Careful examination of real-world conflict does occasionally uncover not moral equivalents, but moral approximates. Though the two sides’ moral status is not precisely equal, they are morally more-or-less the same.
Tag: natural
Freedom for $5.30 — and This Time Mexico Really is Paying For It
No matter how much money politicians like Trump spend trying to restrain and impoverish the people they stole it from, those seeking freedom and prosperity find ways to win through — and to do so for far less.
“Red Flag” Laws Violate Human Rights
Red-flag legislation is all the rage, politically. I don’t call them laws because they aren’t laws. Laws can’t violate natural human rights; this legislation does. Imposing or enforcing legislation that violates life, liberty, or property in any way makes you the wrongdoer. It doesn’t change matters to write words giving yourself permission to violate people. Legislation can’t make wrongs right, and it is wrong to punish someone for something you imagine they might do.
“Abuse of Power”
A lot of people are throwing around the phrase “abuse of power” these days. Is it happening? Is it not? Who is guilty of it and who isn’t?
Before you can figure out whether power is being abused, you need to figure out what a legitimate …
The Problem of Recollection
You do not have to recall genetic code because you have it at conception. But all influences on you, after conception, are memetic. Whether or not you remember their fact situations or not.
If the Only Way You Can Get Your Great Idea Implemented…
Economics textbooks are full of clever-and-appealing policy proposals. Proposals like: “Let’s redistribute money to the desperately poor” and “Let’s tax goods with negative externalities.” They’re so clever and so appealing that it’s hard to understand how any smart, well-meaning person could demur. When you look at the real world, though, you see something strange: Almost no one actually pushes for the textbooks’ clever-and-appealing policy proposals.
Ben O’Neill: Natural Law and the Libertarian Society (40m)
This episode features a lecture by lawyer and statistician Ben O’Neill from 2011. He looks at different types of law (natural, positive) as they relate to libertarian theory and practice.
The Speech of Heroes
Almost everyone loves the idea of “speaking truth to power.” Standing tall, talking boldly, consequences be damned – how heroic! Yet on reflection, this Speech of Heroes takes two radically different forms.
Black America Before LBJ: How the Welfare State Inadvertently Helped Ruin Black Communities
The dust has settled and the evidence is in: The 1960s Great Society and War on Poverty programs of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) have been a colossal and giant failure. One might make the argument that social welfare programs are the moral path for a modern government. They cannot, however, make the argument that these are in any way effective at alleviating poverty.
Going to Work on Doing What I Should
Over the past year, I came to realize how hungry people are to tell their stories. All you have to do is be willing to listen to them. With the rush of modern life, and with everyone’s nose seemingly stuck to their phone screen, listening to someone is one of the simplest acts of compassion you can perform.