 The Rebirth of Benevolence
by Joseph Rowlands
Today is the first birthday of the Rebirth of Reason(TM) website. I thought it would be appropriate to mark this day by reviewing the first year, and describing the current state of affairs. We should be able to look back at our goals and see if we're moving in the right direction.
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A Chance for Freedom?
by Tibor R. Machan
Lugano, Switzerland: Over the last two and a half decades or so I have been attending conferences organized by the Business & Economics Society International that has its home at Assumption College in New Hampshire.
This summer I believe I have attended for the fifth or sixth time, often presenting papers and taking part in discussions about business ethics and political economy.
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 Atheists in a Foxhole
by Byron E. Garcia
“There are no atheists in a foxhole.” - Lieutenant General Lewis “Chesty” Puller, USMC
From the first day I was recruited into the military, I found another organization trying to recruit me: Christianity. No, not just any other religion, but Christianity in particular. I found this ironic since the First Amendment of the Constitution I swore to defend implies a separation of church and state. The last time I checked, the military was part of the state. (Read more...)
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 The Birthday Cake
by George W. Cordero
It is uncommon for 2 friends who are male to relate a true story from their life that exposes anything beyond the superficial. In the course of talking about our fathers, my friend related to me the story that became the basis of The Birthday Cake. While he spoke, my friend became increasingly emotional, and by the end of his story he was in tears. I was so moved by it that I asked him if I could retell his father’s life in the form of a short story. He said he would be very happy if I did so. In order to try to convey the same amount of passion in which my friend told this story, I decided to write it in the first person.
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Machan's Musings - Oregon's Right to Suicide Law
by Tibor R. Machan
Think about it for a moment: What business is it of the voters of Oregon, the federal government, the U.S. Supreme Court, or anyone else if someone in the city of Eugene elects to obtain some help from a doctor in his or her efforts to end his or her life, especially a life that is unbearable for that person? Who are these meddlers, anyway, to burst in on such a person and order him or her to desist? (Read more...)
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Wednesday
December 14, 2005 |
Principles of Activism 1: Capital Accumulation
by Joseph Rowlands
This is the first part in a series of articles exploring the topic of activism, in an attempt to identify some basic principles to help guide our decision making process. (Read more...)
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The Liberty We Must Have
by Tibor R. Machan
It is becoming more and more fashionable among political thinkers and even politicians to disparage the kind of individual liberty championed in the American political tradition. Several scholars—e. g., Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago—have argued that what really matters most is something called positive liberty. This is the notion that people have liberty only when others provide them with the resources that enable them to do what they would like to or should do. And there is a use of the idea "liberty" or "freedom" along these lines—you are free to fly to Paris only if you get funds to pay for the trip. But it used to be understood, maybe still is normally, that to get this kind of freedom or liberty one needs to earn the funds to pay instead of take it from other people by way, of say, taxation. But that is now challenged by the idea that what we lack but need or want is something we are entitled to from others and governments exist to serve us by obtaining it all from these others and they have no say in the matter. (Read more...)
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Holding Court - July 5, 2005
by Barbara Branden
Metaphysics and You, Steve Ditko, Star Trek, and "Objectivism" (Read more...)
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 The "F" Word
by Fraser Stephen-Smith
If someone is offended by the phrase, “I don’t like it when people yell ‘fuck’ inappropriately,” then they are foolish. They are fools who adhere to a commandment, “Thou shall not swear,” without questioning the reasoning behind the commandment. These fools have allowed their behaviour to be governed, without question, by a word—they are subservient to a sound. (Read more...)
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Principles of Activism 2: Low Hanging Fruit
by Joseph Rowlands
In continuing with the identification of principles to make our activism more effective, we need to turn to a very simple one. The principle is to aim for the low hanging fruit. It means we should be seeking the easy accomplishments first instead of jumping at the most challenging.
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A Letter to the American Association of Blood Banks
by Steven Thomas Druckenmiller
A small attempt, a cry in the dark, to try to have just one mind think about free markets and drop the altruistic attitude. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 16, 2008 |
Another Distortion at the Movies, etc.
by Tibor R. Machan
American Rhapsody is a movie about a family that gets smuggled out of Hungary in the early 1960s and all the various complications this gives rise to. Since I went through this ordeal myself when I was 14, not with my family but several perfect strangers and a paid guide, I thought I’d check out the movie. (Read more...)
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When Men Become Nem
by Lindsay Perigo
The events of our age make it starkly clear that humanity is at a crossroads in its evolution, as critical as was the transition from perceptual to conceptual thought. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 2, 2005 |
Anthem
by Ayn Rand
Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive on this earth. (Read more...)
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 Selling Freedom: The Choice of a New Generation?
by Joseph C. Maurone
Christianity didn't get its current status by divine will, but by salesmanship. By following the lead of top Rand salesman Chris Sciabarra, Objectivism and freedom have a chance of becoming the all-time best-seller among ideologies. (Read more...)
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My Father
by Hong Zhang
I wrote this piece a while back after reading George Cordero's "The Birthday Cake." (Read more...)
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Holding Court - June 23, 2005
by Barbara Branden
Stop the Linz-bashing! (Read more...)
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The Power of Love (A Sequel)
by David Bertelsen
If you love somebody, by all means, shower them with affection, passion, adoration. But remember the things in each other that made you get to that place of special love. Build lives that engage and develop the best within yourself and your lover. (Read more...)
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 Around the World in Eighty Laughs: Random Musings on Irony, Septic Tanks, Whinging Poms, Frogs, Krauts, Wogs, Micks, Sheep Shaggers, Tussock Jumpers, PC Retards & SOLO's Longest Article Title
by Ross Elliot
Gimme the semi-ironic Americans and flaccidly repressed British any day. Chuck in a wee dram of Scots, a Jew or two, a soused Irishman and you've got the perfect antidote to anything this world can throw at you. (Read more...)
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Eliminating the Altruistic Baggage
by Joseph Rowlands
Coming from an altruistic culture, there are mental habits and assumptions that get carried with you even when you decide to adopt an ethics of rational self-interest. Here is a discussion of how these implict ideas can affect your worldview. This speech was delivered at The Objectivist Center/ The Atlas Society summer seminar in July of 2006. (Read more...)
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 So then Be A Proud Socialist!
by Tibor R. Machan
It is disgusting to witness all the dishonesty surrounding the current administration's public policy efforts. Even the new language columnist of The New York Times Magazine is in denial and pretends to consider it some kind of smear--even conspiracy--for those not among Mr. Obama's fan base to refer Obama & Co. as socialists. Why? (Read more...)
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Atlas Shrugged Part I, the Movie
by Tibor R. Machan
I saw Part I of the movie a few weeks ago and although it didn’t grab me as did the book when I first read it--how could it have?--it is a very good picture; it’s modern, serious, chuck full of poignant anti-statist and pro-capitalist dialogue (unlike most Hollywood products these days). (Read more...)
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The Sky Is Falling (or - Why I Believe that Everyone and Everything Sucks)
by George W. Cordero
If you ask me, there really is very little to live for. Obviously your only option is an armed revolution to overthrow this vile dictatorship that you live under. (Read more...)
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Double-Standards and Ayn Rand's Personal Life
by Andrew Bissell
Critics who obsess over the details of Ayn Rand's personal life give free-passes to the offenses of other writers and thinkers. (Read more...)
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Talents and Values
by Kelly Reynolds
Talents are inborn, not chosen. They are the equivalent of beauty. Just as no one has any obligation to be a model because he is incredibly handsome, no one has an obligation to be an opera singer because he has an incredibly beautiful voice. (Read more...)
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