he has learned of Ayn Rand's philosophy and how it must apply. (Read more...)
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Another Plea For More Statism!
by Tibor R. Machan
I recently read Zanie Smith’s essay, “North West London Blues,” in The New York Review of Books, and found it an insulting, devious, and roundabout way of trying to justify statism (Read more...)
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Sometimes a Great Notion: The Story of a Family Who Would Never Give an Inch
by Edward W. Younkins
Ken Kesey’s novel, Sometimes a Great Notion (1964), is a complex and integrated historical background and relationship study of the Stamper family, a prideful logging clan living in Wakonda, Oregon. This big story involves a man, his family, a town, the country, a period of time, and the effects of time. All of the ele... (Read more...)
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What’s the Fuss About those Uniforms?
by Tibor R. Machan
Senator Reid was sounding like the United States of America is at war with any nation in which there are firms that produce commodities that fulfill the needs of companies producing goods and services for American consumers. Next Senator Reid will call for declaring war on any country that doesn’t fall in line with his standards of acceptable trading partnership. (Read more...)
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On Insider Trading
by Merlin Jetton
I will argue that insider trading is a diminution of property rights for some (most) shareholders. (Read more...)
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The story of Adam and Steve (a fable).
by Ed Thompson
A fable about the free market. (Read more...)
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Anticipated the Reasoning by the Court
by Tibor R. Machan
So here is a wonderful opportunity for the current crop of Republicans, with Mitt Romney leading them in the next few months, to mount a bona fide, no holds barred revolution that will complete the first one. Ron Paul might have been counted upon to lead it but one may doubt that Mitt Romney is going to go there. Too many leaders of and people within the Republican Party remain statists who believe that the government rules the people instead of serving them. (Read more...)
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Did Rubio’s Parents Do Right?
by Tibor R. Machan
Let me tell you right away that when you live in a hopelessly defunct country, it makes little difference whether you are oppressed or impoverished. Both can kill you good, and both are mostly the result of how the country is being run by the politicians who have taken it over. (Read more...)
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Jobs From Forced Charity--the Socialist way.
by Tibor R. Machan
It appears, based on the economic philosophy he has been outlining in recent weeks, that President Obama believes that jobs based on economic transactions, exchanges, trade, and so forth, do not matter, have no significance. This has a very serious foundation, to which I will turn later in this short discussion. (Read more...)
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Flourishing and Happiness in a Nutshell
by Edward W. Younkins
By integrating features found in the writings of Aristotle, Austrian economists, Ayn Rand, and a number of contemporary thinkers, we have the potential to develop a powerful, reality-based argument for a free society in which individuals have the opportunity to flourish and to be happy. Modern contributors to this appr... (Read more...)
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