Politics Archive

John Galt is smiling

March 19, 2009 · Category: Current Events, Individualism, Objectivism, Politics

The allusions to Atlas Shrugged in the mainstream media are just getting better and better. From the new Bloomberg article "Obama Needs AIG’s Liddy, Not Other Way Around," by Caroline Baum: The hero of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is smiling because he’s seen it all before: the government’s intervention in the private sector; the constraints placed on business in the name of the people; the desperation on the part of government bureaucrats when they realize their leverage is limited; and -- this part is still fiction -- the decision on the part of business leaders to walk away from the ...

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Now you’ve heard of Adam Shepard

February 2, 2009 · Category: Current Events, Individualism, Politics

I enjoyed reading Charles Platt's expose of what it's really like to work at Wal-Mart -- lack of unions and all. At the end comes this gem: If you haven’t heard of Adam Shepard ... His remarkable book Scratch Beginnings, now being promoted through scratchbeginnings.com, describes how he went through an experience far more gruelling than my brief flirtation with low-paying work. He placed himself in a homeless shelter with $25 in his pocket, found a job as a day laborer, then worked for a moving company, and after 10 months had a pickup truck, an apartment, and $2,500 in savings. His ...

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Fred Thompson on why we should be optimistic about the economy

January 1, 2009 · Category: Current Events, Humor, Politics

Another instant classic from Fred Thompson.

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Sage insights about the “ownership society” and how it relates to the financial crisis

December 24, 2008 · Category: Individualism, Intellectual, Politics

I've been a late-comer to the Volokh Conspiracy party -- I remember hearing its name for many years and skimming many posts before realizing why it was such a big deal, and worth reading regularly -- but lately it has become one of my favorite blogs for political commentary. Today Eric Posner has an excellent post called "What is the 'ownership society'?" with many excellent observations about the mixed bag that politicians have promoted in the name of "ownership." Eric begins: This term ["ownership society"] cropped up on in a recent NYT article which blames the financial crisis on Bush administration policies, including ...

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Contra Ayn Rand, and Gordon Gekko, greed is NOT good

October 4, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Objectivism, Politics

Here is a point I've been meaning to make publicly to other Objectivists for many years. I posted this as a comment on John Enright's post. Ayn Rand called Galt's Gulch a "utopia of greed" in Atlas Shrugged, but I think that was one of her tactical mistakes; greed happens all the time and it's not a good thing. It seems to me that a valid Objectivist definition of greed would be something like "seeking a value out of context." Often the context which gets dropped includes things like the importance of honesty, rationality, or respecting the rights of other people. It seems ...

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Good economic ideas from the Newt

September 23, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Politics

Newt Gingrich wins my award for best commentary on the financial crisis, for his recent article in NRO, "Before D.C. gets our money, it owes us some answers." And Kathy sent me a link to Newt's plan "Get the Politicians Out of the Economy: Recipe for Sound Economic Growth," which I'm looking forward to reading soon.

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Bill Whittle on the significance of Sarah Palin

September 6, 2008 · Category: Intellectual, Politics

If you only read one thing all week about the election, read this.

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On keeping our heads, and hearts, this election season

September 6, 2008 · Category: Buddhism, Current Events, Integral, Intellectual, Politics

I received the following from a new reader, Andrea Pflaumer. She offered that I could publish it here for Mudita Journal readers, and I'm delighted to take her up on the offer. For the next two months we can expect the airwaves and blogosphere to heat up with negative rhetoric on both sides about the candidates. That is, unfortunately, the way things are in the world of politics today. But I want to focus on something much bigger. If we all just step away from the drama for a minute I think there's an awful lot that we can ...

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Firefly fans…

September 4, 2008 · Category: Humor, Politics

...Will no doubt enjoy one of the comments here.

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For the record: U.S. economy doing rather well

September 4, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Politics

UPDATE (Oct 10): The title of this post has become quite ironic given the events of the past few weeks. I would still challenge any critic of Bush's economic policies (which I don't care for all that much) to explain how Democratic economic policies would make things better. I've grown weary of the oft-repeated conventional "wisdom" that the economy has tanked under Bush and that he is somehow responsible for such problems. Some data to keep in mind next time you hear that particular bromide: U.S. output has expanded faster than in most advanced economies since 2000. The IMF reports that real ...

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