Who is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves?
“Core Values”-Ian Livingstone
This blog looks at interesting aspects of our brain, character, beliefs and values that are relevant to how we function in the socio-political arena. This theme is important because the real battle for the soul of America is the fight to control our opinions and ultimately our values.
Alexis De Tocqueville (1805-1859)
An aristocratic Frenchman who came to the U.S. in 1831 — when he was only 25 years old — and later wrote “Democracy in America,” a two-volume study of the American people and their political institutions. The book is frequently quoted by journalists and politicans.
Every obstacle is an opportunity…
Remarkable, inspiring, making a productive life despite a little “inconvenience.”
‘Almighty God Hath Created the Mind Free’
Lord Acton, the great historian of freedom, understood that “liberty is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization.” The liberty of which he spoke embraced a broad scope of human freedom, including dimensions political, intellectual, economic, and, especially, religious. The civilization of which he spoke was the West, whose heritage of Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christian faith indelibly marked it and inexorably pushed it toward the full panoply of liberties we enjoy today and to which the rest of the world looks. And the history he sought to express was the unfolding witness to the expansion, refinement, and richer application of the principles of liberty.
How to Get Rich from Liberal Delusions
The secret to instant wealth is to spot a mass delusion and bet against it. The Tulip Craze. Florida swamp land.
Getting the timing right is tricky, but we are blessed with an overload of mass delusions. You can pick your own favorite. Delusional bubbles have to pop at some point, because the people who are paying for them eventually figure out that they’ve been had.
Cutting the insurers out
Dr. Kevin Petersen’s peers thought he was crazy when he started offering cash-pay surgery to uninsured patients about four years ago.
But about 700 no-insurance surgeries later, he’s opting out of all of his remaining insurance contracts.
Dependence Day
If I am pessimistic about the future of liberty, it is because I am pessimistic about the strength of the English-speaking nations, which have, in profound ways, surrendered to forces at odds with their inheritance. “Declinism” is in the air, but some of us apocalyptic types are way beyond that. The United States is facing nothing so amiable and genteel as Continental-style “decline,” but something more like sliding off a cliff.
The Times Loses It
It was a weekend of great sorrow. On Saturday, January 8, an insane young man tried to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, injuring her horribly. The man then fired his gun into a small political gathering, murdering a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge, a congressional staffer, and three of Giffords’s constituents. Thirteen other people were wounded. In the midst of life we are in death. There is, in this world, no making sense of such events.