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
“If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes,” asserted President Obama in his State of the Union speech. For those with predominantly investment income, that would effectively double their capital gains tax...
An excerpt from Chapter 2 of Individual Rights and Government Wrongs. Like many Americans, Chantell and Michael Sackett wanted to build their dream house. They bought a small parcel of land on Priest Lake in Idaho. Shortly after excavation began, the...
An excerpt from Chapter 2 of Individual Rights and Government Wrongs. Imagine, for a moment, the response if government announced that it would prohibit manufacturers from making more than one type of toothpaste. Such a prohibition, government officials might argue,...
According to Fox News, Iranian President Ahmadinejad would not elaborate on the announcement, but said within the next few days Iran will unveil "big new" nuclear achievements and that his country is ready to revive talks with the West but not "enemies" who act...
An excerpt from Chapter 1 of Individual Rights and Government Wrongs. Once upon a time, there existed a nation that respected and protected individual rights. In that nation, individuals were free to live their lives as they judged best. Nearly half of the mail was...
An excerpt from the Introduction to Individual Rights and Government Wrongs. This book was written for those who love the United States of America and the principles upon which it was founded. America was founded on an ideology—the right of each...
There is a great threat to medical care in America from a small group of our fellow citizens. They are not the top one percent of the wealthy, but a group of elitists and their allies who see government power as the means to determine what every American is allowed to...
Obama says the unemployment numbers -- down slightly -- are good news. Critics say these unemployment numbers are mostly a reflection of the fact that more Americans are giving up on employment permanently, and therefore are no longer figured in the statistics. Don't...
It's not like the old days in China when the top guys in the Communist Party at least pretended to be pro-equality. Back then, "poor peasants" were encouraged to denounce and kill "rich peasants" for the crime of being too productive, too individualistic or...
Associated Press reports: "Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard began military exercises Saturday in the country's south, the latest show of force after threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for tougher Western sanctions. The latest military...
National Journal online reports: "According to the Congressional Budget Office, which released its new Budget and Economic Outlook report [last week], a 10-year repeal of the growth-rate formula that froze doctors' rates [for Medicare reimbursement] at current levels...
Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina says: “I can guarantee you in the Super Bowl this year the two coaches are not telling their teams to go out and work with the other guys because the other team has an opposite goal. In politics —unfortunately now in...
Several months ago, Obama referred to what he considers the essence of America: He said, "This sense of mutual responsibility – the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper – has always been a part of what makes our...
What do government schools, the post office, waterways, and roads have in common? Besides being in sorry condition, each is an example of the tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons, according to Wikipedia, occurs when multiple individuals, acting...
A flat income tax -- say, 15 percent for all Americans -- is a brilliant idea. Right? No way. The flat tax proposal, in the economy as we know it, evades two very, very important facts. No proposal which evades relevant facts can -- or should -- win. First of all,...
In 2006 I wrote the book, The Truth About Muhammad, a biography of the prophet of Islam based on the earliest Muslim accounts of his life, in order to illustrate what Muslims generally believe that Muhammad said and did. In my forthcoming book, Did Muhammad Exist? An...
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, referring to Barack Obama and his foreign/defense policy: "He's not only the most radical President in history domestically; he is the first President, Republican or Democrat, at least since Franklin Roosevelt,...
Mitt Romney's defeat in the South Carolina primary shows how he's not such a strong candidate after all, not generally or not against Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich was simply hurling the same insults at Romney as Barack Obama will do in greater force. "You're a selfish...
A company hosts a press conference to show how caring and compassionate it is. The CEO of the company, dressed in a top-of-the-line suit, stands in front of the television cameras with his arms around a homeless man who has not bathed for several days. This, we are...
Romney’s claim is disingenuous if not downright misleading.
Obama, Gingrich, Perry -- they all hate capitalism, but they sure like the loot it gives them to be the career politicians they are. Where would career politicians be without capitalism? Don’t kid yourselves. The liberal-statist agenda is to raise taxes on the...
Dear Dr. Hurd: I believe your equating Santorum with the Ayatollah is outrageous. [Compare the] Ayatollah’s beliefs v. Santorum: Ayatollah: A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The Supreme Leader of...
A reader writes: Sometime in 2012, the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to strike down the corrupt and unconstitutional ObamaCare law. Will they? There's no way of knowing. In theory, the 5-4 conservative majority should strike it down. However, conservatives...
Should the rich pay more in taxes, or not? This is always the question. Notice how the question is never: Should the government spend less? Or: Should the government do less? Or, better yet: Should the government have less power? If we answered these questions the...
Politicians like Mitt Romney and Barack Obama insist that there should be middle class tax cuts. Obama goes further and insists that these tax cuts be paid for by "the rich" (those making over $250,000 a year, his definition). The truth is that everyone is equally...
Q: For those of us who don't understand the issue, can you explain why you believe that Iran is so dangerous and why we must prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon? A: I'll give you not one reason, but many reasons. Iran has been the # 1 government sponsor of...
It's interesting. I knew that the country had been swinging to the left -- not the right -- in recent years and have said so repeatedly. The Tea Party seemed, for only a moment, to be an opposite trend. But look at whom the Tea Party is about to end up with as a...
What do politicians call it when they force you to buy health insurance (or anything else) every day, for the rest of your life? They call it "personal responsibility." How do they get away with that? Can anyone remember a time when personal responsibility...
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has reportedly said that every child has a "God-given" right to a heterosexual set of parents -- meaning man and woman, not two men or two women. He argues this in defense of a Constitutional amendment to ban gay/lesbian...
Gingrich or Romney? Which is better, from a pro-freedom, limited government and individual rights point-of-view? The question relies upon a false premise. The false premise is that either one of these men even claims to be in favor of limited government as provided...
During the coming year, the threat to freedom will proceed on multiple fronts. Each will require specific action. We are rapidly running out of time to prevent the destruction of the quality, availability and freedom of American medicine, and our best and last chance...
A few years ago, it seemed inevitable. The popular resistance to the increasingly invasive federal policies in healthcare, housing, and finance seemed to have sparked a cultural revolution of sorts. This was characterized by the "Tea Party" movement that demanded...