A perennial topic in the popular press is whether or not individuals should be permitted to own guns. Below are the philosophic, constitutional, and practical arguments for and against gun ownership, along with the facts that support these arguments.
Continue reading “The philosophic, constitutional, and practical arguments for and against gun ownership: recommended reading”The Political Philosophy of John Locke and Its Influence on the Founding Fathers and the Political Documents They Created
Part One: The Political Philosophy of John Locke
In his works “A Letter Concerning Toleration” (1689) and “The Second Treatise On Civil Government” (1690), philosopher John Locke created what would become the philosophical source for the founding principles of the United States. In what follows, I will summarize the central arguments presented in the Letter, followed by the arguments presented in the Treatise. Following the summaries, I will demonstrate the influence that these works had on the thinking of the founding fathers and the political documents they created.
Continue reading “The Political Philosophy of John Locke and Its Influence on the Founding Fathers and the Political Documents They Created”The Communist Manifesto: Philosophic and Economic Ideas/Historic Consequences
Karl Marx claimed that economics determines history and that one’s economic class determines one’s ideas. Ironically, he proved himself wrong, in a deadly way. The twelve-thousand-word propaganda tract written by Marx in 1848 and known as The Communist Manifesto was a concise summary of many ideas that Marx himself created. These ideas proceeded to shape the history of the twentieth century, including its political and economic history, as well as the ideas of most twentieth-century intellectuals. This history included approximately one hundred million innocent citizens slaughtered by Marxist governments, millions more enslaved by Marxist governments, international conflicts on an unprecedented scale, and an intellectual tradition that, at present, is thoroughly entrenched in the humanities and is in the process of destroying the ideas and ideals of the West. There have probably never been fewer words that have caused more misery and destruction than those written by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto.
Continue reading “The Communist Manifesto: Philosophic and Economic Ideas/Historic Consequences”The Theories of John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes (b June 5, 1883, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, eng.—d. April 21, 1946, Firle, Sussex), was an English economist, journalist, and financier. Although prominent in politics, he achieved his greatest fame as the author of “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” (1935-36), and as a result of the influence of this work became the most influential economist of the twentieth century.
Continue reading “The Theories of John Maynard Keynes”The Real Right to Medical Care vs. Socialized Medicine
(Summary of George Reisman article by Chuck Braman, published in Serial 104-49 for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means by the U.S. Government Printing Office in 1996.)
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