 A Prècis on Libertarianism and Capitalism
by Tibor R. Machan
What is primarily prohibited in a libertarian society is involuntary servitude. (Read more...)
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 Self-Referential Paternalist Foibles
by Tibor R. Machan
At the foundation of this paternalism lies the belief that many of us ordinary blokes need some pushing around so we conduct ourselves properly, sensibly, prudently, wisely--in short, virtuously. Never mind that virtuous conduct needs to be freely chosen for it to amount to something praiseworthy. (Read more...)
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Sad State of the Union
by Tibor R. Machan
President Obama delivered a state of the union address that made no secret of his essentially statist political-economic philosophy. Apart from the details, the major message was that Americans must become part of a herd whether they actually want to involuntarily serving the country. Even the conservative commentator, Charles Krauthammer, characterized Mr. Obama's viewpoint without reference to its coercive nature. That is how ingrained statism is in America now. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 20, 2013 |
The Republicans’ Achilles Heel
by Tibor R. Machan
In a recent Wall Street Journal essay, “Generational Theft Needs to be Arrested,” three men advanced some suggestions to Republicans. Their main focus was the need for Republicans to address what they, following others who have chimed in on the topic, have criticized as current members of the public robbing future members of their resources by means of various welfare statist policies, specifically accumulating massive debts that those in the future have no opportunity to vote on, to argue against, and to oppose. (Read more...)
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Obama’s Macabre Politics
by Tibor R. Machan
If you check the president’s inauguration speech accepting his election to a second term as president of the country, there is in it evidence of a decisive tone of postmodernist political thinking, the road to confusing the public. (Read more...)
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 The Democratic Ideal
by Tibor R. Machan
In this essay I wish to revisit democracy since all the power that our current administration is claiming for itself is supposedly justified by way of the democratic method. But in fact only a properly limited democracy is politically just and justified. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
In Honor of Jack Keworkian
by Tibor R. Machan
No sophistry can obscure the fact that by the lights of the American founders everyone has a natural right to his or her life. This means that what one does about one’s life--cultivate it, wastes it, sacrifices it for a cause, develops it, etc.--must be one’s own choice. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
 The Pleasures of Humiliation?
by Tibor R. Machan
The cynicism and misanthropy of the two installments of Suits that I have seen are for me very unpleasant. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
Sobbing for Dictators!
by Tibor R. Machan
As 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 it is remarkable that no tears were in evidence from any participants. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
TSA & a Free Country: Are the Compatible?
by Tibor R. Machan
Why 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, etc.--unless they give their permission. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
MLK’s Public Philosophy of Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
As 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 Democracy Now!," a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program" -- keep imputing to him a welfare statism that seems not to have been part of his thinking. (I have no idea what Democracy Now! is independent of since all the programs on it evidence a distinct perspective, no less so than those on Fox TV.) (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 23, 2013 |
Obama’s Immigration Machinations
by Tibor R. Machan
Not for a moment do I buy that President Obama has suddenly grasped the plight of illegal immigrant children. For one, he is on record declaring that the law ties his hands about the matter--that he cannot act unilaterally, or so he said in a widely available video from just a year or so ago. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 16, 2013 |
My Recent Kafkaesque Experience
by Tibor R. Machan
It may not be the kind of experience many others have had other than at the Department of Motor Vehicles but I recently went through one that brought to mind Franz Kafka. (Read more...)
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Machan’s Archives: A Note on Socialism as Elitism
by Tibor R. Machan
Since ancient times some people have considered the market place an unruly forum in which to determine whose work and what commodities are worth how much. With Marxism this view acquired a pseudo-scientific status. The complaint that when free individuals and groups exchange goods and services some will get more for their contributions than they deserve reaches the level of a total ideology. (Read more...)
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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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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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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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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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