It looks as though we've won. Officials inside and outside the Bush administration are hailing China's positive response to our carefully crafted letter of regret as validation of the President's "quiet diplomacy." The truth, however, is quite different.The moral...
Andrew Lewis
Andrew Lewis is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif. The Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
If You Pretend It’s Not a Dog, Will It Stop Barking?
A Libyan intelligence agent is convicted of murder in the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people. On the same day, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) reduced interest rates by 1/2 %--for the second time in a month--in order to stimulate the...
Alan Greenspan: Puppet or Puppet Master?
Alan Greenspan's about-face on interest rates and tax cuts might have you wondering if he is simply reacting to his new Commander-in-Chief, or if he is seeing how much he can manipulate the economy. Under Clinton, he was an outspoken opponent of tax cuts--which was...
President Bush’s Contradictory Stance on Abortion
President Bush's stance on abortion is and will remain a concern to the advocates of individual rights. He holds a convoluted position that straddles the intellectual fence between the pro- and anti-abortion groups. He believes abortion is wrong--except when it isn't:...
Save Medical Savings Accounts From The Welfare State Firing Squad
Nearly four years ago, Congress established a trial period for Medical Savings Accounts (MSA)--a tax-free savings account from which you pay your medical expenses. On December 31, 2000, unless Congress acts, the MSA program will become extinct. It is now time,...
The Abortion Pill: Birth Control the Hard Way
While the FDA's delayed approval of the "Abortion Pill" RU-486 (which will be sold in America as mifepristone), is generally a good sign for the recognition of abortion rights, the conditions that the FDA has placed on its use raise serious concerns about the...
The Microsoft Saga
In a decision generally hailed as a victory for Microsoft, the Supreme Court rejected the government's plea to hear a direct appeal of the government's Antitrust case against Microsoft. In April, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had violated...
The “Feel-Sorry-For-Me” Olympics
Throughout the Olympics, athletes from around the world who had worked their entire lives to reach the pinnacle of their abilities gave many great performances. Let us remember, celebrate, and reward them for their virtues and not for their suffering.
Why Clinton’s Efforts to Bring Peace to the Middle East Must Fail
One crucial element of Clinton's legacy is his desire to be remembered as the American President finally responsible for ensuring peace in the Middle East. To that end, he has pressured the Israelis and showered favors on a life-long, Palestinian terrorist in an...
Australia’s “Original Sin”: Why Prime Minister Howard Should Not Apologize to the Aborigines
The 2000 Olympics opened last Friday (15.Sept.00) in a "splendidly diverse and inclusive" (New York Times, editorial, 17.Sept.00) portrayal of Australia. The symbol of the aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman carrying the Olympic flame in its final stage "shined a...
The United Nations Wrestling Federation
Professional wrestling is the soap opera farce of sports. From the official bouts to the backroom posturing, all disputes and relationships are staged and meaningless. One can say almost the same for the United Nations, and particularly its recent Millennial Meeting,...
Antitrust Morals and the Success of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods' remarkable run of success continues. In winning the last three major tournaments, two by record margins, he set new standards of golfing excellence while his competitors fought over second place. Some media commentators have wondered whether his success...
Ayn Rand, Smoking, & Atlas Shrugged
Smoking a cigarette was symbolic to Miss Rand. As one character in Atlas Shrugged said, "I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a...
Gun Maker Smith and Wesson Takes First Step Down The Slippery Slope to Outlawing Guns
Clint Eastwood should insist that his "Dirty Harry" movies be edited to remove all references to his famous .44 magnum. The words "Me and Smith and Wesson" have been eternally tainted by the gun-maker's capitulation to the bureaucrats Harry Calahan was always...
A Moral Approach To Solving The “Social Security” Problem
Fixing the problems of a mixed economy requires "unmixed," radical, fundamental solutions. After so many decades of government interference in the economy and our lives, those solutions must necessarily be gradual to allow individuals to restore what has been taken...
Gore’s “Guilt” Over Gas Prices Should Not Be Based On His 4.3 Cent/Gallon Tax Increase
At Christmas, $1.25 was the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel. It is now more than $1.50 and is expected to be as high as $2.00 within four months. With no end in sight to the rising prices, Republican politicians, sensing an election-year issue, are...
Immigration, Moochers, and the Welfare State
Q. How is an "open-borders" immigration policy compatible with the principle of self-interest? While we have a welfare state, isn't it irrational to encourage immigration? Shouldn't the openness of our borders be tied to phasing out the redistribution of our wealth?...
Limits on Guns
Question: In a proper society, individuals surrender to government the right to the use of retaliatory force. How does this line of reasoning applies to gun control. If it is moral and hence legal to own a weapon that can kill many quickly, where and what reasoning...
Time to Form a New Country? Why it is not the time to give up on America
Q. If you do not think libertarians are taking the correct action, may I suggest that those of us who are interested can join together to form a new country? A. This amounts to the idea that it is time to follow John Galt's advice and strike from the world. Although...
The Mystery of Alan Greenspan
Many people wonder about Alan Greenspan. As a student and associate of Ayn Rand in the 1960s, he wrote many articles on the virtue of capitalism, some appearing in her seminal work, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. An eloquent and ardent advocate of the free market, he...
Abortion: When Do Rights Begin?
Individual rights begin at birth, with the creation of a new, separMorality is an issue of rationality, and a woman who becomes pregnant on a whim, then capriciously chooses an abortion, is as immoral and irrational as someone who buys an American flag and then burns it.ate human being. Rights are a concept applicable only to individual, actual human beings, not a merely potential one.
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