POLITICS

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Increasingly, it looks like either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney will be the Republican alternative to the horrendous President Obama. Anyone who’s not a liberal already understands what’s wrong with Romney. In the first of a series, I’ll examine...

With no real end in sight in the War on Terror, the “new normal” of constant deployments and unending conflict is a condition that the majority of the military has come to accept. Is there a better way? In a wide survey of history beginning with the Theban...

The Tea Party has certainly attracted its share of criticism. Many of those criticisms do not merit a response. However, an organization called the Constitutional Accountability Center issued a brief titled  Setting the Record Straight: The Tea Party and the...

According to Psychology Today Online, physician meltdown is on the rise. When surveyed by the American College of Physician Executives, one-third of health care facility administrators reported disruptive incidents among their physician colleagues at least once a...

“The holidays are coming. It’s a time of complete emotional stress.” To say this is considered a self-evident truth. But why is it true? I maintain that holidays, while perfectly fine and pleasant, are not necessary for happy people. Happy people...

Dr. Hurd originally wrote this article for the Association of Objectivist Business Professionals. In light of the anarchist-socialist protest of those defecating patriots known as Occupy Wall Street, it deserves rereading here. Most people look at...

1) It’s not people versus king or dictator; it’s people versus people. It’s not a government oppressing all the people by denying them their basic rights; it’s some people using government to oppress other people, primarily for their own...

Everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, keep saying that “Herman Cain must answer the charges against him.” When he repeatedly says, “I didn’t do it. I don’t even remember these interactions with these women,” this isn’t...