tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51378332012-01-28T15:34:41.541-08:00Machan'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.comBlogger13561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-72056761178443991722012-01-28T15:34:00.001-08:002012-01-28T15:34:41.549-08:00The bottom line on Obama-economics!Tibor R. MachanEconomic fairness is impossible: an oxymoron. Since economic activities are inherently varied and often competitive and since one size doesn’t fit all and not everyone can win in a competition, no such thing as fairness is possible unless it simply means no one may be prevented from taking part. Certainly, however, the outcome will most likely be Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-13689884573641992222012-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:002012-01-24T15:08:38.163-08:00TSA & a Free Country: Are they Compatible?Tibor R. MachanWhy does the TSA annoy so many of us? Not having the resources to do a survey, I resort here to what might be called educated speculation. I suspect it is because free men and women consider it invasive for government agents to order them around--pat them down, make them endure electronic surveillance, being ordered around by TSA agents, Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-73726656656841310182012-01-21T10:44:00.001-08:002012-01-21T10:44:44.117-08:00BBC’s Biased Coverage of CapitalismTibor R. Machan On the BBC website an interview was featured recently with the famous orthodox Marxist, Eric Hobsbawm, who promptly denounced capitalism as if he had established definitively its inferiority as a political economic system. Is the BBC such an irresponsible news organization that it will feature Mr. Hobsbawm’s characterization of Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-11072298078756417602012-01-17T06:54:00.001-08:002012-01-17T06:54:19.599-08:00MLK’s Public Philosophy of FreedomTibor R. MachanAs I flew home across the country from NYC on January 16th, the holiday this year in honor of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I had the opportunity to watch several programs on television devoted to his legacy. I was especially struck by the fact that commentators -- for example Amy Goodman, the host and executive producer of DemocracyTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-85652879102002022872012-01-09T06:48:00.000-08:002012-01-09T06:49:08.439-08:00Anti-Abortion MurderTibor R. Machan In Wichita a trial is under way in which Scott Roeder is charged with the murder of Dr. George R. Tiller. No disputing the charge that he did the killing and the only issue up for debate is whether the killing was murder or justifiable homicide. The main line of argument in defense of Mr. Roeder is that Dr. Tiller himself is a murderer of Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-25773384802668916312012-01-04T01:46:00.001-08:002012-01-04T01:46:44.118-08:00Ayn Rand & Murray Rothbard: Diverse Champions of LibertyBy Tibor R. MachanNo one should attempt to treat Ayn Rand and Murray N. Rothbard as uncomplicated and rather similar defenders of the free society although they have more in common than many believe. As just one example, neither was a hawk when it comes to deploying military power abroad. There is evidence, too, that both considered it Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-7760552229214176072012-01-02T11:31:00.001-08:002012-01-02T11:31:43.480-08:00Cuba Awakes?Tibor R. MachanCuba’s fate over the last half a century has been disastrous, although before that the island wasn’t a Caribbean paradise either. US government policies haven’t made it easier for Cubans to escape their misery since instead of opening up the routes of free trade, the US has mostly chosen to issue penalties against the country, never mind that Cuba has done little Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-76168467335070541342011-12-31T06:38:00.001-08:002011-12-31T06:38:54.506-08:00So what’s Wrong with That?Tibor R. MachanSo there is now concern by some so called journalists that “in his 1987 manifesto ‘Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution after 200-Plus Years,’ Presidential hopeful Ron Paul wrote that AIDS patients were victims of their own lifestyle, questioned the rights of minorities and argued that people who are sexually harassed at work should quit their jobs.”Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-77285975194212040242011-12-29T09:09:00.001-08:002011-12-29T09:09:34.242-08:00Sobbing for Dictators!Tibor R. MachanAs the BBC reported, the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was provided with mass marches throughout the country in mourning of his recent death. As the thousands were shown on TV, they did what is routine on such occasions in countries with absolute rulers. The people gyrate and undulate and holler, supposedly expressing their earnest grief, although Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-79908366781428422842011-12-27T05:51:00.000-08:002011-12-27T05:52:09.540-08:00The BBC’s Sorry JournalismTibor R. MachanThe BBC recently published the following in a report about the Republican primary contest in Iowa: “Correspondents say a Ron Paul victory in Iowa would be a major embarrassment to the Republican party as many of his views are seen as too libertarian and isolationist. Mr. Paul would order a $1 trillion (£641bn) spending cut, eliminating a number of Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-61831192510373398402011-12-23T10:28:00.001-08:002011-12-23T10:28:26.536-08:00Machan’s Archives: Libertarianism and AmericanismTibor R. MachanGiven that in the main the American political system is still the closest to protecting varieties of individual liberty—regarding speech, commerce, religion, due process, etc.—most of those who peddle political ideas want to hitch their wagon to the ideas of the American Founders. Socialists, conservatives, populists, agrarians and Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-17968893615473922042011-12-22T22:12:00.000-08:002011-12-22T22:13:07.434-08:00Property Rights and the Free PressTibor R. MachanNot as if the point hasn’t been made often by now, but repeating it may be of some benefit: without a firm protection of the right to private property, the rights to freedom of speech, press, religious worship, etc., are under constant threat.The most recent demonstration of this is happening in Argentina, although Venezuela has served as a recent Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-56604392435867849502011-12-18T12:11:00.001-08:002011-12-18T12:11:51.700-08:00Ideological Thinking RevisitedTibor R. MachanFollowing the December 15th Republican “debate,” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote once again about the evils of ideological thinking. Krugman began piece by criticizing Mitt Romney for his repeated vacillations about which public policies he supports, which he opposes, a problem Romney has been plagued by most of his political life. But Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-47042777563747758242011-12-17T10:34:00.000-08:002011-12-17T10:35:35.101-08:00Fetal Rights: Implication of a Supposed Ought[from Liberty Magazine, July 1989, pp. 51-52]Tibor R. MachanWhen back in 1973 I edited The Libertarian Alternative (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1973), the libertarian political outlook wasn’t well known and “libertarian” certainly was no household word as it is today, what with prominent media figures identifying their own position by that term. Several Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-13117803779669473382011-12-15T01:15:00.001-08:002011-12-15T01:16:18.782-08:00Capitalism & Socialism Rightly UnderstoodTibor R. MachanIn a recent Op Ed for The New York Times, Professor Gar Arperovitz of the University of Maryland, who teaches political economy there, has written that “something different [from what OWS wants] has been quietly brewing in recent decades: more and more Americans are involved in co-ops, worker-owned companies and other alternatives to the Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-8830148949117099012011-12-05T15:34:00.000-08:002011-12-05T15:36:07.828-08:00Are Societies Owned?Tibor R. Machan Libertarians tend to view taxation as unjustified. It is something associated with statism, a kind of coercive institution that expropriates resources from members of society rather than securing the resources voluntarily. Statists, however, criticize the libertarian view, claiming that in a way taxation is voluntary, only apparently not so. Such Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-69890121807251861272011-12-05T08:38:00.001-08:002011-12-05T08:38:13.909-08:00Needing Doesn’t Justify StealingTibor R. MachanWhat one needs depends on one’s goals. And much of the time what one needs to pursue various goals is produced by other people, including some rather important stuff or services. Nonetheless, among genuine free men and women whatever it is that one needs may only be obtained voluntarily, not by coercion. Even if the need is great.Yes, now and thenTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-42140083695001959412011-12-04T09:53:00.001-08:002011-12-04T09:53:47.614-08:00Scientism versus LibertyTibor R. MachanThe steady but slow march toward liberty has for some time come up against the appeal of scientism. This is the idea that everything in nature behaves just like matter-in-motion. So people, too, move only when moved by stuff around--or within--them, never on their own initiative. (The only but sadly unacknowledged exception is the scientists who advocate Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-62797095574845299712011-11-24T12:11:00.001-08:002011-11-24T12:11:41.736-08:00Who Needs Austerity when some Are RichTibor R. MachanPortugal is broke but austerity measures there are protested persistently. Greece is in the same fix. And indeed in America, too, the Occupy Wall Street crowd appears to believe that if even a few folks are doing very well, no one need tighten his belt since all that’s needed is to rip off those well off and force them to continue to work Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-67683276037842458282011-11-22T09:18:00.000-08:002011-11-22T09:20:05.188-08:00InequalityTibor R. Machan*Much consternation is spent on income and related inequality. Or call it unequal advantages in life. As if it were some kind of moral or political imperative that we must all enjoy equal benefits and burdens, though few will say why that would be a good thing or why it is right to aim for it, considering that throughout nature inequality is clearly the norm.Isaiah Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-70221803934510850962011-11-17T22:23:00.000-08:002011-11-17T22:25:02.898-08:00My 11-12-11 lecture at the Adam Smith Forum in Moscow, Russia:http://vimeo.com/32087866Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-30757656814930965472011-11-17T18:39:00.001-08:002011-11-17T18:39:26.624-08:00Is The US Government Anti-Monopoly?Tibor R. MachanSo you may have heard that the US Federal Government is opposed to monopolies and that is why the Department of Justice has its various rules against them. All those antitrust provisions are supposed to keep competition going and prevent any business from becoming the only one around to serve customers. Right, you have heard this -- I certainly Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-30327630403353707642011-11-16T12:15:00.001-08:002011-11-16T12:15:45.266-08:00From Russia with TrepidationsTibor R. MachanThe invitation was just too nice to turn down despite my increasing reluctance to do very long trips. (I did some such a while back, like twice to New Zealand and twice to Cape Town.) Back and knee troubles tend to impede such ventures these days. But my hosts in Moscow were very pleasant from the start and expressed very serious interest in what I Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-24273029158216680452011-11-09T11:05:00.001-08:002011-11-09T11:05:14.235-08:00What about the Cain Fracas?Tibor R. MachanI am not a devoted supporter of Herman Cain although I do find him an appealing person, someone who seems to be a straight shooter when it comes to discussing the issues facing candidates these days. But I have not committed to him in part because there are others among the Republican lineup whose views I consider much better, e.g., Gary Johnson and Ron Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-75264508945555544592011-11-06T01:56:00.000-07:002011-11-06T01:57:23.252-08:00Machan’s Archives: Imperialism, Left and RightTibor R. MachanNo, I am not talking about foreign policy. My concern is with how both Left and Right seem to have their straight jackets into which they want everyone to be strapped, like it or not. It is disturbing in part because a high point of the American way of life has always been the 'live and let live' principle. And the USA, with its Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-55107581304912455842011-11-01T04:10:00.001-07:002011-11-01T04:10:34.554-07:00Machan's Archives: Equality or diversity? Which one do Leftists want?You can’t have bothby Tibor R. MachanFor the last couple or so decades the universities and colleges where I have taught–and by all accounts, most of them in the USA–have had two mutually exclusive social objectives. (Yes, Virginia, higher education is now mostly embarked upon pursuing social policies, not so much educating Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-9684014828780979222011-10-31T12:16:00.000-07:002011-10-31T12:17:09.839-07:00Markets aren’t Zero Sum GamesTibor R. Machan The more I read about “Occupy Wall Street,” including the pundits who apologize for it, the more I find that people still believe that market exchanges are zero-sum games wherein for someone to gain, someone must lose. But this is plain bunk, as economists since Adam Smith have shown conclusively. But consider--is a marathon race a Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-71609945025076793192011-10-30T12:59:00.001-07:002011-10-30T12:59:32.344-07:00Column on Dyson's NonsenseTibor R. MachanIn a recent review essay Freeman Dyson flatly asserts that “social justice demands equality. Fair reward for enterprise and achievement demands inequality.” Well, neither of these is true but for soundbites in a publication like The New York Review of Books one could do much worse. Social justice is neither social, nor just. It is an excuse for some Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-6321413670884702472011-10-26T21:01:00.000-07:002011-10-26T21:02:01.342-07:00Occupy Wall Street’s Lack of FocusTibor R. MachanRolling Stone magazine ran a piece recently arguing that what OWS is doing doesn’t amount to attacks on money or banking but is aimed at corruption. While this is a spin that may work for some folks, it doesn’t sound credible for me.When someone, some organization or an institution is charged with corruption, this is a serious matter. It is Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-77501065168232032982011-10-23T15:15:00.001-07:002011-10-23T15:15:27.381-07:00Did Rubio’s Parents Do Right?Tibor R. Machan Despite what Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has reportedly believed throughout much of his political career, it seems that his parents didn’t flee Fidel Castro's communist Cuba for political freedom in the US. What some media appear to have “revealed” is that they came to the US in 1956, prior to Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-16640006838463742402011-10-17T20:33:00.001-07:002011-10-17T20:33:24.672-07:00Abusing the Social ContractTibor R. MachanAt the outset it needs to be noted that whatever is called the social contract, it is not actually a contract which is “an agreement entered into by two or more parties with the serious intention of creating a legal obligation or obligations, which may or may not have elements in writing. Contracts can also be formed orally (parol contracts). The remedy Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-37049098619339224132011-10-14T12:37:00.001-07:002011-10-14T12:37:39.536-07:00Warren’s Non-SequitorTibor R. MachanSo Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts candidate for the US Senate, says "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody." And so she is said to reject that it is possible for Americans to become wealthy “in isolation.” (As if someone defended that silly idea!) So she sounds off about this, with evident righteousness, as follows: "You built a Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-58760782932587194222011-10-09T11:12:00.001-07:002011-10-09T11:12:28.388-07:00Machan's Archives: Disputing Positive Rights Tibor R. Machan* An influential idea in contemporary political philosophy is positive rights. It has been advanced by political thinkers on both the Right and the Left. In contrast to the theory of basic natural rights that John Locke developed, in terms of which every individual must be left free from the uninvited interventions of other Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-32402600239887918732011-10-08T10:38:00.001-07:002011-10-08T10:38:45.431-07:00Greece in AmericaTibor R. MachanMost of us who are aware of world financial trends know that earlier this year thousands of Greeks took to the street and mercilessly engaged in destruction of property around Athens. They were upset about having to tighten their belts in the wake of the possibility that some of their entitlements will have to be cut and their retirement postponed past age 57. InTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-87470795094789894632011-10-07T21:04:00.001-07:002011-10-07T21:04:37.611-07:00Obama the Wuss!Tibor R. MachanHere is why President Obama is a wuss. He has never shown much taste for the war on drugs yet he has done nothing to stop it. He could save a bundle of money (certainly vital in these times) and more importantly get people out of jail and prison who shouldn't be there if he urged its end. It would strengthen America’s reputation as a bona fide free country. It Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-1375634451608573262011-10-05T08:55:00.001-07:002011-10-05T08:55:37.763-07:00Prohibition hasn’t EndedTibor R. MachanOne of my grown children and I watched the first installment of Ken Burns’ new series, Prohibition. There was a lot of information, details one would know only if one studied the history closely but one matter came through clearly and accessibly. That is just how stupid or vicious the current supporters of the disgusting war on drugs are. I mean all the Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-58689253722308492182011-10-04T04:29:00.001-07:002011-10-04T04:29:28.921-07:00Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy TroublesTibor R. MachanWhen he was recently booed by a lot of the audience in Tampa, Florida, for invoking the infamous blow-back doctrine, some of Representative and Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul’s defenders blamed those who did the booing. Yet at least one friendly commentator made mention of the fact that Dr. Paul has a tough road to hoe because the matterTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-64272534787729778572011-09-28T06:52:00.001-07:002011-09-28T06:52:11.096-07:00Good Bye Reason?Tibor R. Machan“Every one of us has our perceptions filtered by the thousands of stories and assumptions and rituals that constitute our culture. Every one of us has held beliefs that seemed self-evidently accurate but were actually contingent elements of the time and place that produced us. This is true not just of the people reading this article, but of every person, in every Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-84323316700067929072011-09-25T11:28:00.001-07:002011-09-25T11:28:54.653-07:00Infra-structure StimuliTibor R. MachanOne of my colleagues, who is in substantial agreement that the free market is best, argues that if one is going to have a stimulus--and given how politicians always need to do something, whatever it is, this is very likely in the face of crises such as the current one--it might as well be directed to improving (“investing” in) the country’s infra structure. Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-82947872425368074302011-09-18T15:18:00.001-07:002011-09-18T15:18:40.571-07:00Liberty versus StimulusTibor R. MachanDespite all the bad blood and heated rhetoric--name calling, besmirching, hyperbole and other polemics--involved in our current political-economic controversies, there really is a substantive point of considerable difference at issue. Put bluntly, the Obama team is convinced that unless people get a push from the state, or some kind of prompters, they will Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-57252126736054213142011-09-16T20:50:00.001-07:002011-09-16T20:50:45.752-07:00SS: Ponzi Scheme Isn’t the ProblemTibor R. MachanEveryone by now knows what a Ponzi Scheme amounts to. We all became familiar with it when Bernie Madoff was caught using it to amass a fortune at the expense of clients who were unaware that his plan to put away money for them amounted to such a scheme. The issue in the case of Madoff wasn’t actually so much the scheme but the lack of full Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-53537709858535296192011-09-16T14:19:00.001-07:002011-09-16T14:49:15.978-07:00Welfare Statism and CompassionTibor R. Machan*There are many debates in political theory, most of them focused on what kind of legal system is just. It is an ancient topic, of course, and the various positions do not change all that much, merely get slightly revised by their new generation of champions.Yet, whatever one’s political convictions, there is widespread enough agreement about what is Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-40666057438894976562011-09-13T12:22:00.001-07:002011-09-13T12:22:46.431-07:00Machan’s Archives: The Myth of Job Creation and Security (1996)Tibor R. Machan During one of his campaigns for the presidency Bill Clinton was stomping one state with a talk parts of which were aired on National Public Radio, the radio network of record on what pleases the modern liberal establishment. The excerpts were typical. Mostly the pres was taking his lines from that funny little Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-15411082233791658512011-09-11T13:19:00.000-07:002011-09-11T13:20:08.892-07:00Who Builds Obstacles to Real Stimulus?Tibor R. MachanWhere I work we have a retirement plan. It comes with the job so once you get your employment you are also part of the system.Turns out that the accounts set up can contain quite a lot of cash. However, even if one is over the age of 65, even 70, the plan does not permit one to make any cash withdrawals if one is still working full time. OneTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-83743474743689165642011-09-08T19:34:00.001-07:002011-09-08T19:34:10.258-07:00Obama’s Keynesian SuperstitionTibor R. MachanPresident Obama gave a speech on Thursday afternoon announcing the American Job Creation Act. There were numerous points that were open to criticism but before dealing with a few, it is important to state what creates jobs: Jobs are created when people who have earned an honest buck go to the market and purchase goods and services that other people Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-65431593410524530522011-09-08T11:13:00.000-07:002011-09-08T11:14:36.480-07:00Liberty: Both Radical & TraditionalTibor R. MachanAt times libertarian or classical liberal--or, in yet other words, pure laissez faire capitalist--ideas are dismissed as part of a misguided modernity that’s lacking proper pedigree. But this is all wrong. Already back in circa 600 B.C.E. the Chinese sage Lao Tzu had weighed in with libertarian ideas, writing"Why are people starving?Because the Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-62094865453096500922011-09-06T10:40:00.000-07:002011-09-06T10:41:04.868-07:00Moral Responsibility and the PoorTibor R. MachanTwo central dogmas of contemporary liberalism are that the rich are to be blamed for all our ills and that in the end all people are the same and no one is more or less worthy than anyone else. Blaming those who are not so well off as others is unjust because they are not well enough socialized to be ambitious and diligent. At the same time, Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-53737368689321098912011-08-29T12:35:00.001-07:002011-08-29T12:35:51.252-07:00Intolerable Nudging
Tibor R. Machan
Champions of government intervention in our lives make every effort, especially in a country with a tradition of libertarian political rhetoric, to disguise that they are embarking upon tyranny. Yes, much of it may be of the petty kind, such as thousands of government regulations produced by various congressional committees. But as politicians and Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-85285285575830306882011-08-27T01:19:00.001-07:002011-08-27T01:19:14.145-07:00Another Criticism of “Animal Rights”
Tibor R. Machan
Though this is a topic that I have visited on several occasions, having recently become an avid fan of the Discovery Channel’s series on life in the deep oceans and other seas, I am motivated to observe just how absurd the notion of animal rights really is.
Here we have the oceans of the globe teeming with billions of critters of immense Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-32446380231014549622011-08-25T04:35:00.001-07:002011-08-25T04:38:32.436-07:00From Machan’s Archives: The Deficit and the Tragedy of the Commons
TIBOR R. MACHAN
(December 2004)
In the 4th century B. C. Aristotle identified a very important principle of community life. He demonstrated the social value of the right to private property. He said,
"That all persons call the same thing mine in the sense in which each does so may be a fine thing, but it is impracticable;Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-41075631960501585392011-08-19T10:27:00.001-07:002011-08-19T10:27:53.591-07:00Political Hyperbole!
Tibor R. Machan
I am baffled by how critics of some Tea Party stars engage in rank hypocrisy. For example, they--such as many commentators on CNN-TV--have been claiming to be utterly shocked with former Texas Governor Perry’s polemical answers to interviewers. He said, at one point, that it would be “‘almost treacherous or treasonous,’ if the Fed under Bernanke increasedTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-73558120723538337482011-08-15T06:47:00.001-07:002011-08-15T06:47:42.702-07:00The Keynesian Non-Answer
Tibor R. Machan
The New Republic editorialized recently about the current economic mess and it is worth quoting it because the central passage is largely non-hyperbolic, non-polemical: “The classic response to [our current economic] situation, put forth by John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s, is for the government to spend money. During the Great Depression and then World Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-24580828626549969352011-08-14T12:31:00.001-07:002011-08-14T12:31:44.918-07:00Anatomy of the bona fide Compromise
Tibor R. Machan
On the current political front there is a lot of talk about whether to compromise on various issues, such as continuing or increasing the Keynesian economic stimulus, abortion, gay marriage, extending the debt ceiling, continuing the two--or is it three--wars America is involved in abroad, getting tough on illegal immigration, how to treat Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-9310181104573801962011-08-12T20:48:00.000-07:002011-08-12T20:49:08.948-07:00From Machan's Archives: The Big Corporations Excuse
Tibor R. Machan
Anytime I mention to someone from the Left that I consider the scope of government way beyond justice and prudence, I am likely to be told that it is big corporations that make this necessary. And, furthermore, I couldn’t really favor liberty for all if I don’t see corporations as a threat and in desperate need of being Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-89581798665625825792011-08-12T08:14:00.001-07:002011-08-12T08:14:18.350-07:00Krugmann’s Failed Analogy
Tibor R. Machan
Ok, so I’ll give him this: finally Dr. Krugmann put forth something akin to an argument instead of merely demonizing those with whom he disagrees! (See his column, The Hijacked Crisis, The New York Times, August 11, 2011.) The argument, however, is an analogy and as with many analogies, it fails to be an apt one.
Krugmann tells us that suggesting Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-34240822802872764932011-08-11T21:10:00.000-07:002011-08-11T21:11:04.806-07:00Further Distortions of Libertarianism
Tibor R. Machan
In his essay “The Tea Party Jacobins,” with its hyperbolic and besmirching title, Mark Lilla, whose The Reckless Minds: Intellectuals in Politics I once favorably reviewed, advances the notion that the Tea Party’s “libertarian irruptions … [attracted] individuals convinced that they can do everything themselves if they are only left alone.”Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-79211483620607048432011-08-04T00:57:00.001-07:002011-08-04T00:57:48.701-07:00Getting Serious About RecoveryThis is how economic recovery can be encouraged by all levels of governments in the U. S.:1.Remove all preemptory government regulations of all the professions and businesses.2.Cut taxes to the bone, when possible totally abolish them.3.Cut all subsidies and protectionist measures.4.Eliminate all minimum wage laws.5.Close down all the alphabet soup agencies (a Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-66252888847211761862011-08-02T00:52:00.001-07:002011-08-02T00:52:44.778-07:00Cleaver’s Bad TheologyTibor R. MachanRepresentative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri produced a sound bite following the recent passage in Congress of the compromise bill on the dept ceiling and spending cuts. Even as this bill didn’t by any means manage to demonstrate Congress’s serious understanding of economic reality, Cleaver said that the bill amounts to a devil’s sandwich, by which he meant Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-91448142455673063922011-07-31T16:18:00.001-07:002011-07-31T16:18:47.387-07:00Just Say “No”Tibor R. MachanAfter sustained profligacy comes the dreaded cold turkey. Any kind of habitual indulgence can only be stopped if at some point the “addict” says “no,” with no excuses.I would assume most people have been through this. I know a few personally. They have kept up spending in the face of lacking funds an even lacking the promise of funds. Credit card companies accept Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-61952133230077960152011-07-17T06:55:00.001-07:002011-07-17T06:55:36.470-07:00“Not Guilty” isn’t “Innocent”Tibor R. MachanAn indication of the sad state of journalism is how often when people show support for the Casey Anthony verdict they are labeled as Casey Anthony supporters. But they could very well be supporting just one thing. That would be to accept the “not guilty” verdict. It is, after all, the result of an arguably elaborate jury trial in what is supposedly Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-48574251888035668022011-07-16T22:02:00.001-07:002011-07-16T22:02:23.252-07:00Public Works on SteroidsTibor R. MachanWhat the Obama administration and its cheerleaders call “the stimulus” is by all sensible accounts the macroeconomic version of steroids. And you can get quite addicted to these--just as some athletes can to their versions.Now there are lots of things wrong with these artificial public works projects although sometimes they look benign enough. Many folks Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-41352051776697635622011-07-16T18:12:00.001-07:002011-07-16T18:12:23.693-07:00Ignorance Amidst EruditionTibor R. MachanStanley Kauffmann is the film reviewer of The New Republic and his work in this area is worth the time it takes to read it, at least for me. He is what I would consider an erudite film critic, drawing on a vast familiarity with the history of cinema. Indeed, while the magazine has been turning more and more statist--in it early days it was actually an Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-40145273880908922942011-07-14T19:07:00.001-07:002011-07-14T19:07:11.846-07:00What’s With Social Security?Tibor R. MachanWhen shortly after I arrived on these shores I got my first job as an usher in a cinema in Philadelphia, back in the fall of 1956, I asked about the deduction from my paycheck that went to social security. I had no agenda, just curiosity.My employer said those funds are taken by the federal government and put aside so that when I get old I would have a Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-43138363994055725822011-07-14T07:06:00.001-07:002011-07-14T10:14:05.560-07:00Tea Party ConfusionTibor R. MachanThe idea that politicians should sign a pledge to promote personal morality is contrary to the avowed Tea Party commitment to small government. If you want the government to have a restricted scope, you should stick to the US Declaration as your guide: Government is instituted so as to secure our rights! It is not instituted, at least in the American political Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-56159141179399093552011-07-10T10:59:00.001-07:002011-07-11T22:24:16.666-07:00Live and Let Live: not in SilveradoTibor R. MachanWhere I live quite a few neighbors are what are affectionately called Tree Huggers. What such neighbors, by no means even the majority, have in common is that they oppose anything that remotely resembles development (e.g., including a tiny wine tasting structure one of their neighbors wants to erect). But of course their main targets are any newTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-32787735674746160132011-07-05T18:06:00.000-07:002011-07-05T18:07:05.155-07:00Am I A Corporate Shill?Tibor R. MachanIt has always been my view that corporations are groups of people united for various purposes, often to benefit from a business venture guided by competent management. Initially I worried little about the legal details, nor even about the legal history. A bunch of people incorporate or form a company to achieve certain perfectly acceptable, even admirable Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-78238400199100718422011-07-02T11:07:00.001-07:002011-07-04T06:40:41.963-07:00The Pleasures of Humiliation?Tibor R. MachanCall me old fashioned, and in some matters I proudly am, but for me entertainment needs to contain a solid dose of enjoyment. So when I select my movies or TV fare, I usually check whether I will be enjoying what I am about to encounter. Of course, sometimes I want to experience tragedy, information, complexity, and other ingredients in what I chose Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-13434761440985373842011-06-29T20:00:00.001-07:002011-06-29T20:00:10.846-07:00Morality, the Professions and PoliticiansTibor R. Machan While I see strong merits to an ultraminimal government idea, whereby the state has no other function than to protect the rights of the citizens from criminals and foreign aggressors, I do not share the view that politicians are necessarily corrupt. Sure, a welfare state attracts the kind of politicians who see little wrong with taking Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-14367780264852318022011-06-27T05:39:00.001-07:002011-06-27T05:39:39.120-07:00The Times’ kudos to European Petty TyrantsTibor R. MachanIn The New York Times of Monday, June 27th, an editorial heaps compliments upon the bureaucrats of many European cities who have imposed innumerable obstacles to their fellow citizens who want to use the automobile for transportation. This piece of cheer-leading in support of these would be tyrants is an embarrassment in a country that’s Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-1976868275842103012011-06-26T04:17:00.000-07:002011-06-26T04:19:01.946-07:00Machan Archives: What to Promise VotersTibor R. Machan Do voters actually believe it when candidates promise them health, happiness, vacations, clean air, and all those other goodies while also demanding that they stop being selfish, stop joining special interest groups and dedicate themselves only to the public good? I doubt it very much. This sort of pitch seems to me to put most reasonableTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-15005897414551567952011-06-22T14:34:00.001-07:002011-06-22T14:34:19.088-07:00Fourth of July and the Public Interest Tibor R. Machan Throughout history political thinkers have been doing a lot of fretting about the public good (or public interest, common good, general welfare, etc.). Usually they came up with massive plans or enchanting visions. Plato’s teacher, Socrates, was the great grand daddy contributing to this tradition, what with his strictly imaginary Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-18322725879905915752011-06-21T15:34:00.001-07:002011-06-21T15:34:18.786-07:00The Hubris of George SorosTibor R. MachanQuite a few well known rich people aren’t satisfied with being rich and being able to do all the things they believe are important. They want to advertise this and to take up the role of teachers to the rest of us. The Hungarian born billionaire financier George Soros is no exception. In a frankly narcissistic essay for The New York Review of Books (Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-50324034681837243412011-06-20T07:44:00.001-07:002011-06-20T07:44:27.032-07:00Self-defense vs. IsolationTibor R. MachanWhere the idea comes from is not really relevant--it could be neo-conservatism, imperialism, compassion, whatnot. But it is right that it should be debated, especially by Republicans who aren’t beholden to the legacy of Woodrow Wilson in matter of foreign relations. Republicans, especially those with conservative leanings who are committed to preserving Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-2823198718025585922011-06-15T10:36:00.001-07:002011-06-15T10:36:20.706-07:00Hail Sandel!Tibor R. MachanThomas Friedman, prominent New York Times columnist, recently penned a kudos to Harvard University professor of government Michael J. Sandel because Sandel received some fine notices recently in China Newsweek (not part of the American publication). Friedman could hardly contain his glee since Sandel’s ideas are the opposite of those of the American political (Lockean)Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-6299867549130515292011-06-10T06:38:00.001-07:002011-06-10T06:38:47.897-07:00Deciphering Paul KrugmanTibor R. MachanIt is hardly ever explicit in Paul Krugman’s columns except that he has made it clear that he is a pragmatist and finds all ideologues off base. But what is an ideologue to Krugman? Someone who invokes principles as he or she thinks and copes with the real world. That’s, however, infantilism for any serious or radical pragmatist. Both President Obama andTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-89296320626399243742011-06-07T13:49:00.001-07:002011-06-08T07:48:42.844-07:00The Weiner ParadoxTibor R. MachanWhat is most puzzling about the scandal with Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York) isn’t how stupid the man has been and apparently managed to be to the last moment before he came clean (enough). What is really puzzling is why in the face of repeated scandals and corruption across the world and this country, there are well educated folks who continue to be confident Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-79233178988403238372011-06-05T02:40:00.001-07:002011-06-05T02:40:21.754-07:00Elements of DiscriminationTibor R. MachanMost folks now consider discriminating against people because of their race, color, culture, age, sex etc. wrongful, unjust or unethical. At one time, though, being discriminate was deemed a good thing but that was when the idea was used to mean something like tasteful, discerning, even aware. But then it became something objectionable when people Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-71258784473662881272011-06-03T18:57:00.001-07:002011-06-03T19:48:11.450-07:00In Honor of Jack KevorkianTibor R. MachanJack Kevorkian died. He was unjustly demonized for standing up for the right to assisted suicide, often referred to as Dr. Death. But he also had a movie made about him recently, starring Al Pacino, titled “I knew Jack.”Dr. Kevorkian’s case epitomizes the radical difference between American conservatives and American classical liberals. American Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-84048441292490335772011-05-31T08:56:00.001-07:002011-05-31T08:56:26.586-07:00Students and their educationTibor R. MachanColumnist David Brooks of The New York Times, now sadly a reliable lapdog of conservative statism, has come out, in his May 31, 2011 column “It’s Not About You,” against college and university students regarding their education as a means for advancing themselves in their lives. No, he believes their education ought to serve society, the country, the Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-30319809929807667752011-05-30T17:08:00.001-07:002011-05-30T17:08:41.601-07:00My Fathers’ Day ReflectionsTibor R. MachanOn my drive to work the other day I was listening to the local all news radio station and suddenly I am hearing President Obama chiming in with one of those “public service” messages on how fathers should comport themselves toward their children. Maybe this was supposed to be in honor of fathers’ day. Gee, I had no idea that this is a presidential task,Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-23431986839131576152011-05-30T02:08:00.000-07:002011-05-30T02:10:17.748-07:00A Brief on TimeTibor R. Machan I consider much of common sense to be correct about the world, not always muddled or, let alone, wrong. This is a position associated with the Scottish philosopher Thomas Reed and, also, with Aristotle. So I wish to briefly defend the view that time is real. By “time” I mean, among other aspects of the world, what we record for departure and arrival ofTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-8656951918331734342011-05-25T08:18:00.001-07:002011-05-25T08:18:36.088-07:00Protesting Austerity MeasuresTibor R. MachanThroughout Europe it is now routine--but it is not unfamiliar by now in the US either--for people to march and otherwise protest (sometimes with out and out reckless violence) austerity measures the government officials have decided to deploy so as to cope with the enormous debt they have amassed, mostly from committing to paying out huge entitlements Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-85638752942296430482011-05-22T07:55:00.001-07:002011-05-22T07:55:24.994-07:00Israel & Obama: What’s Up With That?Tibor R. MachanOnce again I hasten to point out that this isn’t something I know very much about, especially if to understand it one has to be informed about the entire history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Still, as my mother used to say in the last years of her life, it is difficult to fathom why Israel is being picked on so much? Is it Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-36241566077734789662011-05-16T17:13:00.001-07:002011-05-16T17:13:42.175-07:00Individualism Isn’t RidiculousTibor R. Machan*Some critics of individualism propose an alternative social philosophy and defend it so it is then possible to compare their case to the individualist position. But more often than not what critics do is caricature individualism, suggesting that individualist believe that people are autonomous, meaning, exist all on their own with no need for anyone Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-72916522087366266062011-05-15T06:59:00.001-07:002011-05-15T06:59:36.449-07:00Some Serious Flaws of EgalitarianismTibor R. MachanEgalitarianism teaches that everyone deserves to be treated with equal consideration and respect. Mostly this is meant to stress how everyone should be provided (as a matter of public policy) with basic necessities like food, health care, schooling, etc. But that is too selective and excludes millions who would much rather gain equal provisions Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-9649096711001929902011-05-08T08:58:00.000-07:002011-05-08T08:59:04.852-07:00Hayek on MoralityTibor R. MachanWhen he was about to receive the Nobel Prize in economic science, I interviewed F. A. Hayek for Reason magazine (at his home in Salzburg, Austria). Although he didn't believe that political economists should dwell on ethical issues per se, he was by no means "necessarily a moral relativist" as Francis Fukuyama asserts in his Sunday New York Times Book Review pieceTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-32406456187121034212011-05-05T15:42:00.001-07:002011-05-05T15:42:05.376-07:00Why Can’t I see Bin Laden’s Dead Body?Tibor R. MachanI am baffled by this secrecy surrounding Bin Ladens’ death. Someone needs to do more explaining than has been done thus far. Why when American taxpayers have funded a massive manhunt and eventual assassination of Osama bin Laden are they forbidden to see Bin Laden’s dead body? Why does president Obama’s presumed personal discomfort about Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-67699321343018023272011-05-05T08:30:00.000-07:002011-05-05T08:32:35.593-07:00Review of Tim Sandefur’s The Right to Earn a Living, Economic Freedom and the Law (Washington, D.C., Cato Institute, 2011). $25.95 By Tibor R. MachanTim Sandefur’s The Right to Earn a Living is so far as I can judge a flawless, superb discussion of how a proper understanding of American constitutional law implies that in this country everyone has a basic right to earn a living. Although this isnTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-49086032236949455842011-05-04T07:05:00.001-07:002011-05-04T07:05:58.000-07:00Some Consequences of Mixed SystemsTibor R. MachanChina is what political economists call a market socialist country, with political socialism at a virtual dictatorial level (as distinct from, say, democratic socialist and liberal democratic countries) and is thus very precarious when it comes to its political stability, kind of like Chile was under General Pinochet. The rulers will keep trying toTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-55587848251596946252011-04-29T11:16:00.001-07:002011-04-29T11:16:58.689-07:00More Foibles of Unlimited DemocracyTibor R. MachanIt is certainly no secret that while democracy has certain merits as a method for reaching political decisions, it is liable to be abused without those limits. American democracy was always feared, even by the framers, and unless it is restrained by a good, just constitution, it can get way out of hand. It can turn into mobocracy, nearly as bad Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-72908776421285785242011-04-27T17:53:00.001-07:002011-04-27T17:53:18.768-07:00Progressives are ReactionariesTibor R. MachanThe simple answer to why progressives are reactionaries is that they tend to want to empower governments to solve all of the problems that face people in their social lives and that is just the authority that kings, tsars, pharaohs, and other rulers have claimed for themselves throughout history. The literally progressive position is that no one gets Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-51291032635633216202011-04-27T06:35:00.001-07:002011-04-27T06:35:36.032-07:00A Most Costly Fallacy!Tibor R. MachanNo need to keep readers in suspense--the fallacy is to aim for certainty beyond the shadow of doubt! It is very costly because by holding on to the belief that if one lacks such certainty, it’s OK to believe this or that and to do this or that, one is wasting enormous resources. And this is the basis of much public policy--especially, since the funds to Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-37385546899651881742011-04-26T18:56:00.001-07:002011-04-26T18:56:48.046-07:00Who is Near Socialism Now?Tibor R. MachanNearly all people who believe in a pro-active government--one that doesn’t merely make sure the rule of law by which individual rights are protected is followed but gets in there picking winners and losers--have a good deal in common with socialists. They are more or less avid statists. This includes monarchists, fascists, communists (with some Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-54820070785739981132011-04-26T10:29:00.001-07:002011-04-26T10:29:22.927-07:00Ayn Rand & Libertarians Grossly MisunderstoodTibor R. MachanIn my local paper a letter writer, apparently eager to besmirch Ayn Rand--which many have tried in vain--had this to say: “Rand’s libertarianism has an underlying philosophy that says that if you are not particularly smart, ambitious, disciplined or wealthy, and you become homeless, hungry, financially ruined and suffer from premature Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-87575513886044098732011-04-22T09:50:00.001-07:002011-04-22T09:50:33.273-07:00You Know He’s Desperate NowTibor R. MachanSo President Obama will create a task force to investigate if there might be crimes committed that lead to high gas prices. The operate term is “might.” That is what one says when one has zero evidence but intends to implicate unknown parties and please one's base which is committed to the class warfare idea of economic relations.Of course gasoline Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-36840933857037084172011-04-19T23:45:00.001-07:002011-04-19T23:45:20.898-07:00Pitfalls of Shared ResponsibilityTibor R. MachanPresident Barrack Obama asserted in a recent speech dealing with the country’s enormous debt that what the country needs is to live by an ancient principle, namely, “the principle of shared responsibility.” He invoked this in his defense of his championing of the increased extortion of the resources of the wealthy, those who earn $250K or more per Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-38048853962539593082011-04-14T13:47:00.001-07:002011-04-14T13:47:10.386-07:00On Demeaning A Straw MenTibor R. MachanA. C. Grayling, an normally sensible English academic--just check out his book, Liberty in the Age of Terror (Bloomsbury, 2009)--wrote recently in The New York Review of Books: “Of course, people who hold extreme political positions are not troubled by such conflict [as the one between wanting to make everyone economically equal and also making sure everyoneTiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-50911332147847278892011-04-14T08:49:00.001-07:002011-04-14T08:49:57.576-07:00Republicans are DisarmedTibor R. MachanIn the current Democrat-Republican fracas Democrats want to ignore fiscal prudence and claim they are doing it for the poor and needy. Republicans, in turn, claim they don’t want higher and more taxes because of their speculative contention that taxing takes resources away from the market where jobs are created, especially by the rich who would spend what Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-79313382302137963512011-04-13T12:49:00.000-07:002011-04-13T12:50:02.900-07:00Atomization & Commodification in CapitalismTibor R. MachanThat free market capitalism, if it existed, would atomize and commodify people is a charge that’s been around quite a while. It pops up for sure whenever someone means to disparage the free market economy.Atomization is the idea that people, like the early conception of atoms, are fully self-sufficient, autonomous, in need of nobody, Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5137833.post-66320776551954702422011-04-10T15:43:00.001-07:002011-04-10T15:43:43.008-07:00Essential CapitalismTibor R. MachanA while back I got caught up in a fracas about using the term “capitalism” to mean the free market, fully voluntary system of economic relations. It didn’t surprise me since I am aware that complicated matters often need to be discussed, well, in complicated ways so when one just refers to some system as “capitalist” or “democratic” or “socialist” or “Tiborhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11489130839277616022noreply@blogger.com0