When I was 30 years old I would have laughed if you had told me that by the time I was 35 I would no longer be liberal. The liberal world-view made sense to me. Liberals, I believed, were clearly the enlightened ones. We were the caring ones. … [Read more]
Free Markets and the Common Good
A criticism often directed at the free market economic system is that it encourages individualistic "self-interest" rather than the “common good.” Economist John Kenneth Galbraith said free market advocates are “engaged in one of man's oldest … [Read more]
Freedom of Speech and Hate Speech
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. — Noam Chomsky Some argue that white supremacist “hate speech” should be suppressed. But an unavoidable hazard of shutting down one type of … [Read more]
Free Market Health Care?
Would a free market health care system work? Or is it doomed by the problem of the “pre-existing condition”? Whatever was true in the past, today most Americans are simply unwilling to let someone die because they can’t afford cancer … [Read more]
Gun Magazine Capacities and Mass Murder
The last entry of A GOOD REASON discussed a gun control law that worked: the 1934 National Firearms Act. The NFA placed a hefty tax on machine guns (and other highly lethal weapons) and required owners of such weapons to register with the US … [Read more]
“If Guns Were Outlawed, Only Outlaws Would Have Guns” . . . . So Where Are The Machine Guns?
Can a gun control law keep some weapons out of the hands of criminals? The concept of a gun control “law” sounds pointless, because criminals, being criminals, ignore laws. But the history of the machine gun in the US is an example of gun control … [Read more]