In the following two passages, with a nod to Tocqueville, Mill makes two strong claims. First he praises American culture: “Almost all travellers are struck by the fact that every American is in some sense both a patriot, and a person of cultivated intelligence. … No such wide diffusion of the ideas, tastes, and sentiments […]
J.S. Mill on American culture and politics Read More »
What makes liberal capitalism good? Here is a flowchart I’ve developed for use in some upcoming talks. The chart diagrams the positive claims about liberal capitalism by its defenders — John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and others. Click on the image for full size
Justifying liberal capitalism Read More »
My talk at the 2012 Atlas Summit in Washington, DC, is now online. My themes: * Our schizophrenic public policy culture: health, sex, religion, money * What wealth is: tangible, intangible, and institutional assets * Entrepreneurism as a cultural asset * Objectivism’s entrepreneurial ethic * Principled strategy in a mixed economy * Three challenges: abstractness,
Video lecture: “Public Policy, Objectivism, and Entrepreneurship” Read More »
After a terrible yesterday, like many people I am still trying to understand how someone could do those horrible things. I run through the list of factors and wonder which ones contributed causally. His being male? His mental abilities/disabilities? How his parents raised him? His living in a society with access to firearms or with
Firearm death rates and more Read More »
The ten-point list from The Communist Manifesto, with my rough quantification: 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. [Partial check: property taxes, zoning laws, the federal government alone owns 30% of all land in the USA. .6 points.] 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Marx’s 10-point plan 50% realized in USA Read More »
Below is the text of an open letter published in The Huffington Post on September 19, 2012 by Thor Halvorssen, Founder of the Human Rights Foundation. The letter is useful for Business Ethics courses in discussions of marketing and advertising using popular political figures, especially political figures with a record like Guevara’s. An Open Letter
Marketing ethics and Che Guevara Read More »
Theories of International Politics and Zombies is Daniel Drezner’s mostly tongue-in-cheek* discussion of various theories’ takes on the zombie threat. Having watched two zombie shows in my life — The Omega Man** when I was 11, and The Walking Dead this year — I consider myself expertly qualified to comment on Drezner’s book: It is
Zombies and International Politics Read More »
The Wisconsin Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at the University of Wisconsin – Madison is presenting a day-long conference on the moral and legal status of gun ownership today. GUNS IN AMERICA: Conflicting Points of View Gun ownership by private citizens is one of the most hotly debated issues in America today. What
UW conference: the moral and legal status of gun ownership Read More »