tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51378332024-03-14T09:04:50.174-07:00Machan's InputsObservations and reflections from Tibor R. Machan, professor of business ethics and writer on general and political philosophy, now teaching at Chapman University in Orange, CA.Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.comBlogger1507125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-62864946716177593662014-03-17T11:29:00.000-07:002014-03-17T11:29:23.423-07:00Obama Butts in Again
Obama Butts in Again
Tibor R. Machan
I am puzzled that there is hardly any mention in the press — columns,
editorials, etc. — about Mr. Obama’s executive intrusion in the
employment relation. He wants to have overtime pay be higher than it
is. He seems to think it is the task of the president to dictate terms
of trade between employers and employees. But it isn’t, not in Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-33631951443559961342014-02-22T15:15:00.000-08:002014-02-22T15:15:37.580-08:00The Logic of Equalization
The Logic of Equalization
Tibor R. Machan
This morning my TV news station reported on how the Federal
Communications Commission drafted an order to visit broadcast newsrooms
and make sure they treated newsitems fairly, that they make balanced
presentations of the pros and cons on various public policies. The order
was, however, quickly rescinded. It was just a bit to Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-47858442631849281792014-01-27T15:15:00.002-08:002014-01-27T15:17:37.761-08:00Liberty & Productivity
Liberty and Productivity
Tibor R. Machan
Statists routinely suggest their distrust of human initiative. This is why they keep advocating government stimuli instead of free markets.
In a free market, one which prohibits government intrusions, regulations and regimentation, it is understood that when men and women are free of such intrusions, they will most likely--though never Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-28132146264554952412014-01-27T15:10:00.002-08:002014-01-27T15:10:38.346-08:00The NYT is wrong once again!
The New York Times is Wrong Again
Tibor R. Machan
Here is the opening salvo in The New York Times of
a lengthy piece on Rand Paul. And it is dead wrong: “As Rand Paul
test-markets a presidential candidacy and tries to broaden his appeal,
he is also trying to take libertarianism, an ideology long on the
fringes of American politics, into the mainstream.”
The
fact is that theTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-81330754498860851652014-01-22T07:24:00.000-08:002014-01-27T15:13:24.951-08:00You've Come a Long Way Baby
You've Come a Long Way, Baby!
January 22, 2014
Tibor Machan
In 1973 I edited The Libertarian Alternative*,
published by the obscure but up and coming firm Nelson Hall. The book
contained a wide selection of essays from the likes of Murray Rothbard,
Nathaniel Branden, John Hospers, et al. Back then I didn't keep track of
whether this was some kind of breakthrough but other than Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-91437958336748710002013-11-25T10:51:00.001-08:002013-11-25T10:51:04.604-08:00IP Anyone?
Intellectual property Anyone?
Tibor R. Machan
There is a debate afoot now about whether one ever owns the likes of a novel, poem, computer game, song, arrangement or similar “intellectual” items. Some argue, to quote the skeptic, Professor Tom Bell of Chapman University’s School of Law, “Copyrights and patents function as a federal welfare program ofTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-91754065745533212892013-10-30T08:20:00.001-07:002013-10-30T08:20:53.979-07:00Investment & Prudence
http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/34706/Tibor-Machan-Investment-and-Prudence/
Investment and Prudence
October 30, 2013
Tibor Machan
To be prudent
amounts to making sure that one takes good care of oneself in all
important areas of one's life. Health, wealth, family, friendship,
Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-26023355727020573462013-10-11T09:55:00.004-07:002013-10-11T09:55:50.451-07:00Misunderstanding Freedom of the Press
Misunderstanding Freedom of the Press
[From The Daily Bell]
October 10, 2013
By Tibor Machan
Katherine Rushton of The Daily Telegraph wrote a column trying to
embarrass those in America, like Republican lawmaker Kieran Michael
Lalor, who oppose bringing in Al Jazeera television on to the American
television news market. Ms. Rushton feels such opposition is a kind of
ethnic prejudice, Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-91944795740579313922013-09-16T10:29:00.003-07:002013-09-16T10:29:42.164-07:00A Note on Taxation
I have found it sensible to characterize taxation as a form of
extortion. This is what it was when monarchs claimed that they owned
the realm and everyone who occupied a part of it had to pay them for the
privilege of utilizing it. Monarchs--at least many of them--believed
that they own the country they happen to rule (because, some argued, God
appointed them the caretaker of it). So if Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-45779501909657171792013-09-09T14:09:00.002-07:002013-09-09T14:09:26.400-07:00Involuntary Servitude
Involuntary Servitude
Tibor R. Machan
I
now have three grandchildren. The latest, the young son and my own son
and his wife, was born just a few days ago. The other two, my oldest
child’s, also boys, are now two and three years old.
I
am reluctant to bring them into my political quarrels but it is
impossible for me to divorce their lives from the ideas about individual
Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-48012999097991129522013-09-09T10:24:00.002-07:002013-09-09T10:24:25.154-07:00Some Pros and Cons of a Syrian Attack
Some Pros and Cons of a Syrian Attack
Tibor R. Machan
Why
should one powerful nation attack another that is following intolerable
policies -- e.g., gasing its own citizens? Some argue that this is
because when others act violently toward innocent people, those who can
prevent this from happening have an obligation to step in and help out.
We are, as Mr. Obama put it not long ago, Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-59459350424716331572013-09-09T07:54:00.000-07:002013-09-09T07:54:22.966-07:00Machan's Archives: Once Again it's Freedom's Fault
Machan’s Archives: Once
Again, Freedom is at Fault
Tibor R. Machan
"The
condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance,"
was how John Philpot Curran put it. Sure
enough, but there is vigilance and there is vigilance and the sort I am
familiar with is not what people usually think of when they Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-18126031320658999602013-09-04T10:41:00.002-07:002013-09-04T10:41:15.491-07:00Ayn Rand on Family Matters
Rand's focus wasn't on child raising, any more than it was on farming or physics; yet she would not regard these as unimportant. Context matters, here as elsewhere. As a neo-Objectivist, with three children and three grandchildren, I find all this Rand-bashing a non-sequitor. Nothing in her thinking stands against the family in general but as a responsible person she probably Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-88212037845559853132013-08-28T08:20:00.000-07:002013-08-28T08:20:01.672-07:00Machan's Archives: Coping with Smoking
Machan's Archives: Coping with Smoking
Tibor R. Machan
Laws forbidding business proprietors from permitting smoking
in their offices, cinemas, aircraft, stores, etc. are now legion. But such
government-mandated prohibitions ignore the rights of those who don't mind
smoking as well as those who wish to live in a tolerant society.
No doubt, smokers can be annoying. They even may be Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-89953499740454405202013-08-19T08:39:00.002-07:002013-08-19T08:39:49.015-07:00Governor Christie's Demagoguery
Governor Christie’s Demagoguery
Tibor R. Machan
In his put down of Senator Rand Paul for the latter’s defense of limited governmental powers in foreign policies, Governor Chris Christie has not produced arguments but engaged in demagoguery. Bringing up the grieving of relatives of 9/11 victims amounts to just that.
The issue is whether the government has the authority to exert militaryTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-66563411218967500302013-08-05T07:52:00.002-07:002013-08-05T07:52:24.441-07:00Policy Sans Ethics
Policy Sans Ethics
Tibor R. Machan
Yet another ancient political debate concerns whether public policy needs to be based on certain norms, or ethical principles.
Classical and a few modern political philosophers -- e.g., Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, John Locke, et al.
-- argued that to learn how to govern, one must have certain values for
which governing needs to aim.&Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-61096338887729542952013-08-03T08:26:00.004-07:002013-08-03T08:26:36.660-07:00Shopping in communism versus capitalism
Shopping in communism versus capitalism
Tibor R. Machan
In a narrative portion of his latest (and characteristically riveting) novel the author has written the following sentence that prompts me to wag my finger at him a bit. “Now it was a Western-style shopping mall stuffed with all the useless trinkets capitalism had to offer...” Daniel SilvaTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-8468977110934213112013-08-03T03:57:00.002-07:002013-08-03T19:29:50.147-07:00Too Many Un-American Americans
Too Many Un-American Americans
Tibor R. Machan
I
am not sure Senator Rand Paul’s political philosophy is all around
sound but one portion has my support and should have everyone’s. It is
his consistent defense of the (George) Washingtonian idea of limited
government as it pertains to America’s foreign and military policies.
This is especially true as it applies to his Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-42461307983381176012013-07-30T12:05:00.004-07:002013-07-30T12:05:28.468-07:00A Precise on Public Finance
A Precis on Public Finance
Tibor R. Machan
In
a free country public finance pertains to how the proper tasks of
government must be funded. The first issue is what amounts to bona fide
public finance. Since the job of government is to secure the
protection of the rights of the citizenry, public finance must deal with
funding such protection. Courts, the military, police,Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-76125416633068363632013-07-24T07:28:00.002-07:002013-07-24T07:28:23.926-07:00My Rich Society: Novels, etc.
My Rich Society: Novels, etc.
Tibor R. Machan
I read several novels at once -- well, side by side. At least four of them.
In
a way they provide me with a highly varied social life, as if I dined
with different groups of people on different occasions, breakfast with a
collection of W. Somerset Maugham characters, lunch with a group
assembled by Philip Kerr and Daniel Silva, and so Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-7693048737483716712013-07-21T20:48:00.001-07:002013-07-21T20:48:24.985-07:00Machan's Archives: Without A Proper Plan!
Machan's Archives: Without a proper plan
Tibor R. Machan
A
vital difference between champions of the fully free society (or
libertarianism) and others who are concerned with political economic
matters is that the former really do not approve of imposing any kind of
agenda on the lives of others no matter how desirable it would be. Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-3984394857829075792013-07-20T14:46:00.002-07:002013-07-20T14:46:49.393-07:00A Friend's Zimmerman/Martin Reflections
A Friend’s Zimmerman/Martin Reflections
Tibor R. Machan
Over these last few days I have sat reading and listening to
many comments about the Zimmerman episode but could only shake my head
mostly in disbelief--has the country gone crazy?
And then today a friend from way back--we Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-20170367561668951302013-07-03T03:36:00.002-07:002013-07-03T03:36:40.726-07:00Machan's Archives: Fourth of July Reflectios
Machan's Archives: Fourth of July Reflections
Tibor R. Machan
For
some people the Fourth of July is the most important holiday in
America. Sadly, not for all, especially not just now when most of the
leadership of the country has made it clear that principles do not
matter. What matters is what is expedient or practical, which is
something very unstable.
Sadly
there is an Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-17109269947354847572013-06-30T02:30:00.002-07:002013-06-30T02:30:42.091-07:00Ethnicity is Obsolete
Ethnicity is Obsolete
Tibor R. Machan
One of Greece's most notable pieces of ancient history concerns the
region's repeated battles with barbarians from the East. The Greeks
considered themselves civilized, advanced, cultured people. Cultural
chauvinism had been rampant and in most historical accounts it is
generally thought to have been fully Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-39933284729624284072013-06-21T19:02:00.002-07:002013-06-21T19:02:42.141-07:00How to secure a free country
How to Secure a free country
Tibor R. Machan
NSA’s
excuse for snooping on innocent citizens -- namely, that it can prevent
serious harm to us, might even save lives -- is spurious. If you
incarcerated us all, that, too, might do all that. Free men and women
are, of course, capable of violence, even murder, but unless it is
proven that Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0