I got in trouble last month for using the term “oligarchy” in, admittedly, a pejorative sense. Here’s what I wrote on Facebook: “No matter how one votes tomorrow, the winner will be oligarchy A or oligarchy B (where A = B).” Very good friends called me to task for this logic fallacy, justifiably so since I had committed several logic fallacies, the worst of which was the fallacy of begging the question. My premises assumed their own truth without establishment. Is the USA really run by an oligarchy?
Tag: america
Ideology, Identity Politics, and Politico-Cultural Conflict
The past year’s political events, especially the campaign for the presidency as it converged on a contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have illuminated the way in which ideology, with the identity politics that springs from it, drives a dialectical process: political domination creates resentment, which feeds reaction and, on occasion, revolution against a previously entrenched ruling class and its belief system.
The Extraordinarily High Burden of Proof for Violating Liberty
There are excellent observations and reasons for a presumption in favor of equal liberty for all – which led me to “therefore I am libertarian.”It is true that the libertarian political philosophy I have grown to believe greatly influences my policy analyses. However, it is not merely an opinion, no different in credibility than any other opinion held for any reason.
So-Called Intellectual Property
Property ownership is central to liberty and civilization. Property rights prevent conflict over the use of scarce resources. Ironically, the term “intellectual property” (aka “IP”) represents a hodgepodge of concepts that generally introduce artificial scarcity and needless conflict.
There are No Good Cops… or Cop Defenders
Faced with the avalanche of despicable and unrelenting boot-licking propaganda from the John Birch Society (JBS) and its local disciples, you might believe that cops were not 53 times more deadly to Americans than terrorism. You might believe that 960 Americans had not already been slaughtered by the American Gestapo in 2016. You might even believe that being a cop was an unusually dangerous job. You might believe these things… but you would be incorrect on all counts.
Psychoanalysis and Pathological Voting
Politics is just an ongoing Rorschach test. Government rulers and media puppets paint pictures of the world, and the great majority of people respond with their own insecurities and fears by supporting psychopaths who promise to slay the monsters from their nightmares.
Economic Localism Is No Better than Economic Nationalism
As Black Friday has continued to expand in recent years, one response to its orgy of discounts and deals has been to promote the following day as “Small Business Saturday.” The idea is to encourage people to shop at their local stores rather than at national chains or big-box stores, or perhaps on the Internet. Doing so, argue its proponents, is both moral and good for the local economy, as it keeps jobs and money in “our communities” rather than, presumably, in the hands of faceless and distant corporate masters.
Reflections from Traveling Around the World
I recently got back from an epic trip around the world. It was by means of traveling east, first to Virginia and New York City, then to India (New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Dharmsala), then to Macau and Hong Kong, followed by Tonga and New Zealand, and finishing up in California and Oregon before heading back home to Minneapolis where the trip all began.
Handwriting On The Wall
This famous phrase refers to a story told in Daniel 5:1-30. The actual phrase was “mene, mene, tekel, parsin” – all three of those words referring to units of currency.
Thanksgiving Was a Triumph of Capitalism over Collectivism
This time of the year, whether in good economic times or bad, is when we gather with our family and friends and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together. It marks a remembrance of those early Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the uncharted ocean from Europe to make a new start in Plymouth, Massachusetts. What is less appreciated is that Thanksgiving also is a celebration of the birth of free enterprise in America.