“Hence, there is such a thing as a human nature that is fixed and settled, not plastic to the touch of culture or government. That, we are more than culturally-acquiring creatures that take on the coloration of whatever social situation we are in. And third, from this flows the most important principle, which is separation of powers, to make government strong enough, to protect our natural rights, and not so strong that it threatens them. “
Read MoreMaterial rights to products and service that must be provided and paid for by others is inevitably oppressive and usually counterproductive. The secret to Hong Kong’s miraculous growth was the priority of economic growth over social spending. The economic growth provided the means for greater social spending. Over time if you give priority to growth over social spending you will end up with more of both, and a healthier and more sustainable economy.
Read MoreThe two world wars of the 20th century required of an expansionist central government that facilitated progressive goals. Peace reduces the need for this central power, thus they seek the “equivalence of war” to sustain progressive central power.
Read Moreby Henry Oliner In The National Review, Kevin Williams writes Let It Be. He addresses the myth that slavery was only a secondary issue that led to the Civil War, but does not hide the political opportunism that pollutes the…
Read MoreAndrew Cline at National Review reminds us of one of the side benefits of a Trump presidency – that the left will rediscover the genius of the constitutional limits on executive power -in The Real Hero of the Trump Resistance? James…
Read Moreby Henry Oliner The first Progressive Era from Teddy Roosevelt through Woodrow Wilson established the regulatory and administrative state and changed the nature of our government. It was tainted by an elitist view of race that used the science of…
Read MoreWise investors learn to ignore the daily fluctuations and the daily stock market news. I am amused at the market reports at the end of the day explaining why the market went up or down. It would have been much…
Read MoreI attended a Hillsdale College Free Market Forum in Atlanta last week. I was able to meet Don Boudreaux from Café Hayek, one of my daily go to blogs, and Ronald Pestritto, a history professor at Hillsdale. Ron authored three…
Read Morefrom Jonah Goldberg at National Review, The Wisdom of Mencken and Nock Seems Fresh Today Today, America looks very different from the America of Mencken and Nock’s era, but the similarities are hard to ignore. Liberal elites have decided that…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings At best, Wilson’s argument is a good-faith but terribly naïve attempt to make government “work.” When the Supreme Court rules, as it did in 1989,…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings Which is all to say that, pace Woodrow Wilson & Co., the recipe for political liberty is as it ever was. For men to be…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings As Thomas Jefferson had it, “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” There are no new…
Read Morefrom George Will in The Washington Post, The danger of a government with unlimited power Lack of “a limiting principle” is the essence of progressivism, according to William Voegeli, contributing editor of the Claremont Review of Books, in his new…
Read MoreThe common belief in our history is that President Woodrow Wilson championed the concept of the League of Nations and it failed at the hands of his Republican adversaries who leaned toward isolationism. Historian Paul Johnson in his history of…
Read MoreFrom the progressive standpoint, the Framers had not so much erred in their efforts as subsequent events had rendered their formulations moot. Madison had been particularly worried about a fractious majority violating the public good or minority rights for selfish…
Read Morefrom Don Boudreaux at the great Cafe Hayek, Quotation of the Day: … is from page 144 of Anthony de Jasay’s brilliant 1998 volume, The State (original emphasis): Private property, capital as the source of countervailing power, reinforcing the structure of civil…
Read MoreKevin Williamson writes in The National Review, The Brute Force Left excerpts: The problem, as various capital-”F” Fascists and National Socialists and Communist politburos and Vox readers all discovered in their turn, is that even if these dispassionate and disinterested managers existed…
Read MoreThomas Sowell writes ‘Bait and Switch’ Taxes in The American Spectator, 9/5/12 excerpt: The Constitution of the United States had to be amended in 1913 to permit the federal government to collect income taxes. Almost immediately, very high tax rates…
Read More“Nothing could be more repugnant to (Woodrow) Wilson and (Louis) Brandeis than the idea of accepting the great trusts and then using government to regulate them. To the evil of monopoly would be added the evil of big government controlling…
Read MoreWoodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to create the League of Nations. The United States did not join the League of Nations . This precursor to the United Nations was powerless to stop the Italian…
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