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.
Tag: behavior
Disaster By Design
Much research of human beings tends to focus on aggregates and averages. But humans come in various shapes and sizes; they have various skills and weaknesses; they do not all travel the same road at the same pace at the same age. One would not issue the same size of clothing to every first-grader; it could come up short on some, and sag on others. Why, then, must they read from the same page of the same primers? Why do the same single-digit addition, from the same page of the same textbook?
Political and Governmental Corruption Is a Feature, Not a Bug
People do not oppose corruption in politics and government. They oppose only the corruption that does not steer loot and social domination to them. After all, the entire process of so-called democratic government is nothing but corruption writ large and backed by the threat of violent force.
Mostly Rational, Mostly Ignorant
I hear social commentators say that humans are mostly irrational, that they are way too often guided in their actions by emotion rather than by logic. While this isn’t untrue, I don’t think it means that humans are mostly irrational.
On Social Progress
Social progress. The true sense of the phrase is ennobling. Make no mistake, if there is to be a leap in human evolution, social progress is the requisite precursor. I long to see an era of broad, lasting social progress.
Immigration Controls Are Socialist
The liberal thinkers of the 19th century got a few things wrong, but they were steadfast in their defense of a free market in labor. They upheld freedom of migration as an axiomatic principle, as Stolper put it. They won the argument. And they lived in a time of unprecedented peace and economic growth.
Maybe It’s Okay to Wait for School
Written by Krista Eger. Not a lot of people know this, but we put our kids in public school for the first time this year. I haven’t been very open about it because it’s not what we originally wanted and the circumstances that drove us to this decision were very difficult. One of my personality…
The American Left’s Crushing Defeat By the Global Alt-Right
The disgraceful and shameful rhetoric coming from the anti-Trump left has been telling. Thankfully not many of my friends have participated in it, and that is appreciated. Keep it classy. But the vile, and hate, and violence I have seen geared towards not just pro-trump people, but white people, males – especially “straight white males”…
Voluntaryism – Don’t Tread On Anyone
If free people do nothing to fight for the freedom of everyone, then all will soon be enslaved. If those with even a modicum of freedom do not fight for every last inch they can gain back from the perilous grasp of tyranny, then tyranny will reign over all.
The Trouble With Politics
Politics is of its very nature is biased in favor of intervention and planning. Even in its “minarchist” or “night-watchman” version, politics is based at root on the idea that some decisions must be made coercively and imposed on unwilling minorities – or even majorities, as the case may be. This is contrary to the principle we observe in private life every day: the consent of both parties is necessary for a transaction to take place.