Capitalism and Socialism: Who Owns You?

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

From last week's Daily Camera Editorial Advisory Board: The question: "Recent debate on economics and politics has been framing recent events in terms of socialism and capitalism. Is this warranted or a sign of hyperbolic rhetoric?"  My response: Debating political issues in terms of socialism and capitalism helps address a fundamental question: ...

A President, not a Savior (non-partisan)

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Cato's Gene Healy had an excellent article in the Christian Science Monitor last week.  Some excerpts (emphasis added): What moved Barack Obama to seek the presidency was "the basic idea of empathy" and the notion that if "we see somebody down and out ... we care for them." Republican John McCain ...

McCain vs. individual liberty

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

Reason magazine editor Matt Welch's column in the New York Times (published in March) summarizes John McCain's opposition to individual freedom: Behind any successful politician lies a usable contradiction, and John McCain’s is this: We love him (and occasionally hate him) for his stubborn individualism, yet his politics are best understood ...

Should the president “manage the economy”?

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

No.  And it's not possible, anyway. But apparently people think that's part of the job.

On McCain’s Battery Prize

Friday, July 25th, 2008

From Reason.tv: Paying $4 for a gallon of gas is a drag, but what may be worse is listening to White House wannabes who promise to rescue us from our misery. Take Senator McCain’s recent proposal to offer a $300 million cash prize to the inventor of a car battery ...

The big lie behind politician-controlled medicine

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

The Denver Post printed the following letter of mine last week (on-line version): Re: "Who has your health at heart?" May 22 guest commentary. AFL-CIO executives John Sweeney and Mike Cerbo perpetuate the big lie behind politician-controlled medicine: that the free market is not working and that costs have been spiraling out ...

Infant voters & narcissist candidates

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

From George Will's Newsweek review of The Cult of the Presidency, by Gene Healy: If you can name it, presidents are responsible for it. The name for this is infantilization. "The average American," said President Richard Nixon, "is just like the child in the family—you give him some responsibility and he ...

McCain & Obama: live for the State!

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

David Boaz of the Cato Institute points out that neither candidate for Life Coach of the United States (or is it Daddy, High Priest, or Santa Claus) has much respect for individualism. Rather the derive meaning from our own personal life goals and priorities, we can do so only with ...