What does a free society look like to you? Is it an anarcho-capitalist utopia where individuals are free to shoot fully-automatic AK-47s at their 1040 EZs in their private marijuana fields? Is it a harmonious society free from bureaucratic central planning, where people freely trade and engage in commerce? Is it your own apartment, with
READ MOREI have a Ph.D. in Theology. I’m happy I have the Ph.D., and it’s been useful to me both in my thinking and writing. But would I have gone on for a Ph.D. knowing what I do now? Probably not. Recently, my friend Dave Deavel published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “The
READ MOREMarcus Tullius Cicero has a legacy as one of the most admired orators and statesmen of all time. Born in 106 BC, he lived through the most turbulent days of the doomed Roman Republic which was being torn apart by ambitious individuals’ lust for power and glory. Cicero was a man who defended the Republican
READ MOREIn any academic discipline, one can find two types of experts: those who are incapable of explaining complex ideas in a simple manner; and those capable of making the difficult look easy. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the death Henry Hazlitt, one of the few economists that belongs to the second group. Born
READ MOREIt is fashionable to “prayer shame” those who offer “thoughts and prayers” as a response to violence. Public response to the gun violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is an example. If you did not deliver an angry diatribe against gun ownership, your failure to fall in line with the politically correct position is
READ MOREThe Economist magazine recently issued a study purporting to compare countries on the basis of how democratic they are. The U.S. ended up ranked as a “flawed democracy.” In one sense this is absolutely true. As great as America is, it will always be flawed, as will any other country in which human beings run
READ MOREIn the wake of yet another mass shooting in a public school, a host of familiar recommendations have resurfaced about how to “prevent this from ever happening again.” Predictably, both conservatives and liberals are looking to the government for a solution. Americans have somehow arrived at a point where they cannot conceive of human action
READ MOREEverybody can appreciate acts of kindness. But when it comes to explaining why we do them, people often take one of two extreme positions. Some think kindness is something completely selfless that we do out of love and care, while others believe it is just a tool that we cunningly use to become more popular
READ MOREA friend of mine recently told me that her family was having a discussion when a particular word was used. Her two teenage daughters looked confused and asked, “What does that mean?” Without missing a beat, her younger son, still in middle school, looked up from where he was reading on the sofa and calmly
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