The popular idea that the state should do things for parents, rather than allowing parents to do things for themselves and their own children, illustrates the pervasiveness of the welfare state mentality. What is framed as helping families instead strips them of their individual power and autonomy, making them more reliant on, and influenced by, government programs.
Tag: relationships
There’s No “One Size Fits All” For Living
How much of what you want government to do is based on your emotions? On your feelings about what you wish other people would do or believe they should do, and your willingness to use government violence to make it happen? If it’s more than “none” it’s too much.
“Less Emotional; More Reasoned”
The first time I encountered social psychologist Jonathan Haidt I had a kind of visceral dislike for him. I don’t even know why. However, I have since listened to more of his interviews and lectures and found some pearls there– the instinctive dislike I felt at first has largely faded.
Are Your Dreams Keeping up with You?
Whenever you follow a dream, it leads to new observations, discoveries, and relationships. These experiences will modify your sense of what is possible and what is preferable. To chase after a dream is to undertake a surprising and challenging process of personal transformation.
Tucker Carlson Needs Love from His Leaders
Timothy Sandefur has exposed Carlson’s failure to grasp that individual freedom and its spontaneously emergent arena for peaceful voluntary exchange — the marketplace — make possible what Carlson insists he values most: “Dignity. Purpose. Self-control. Independence,” which Carlson correctly identifies as “ingredients in being happy.”
New Year: The Beautiful Minimalism of a Blank Slate
Let’s imagine this new year as a blank slate. It’s like an empty house: what would we like to put in it? This is a kind of minimalism. We can start afresh, tossing out everything and only placing in this empty house what we find most important, and nothing more.
How to Get Good at Dealing With Massive Change
We all go through times of massive change: a divorce, death in the family, change of job (or loss of job), moving to a new home or city, turbulence in your relationships, political chaos, and all kinds of uncertainties and demands on your time and attention. It can be overwhelming and distressing. But what if we could get good at dealing with all kinds of changes? It would open us up in times of change, so that these times can be times of deepening, growth, and even joy.
On the Violence Inherent in Voting
They vote because they think they know what’s best for their fellow citizens. What the voter doesn’t know is that they are culpable. They are personally responsible for the victims of their act of voting.
Foreign Policy III: AnCapistan
In my first article on foreign policy, I discussed normative foreign policy in the context of the United States Constitution. In the second article, I focused on a specific aspect of foreign policy when I posited that the United States should diplomatically recognize Liberland. In this article, I discuss “foreign policy” in a stateless society: “AnCapistan,” if you will.
What Will Your “Back In My Day” Be Like?
Have you stopped lately to consider what stories you’ll be telling your children when you’re 40? Your grandchildren when you’re 80? This is a useful thought exercise. If you are in your teens, 20s, or 30s now, it makes you think about what you’re doing. And if you do not have a good answer, you might want to do something about it.