Author: Kent McManigal

Tax the rich? It sounds like a great idea … to people without a grasp of economic reality. For the rest of us, it looks like national economic suicide.

You may have picked up subtle clues that my opinion of politicians is exactly as low as my opinion of freelance thieves, bullies, and vandals. It’s impossible for me to dislike them more than I already do. Still, I admit some politicians are undeniably worse than others.

Is the pandemic response a way to increase authoritarianism? Yes. Intentional or not, this has been the result.

A couple of centuries ago, a smart fellow known as Voltaire pointed out, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” This is a timeless truth.

If you want the vaccine because your opinion of the relative risks differs from mine, I want you to get it. If you get the vaccine, I hope it works or at least makes you feel safer — whatever you want it to do.

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 1, 2021)

I am not anti-vaccine. I’ve been vaccinated for a few things in my adult life because I think the risk of those vaccines is less than the risk or inconvenience of the diseases they are supposed…

Government is an automatic failure, from top to bottom, front to back, side to side, and beginning to end. A free society couldn’t possibly fail any harder. At this point, clinging to The State because you can’t think how the alternative would work is just a mental problem.

When you take a libertarian and whittle away everything nonessential — all the philosophy and politics — what is left is the understanding that no one has the right to use violence against those who aren’t harming someone else, and no one has the right to violate the property rights of others.

The headline on Reddit said “Conservatives are turning school boards into a battleground for culture wars. Struggling to push their agenda in other arenas, conservatives are bringing their buffet of grievances to schools – turning board meetings into an endless parade of ignorance, misinformation and just plain hatred.” That is a lie.

As rational thinkers since at least the time of François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, have pointed out, it’s dangerous to be right when those with power are wrong.