History
-
•
Let’s Make A Deal: The Bourgeois Deal Among Many Others
“As H.L. Mencken famously said, the urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the desire to rule it. We’ve paid the butcher’s bill for generations of guillotine-operating humanitarians and kindly inquisitors. Perhaps we should grow up a little and take a different path.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
Is This Our 1914 Moment?
“Last year’s government power-grabbing disasters could be the modern equivalent of 1914 – the war to end all wars, where ‘We’ll be back by Christmas’ is to be replaced by the ‘Two weeks to flatten curve,’ that unfathomably stretched into years or decades. It took Europe some 50 years to recover from that initial governmental…
-
•
Policy Uncertainty Causes Sundry Shortages
“Policymakers seem determined to force through as many policy changes as rapidly as possible, possibly in an attempt to create confusion over causes, much the way Covid and lockdowns became conflated in the public mind. They need to tread carefully, though, because our technological and military might will not save us if the core cause…
-
•
The Interest Groups Behind the Asylum in America
“Those who are interested in the underlying causes of the expansion of governments should do well to remember the example of American asylums. Governments can grow for seemingly noble motivations, but there is always an opportunity for self-interested groups to tag along in ways that will matter later when the time comes to assess outcomes.”…
-
•
The New Enemies of the Open Society
“It is high time that we become aware of the crossroads at which we stand. Doing so requires a sober attitude that does not allow itself to be clouded by the fears stirred up by the new enemies of the open society; namely the respect and trust in what distinguishes each and every one of…
-
•
Tocqueville’s Gumptious American
“Some Americans still resemble Tocqueville’s description. And the description can inspire people to regain the ‘I can’ spirit. I mean people everywhere. Perhaps it is elsewhere, today, that one is more likely to see hungry souls—active, dedicated, but upholding the spirit of fair play and the rules of plain justice. May we everywhere grow the…
-
•
Questioning Baseball’s Antitrust Curveball
“Americans would be far better off if, instead of further eroding Justice Holmes’ ruling, we upheld his ‘originalist’ Commerce Clause logic, and the limit it imposed on federal power to do what it wants, whether it advances our joint interests or not. After all, as recent events have made blindingly obvious, it is not hard…
-
•
200th Anniversary of a Great American Demolition of Tyranny
“John Taylor saw the fate of Americans as answering once and for all ‘whether human nature is able to maintain a fair, free, mild, and cheap government.’ But his countrymen were ‘surrendering their [liberty] to political frauds.’ In the 200 years since the publication of Tyranny Unmasked, the names of some of the political frauds…
-
•
The Geographic History of Us
“Dartnell’s lesson isn’t that geography determines, but that geography shapes. It set the ground rules for how the climate behaves, how the currents run and the winds blow, and along those rules all human history progressed. ‘The Earth,’ he appropriately ends, ‘shaped our history.'” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
For Pete’s Sake, There Is a Better Road!
“America’s transportation system could again become a privately-owned and competitive one, both as to mode and route. All we have to lose are our chains, the policies that prevent competition on transportation price and quality alone.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
Let’s Make A Deal: The Bourgeois Deal Among Many Others
“As H.L. Mencken famously said, the urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the desire to rule it. We’ve paid the butcher’s bill for generations of guillotine-operating humanitarians and kindly inquisitors. Perhaps we should grow up a little and take a different path.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
Is This Our 1914 Moment?
“Last year’s government power-grabbing disasters could be the modern equivalent of 1914 – the war to end all wars, where ‘We’ll be back by Christmas’ is to be replaced by the ‘Two weeks to flatten curve,’ that unfathomably stretched into years or decades. It took Europe some 50 years to recover from that initial governmental…
-
•
Policy Uncertainty Causes Sundry Shortages
“Policymakers seem determined to force through as many policy changes as rapidly as possible, possibly in an attempt to create confusion over causes, much the way Covid and lockdowns became conflated in the public mind. They need to tread carefully, though, because our technological and military might will not save us if the core cause…
-
•
The Interest Groups Behind the Asylum in America
“Those who are interested in the underlying causes of the expansion of governments should do well to remember the example of American asylums. Governments can grow for seemingly noble motivations, but there is always an opportunity for self-interested groups to tag along in ways that will matter later when the time comes to assess outcomes.”…
-
•
The New Enemies of the Open Society
“It is high time that we become aware of the crossroads at which we stand. Doing so requires a sober attitude that does not allow itself to be clouded by the fears stirred up by the new enemies of the open society; namely the respect and trust in what distinguishes each and every one of…
-
•
Tocqueville’s Gumptious American
“Some Americans still resemble Tocqueville’s description. And the description can inspire people to regain the ‘I can’ spirit. I mean people everywhere. Perhaps it is elsewhere, today, that one is more likely to see hungry souls—active, dedicated, but upholding the spirit of fair play and the rules of plain justice. May we everywhere grow the…
-
•
Questioning Baseball’s Antitrust Curveball
“Americans would be far better off if, instead of further eroding Justice Holmes’ ruling, we upheld his ‘originalist’ Commerce Clause logic, and the limit it imposed on federal power to do what it wants, whether it advances our joint interests or not. After all, as recent events have made blindingly obvious, it is not hard…
-
•
200th Anniversary of a Great American Demolition of Tyranny
“John Taylor saw the fate of Americans as answering once and for all ‘whether human nature is able to maintain a fair, free, mild, and cheap government.’ But his countrymen were ‘surrendering their [liberty] to political frauds.’ In the 200 years since the publication of Tyranny Unmasked, the names of some of the political frauds…
-
•
The Geographic History of Us
“Dartnell’s lesson isn’t that geography determines, but that geography shapes. It set the ground rules for how the climate behaves, how the currents run and the winds blow, and along those rules all human history progressed. ‘The Earth,’ he appropriately ends, ‘shaped our history.'” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
For Pete’s Sake, There Is a Better Road!
“America’s transportation system could again become a privately-owned and competitive one, both as to mode and route. All we have to lose are our chains, the policies that prevent competition on transportation price and quality alone.” ~ Robert E. Wright