Category archive: Ayn Rand

By Chuck Rogér Updated from post originally in American Thinker on April 7, 2011 The name for this post could have just as fittingly been “Economic Ignoramuses in Wonderland.” As you read, picture in your mind Ayn Rand’s mousey Atlas Shrugged character Wesley Mouch, the top dog at the novel’s Bureau of Economic Planning and National [...]

310 million boiling frogs

Jonah Goldberg’s article, “What Kind of Socialist Is Barack Obama?” appears in the May issue of Commentary magazine. Goldberg captures the essence of the “progressive” approach to evolving America into a pseudo-socialist paradise. With a few exceptions, the progressive political agenda has always been to argue for piecemeal reforms, not instant transformative change—but reforms that [...]

America needs more capitalism

Jonah Goldberg quotes the late Austrian analyst Willi Schlamm. The trouble with socialism is socialism. The trouble with capitalism is capitalists. And though Goldberg beats around the bush for six paragraphs, he eventually gets to the meat of the claim. The problem with socialism is socialism, because there are no socialists. Socialism is a system [...]

Imagine the creator of a wonderful product or service being embraced as wonderful purely on the merit of said wonderfulness. This sentiment is frighteningly close to the idea that everyone, everything, and every concept should be equally valued, based solely on the fact that people, things, and notions simply exist and therefore must be valued. [...]

The more the global warmists screech, the more Atlas shrugs

An absurdly manipulative and dishonest video kicks off the absurdly unreal Copenhagen climate conference. The world’s achievers and producers shake their heads. The video immediately below illustrates the truly sick and disgusting mentality of global warmists. There is no limit to the depth of dishonesty and manipulation to which the alarmists will sink in order to [...]

Bear skins and stone knives

Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided to every human being. Spoken by King Hopey-Changey? Close—written by John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Obama science adviser, a man who influences climate change and health care [...]

Seven red flags for the United Socialist States of America

The first article in this series can be found here. Last time we touched on the ideas of two clear thinkers, 20th century Austrian-born economist Friedrich Hayek and 19th century French philosopher and historian Alexis de Tocqueville. Both predicted the temptations to which fairness mongers would succumb if loosed on a democracy receptive to their [...]

For Part I go here.  Last time we left the tortured liberal soul dealing with an ugly truth: One must make a useful effort to get a useful result. We also determined that the liberal’s inability to acknowledge such realities only scratches the surface of a gnarly mess. How do people with a “progressive” worldview cope [...]

To shrug or not to shrug

I recently heard a radio talk show host call conservatism a doctrine. I’ve also heard conservatism labeled an “ideology.” Okay, but conservatism being an “ideology” does not mean that conservatives should behave as ideologues. True conservatism favors established ways, tradition and social stability, careful progress over risky change. Political conservatism advocates for low taxes, limited government, strong [...]