An article GlobalSecurity.org published last September defends [drone] technology: [D]rones are considered one of the most sophisticated of modern-day weapons — more precise than regular missiles — and have the ability to verify targets without risking the lives of pilots. A recent study conducted by the New America Foundation shows that … the civilian casualty rate [from … Continued
‘I have a First Amendment right to free speech!’ is the refrain of legion politicians, pundits, town hall debaters, and Internet commenters. The charge that said right has been usurped is frequently leveled in cases of voluntary association between private individuals and entities. The imbroglio following MSNBC’s termination of Pat Buchanan earlier this year was a good example. … Continued
Like most totalitarian regimes, Iran’s leadership is concerned first and foremost with self-preservation and survival. President Ahmadinejad and Grand Ayatollah Khamenei may like to maintain the revolutionary national creation myth by defying the West. Yet in the final analysis, both men surely understand that the deployment of an Iranian nuclear weapon would take away the … Continued
“I don’t care because it doesn’t affect me.” While speaking recently with a good friend of mine, an anti-drug war activist, she said that phrase frustrated and angered her more than any other. Hers is a common grievance among intellectuals and activists concerned with social welfare. The great dream of Marx and other socialists was … Continued
Author’s note: If you are reading this blog then chances are you support legal equality for homosexual and heterosexual couples, and likely see no role for government to promote specific values or institutions. If so, know that this essay is not for you. It is for the skeptics in your life who remain unconvinced that … Continued
Classical liberals tend to promise too much when we talk about life under our ideal political institutions. This is not unique among ideological groups. Marx labeled his theory “scientific socialism” because he believed that he had discovered the fundamental pattern of history. His was a theory of everything. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis; capitalism passing into socialism passing … Continued
Has it been worth it? 3,841 days ago, four airliners were hijacked in a beautiful, blue September sky. Two crashed into Towers 1 and 2 of the World Trade Center. A third slammed into the Pentagon. The fourth was destined for the Capitol Building, but its hijackers plowed it into a Pennsylvania field after passengers … Continued
*Originally published March 12, 2012 “I want this many foreigners in my country.” In the last fortnight French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been waging a campaign to “save the European way of life.” He recently warned that if the flow of immigrants into Europe is not abated, France will withdraw from the Schengen Agreement, which allows citizens … Continued
