The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men. – AYN RAND
August 20th marks the 40th anniversary of one of the major turning points in American social history. That was the date on which President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating his "War on Poverty" program in 1964. Never had there been such a comprehensive...
Q: Dr. Hurd, you sometimes imply that it would be worse to vote for John Kerry than for President Bush. But President Bush wants to push his religious agenda on the nation. Isn't that worse than John Kerry? A: Bush's religious agenda is bad indeed. I will make no...
Is there something special about health insurance that makes it crisis-prone? I mean, we never hear about the horrible "house insurance crisis" or the "spiraling cost of auto insurance." It wouldn't be too hard to create such a crisis though. In fact, let's try to map...
As if our nation's free-market ideal isn't damaged enough -- witness, if you will, the generally lengthy permitting process for businesses and the prevalence of zoning laws, environmental mandates, eminent domain abuses and hefty tax burdens that plague our would-be...
Problems with our health care system are leading some to fall prey to proposals calling for a nationalized single-payer health care system like Canada's or Britain's. There are a few things that we might take into consideration before falling for these proposals....
Although investing is a subtle and complicated endeavor, everyone can benefit from a simple set of rules and principles. One of my favorite portfolio managers, Thomas K. Brown, chief executive of Second Curve Capital, a New York hedge fund that specializes in...
Random thoughts on the passing scene: I don't even like campaign oratory that I agree with. Alaska is much larger than France and Germany -- combined. Yet its population is less than one-tenth that of New York City. Keep that in mind the next time you hear some...
Tell me again. Which of the presidential candidates calls himself a "uniter" and not a "divider"? "Don't tell us that the strongest democracy on earth," said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in a recent speech for the NAACP, "that a million disenfranchised...
Economic ignorance allows us to fall easy prey to political charlatans and demagogues, so how about a little Economics 101? How many times have we heard "free tuition," "free health care," and free you-name-it? If a particular good or service is truly free, we can...
Despite clever and hard-working political handlers who have done a masterful job of concealing and distracting attention from John Kerry's voting record in his long Senate career, and the liberal vision behind that record, glimmers of reality still break through now...
What does America stand for? What are its founding ideas? In this contentious election, each side is trying to convince us that its policies and ideals are the answer to this question. The Democrats have traditionally relied on a simple technique: appeal to the values...
Sometimes little things can tell you about big things. While Senator John Kerry and his running-mate Senator John Edwards were recently being photographed at lunchtime at Wendy's, to show what regular guys they are, their real lunch was from a local yacht club, which...
Economists are beginning to panic about the recent run-up in the oil price (+36%, year to-date, to $44.4/barrel) and its likely future impact on stock prices, profits and output in the U.S. But there's no reason to panic. A fast-rising oil price is no necessary...
Returning from my latest trip to Asia, I'm both exhilarated and perplexed. Exhilarated because Asia is booming, and it's a joy to see. Thailand, my main stop this time, is growing at 7 percent a year -- twice as fast as the United States and about four times as fast...
Prices at gas pumps are at some of the highest levels ever this summer and Americans want answers. In particular they want the names and numbers of those to blame. To answer that question perhaps they should simply consult the phone book or look in the mirror. Because...
"Is the New York Times A Liberal Newspaper?" asked a headline on the last Sunday in July. The first sentence had the answer: "Of course it is." If that sounds like a dog-bites-man story, then consider the kicker: The article appeared in The New York Times itself. Its...
Santa Monica, California, has decreed a fine of $2,500 a day for not cutting your hedges! Has someone discovered some terrible health hazard or other danger from hedges that are too high? Not at all. The politicians who run Santa Monica have simply decided that people...
"I believe that the man who works the hardest is the man who deserves to win." -- Lance Armstrong"Perfect! No gifts." That's what Frenchman Hinault said to Lance Armstrong from atop the winner's podium after Armstrong constructed a brilliant, record-setting...
A recent angry e-mail from a reader said that certain issues should not be determined by "the dictates of the market." With a mere turn of a phrase, he had turned reality upside down. Decisions by people free to make their mutual accommodations with other free people...
At the Democratic National Convention, Janeane Garofalo -- comedienne, talk show host and liberal pundit -- called me a "house Negro" and a "fascist." Well! For four days, the Democratic Party put on its quadrennial scare-old-people-and-minorities party. Democrats, of...
In 2002, the spokesman for FBI director Robert Mueller memorably described the American Muslim Council (AMC) as the "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." A year later, the Catholic bishops called the AMC "the premier, mainstream Muslim group in...
Much of what is being said and done at the Democratic convention in Boston is so 1960s. The old favorite songs of the left, the old rhetoric, the old gestures, the delegates swaying together, all take you back to a time 40 years ago when the liberal vision seized the...
During the first Reagan administration, I participated in a number of press conferences on either a book or article I'd written or as a panelist in a discussion of White House public policy. On occasion, when the question-and-answer session began, I'd tell the press,...
This week's national convention of the Democratic Party was a test for nominee John Kerry. It was a test for the stock market, too, with all the major indexes probing their lows for the year. It's no coincidence that these two tests occurred in the same week. The...
My ears picked up when my wife told me that she was one of the beneficiaries of a class-action lawsuit that brought a settlement of more than $100 million. "How many millions do you get?" I asked. I could envision our retiring to the Riviera or some such place. Here...
The enemy is “Islamist terrorism…not just ‘terrorism‚’ some generic evil.”
Americans who care about their health care need to pay close attention in an election year to politicians of all parties who seem bent on becoming much more involved in the details of what health care will be allowed and at what cost. Neither the Democratic nor...
What is socialism? We miss the boat if we say it's the agenda of left-wingers and Democrats. According to Marxist doctrine, socialism is a stage of society between capitalism and communism where private ownership and control over property are eliminated. The essence...
We all know that Senator John Kerry was in the Vietnam war. He repeatedly reminds us of it at every opportunity. He also repeats the great things he will accomplish when he becomes President of the United States. What he says very little about is what he has actually...
Whatever the specific merits or demerits of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, re-organizing the whole intelligence operations of the United States in a few months before an election seems like quite a rush to judgment. Yet, precisely because it is an...
I've heard Linda Rondstadt was shown the boot at the Aladdin in my town of Las Vegas when she decided to dedicate the song "Desperado" to Michael Moore and encourage her audience to go see the notorious piece of propaganda Fahrenheit 9/11. It has also been reported...
Need another example of media bias? First, credit goes to Newsweek's Evan Thomas, who, once again, acknowledged media bias. "Let's talk a little media bias here," Thomas said. "The media, I think, want Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and...
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