Fear. Fear is paradoxically a powerful motivator and pacifier. It compels us to fight back but sometimes can lull us into complacency if we believe such complacency will protect us. It was recently revealed that the NSA been collecting “metadata” from American’s phone conversations and recording the content of our internet usage in a furtive attempt [...]
Category: Current events
June 17 / 2013
The Magic of Democracy
Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) had a humorous take on the recent IRS scandals (see clip here) however what I found most interesting in his monologue is what I believe may be the most succinct summation of the core belief system of all progressives/socialists: “I believe…that good government has the power to improve people’s lives [...]
June 10 / 2013
Category
Big government is the problem, Current events, Democracy, Libertarian opinion, Statist Myths
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The Truth Emerges…
What are the lessons from the recent IRS scandal surrounding the targeting of conservatively named groups for heightened levels of tax status scrutiny? Is it that there is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country and this is just the tip of the iceberg? Is it that Obama is the fiendish mastermind behind these directives? [...]
June 03 / 2013
Unwise Actions
This week I am setting aside the usual politically inspired thoughts. Frankly my heart just isn’t in it. My wife and I (along with thousands of others) have been vicarious witnesses to every parent’s worst nightmare: the death of a child. A close friend, teammate and classmate of our son’s took his own life last [...]
May 20 / 2013
Perverse Incentives Promote Disasters
In the wake of any industrial accident there follows a predictable chorus of pundits lamenting “market failure” in order to justify further interference of the state into every facet of business function. On the surface this might sound plausible, surely we need Big Brother looking over our employer’s shoulder to make sure everything is safe, [...]
May 13 / 2013
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Bangladesh Robber Baron fallacy
Just read this article about the Bangladesh factory disaster this morning. Truly terrible what happened, however the usual progressive/statist smugness comes to the surface pretty quick in the comments “oh see what the free market causes, we need government to save us from these evil people.” Here’s my response on the board to that sentiment [...]
May 10 / 2013
The Fallacy of Prevention
Gun Control Advocate: “We need more/better gun laws to eliminate gun violence.” Gun Rights Advocate: “Gun laws do not decrease gun violence because criminals do not follow the law.” Gun Control Advocate: “So we should just get rid of all laws because they fail to stop all crime?” And that’s where this little exchange usually [...]
May 06 / 2013
Smokers in California escape their fair share
I heard a story on NPR this morning about how California is doing something about that evil Obamacare rule that allows insurers to “discriminate” against the most unfortunate of those among us – smokers. Obamacare actually (gasp) allows insurers to charge up to 50% more on premiums to smokers! How unfair, doesn’t Obama understand that [...]
April 30 / 2013
War Against the Constitution
In the wake of the Boston bombing many of those who claim a deep and abiding respect for the Constitution show a curious tendency to ignore those parts of the Constitution that tend to interfere with their desire for instantaneous revenge (i.e. 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments). The desire for revenge is understandable. Those desires [...]
April 30 / 2013
The Triumph of Spontaneous Good
What are the lessons from the recent Boston Marathon bombing? That evil does exist. But, also that good vastly outnumbers evil. The moment the bombs exploded the world witnessed evil engulfed by good as people ran toward the source of the blasts. Not just police or emergency medical personnel, but ordinary people who just happened [...]
April 22 / 2013
